17 dead, 13 rescued after migrant boat capsizes

SABANA DE LA MAR, Dominican Republic (AP) — Rescuers scouring the white-capped waters off the Dominican Republic's coast have found 17 bodies and 13 survivors from a boat overloaded with migrants that capsized almost two days ago, officials said.

The boat carrying about 70 migrants from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico capsized before dawn Saturday morning and rescuers said hopes were fading for finding more survivors as search efforts were suspended because of darkness late Sunday.

"Tomorrow the sea will start to return the bodies," said Jeffrey Pimentel, head of firefighters at Sabana del Mar, 95 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of Santo Domingo.

Luis Castro, intelligence director of the Dominican Navy, said the bodies of 12 men and five women have been found. Thirteen survivors were rescued. The suspected captain of the smuggler's boat has been detained, he said.

Castro said that rescue efforts would resume Monday morning, but "it is difficult for anyone to survive two days swimming" under a burning sun.

Survivors said dozens of people plunged into the water when the boat, known as a "yola," capsized. Passengers grabbed at anything that might help keep them afloat.

The illegal migrants apparently were all Dominicans, but authorities could not rule out that a few Cubans or Haitians might also have been on the boat.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which had helped Dominican rescuers by sea and air since mid-Saturday, suspended its search at noon Sunday "after Dominican authorities said they no longer needed our assistance," said Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad in Puerto Rico.

Arismendy Manzueta, a 28-year-old farmer from the northern town of La Jagua who survived the journey, said the hopes of better economic prospects in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico made him risk his life aboard the overloaded boat. Puerto Rico is a common destination for Dominican migrants.

"Things are very bad here. A person works and works and never has nothing," Manzueta said in a public hospital in Sabana de la Mar.

Manzueta said he did not tell his wife, who sat by his hospital bed, that he would try to sneak into the relatively wealthy Puerto Rico.

Maria Sobeida Guzman, a 28-year-old mother of three who also survived the journey, said she paid just over $1,000 for the illegal trip to Puerto Rico, where a cousin promised to get her a job giving manicures.

"What is one going to do? A person wants to improve," said an exhausted Guzman from her hospital bed.

Guzman said there was no warning when the boat overturned and began to break apart in the pre-dawn darkness. She remembered swimming for the shore with every bit of strength she had.

Another survivor, Luis Cortorreal, a 31-year-old painter who swam for six hours until he made it to land, said there were at least 10 women on the overloaded boat, including a pregnant woman he is convinced sank beneath the waves.

Survivors told the northern region's public prosecutor Fremy Reyes that the boat overturned about four hours after setting sail Friday just before midnight.

On Sunday, taxi driver Nicolas Moreno joined several other people congregated on Sabana de la Mar's main beach hoping for word about a missing loved one. Moreno said he believes that two close friends left on the doomed smuggler's boat.

"They wanted a better life for their children," Moreno said.

Thousands of poor Dominicans try to reach Puerto Rico in open boats that are ill-suited to the treacherous journey across the 160-mile (260-kilometer) Mona Passage. Many Haitian and Cuban migrants also regularly risk their lives trying to cross the often-stormy passage.

Associated Press writer David McFadden in Kingston, Jamaica contributed to this report.

Sunday, February 05, 2012

http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/APWorldNews/Article_2012-02-05-CB-Dominican-Migrant-Deaths/id-ae440626f5534cdabde5c97e0716637a

Deaths in makeshift boat sinking rise to 19, search suspended

Sabana de la Mar, Dominican Republic.- Authorities found another body that of a woman and now total seven recovered Sunday, from a makeshift boat headed to Puerto Rico which sank Saturday in Samaná Bay, where 18 found thus far after the 11 yesterday.

Navy regional command Captain Héctor Ramon Méndez said a US Coast Guard cutter Capella, two speedboats and two rescue craft are in the zone, joined by six boats crewed by volunteer fishermen.

Six women and 12 men are confirmed dead and the search for the rest of the undetermined number of missing has been suspension until tomorrow, the official said.

Some of the 19 survivors are being taken to the Sabana de la Mar Navy Station as suspects while others were taken to the town’s hospital, with various injuries and first and second degree burns, he Navy said in a statement.

Daniel Cepeda, one of the as yet undetermined number of survivors, said he paid 30,000 pesos (around 770 dollars) for the failed trip across the Monsa Passage.

6 February 2012

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2012/2/5/42556/Deaths-in-makeshift-boat-sinking-rise-to-19-search-suspended-Update

Boat capsizes off Libya coast: 15 dead

Tripoli - At least 15 Somali migrants were killed and 40 left missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya this week, the Somali ambassador to Tripoli said on Saturday.

"Fifteen bodies, including one child and 12 women, were recovered off the coast of Misrata after their boat sank," ambassador Abdelghami Wais told AFP, adding the bodies were found on Wednesday on the shore of the western port city.

The boat had been carrying 55 Somalis, Wais said, and the other passengers were still missing. "I've just returned from Misrata after the burials," the envoy said.

The International Organisation of Migration, contacted by AFP, said it was unaware of the accident.

Libya has for decades been a destination and a transit country to European shores for hundreds of thousands of African migrants seeking jobs and a better life.

The ousted regime of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi used the issue to exert pressure on Europe and asked for €5bn from the European Union last year to stem the flow of illegals.

