Tag: Transportation accidents

Cuba says at least 5 dead after boat heading to US crashes

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HAVANA — A boat off northern Cuba traveling toward the United States sank Saturday after a collision with a Cuban coast guard ship, and at least five people died, Cuban officials said Saturday.

The craft reportedly flipped over after the crash near Bahía Honda, about two hours from the capital of Havana.

Among the five known dead were a minor and three women, while about two dozen people were rescued, the state media outlet Cubadebate said.

Further details were not released, with Cuban officials telling the state channel that an investigation was underway.

The incident comes amid the biggest migratory flight from the Caribbean island in four decades, spurred by a deepening economic, political and energy crisis.

Cuba’s Interior Ministry threw blame on the U.S., saying the deaths were a “another consequence” of American policy toward Cuba, including the 60-year embargo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. sent condolences to the families of those deceased.

“As we expand safe and legal pathways for migration, we warn against attempting dangerous and sometimes fatal irregular migration,” said a tweet from the U.S. Embassy in Havana, which has yet to resume full operations on the island.

The vast majority of Cubans who are leaving go by plane to Nicaragua, then travel overland to the U.S. border, often in Texas and Arizona.

But a growing number have fled by boat on the dangerous 90-mile journey to the southern coast of the United States. Between October 2021 and August 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted more than 4,600 Cubans traveling by boat, almost six times more than in all of 2020.

It is the largest exodus since 1980, when around 125,000 Cubans traveled by sea to the U.S. over six months, known as the Mariel crisis.

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October 29, 2022
Today in History: October 29, “Black Tuesday” on Wall Street

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Today in History

Today is Saturday, Oct. 29, the 302nd day of 2022. There are 63 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday” descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s “Great Depression” began.

On this date:

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.

In 1787, the opera “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its world premiere in Prague.

In 1891, actor, comedian and singer Fanny Brice was born in New York.

In 1940, a blindfolded Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — from a glass bowl in America’s first peacetime military draft.

In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. “The Huntley-Brinkley Report” premiered as NBC’s nightly television newscast.

In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board.

In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg’s previous marijuana use. Jazz great Woody Herman died in Los Angeles at age 74.

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he’d blazed for America’s astronauts 36 years earlier.

In 2004, four days before Election Day in the U.S., Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that he’d ordered the September 11 attacks and told Americans “the best way to avoid another Manhattan” was to stop threatening Muslims’ security.

In 2005, mourners slowly filed past the body of civil rights icon Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, just miles from the downtown street where she’d made history by refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.

In 2015, Paul Ryan was elected the 54th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2018, a new-generation Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian budget airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board; it was the first of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max, causing the plane to be grounded around the world for nearly two years as Boeing worked on software changes to a flight-control system.

Ten years ago: Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S.

Five years ago: All but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.” The head of Puerto Rico’s power company said the agency was cancelling its $300 million contract with a tiny Montana company to restore the island’s power system; the company was based in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

One year ago: The Food and Drug Administration paved the way for children ages 5 to 11 to get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine; the FDA cleared kid-size doses — just a third of the amount given to teens and adults — for emergency use. Eighteen states filed three separate lawsuits to stop President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, arguing that the requirement violated federal law. Biden held extended and highly personal talks with Pope Francis at the Vatican, and came away saying the pontiff told him he was a “good Catholic” and should keep receiving Communion, although conservatives had called for him to be denied the sacrament because of his support for abortion rights.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is 84. Country singer Lee Clayton is 80. Rock musician Denny Laine is 78. Singer Melba Moore is 77. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 75. Actor Kate Jackson is 74. Country musician Steve Kellough (Wild Horses) is 66. Actor Dan Castellaneta (TV: “The Simpsons”) is 65. Comic strip artist Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”) is 65. Actor Finola Hughes is 63. Singer Randy Jackson (the Jacksons) is 61. Rock musician Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 57. Actor Joely Fisher is 55. Rapper Paris is 55. Actor Rufus Sewell is 55. Actor Grayson McCouch (mih-KOOCH’) is 54. Rock singer SA Martinez (311) is 53. Actor Winona Ryder is 51. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross is 50. Actor Gabrielle Union is 50. Actor Trevor Lissauer is 49. Olympic gold medal bobsledder Vonetta Flowers is 49. Actor Milena Govich is 46. Actor Jon Abrahams is 45. Actor Brendan Fehr is 45. Actor Ben Foster is 42. Rock musician Chris Baio (Vampire Weekend) is 38. Actor Janet Montgomery is 37. Actor India Eisley is 29.

