TORTURE PROBE LAUNCHED AFTER 13 SIBLINGS HELD CAPTIVE IN US HOME

LOS ANGELES: A California couple has been arrested after authorities found a dozen of their malnourished children held captive in their home, with one as young as two and some shackled to beds in the dark, officials said on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). Authorities launched a torture probe and set bail at $9 million for the parents after a 17-year-old girl escaped the house on Sunday and called 911 using a cell phone found inside. She was so “emaciated” that officers said they originally thought she was only 10 years old. The 13 victims who had been held captive at the Perris, California home range in age from two to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. They were not named. “Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner,” the statement added. The sheriff’s office said “the victims were provided with food and beverages after they claimed to be starving.” The parents, 57-year-old David Allen Turpin and 49-year-old Louise Anna Turpin, were booked on torture and child endangerment charges.

EIGHT BODIES FOUND AS ‘ NKOREAN’ BOAT WASHES UP IN JAPAN

TOKYO: Eight bodies have been recovered from a wrecked boat that washed ashore in central Japan, authorities said on Tuesday, suspecting the vessel is the latest in a series of North Korean “ghost ships.” Coastguard rescuers found the corpses of seven men inside the wreckage of the boat that washed up in Kanazawa, central Japan, last week, senior police official Hiroshi Abe told AFP. The badly decomposed remains of another man were discovered around 15 meters (50 feet) from the boat, added Abe. “It is difficult to identify the bodies as they had begun to decompose,” he said, noting that rough seas had prevented officials from investigating the boat thoroughly. “We spotted a tobacco box which carries some Korean letters, but we can’t confirm the boat came from North Korea,” he said. However, coastguard officials believe it is the latest North Korean fishing vessel to wash up on the coast, following a record number of such cases last year.

4 INJURED IN SUSPECTED GAS EXPLOSION IN BELGIUM’S ANTWERP

BRUSSSELS, Belgium: Fourteen people were taken to the hospital, including one in critical condition, after an explosion collapsed or severely damaged buildings in Belgium’s port city of Antwerp, said police, who ruled out terrorism as a cause. Belgium’s French-language broadcaster RTBF reported that a gas leak was suspected as the cause of the blast at around 9:30 p.m. (2030 GMT) Monday, though it had yet to be confirmed. Police said in a statement that 14 people were taken to hospitals, including one in critical condition and five in a serious condition. They said emergency services pulled several people from the debris of the buildings but could not rule out finding others as searches continued. Police said the explosion was not related to terrorism, while Belgium has been on a high state of alert since 16 people were killed in suicide bombings in the capital Brussels in March 2016. Several buildings either collapsed or were badly damaged in the blast, police said.

DEADLY FUGU FISH FLUB PROMPTS JAPAN EMERGENCY WARNING

TOKYO: A Japanese city has activated an emergency warning system to alert residents to avoid eating locally purchased blowfish, after a mix-up saw toxic parts of the delicacy go on sale. A supermarket in Gamagori sold five packages of fugu fish without removing the livers, which can contain a deadly poison. Three of the potentially lethal specimens have been located, but the other two remain at large, local official Koji Takayanagi told Agence France-Presse. Fugu is one of Japan’s most expensive winter delicacies, and is often served in thin slices of sashimi or hot pot. But the fish’s skins, intestines, ovaries and livers contain a poison called tetrodotoxin that can be fatal. The part of the fish that contains the deadly poison differs from one kind of fugu to another. Japanese chefs are required to obtain a special permit to prepare the fish, but several people in Japan are killed each year by incorrectly prepared fugu, with dozens more suffering non-fatal side effects, according to the health ministry. “Eating a blowfish liver can paralyze motor nerves, and in a serious case cause respiratory arrest leading to death,” regional officials said in a warning statement.