Tag Archives: Rescued

3 mariners rescued after writing ‘HELP’ with palm leaves on remote Pacific islet

Castaways-Help

Important Takeaways:

  • Three castaways who were stranded on a remote Pacific islet for days were rescued this week after spelling out “HELP” with palm fronds on the beach, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
  • The trio of men, all mariners in their 40s, ventured out to go fishing near Pikelot atoll in a 20-foot open skiff with an outboard motor, the Coast Guard said, noting that the three had “experience in navigating these waters.”
  • But their motor was damaged and stopped working, leaving the castaways stuck for more than a week on the tiny uninhabited island, surviving on coconuts and water from a well.
  • A U.S. Navy aircraft dispatched from an air base in Japan spotted the help sign drawn with palm fronds on the beach, narrowing an initial search area that stretched over 78,000 square nautical miles, according to a Coast Guard statement
  • That aircraft dropped “survival packages” for the trio, and a crew from an air station in Hawaii then dropped a radio to contact the men
  • They ate meat from coconuts, and “water was available through a well on the island,” Muir told the paper. She said they had enough food to survive, “but not for much longer.”

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Search ends on Mount Marapi with 23 dead and 52 rescued

Hiker-killed-Marapi-eruption

Important Takeaways:

  • The search has ended for any more victims among climbers who were caught by a weekend eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano that killed 23 people and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
  • About 75 climbers started up the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) mountain in Agam district of West Sumatra province on Saturday and were on the volcano when it erupted the following day.
  • West Sumatra Police Chief Suharyono said earlier that the discovery of the body of a female university student Wednesday had raised the confirmed death toll to 23. Officials said Thursday that they believed all the dead had been recovered.
  • After an evaluation of the search and rescue results, “authorities have ended the search and rescue operation in Mount Marapi as all the victims have been found by late Wednesday,” said Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson.
  • The National Search and Rescue Agency said all the bodies had been taken to a hospital by late Wednesday for identification.
  • Some 52 climbers were rescued after the initial eruption Sunday, with about a dozen taken to hospitals with serious to minor injuries.

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One dead, six rescued and a dozen missing after boat capsizes off Louisiana coast

(Reuters) – One person has died and six others have been rescued after a commercial “lift boat” used to service oil rigs capsized in hurricane force winds several miles south of Port Fourchon on the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday.

A dozen people were still missing after the 129-foot commercial vessel capsized in rough seas about 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, officials said.

Two Coast Guard cutters, a military helicopter, airplane and a small fleet of volunteer private vessels were involved in the searched operation, said Coast Guard Captain Will Watson.

“Unfortunately one person was recovered deceased on the surface of the water,” he said, adding that the winds were about 80 miles per hour (129 km per hour) to 90 mph at the time of the accident.

Two people were rescued by the Coast Guard and four others were pulled from the waters by people on other vessels, he said.

“My heart and the collective hearts of our team goes out to the families,” Watson said, adding that they are working to find other survivors.

The high winds, with some hail and flooding are expected to continue in southeastern Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service. There is a threat of severe weather to overnight in the region and a flash flood watch is in effect till Thursday morning.

The vessel is owned by Seacor Marine, a Houston, Texas-based transportation company, according to media reports.

A representative for the company was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Additional reporting and writing by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by William Maclean and Mike Harrison)

Ten China gold miners confirmed dead after others rescued; one still missing

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Rescuers searching for the remaining workers trapped in a Chinese gold mine after Sunday’s dramatic extraction of 11 survivors found nine bodies, a local official said on Monday, taking the death toll to 10, with one miner still missing.

A total of 22 miners working about 600 meters (2,000 feet) underground were trapped after an explosion at the Hushan mine in Qixia, a major gold-producing region in China’s coastal Shandong province, on Jan. 10.

Eleven were pulled out alive on Sunday after two weeks underground, including one in a very weak condition whom rescue teams had been unable to send supplies to.

Yantai Mayor Chen Fei said rescuers kept searching from Sunday to Monday afternoon and found the bodies of nine miners, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

That means a total of 10 miners are confirmed to have died, following the earlier death in the mine of one worker who had lapsed into a coma, and their remains have been lifted to the surface, Chen said, adding that one miner was still missing.