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October 28, 2022
Coast Guard: 13 rescued from sinking vessel off Virginia

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PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Thirteen people were rescued from a sinking fishing vessel early Friday more than 60 miles (96 kilometers) off the coast of Virginia, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard responded to a spot 63 miles (101 kilometers) southeast of Chicoteague after receiving a call for help around 2 a.m., relayed by another vessel, according to Petty Officer 1st Class Jonathan Lally, a Coast Guard spokesperson.

The fishing vessel and a container ship were involved in an incident and the fishing vessel was taking on water, Lally said. Officials are looking into the possibility that two vessels collided, he said.

Another vessel rescued 12 people and a 13th person, the captain of the sinking vessel, was hoisted by Coast Guard helicopter, he said.

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October 28, 2022
Guilty: Huffing driver reached 100 mph; crash killed family

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A young man who killed a family in a high-speed crash after ingesting household dust cleaner has been convicted of vehicular homicide.

Jurors found Paul Streater, now 25, guilty of four counts of vehicular homicide in the 2018 crash, which killed a family visiting Florida from Mexico and Argentina.

Prosecutors said Streater, who was in rehabilitation for drug abuse at the time, was on a “euphoric” high from huffing a can of household dust cleaner and traveling at speeds reaching 100 mph (161 kph) when he crashed into the family’s minivan in Delray Beach.

Assistant State Attorney Storm Tropea said Streater faces up to 40 years in prison in the deaths of Jorge Raschiotto, 50, his sister Veronica Raschiotto, 42, and her two children, Diego, 8, and Mia, 6. Jorge Raschiotto specialized in adult education as a professor at Argentina’s National University of Lomas de Zamora. He and Veronica, from Mexico, were visiting their sister Silvina in Florida.

The jury acquitted Streater on felony counts of DUI manslaughter and driving under the influence, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Defense attorney Samuel Halpern told jurors that the chemical found in Streater’s bloodstream was inadvertently ingested due to the car having been cleaned and detailed that day. He also argued that a “catastrophic” malfunction caused Streater’s vehicle to accelerate and left him unable to stop.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen revoked Streater’s bond and will sentence him on Dec. 20. His attorney said they will appeal.

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October 27, 2022
Texas teen charged in killing of mother found in trunk

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Authorities say a Texas teen charged with killing his mother, whose body was found in the trunk of a car he crashed in Nebraska, has been released from the hospital and faces a hearing to be sent back to his home state

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — A Texas teen charged with killing his mother, whose body was found in the trunk of a car he crashed in Nebraska, has been released from the hospital and faces a hearing to be sent back to his home state, authorities said Tuesday.

Tyler Roenz, 17, was discharged from a Nebraska hospital last week and is being held in Hall County, where he faces an extradition hearing on Friday, the Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release.

The teen has been charged as an adult with murder in Texas in the death of his mother, 49-year-old Michelle Roenz, according to Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Gilliland. The two were reported missing from their home in Harris County on Oct. 13 by the teen’s father.

The next day, Michelle Roenz’s body was found in the trunk of car that her son crashed during a police chase in southern Nebraska, authorities said. Investigators have said Michelle Roenz died from strangulation and blunt force trauma.

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October 25, 2022
Agency finds possible cause of seaplane crash that killed 10

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SEATTLE — U.S. investigators said Monday they have found a potential cause of a seaplane crash that killed 10 people off an island in Washington state last month.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the agency investigating the Sept. 4 crash off Whidbey Island, said it appeared a critical part that moved the plane’s horizontal tail stabilizer came apart, The Seattle Times reported.

That part might have failed because a clamp nut unthreaded and rotated due to a missing or improperly installed lock ring, the investigators found.

The failure of the component, called an actuator, during flight “would result in a free-floating horizontal stabilizer, allowing it to rotate uncontrollably … about its hinge, resulting in a possible loss of airplane control,” the NTSB said.

