Wednesday 19 December 2012

37 dead in Ukraine cold spell


Ukrainian health officials say 37 people have died from the severe cold spell that hit the country this month.

Temperatures have dropped as low as 2 degrees F.

The Health Ministry said Tuesday that 190 people have sought medical help for hypothermia, of which 162 people have been hospitalized.

No health official would say how the deaths occurred, but victims in previous cold spells have been mostly the homeless and elderly people. Authorities have set up some 1,500 centers around the country to provide food and shelter.

The cold weather comes as heavy snowfall in the eastern European nation blocked key roads, leaving hundreds of cars stranded.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/12/18/ukraine-cold-spell-deaths/1777509/

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16 dead, 14 missing due to flash floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka


A local official said that the torrential downpours, which claimed the lives of 16 people, started to ease on Wednesday.

However, more than 175,000 families remain homeless as a number of towns across the island nation struggle against floods.

The government has mobilized more than a hundred personnel from the Navy to distribute relief goods and to help police search for 14 missing people.

According to Lal Kumara, a spokesman for the Disaster Management Center, it has been estimated that about 146 houses were destroyed while 805 others were partially damaged.

A number of roads were also blocked by landslides and fallen trees, prompting police and army personnel to work throughout the day to clear them. Train services were also suspended in some parts of the island.

Kumara added that 175,886 families that have been displaced by the landslides are currently staying in 40 camps.

The torrential downpours are expected to last until the end of the week, but the monsoon season typically lasts until late January.

The former war-torn eastern province is reported to be particularly hard hit with over 15,000 acres of paddy under water.

Ironically the flood in key agricultural regions comes after Sri Lanka suffered for over three months earlier in the year due to drought.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=114621

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9 missing after boat capsizes in E China


Search is continuing for nine people who have been missing after their boat capsized on Monday morning in seas off east China's Shandong Province, local authorities said Wednesday.

The fishing boat from northeast China's Liaoning Province capsized on Monday morning one nautical mile to the Chuwang Port of Yantai City, and all the nine people aboard were missing, according to the Shandong Provincial Maritime Affairs Bureau.

Liaoning-registered fishing boat, the Liaojinyu 15527, was found floating about 1 km east of Chuwang Harbor around 7 a.m. There were no fishermen onboard, according to the fishery administration of Yantai City.

Maritime and local government authorities dispatched nine vessels and a helicopter to search for the missing in surrounding waters.

However, the rescue mission was hampered by strong gales and waves, and the rescue vessels were not able to get close to the fishing boat because of fishing nets nearby.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2012-12/19/content_27460534.htm

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8062264.html

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Mexico prison clash leaves 17 dead


Eleven prisoners and six guards were killed Tuesday in armed clashes at a prison in northern Mexico that erupted when inmates attempted a jailbreak, state security officials said.

The fighting broke out as wardens were "thwarting the inmates' attempted prison break" in the city of Gomez Palacio, the public security office in Durango state said in a statement.

The clashes broke out at around 5:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) at a prison in Gomez Palacio city of Durango State, the state's public security ministry said in a statement.

The rebellious prisoners shot at guard towers, setting off alarm bells, the statement said.

The guards fired back at prisoners trying to escape the facility through tunnels and back fence after warning shots had failed to stop them.

Troops were rushed to the prison, and the situation is under control, the statement said, adding an investigation is underway to determine the causes and the responsibilities of the incident.

Alarm bells rang out in the facility as the inmates mutinied, shooting at the guard towers and the wardens' office, it added.

In the midst of the shooting, a group of inmates tried to escape through tunnels and over a back fence. Guards initially fired in the air before returning the prisoners' fire directly.

Troops deployed to the prison eventually put a stop to the attempted jailbreak and regained control of the facility.

Mass jailbreaks have become a recurrent problem in Mexico. In September, 131 inmates escaped through the front door of a prison in Piedras Negras, a city on the US border.

In the last two years, 521 inmates have run free in 14 prison escapes while 352 homicides have been committed inside penitentiaries, according to the National Human Rights Commission.

Prisoners often smuggle in drugs, weapons and even prostitutes, and gangs fight over control of the prison economy, according to the government office.

A jailbreak at a prison in the northern state of Nuevo Leon in February saw 44 prisoners killed during fighting between two warring drug cartels.

The commission said 60 percent of Mexico's prisons are controlled by organized crime groups.

Chronic overpopulation at the jails has sharpened the struggle between criminal gangs. Some 237,580 prisoners are packed in detention centers that only have the capacity for 188,147 inmates, a 26 percent surplus.

Mexico has 419 prisons -- 13 controlled by the federal government and the rest managed by state and municipal authorities.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/19/c_132050699.htm

http://english.sina.com/world/2012/1218/539414.html

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27 people riding atop truck killed in traffic crash in northwest Nigeria


A cattle truck veered out of control in Nigeria's northwest Sokoto state and plunged into a river, killing 27 men who were also on board, authorities said on Tuesday.

The accident occurred late on Monday close to the border with neighboring West African country Niger. Sokoto state police spokesman Sani Salisu said Wednesday that the crash happened Monday when the truck took a corner too fast on a major road in the state.

Many cows and sheep were also said to have died in the accident.

A witness said the accident occurred on Monday when the driver of the trailer with registration number SOKOTO XA 443 SAA lost control and plunged into a river close to Masallaci village in Tangaza local government area.

Salisu said the truck had been heading to Nigeria’s Delta state in the nation’s oil-rich southern delta. He said some of those riding atop the truck survived the crash.

Hitchhikers in the north often ride atop the trucks carrying produce and livestock to the south.

"We were able to rescue 15 people alive," Sokoto Road Safety Manager Alfred Adeboye told Reuters.

Traffic accidents are commonplace in Africa's most populous nation, where roads are often narrow and pot-holed due to under-investment and mismanagement.

The World Health Organization has said Nigeria is the third worst country for traffic fatalities, after China and India.

http://news.yahoo.com/truck-crash-northwest-nigeria-kills-27-093728131.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/police-27-people-riding-atop-truck-killed-in-traffic-crash-in-northwest-nigeria/2012/12/19/14d4affe-49c7-11e2-8af9-9b50cb4605a7_story.html

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Nine bodies found after boat capsize in Malaysia


At least nine bodies, including of a pregnant woman, were recovered from the water off a Malaysian town after a boat carrying around 16 undocumented Indonesian immigrants capsized, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

The Malaysian marine police retrieved the bodies from the water off Johor state’s Bandar Penawar town.

The victims were believed to be heading to Indonesia’s Batam island when the boat capsized Tuesday evening after being hit by strong waves, police said.

The search for the missing people was on till last reports came in.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

http://www.vancouverdesi.com/news/nine-bodies-found-after-boat-capsize-in-malaysia/409279/

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