The search is difficult and water levels are high, but as long as the missing worker has not been found the work will not stop, the CCTV report added.

SUNDAY SALVATION

The 11 miners freed on Sunday were rescued much earlier than expected after it emerged that steel pipes in a blocked mine shaft had prevented debris from falling lower, according to state media.

The air ventilation shaft, which was the most feasible way to bring up the workers, had been cleared to a depth of 368 meters (1,207 feet), Xiao Wenru, chief engineer for the mine rescue, told the Xinhua news agency on Monday.

“It is at this location we discovered that there were some steel pipes supporting the blockage … there is almost no blockage under the steel pipes,” said Xiao.

Xiao told Xinhua on Sunday there had been a breakthrough in rescue efforts after clearing some blockages and finding the “cavities underneath.”

The 11 miners were mostly in good condition. Officials had earlier said they may have to wait another 15 days before they could be rescued due to a blockage along their intended escape route.

China’s mines are among the world’s deadliest. The country recorded 573 mine-related deaths in 2020, according to the National Mine Safety Administration.

(Reporting by Emily Chow; additional reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Michael Perry and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Philippines ‘apologizes’ to Kuwait after rescuing domestic workers

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines apologized on Tuesday for what Kuwait viewed as violation of its sovereignty after the Southeast Asian nation’s embassy “rescued” several domestic workers from their employers’ homes amid reports of abuse.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the embassy was forced to “assist” Filipino workers who sought help because some situations were a matter of life and death.

“We respect Kuwaiti sovereignty and laws, but the welfare of Filipino workers is also very important,” he said, adding that domestic helpers account for more than 65 percent of the more than 260,000 Filipinos in Kuwait.

Cayetano said Kuwait had accepted the Philippines’ explanation after the Kuwaiti ambassador met Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and held talks with Cayetano.

“We’re sending a note now to my counterpart, and we are apologizing for certain incidents that Kuwait views as violation of their sovereignty,” Cayetano told reporters.

Duterte last month ordered workers in Kuwait to return over reports of abuse following the discovery of a domestic worker’s body in a freezer in an abandoned home.

In Saturday’s operation, the workers were taken to shelter houses ran by the embassy and would soon be repatriated, diplomats in Manila said.

“The workers voluntarily went with embassy staff who waited outside the homes of the domestic helpers’ employers,” said a diplomat. The employers did not hand over their passports.

Some workers were persuaded to leave their employers, he said.

The operation was captured on video and posted on social media. “It was not a clandestine operation,” said Elmer Cato, assistant secretary for public diplomacy.

Kuwait had summoned the Philippine ambassador to demand an explanation.

There are 600 Filipino workers in embassy-run halfway houses in Kuwait, Cayetano said, with about 120 more who have sought rescue from employers due abuse and tough working conditions.

Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said part of an agreement with Kuwait was to seek assurance it would to bring those who abused Filipino workers to justice.

“The secretary conveyed our request for Kuwait’s kind understanding of the sworn duty of the government to protect Filipino nationals anywhere in the world,” Roque said in a statement.

Workers in many Gulf states are employed under a sponsorship system that gives employers the right to keep their passports and exercise full control over their stay.

Rights groups say the system leaves millions of workers in the region open to exploitation.

(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Philippines’ coast guard rescues 252 passengers from capsized ferry

Filipinos look for their missing relatives on a list of survivors after a Philippine vessel capsized because of bad weather in Real, Quezon in the Philippines, December 22, 2017.

By Erik De Castro and Ronn Bautista

REAL, Philippines (Reuters) – The Philippines’ coast guard said on Friday it had rescued 252 passengers and crew, including an Australian and his Filipino wife, and recovered five dead people from a ferry that capsized east of the capital Manila.

A Philippine vessel capsized on Thursday because of bad weather, highlighting frequent boat accidents in the Southeast Asian nation that is composed of more than 7,000 islands.

The Philippine Coast Guard has confirmed five deaths while 252 passengers including an Australian and his Filipino wife, were rescued, said spokesman Captain Arm and Balilo.