The plane, a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter turboprop operated by Renton-based Friday Harbor Seaplanes, crashed into Puget Sound, killing the pilot and all nine passengers. It was about half an hour into a flight to the Seattle suburb of Renton from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands.

The investigators said that when the wreckage was retrieved, the upper portion of the actuator was still attached to the horizontal stabilizer while the lower portion was attached to its mount in the fuselage.

The most recent overhaul of the plane’s horizontal stabilizer actuator was completed April 21. The lock ring was not found with the wreckage, but several of the holes drilled in the clamp nut to accept the lock ring were damaged “such that they would not allow for the full insertion of the lock ring.”

“At this time, the NTSB does not know whether the lock ring was installed before the airplane impacted the water or why the lock ring was not present during the airplane examination,” the agency said.

The NTSB and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada have asked that the manufacturer draft instructions for all operators of DHC-3 aircraft to inspect the actuator to ensure that the lock ring is properly installed to prevent unthreading of the clamp nut.

Witnesses who saw the plane nose dive into Mutiny Bay helped officials identify the crash site. Still, it took over a week and three types of sonar to locate what remained of the plane due to its depth and the current of the channel where the aircraft hit the water.

Crews using remotely operated vessels and cranes recovered the majority of the plane’s wreckage from the sea floor more than 150 feet (46 meters) below the surface in late September.

The victims included a civil rights activist, a business owner, a lawyer, an engineer and the founder of a winery and his family.

Six bodies have been recovered. Those include the body of 29-year-old Gabby Hanna, which was recovered by witnesses the day of the crash, and five others found during recovery efforts.

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October 24, 2022
Costa Rica finds 2 bodies in crash of plane carrying Germans

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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Authorities in Costa Rica have found two bodies in the search for six people, apparently including the German businessman behind Gold’s Gym, who went missing when their small plane disappeared from radar just off the country’s Caribbean coast.

The Security Ministry said the bodies of one adult and one child had been found, but that the bodies had not yet been identified.

Searchers also turned up backpacks and bags, and pieces of the plane.

All five passengers were believed to be German citizens, said Security Minister Jorge Torres. The plane’s pilot was Swiss.

Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

A flight plan filed for the small plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. A man by the same name runs international chains of fitness and gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit. At least one other of those aboard the plane seemed to be a relative of Schaller, but the relation was not immediately confirmed by authorities.

Searchers are concentrating on a site about 17 miles (28 kilometers) off the coast from the Limon airport.

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile. It disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

The security minister said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

Rainer Schaller is listed as “Founder, Owner and CEO of the RSG Group,” a conglomerate of 21 fitness, lifestyle and fashion brands that operates in 48 countries and has 41,000 employees, either directly or through franchises.

The RSG Group did not respond to requests for comment on whether Schaller had been aboard the plane.

Schaller was in the news in 2010 for his role as organizer of the Berlin Love Parade techno festival. A crush at the event killed 21 people and injured more than 500. Authorities at the time said Schaller’s security failed to stop the flow of people into a tunnel when the situation was already tense at the entrance to the festival grounds.

Schaller fought back against the accusations of wrongdoing, noting that his security concept received official city approval.

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October 23, 2022
Baby reported missing in migrant capsizing off Italy island

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ROME — Rescuers searched the waters near a southern Italian island Sunday for a 2-week-old baby girl reported missing after a migrant boat capsized.

Italian authorities said the boat overturned a day earlier near the uninhabited islet of Lampione, part of the archipelago which includes Lampedusa, a tourist island where many rescued migrants are sheltered.

Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, told Italian daily newspaper Il Messaggero that Italian border police rescued the capsized boat’s other passengers.

The 39 survivors from various sub-Saharan countries included eight children and the parents of the missing newborn, Italian daily newspaper La Sicilia reported Sunday on its website.

The rescue was one of several carried out by Italian military vessels or private charity boats off Lampedusa and off Italy‘s southern mainland in recent days. Hundreds of rescued people are now being temporarily sheltered in a chronically overcrowded migrant residence on Lampedusa.

Italy has grappled for more than a decade with how to prevent Europe-bound migrants from attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in smugglers’ boats launched from Libya, Tunisia or elsewhere in north Africa.

