Recovery of bodies to begin despite risks
White Island: New Zealand police have said they plan to recover bodies from White Island – where a volcanic eruption killed at least eight people – this morning.
The recovery mission will go ahead despite the risk of another eruption, police said.
“Today is less safe than yesterday, and the day before that,” volcanologist Dr Graham Leonard said.
At least eight people are thought to be on the island following the eruption on Monday. All are presumed dead.
Police said they were planning a “high-speed recovery” of the bodies.
Eight others have already been confirmed dead, and 20 are in intensive care after suffering burns when the volcano erupted as tourists were visiting.
Geonet, New Zealand’s geological hazard information site, said yesterday there was a 50-60 per cent chance of another eruption within the next 24 hours.
But families of the victims are growing increasingly desperate for the bodies to be recovered.
“We are now living with a growing sense of desperation to bring home those that we know are there,” Whakatane Mayor Judy Turner told reporters. “The frustration of those families most affected is completely understandable.”
Murmansk: A fire on Russia’s only aircraft carrier has injured two service members, military officials said.
The blaze on the
Admiral Kuznetsov ship has been contained and the injured men have received medical attention, officials from Russia’s Northern Fleet said.
The Admiral Kuznetsov was docked in Murmansk in northern Russia for an upgrade when the fire started amid welding work.
Crew members and civilian specialists were aboard the ship at the time but have since been evacuated, dockyard representatives said.
The damage to the ship will be assessed later, the chief of the United Shipbuilding Corporation said.
The Admiral Kuznetsov was used in the Mediterranean Sea to launch carrier-borne Russian combat missions on targets in Syria.
The fire is the second major emergency on the ship since it docked for repairs in April 2018.
In October 2018, a crane collapsed on the carrier’s deck, injuring four people.
Paris: France is preparing to deport an Argentine former policeman, Mario Sandoval, accused of torture and crimes against humanity during Argentina’s military dictatorship in 1976-1983.
Argentine prosecutors based their extradition request on one case – that of student Hernan Abriata, who disappeared in detention in 1976.
Mr Sandoval, 66, denies the charges, but a top French court has given a final ruling, rejecting his appeal.
He is accused in some 500 cases.
Those cases relate to murder, torture and kidnapping.