“All the passengers and crew are accounted for but as I have said we will re-evaluate based on the claims of the families of the missing passengers,” Balilo told Reuters. The vessel was carrying 257 passengers and crew.

The boat left the port around 9 a.m. and capsized an hour later due to strong winds and giant waves.

A survivor said the passengers panicked when the boat started to take in water and went to one side, causing the ferry to tilt and capsize.

“The others waited on top of the ship while it was sinking, but I didn’t do that because I know the ship will break down and I want to avoid getting hurt by that,” Rene Ebuenga, a rescued passenger told Reuters. “That’s dangerous and the big waves can slam debris to your body.”

The ferry capsized and sank about 5 miles off Quezon province, east of the capital on the main northern island of Luzon.

The Philippine Coast Guard said it will conduct an inquiry to determine the cause of the incident and to verify possible oil spills.

In 1987, nearly 5,000 people died in the world’s worst peacetime shipping disaster when an overloaded passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro island in the central Philippines.

Tropical storm Tembin, packing center winds of 80 kmh (49 mph), made landfall on the southern island of Mindanao early Friday. It weakened after hitting the land mass, the weather bureau said on Friday.

But, the weather agency warned of extensive flooding and landslides until the storm exits the Philippines on Sunday.

(Reporting by Erik de Castro and Ronn Bautista; Writing by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Michael Perry)

Eight survivors found after massive Italy avalanche

firefighters rescue survivor from Italy hotel that had an avalanche hit

By Antonio Denti and Valentina Consiglio

PENNE, Italy (Reuters) – Eight people were found alive on Friday two days after being buried under a massive avalanche that hit a luxury mountain hotel in central Italy, a Civil Protection official said.

Titti Postiglione told reporters that two of the survivors had already been pulled clear of the snow and debris which destroyed the isolated Hotel Rigopiano on Wednesday. Rescuers were digging to free the remaining six people.

“Finding these people gives us further hope there are other survivors,” Postiglione said.

More than 30 people, including four children, were in the building when the avalanche slammed into it, officials said, reducing much of it to rubble and spreading debris across the valley floor.

Two men who were outside the hotel at the time managed to escape the wall of snow. Officials have confirmed that two bodies have been removed from the site, while Italian media said two more corpses had been located.

One of the survivors found on Friday was a young girl, Deputy Interior Minister Filippo Bubbico said, who is helping coordinate rescue efforts at the scene.

The group were found in the hotel kitchen area which was not crushed by the tonnes of snow that obliterated much of the four-storey building, media said

Helicopters have been dispatched with equipment and doctors to help extract and evacuate the survivors.

The disaster struck the hotel in the Gran Sasso park late on Wednesday afternoon amid a driving snowstorm, just hours after four earthquakes with a magnitude above 5 rattled the area.

As much as 5 meters (16 ft) of snow covered much of what is left of the hotel, said Walter Milan, a member of the Alpine Rescue service who was on the scene. Only sections of the spa and swimming area were intact, he said.

An investigation into the tragedy has been opened by a court in Pescara amid accusations that the emergency response was slow. The first rescuers arrived amid a snow storm on skis early on Thursday morning, some 11 hours after the avalanche.

Giampiero Parete, a chef who was a guest in the hotel, had gone to his car to get headache pills for his wife when the avalanche struck. His wife and two children, aged six and eight, are still missing.

Parete called his boss, Quintino Marcella, with his cell phone at 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, just after the avalanche had struck, asking him to call for help.

“He told me: ‘The hotel has collapsed'” Marcella said in an interview with RAI state TV, adding that the local prefecture did not immediately believe him. He kept calling until he was assured help was on the way some two hours later.

(Reporting Antonio Denti in Penne and Valentina Consiglio in Rome, writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Toby Chopra and Crispian Balmer)

Italy rescues over 3,300 migrants over weekend

Migrants disembark from a vessel of ONG Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in the Sicilian harbour of Augusta

MILAN (Reuters) – Italian coastguard and navy ships rescued over 3,300 migrants in 26 separate operations in the Mediterranean over the weekend, a spokesperson for the Italian navy told Reuters on Sunday.