Most of these migrants see their asylum bids fail because they are fleeing poverty, not war or persecution.

Italy’s new premier, far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, campaigned on a pledge to crack down on the migration route. She advocates a naval blockade of the southern Mediterranean rim.

“We must continue to reaffirm the need to have migratory flows entrusted to the states and to their ability to manager this phenomenon, and not to the action of traffickers and neither to that of spontaneous (action) even if it’s humanitarian,” Piantedosi told Il Messaggero.

A key partner in Meloni’s day-old coalition government is Matteo Salvini. As Italy’s interior minister a few years ago, Salvini tried to stop rescue boats from disembarking migrants in Italian ports, and was prosecuted for his efforts.

Piantedosi said he planned to discuss migrant issues later Sunday with his French counterpart and with French President Emmanuel Macron, who was attending a pro-peace conference in Rome.

———

Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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October 23, 2022
Russian warplane falls on building in Siberia, 2 pilots die

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MOSCOW — A Russian warplane crashed into a residential building in the Siberian city of Irkutsk Sunday, killing both crewmembers — the second incident in less than a week in which a combat jet has crashed in a residential area.

Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev said the plane came down on a private, two-story building housing two families. There were no casualties on the ground.

The local branch of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said the Su-30 fighter jet crashed during a training flight, sparking a fire.

A surveillance cam video posted on Russian social networks showed the fighter coming down in a nearly vertical dive. Other videos showed the building engulfed by flames and firefighters deployed to extinguish the blaze.

The crash came less than a week after another Russian warplane crashed near an apartment building in the Sea of Azov port of Yeysk and exploded in a giant fireball, killing 15 and injuring another 19.

Sunday’s crash was the 11th reported noncombat crash of a Russian warplane since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Military experts have noted that as the number of Russian military flights increased sharply during the fighting, so did the crashes.

Irkutsk, a major industrial center of more than 600,000 in eastern Siberia, is home to an aircraft factory producing the Su-30 fighter planes.

The Su-30 is a supersonic twin-engine, two-seat fighter that has been a key component of the Russian air force and also has been used by India and other countries.

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October 23, 2022
6 feared dead in small plane crash off Costa Rica

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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Six people, apparently including the German businessman behind Gold’s Gym, were feared dead Saturday after a small plane crashed into the Caribbean just off the Costa Rican coast.

All five passengers are believed to be German citizens, according to Security Minister Jorge Torres. The plane’s pilot was Swiss.

Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

A flight plan filed for the small, charter plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. A man by the same name runs international chains of fitness and gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit.

Martín Arias, Costa Rica’s assistant security minister, said no bodies had been located yet at the site, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) off the coast from the Limon airport.

“Pieces have been found that indicate that this is the aircraft,” Arias said. “Up to now we have not found any bodies dead or alive.”

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

Security Minister Torres said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

Rainer Schaller was in the news in 2010 for his role as organizer of the Berlin Love Parade techno festival. A crush at the event killed 21 people and injured more than 500. Authorities at the time said Schaller’s security failed to stop the flow of people into a tunnel when the situation was already tense at the entrance to the festival grounds.

Schaller fought back against the accusations of wrongdoing, noting that his security concept received official city approval.

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October 22, 2022
6 feared dead in small plane crash off Costa Rica

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SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Six people, apparently including a German business magnate, were feared dead Saturday after a small plane crashed into the Caribbean just off the Costa Rican coast.

All five passengers are believed to be German citizens, according to Security Minister Jorge Torres. The plane’s pilot was Swiss.

Costa Rican authorities said pieces of the twin-engine turboprop aircraft were found in the water Saturday, after the flight went missing Friday.

A flight plan filed for the small, charter plane listed Rainer Schaller as a passenger. A man by the same name runs international chains of fitness and gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit.

Martín Arias, Costa Rica’s assistant security minister, said no bodies had been located yet at the site, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) off the coast from the Limon airport.

“Pieces have been found that indicate that this is the aircraft,” Arias said. “Up to now we have not found any bodies dead or alive.”

The plane was a nine-seat Italian-made Piaggio P180 Avanti, known for its distinctive profile.

The plane disappeared from radar as it was heading to Limon, a resort town on the coast.

Security Minister Torres said the flight had set out from Mexico.

