Bogota, Colombia | AFP | A charter plane carrying a Brazilian football team crashed in the mountains in Colombia late Monday, killing 76 people, officials said. They said five survived the disaster. The LAMIA airlines charter declared an emergency at around 10 pm local time” 0300 GMT Tuesday, reporting it …
Read More »Doctors use WhatsApp to find kin of India train survivors
Pukhrāyān, India | AFP | Eight-year-old Sejal Yadav was pulled from the wreckage of a derailed train in northern India and rushed alone to hospital. Hours later she was reunited with her brother — thanks to WhatsApp. As survivors were rescued from the mangled carriages of the Indore-Patna Express on …
Read More »At least 120 killed as Indian train derails
Pukhrāyān, India | AFP | Emergency workers raced to find any more survivors in the mangled wreckage of an Indian train that derailed Sunday, killing at least 120 people, in the worst disaster to hit the country’s ageing rail network in recent years. Shocked passengers recalled being jolted out of …
Read More »Ten dead in ferry accident on Lake Albert
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Ten people died when an overcrowded ferry on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert capsized in strong winds, local police said. The vessel, with 21 people onboard, was taking passengers from Buliisa to Kagoya, farther south, when the accident happened overnight Thursday, Buliisa police spokesman …
Read More »Mozambique oil tank truck blast toll soars to 73
Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | At least 73 people were killed and 110 others injured Thursday when a truck carrying petrol blew up in western Mozambique near Malawi, the government said in a statement. “The incident occurred when citizens tried to take petrol from a truck” in the village of …
Read More »Egypt marks anniversary of Sinai plane crash
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt on Sunday commemorated the first anniversary of the Metrojet Russian airliner crash in the Sinai that killed all 224 people on board. The aviation minister and the Russian ambassador were among those who attended a ceremony in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, …
Read More »Uganda takes on the ‘world’s most dangerous road’
Witchcraft, poor roadwork and dangerous driving — all have been blamed for the killer highway whose users will often turn to prayer before taking the road. Mpigi, Uganda | AFP | Wearing pristine white with her woollen socks pulled high, Ugandan traffic police officer Edith Nanteza exudes natural authority at …
Read More »More than 100 bodies recovered from Egypt migrant shipwreck
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Rescuers recovered 53 bodies on Friday from a migrant boat that capsized off the Egyptian coast, bringing the death toll from the disaster to at least 108, a health ministry official said. “There have been 53 bodies recovered as of 11 am (0900 GMT) on …
Read More »Boat with up to 450 migrants capsizes off Egypt, 42 drowned
Rosetta, Egypt | AFP | A boat carrying up to 450 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean off Egypt’s north coast on Wednesday, drowning 42 people and prompting a search operation that rescued 163 passengers, officials said. The vessel overturned off the port city of Rosetta, police and health officials said. …
Read More »Launch pad blast destroys SpaceX rocket, Facebook satellite
Miami, United States | AFP | An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test in Florida on Thursday, destroying a satellite that Facebook planned to use to beam high-speed internet to Africa. The blast at Cape Canaveral — though it caused no injuries — …
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