The people were picked up from 25 dinghies and one boat, all north of the Libyan coast, the Coast Guard said in a separate statement.

The navy spokesperson said one adult was found dead and another four injured migrants were transported by helicopter to the nearest hospital, on the island of Lampedusa.

Italy is on the front line of Europe’s worst immigration crisis since World War Two, with little sign of any slowdown in the flow of people coming from North Africa.

About 60,000 boat migrants have been brought to Italy so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry.

On Friday ship crews rescued more than 2,000 people from overcrowded boats.

Improved weather conditions in the Mediterranean encourage more migrants and their human smugglers to attempt the crossing despite the dangers involved. More than 3,700 migrants died in the Mediterranean last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Digby Lidstone)

‘I feel liberated’ Life after Islamic State

Souad Hamidi, 19, removes the niqab she said she had been forced to wear since 2014, after U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces took control of her village

By Rodi Said

AM ADASA, Syria (Reuters) – When U.S.-backed forces seized Souad Hamidi’s village in northern Syria from Islamic State last week, the 19-year-old swiftly tore off the niqab she had been forced to wear since 2014 and smiled.

“I felt liberated,” Hamidi told Reuters after swapping her black face-covering veil for a red head scarf. “They made us wear it against our will so I removed it that way to spite them.”

For the last two weeks, the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by U.S.-led air strikes, have waged an offensive against the Islamic State-held city of Manbij, near the Syria-Turkey border.

The SDF have been cutting off routes into Manbij, encircling the city by seizing outlying villages like Hamidi’s, Am Adasa.

Hamidi said she woke up one morning to hear that the SDF, which includes the Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters, had arrived in her village.

“We saw (SDF) fighters behind our house, digging to station their snipers, we thought they were Daesh (Islamic State) fighters, who were still inside the village,” she said.

“We left, fearing we would be used as human shields during air strikes,” she said. The family later returned once SDF fighters had pushed out remaining Islamic State forces.

For pictures of Saoud Hamidi click http://reut.rs/1rryn4r

Am Adasa had been under the militants’ control since 2014, when Islamic State proclaimed its caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq. The governments of Syria and Iraq have launched offensives on other fronts against the group.

Under Islamic State, life was strictly regulated, Hamidi said, including dress codes.

“They would punish people who did not follow their rules, sometimes forcing them to stay in dug-out graves for days,” she said. “Since they (SDF) took control, we are living a new life.”

Sitting in her family home, Hamidi said she still fears Islamic State may return one day.

“I want to erase Daesh from my memory,” she said. “I hope every area controlled by Daesh is liberated, that people are free of them and can live like we do now.”

(Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Boat capsizes, Italian navy said 562 rescued and 5 migrants dead

Migrants are seen on a capsizing boat before a rescue operation by Italian navy ships "Bettica" and "Bergamini" (unseen) off the coast of Libya

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) – A large wooden fishing boat overcrowded with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, the Italian navy said on Wednesday, with some 562 people rescued and five found dead.

Photographs show the blue fishing boat rocking violently before capsizing, sending migrants tumbling into the sea. Some then climbed onto the hull of the overturned vessel, while others swam for life boats or toward the navy ship.

Navy swimmers are also shown pulling migrants in lifebelts toward safety, according to the navy pictures. Women and children were among those rescued, but no details of the migrants’ nationalities have been given.

The Italian navy patrol boat Bettica saw that the vessel was in difficulty and approached it to hand out life jackets, but before it could begin a rescue the boat flipped over due to the sudden movement of the passengers, a statement said.

Navy frigate Bergamini deployed a helicopter, and several rubber motor boats were used in the rescue operations, which have now concluded.

The Bettica has already responded to another call for help and is in the process of rescuing 108 migrants from a large rubber boat, the navy said.

Boat arrivals rose sharply this week amid warm weather and calm seas. Italy’s coastguard said 5,600 migrants were rescued on Monday and Tuesday, and officials fear numbers will increase as conditions continue to improve.

In the past two years, more than 320,000 boat migrants have arrived on Italian shores and an estimated 7,000 died in the Mediterranean as they sought to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.

(Editing by Crispian Balmer; editing by Ralph Boulton)