“Around six in the afternoon we received an alert about a flight coming from Mexico to the Limon airport, carrying five German passengers,” Torres said. A search started immediately but was called off temporarily due to bad weather.

Rainer Schaller was in the news in 2010 for his role as organizer of the Berlin Love Parade techno festival. A crush at the event killed 21 people and injured more than 500. Authorities at the time said Schaller’s security failed to stop the flow of people into a tunnel when the situation was already tense at the entrance to the festival grounds.

Schaller fought back against the accusations of wrongdoing, noting that his security concept received official city approval.

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October 22, 2022
Plane crashes into New Hampshire building; all on board die

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KEENE, N.H. — A small plane crashed into a building in New Hampshire, killing the two people on board and sparking a large fire on the ground, authorities said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Saturday that a single-engine Beechcraft Sierra aircraft crashed into a building north of Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene, New Hampshire on Friday evening. City officials said on their Facebook page that no one was injured in the building that was hit by the plane but that “those on the plane have perished.”

“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates,” the FAA said.

Keene Mayor Mayor George Hansel told The Associated Press that two people on the plane died but that they have not been identified. He said the the plane hit a two-story barn connected to a multi-family apartment building. All eight people were evacuated from the apartment building due to the subsequent fire and have since been relocated.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

“We are very fortunate in some ways that the plane didn’t hit a part of the building where people were,” he said. “This obviously could have been much worse but any loss of life is a tragedy.”

Shaughn Calkins told WMUR-TV that he saw the fire as he was driving.

“We were probably close to quarter of a mile away, and you could feel the heat from the fire,” Calkins said. “It was billowing, so it was a big fire.”

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October 22, 2022
Boeing crashes: Passengers’ families deemed crime victims

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FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge ruled Friday that relatives of people killed in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes are crime victims under federal law and should have been told about private negotiations over a settlement that spared Boeing from criminal prosecution.

The full impact of the ruling is not yet clear, however. The judge said the next step is to decide what remedies the families should get for not being told of the talks with Boeing.

Some relatives are pushing to scrap the government’s January 2021 settlement with Boeing, and they have expressed anger that no one in the company has been held criminally responsible.

Boeing Co., which is based in Arlington, Virginia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boeing, which misled safety regulators who approved the Max, agreed to pay $2.5 billion including a $243.6 million fine. The Justice Department agreed not to prosecute the company for conspiracy to defraud the government.

The Justice Department, in explaining why it didn’t tell families about the negotiations, argued that the relatives are not crime victims. However, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, said the crashes were a foreseeable consequence of Boeing’s conspiracy, making the relatives representatives of crime victims.

“In sum, but for Boeing’s criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA, 346 people would not have lost their lives in the crashes,” he wrote.

Naoise Connolly Ryan, whose husband died in the second Max crash, in Ethiopia, said Boeing is responsible for his death.

“Families like mine are the true victims of Boeing’s criminal misconduct, and our views should have been considered before the government gave them a sweetheart deal,” she said in a statement issued by a lawyer for the families.

The first Max crashed Indonesia in October 2018, killing 189, and another crashed five months later in Ethiopia, killing 157. All Max jets were grounded worldwide for nearly two years. They were cleared to fly again after Boeing overhauled an automated flight-control system that activated erroneously in both crashes.

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October 21, 2022
F-35 crashes at Air Force base in Utah; pilot ejected safely

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SALT LAKE CITY — An F-35 fighter jet crashed Wednesday at an Air Force base in Utah, officials said, adding that the pilot ejected and was taken to a hospital for observation.

The 388th Fighter Wing said on its Twitter account that the F-35 A Lightning II crashed at the north end of the Hill Air Force Base runway. It said the cause of the crash was unknown and would be investigated.

The 388th Fighter Wing said emergency crews both on and off the base responded to the crash.

Brock Thurgood said the pilot landed near his property near the base, KSL.com reported. Thurgood said the pilot was “walking and he was coherent,” but noted his hands were “bloodied up and he was a little banged up.”

“I don’t know how I’d be after I was in a plane crash but he was surprisingly tough,” Thurgood said.

Hill Air Force Base is located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City.