'Border guard'

The new rulers of the North African country have adopted a different approach, with Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali saying Libya will not be the "border guard" for Europe.

Citing "enormous problems" for Libya caused by the influx of thousands of migrants, Abdelali called upon Europe and neighbouring countries to help deal with the flow.

He specifically asked for assistance to rehabilitate 19 detention centres and with a system of border surveillance.

On January 19, interior ministry spokesperson General Abdelmonem al-Tunsi told AFP that illegal immigration had resumed since the end of the anti-Gaddafi revolt.

He said thousands of people from unrest-swept Syria were also entering through the Massad terminal on the border with Egypt, apart from Africans infiltrating through the southern borders.

Tunsi said that on January 10 the authorities intercepted 260 such illegal migrants who were aided by three Libyans armed with Kalashnikovs.

He said the flood of illegal immigrants began at the end of the conflict as the country's borders were not fully guarded.

When the anti-Gaddafi revolt erupted in February, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants fled Libya and few dared venture into the North African nation while fighting against Gaddafi's forces raged last year.

AFP - 2012-01-28 19:00
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Boat-capsizes-off-Libya-coast-15-dead-20120128

Magnitude 6.8 quake in Philippines kills 13, buries homes

MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers dig with picks and shovels trying to reach dozens of people trapped under houses collapsed by a strong earthquake Monday that shook a central Philippine island and set off landslides.

At least 13 people were killed and 40 are believed missing, most of them along the shore near the epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck in a narrow strait just off Negros Island.

In the mountain village of Planas, 9 miles (15 kilometers) from coastal Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental province, as many as 30 houses were buried with at least 40 residents believed trapped, said Gov. Roel Degamo.

“Their situation is bad because if you are covered by landslide for one hour, two hours, how can you breathe?” Mayor Ernesto Reyes said. “But we just hope for the best, that there are still survivors.”

Army troops and police were deployed to help in the rescue.

At least 10 people were confirmed dead in Guihulngan, including students at a college and an elementary school and others in a town market that collapsed, Reyes said. About 100 were injured.

The quake, which hit at 11:49 a.m. (0349 GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We’re now getting shovels and chain saws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” Besario told The Associated Press by phone. Three key bridges in the town cracked and were no longer passable, he said.

Food and medicines were waiting in the provincial capital of Dumaguete, but the aid could not reach the villages in need because of damaged roads and bridges.

“There is a Canadian and an Indian doctor who are here for an earlier scheduled medical mission and it’s good that they are helping us,” said Reyes. “They have some medicines with them but that may not be enough.”

Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, including four that were not passable, said Gov. Degamo. The worst damage was concentrated in the province’s mountainous northern portion, he said.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands. Huge waves washed out five bamboo and wooden cottages from a beach resort in La Libertad, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle. Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, malls and offices.

Two people died in another town close to the epicenter, Tayasan, including a child when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense.

Another child was killed in a church when a wall collapsed during a funeral in Negros Oriental’s Jimalalud town, Mayor Reynaldo Tuanda said.

Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told AP by phone that aftershocks were preventing people from returning to their homes.

“We are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it’s dangerous,” Silvosa said. “I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell.”

A three-story office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but occupants escaped.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the temblor damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and canceled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it’s shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 44 miles (72 kilometers) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46 kilometers). The area is about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Manila.

The Philippines is in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 6

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/magnitude-68-earthquake-shakes-central-philippines-no-immediate-reports-of-casualties/2012/02/05/gIQAXDdxsQ_story.html

At least five dead after Philippines earthquake

At least five people were killed today when a strong earthquake shook the central Philippines, destroying buildings and triggering landslides which buried dozens of houses, trapping residents.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, in a narrow strait just off Negros Island, caused a landslide in Guihulngan, a city of about 180,000 people in Negros Oriental province. As many as 30 houses were buried and at least 29 people were missing, Mayor Ernesto Reyes said.

Mr Reyes said four people died there, including a student at a college and two others in an elementary school. Another person died in the collapse of a town market.

The quake, which hit at 11.49am local time (3.49am GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We're now getting shovels and chainsaws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” he told The Associated Press by phone.

Three key bridges in the town suffered cracks and were no longer passable, he added.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands.

Five bamboo and wooden cottages were washed out from a beach resort in La Libertad by huge waves, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle.

Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, shopping centres and offices.

The epicentre was closest to Tayasan, a coastal town of about 32,000 people flanked by mountains in Negros Oriental province. A child there died when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defence.

“So far one dead, but we could not yet account for the damage to buildings,” Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told The AP by phone. He said there were still aftershocks “so we are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it's dangerous.”

“I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell,” he said.

A three-storey office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but the occupants managed to run out.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the quake damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and cancelled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Mr Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it's shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 44 miles (72km) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46km). The area is about 400 miles (650km) south-east of the capital, Manila.

President Benigno Aquino III's spokesman said authorities did not force people to evacuate but implored those along the shore to be vigilant. The coast guard grounded all vessels while the tsunami alert was in effect.

A shopping centre in San Carlos city in neighbouring Negros Occidental province was damaged when its windows were shattered by the shaking, said civil defence chief Mr Ramos.

The quake was also felt in Cebu, where it lasted about 30 seconds.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

AP - Monday 06 February 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/at-least-five-dead-after-philippines-earthquake-6579629.html