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October 19, 2022
1 killed in foggy Oregon crash involving dozens of vehicles

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This photo released by the Oregon State Police shows the scene where one person was killed in a multi-vehicle crash in heavy fog on Interstate 5 north of Eugene, Ore., Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Oregon State Police say the crashes in the southbound lanes of the interstate involved about 60 vehicles including up to 20 semi trucks. (Oregon State Police via AP)

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October 19, 2022
NTSB: Communications outage a factor in lift boat disaster

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NEW ORLEANS — An outage involving a Coast Guard marine warning system and “data gaps” in radar systems were factors in last year’s deadly capsize of an oil industry vessel during severe storms off of Louisiana’s coast, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued Tuesday.

Thirteen of the 19 people aboard the Seacor Power died after the offshore vessel capsized in the Gulf after leaving Port Fourchon. Known as a lift boat, the vessel had three legs that could be lowered to the sea floor, converting the ship to an offshore platform for servicing oil and gas facilities. It had been chartered by Talos Energy LLC for work on a Gulf platform when it was hit by high winds in rough seas and capsized on April 13, 2021.

An NTSB preliminary report had said the Seacor Power had begun to lower its stabilizing legs and was trying to turn to face heavy winds when it flipped in the Gulf of Mexico. Six people were rescued.

The NTSB said in Tuesday’s report that the captain of the Seacor Power made a “reasonable” decision to get underway the day of the disaster. But he didn’t have sufficient weather information from the lift boat company.

“Additionally, due to a Coast Guard broadcasting station outage, the SEACOR Power crew did not receive a National Weather Service Special Marine Warning notifying mariners of a severe thunderstorm that was approaching,” the report said.

Another problem: a lack of low-altitude radar data that prevented the National Weather Service from identifying and forecasting heavy winds that hit the vessel. The report suggested that the weather service, the Federal Aviation Administration and Air Force jointly consider lowering radar angles to improve coverage.

Multiple recommendations for the Coast Guard were included in the report. It suggested development of a procedure to let mariners know when navigational broadcasting is out; modification of regulations to require that lift boats be constructed for greater stability; and development of procedures to involve participation of commercial, local government and non-profit air rescue providers in rescue operations. The Coast Guard also should require that everyone employed on vessels in “coastal, Great Lakes, and ocean service” have personal locater beacon devices.

If the crew members and offshore workers aboard the SEACOR Power had been required to carry such devices, “their chances of being rescued would have been enhanced,” the report said.

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October 18, 2022
Death toll from Russian warplane crash into city rises to 15

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MOSCOW — The death toll from the crash of a Russian warplane into a Russian city rose to 15 on Tuesday, including three people who died when they jumped from a nine-story apartment building to escape a massive blaze, authorities said.

A Su-34 bomber came down Monday in the Sea of Azov port city of Yeysk after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mission, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It said both crew members bailed out safely, but the plane crashed into a residential area, igniting a huge fire as tons of fuel exploded on impact.

After hours of combing through the charred debris, authorities said 14 people, including three children, were found dead. Another 19 were hospitalized with injuries, and one of them died of severe burns at a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 15, said Anna Minkova, a vice governor of the region.

Yeysk, a city of 90,000, is home to a big Russian air base.

The Su-34 is a supersonic twin-engine bomber equipped with sophisticated sensors and weapons that has been a key strike component of the Russian air force. The aircraft has seen wide use during the war in Syria and the fighting in Ukraine.

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October 18, 2022
Mississippi River’s low water level reveals shipwreck

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BATON ROUGE — A shipwreck has emerged along the banks of the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as water levels plummet — threatening to reach record lows in some areas.

The ship, which archaeologists believe to be a ferry that sunk in the late 1800s to early 1900s, was spotted by a Baton Rouge resident walking along the shore earlier this month. The discovery is the latest to surface from ebbing waters caused by drought. During the summer, receding waters in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area revealed several skeletal remains, countless desiccated fish, a graveyard of forgotten boats and even a sunken World War II-era craft that once surveyed the lake.

“Eventually the river will come back up and (the ship) will go back underwater,” said Chip McGimsey, the Louisiana state archeologist, who has been surveying the wreck during the past two weeks. “That’s part of the reason for making the big effort to document it this time — cause she may not be there the next time.”

McGimsey believes that the ship may be the Brookhill Ferry, which likely carried people and horse-drawn wagons from one-side of the river to the other — before major bridges spanned the mighty Mississippi. Newspaper archives indicate that the ship sank in 1915 during a major storm.

But this is not the first time the low water levels have revealed the ship. McGimsey said that tiny parts of the vessel were exposed in 1990s.

“At that time the vessel was completely full of mud and there was mud all around it so only the very tip tops of the sides were visible, so (archaeologists) really didn’t see much other. They had to move a lot of dirt just to get some narrow windows in to see bits and pieces,” McGimsey said.

Today one-third of the boat, measuring 95-feet (29-meters) long, is visible on the muddy shoreline near downtown Baton Rouge.

McGimsey expects more discoveries as water levels continue to fall, having already received calls about two more possible shipwrecks.

But the unusually low water level in the lower Mississippi River, where there has been below-normal rainfall since late August, has also led to chaos — causing barges to get stuck in mud and sand, leading to waterway restrictions from the Coast Guard and disrupting river travel for shippers, recreational boaters and passengers on a cruise line.

In Baton Rouge the river rests at about 5-feet (1.5-meters) deep, according to the National Weather Service — its lowest level since 2012.

Water levels are projected to drop even further in the weeks ahead, dampening the region’s economic activity and potentially threatening jobs.

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October 17, 2022
Truck hits 2 Ole Miss students, killing 1; suspects arrested

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OXFORD, Miss. — A pickup truck struck two University of Mississippi students in a parking lot in downtown Oxford, killing one of them and injuring the other, police said.

Two suspects, both from Collierville, Tennessee, were arrested by Monday in the crash, which occurred early Sunday, authorities said.

Tristan Holland, 18, was taken into custody Sunday in Shelby County, Tennessee, on accessory after the fact. He will face extradition to Oxford, according to the Oxford Police Department.

Seth Rokitka, 24, was taken into custody Monday after investigators found his wrecked truck in Marshall County, Mississippi, between Oxford and Collierville.

The Oxford Police Department said Rokitka was charged with one count of manslaughter and one count of aggravated DUI. He is also charged with violating the duties of a driver involved in an accident that results in death or injury. He appeared before a justice court judge who set a $1 million bond.

The Associated Press left a phone message Monday for Rokitka’s attorney.

It was not immediately clear whether Holland had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Oxford police said the department received an emergency call after 1 a.m. Sunday from passersby who saw two people injured in the parking lot behind City Hall. The lot is just off the town square, near several bars and restaurants.

Oxford was busy Saturday because of the home football game between Ole Miss and Auburn.

Mayor Robyn Tannehill said the student who died was 21-year-old Walker Fielder of Madison, Mississippi. Fielder was a 2020 graduate of Jackson Academy in Jackson, Mississippi.

The injured student was transferred to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Oxford police told WRAL-TV that she is 20-year-old Blanche Williamson of Raleigh, North Carolina. Williamson graduated from Episcopal High School, a boarding school in Virginia.

“Oxford is a community that comforts those that need comforting,” Tannehill wrote Sunday on Facebook. “Perhaps that comes from practice and from times of trials that we wish we could pray away, but nevertheless, Oxford always steps up when things are hard and when people need us. These two families need us. They need our prayers.”

Oxford police said Monday that Rokitka and Holland had no interactions with either victim before striking them with the truck, and there were no fights or altercations. Police also said Rokitka and Holland did not provide aid or call 911.

University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in an email to faculty, staff and students that the two suspects are not affiliated with the university.

“It is a painful and distressing development for our campus community, and it is understandable that emotions are high with many unanswered questions about what happened,” Boyce wrote.

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October 17, 2022
Russian warplane crashes into Sea of Azov city, killing 2

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In this handout photo taken from video released by OSTOROZHNO NOVOSTI, flames and smoke rise from the scene where a warplane crashed into a residential area in Yeysk, Russia, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. The Russian military says one of its warplanes crashed in the port of Yeysk on the Sea of Azov after experiencing engine failure. The Russian Defense Ministry said that a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area in Yeysk and caused a fire on Monday. (OSTOROZHNO NOVOSTI via AP)

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October 17, 2022