Latest Rescue Stories
By Jane Sutton MIAMI (Reuters) - A boat carrying nine people sank off Florida's Atlantic Coast, the vessel's operator said in a distress call to Coast Guard crews who searched on Monday for the missing boaters. Squalls from Tropical Storm Alberto reduced visibility for the search crews, but it was unclear whether the sinking was weather-related, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said. The boat operator described the sinking in a 63-minute radio call to the Coast Guard late on Sunday...
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian rescuers concerned about causing another cave-in spent all Monday preparing for the final 4.5-foot dig to free two gold miners trapped a half-mile underground for the past 13 days. Rescuers plan to dig vertically up to the trapped miners from a horizontal tunnel, but need to ensure they do not cause rockfalls on top of themselves, Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said on Monday. Miners Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, were...
By James Macharia JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Rescue teams braved ferocious winds on Thursday searching for 26 crew members missing after a bulk carrier ferrying iron ore sank in rough seas off South Africa's eastern coast. Six of 33 crew members on the Greek-owned Alexandros T were rescued on Wednesday night shortly after the vessel went down off Port Alfred after taking on water in strong winds, rescue officials said. On Thursday, rescuers in a South African military plane spotted a...
By Laura ZuckermanSALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Last October, avid mountaineer Tim Dopp and his teenage son set out for what they expected would be a day's climb of the highest peak in central Idaho's rugged Sawtooth Range.It was the beginning of a two-day ordeal in which the Boise man and his son would be stranded on a narrow ledge near the summit of the 10,751-foot peak wondering if they would survive sub-freezing temperatures.Summoned by a call from Dopp on his cell phone, five government...
By Laura ZuckermanSALMON, Idaho -- Last October, avid mountaineer Tim Dopp and his teenage son set out for what they expected would be a day's climb of the highest peak in central Idaho's rugged Sawtooth Range.It was the beginning of a two-day ordeal in which the Boise man and his son would be stranded on a narrow ledge near the summit of the 10,751-foot (3,277-meter) peak wondering if they would survive sub-freezing temperatures.Summoned by a call from Dopp on his cell phone, five government...
By Catherine Bremer SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (Reuters) - A struggling operation to save 65 Mexican miners trapped in a coal mine faced new obstacles on Thursday as underground air quality and digging conditions worsened. Rescuers came across piles of rubble from collapsed roofs where two of the men were working when a huge gas explosion ripped through the Pasta de Conchos mine on Sunday. Since the collapse there has been no contact with the miners, who only had six hours' worth of...
By Catherine Bremer SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (Reuters) - Frantic efforts to rescue 65 Mexican miners trapped in deep coal shafts for two days dragged on Tuesday and relatives of the men broke down in desperation at the slow progress. About 60 rescue workers, mainly local miners, were digging with picks and shovels at the Pasta de Conchos mine in the northern state of Coahuila to reach the men. "The work is going on in very difficult conditions. Unfortunately, the situation is...
By Tim Gaynor SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (Reuters) - Rescue workers with picks and shovels dug frantically on Monday to reach 65 miners trapped underground after a blast at a Mexican coal mine but there was little hope of finding the men alive. Soldiers and civil protection workers had been unable to make contact with the miners and, more than a day after the gas explosion in a remote, semi-desert region, the workers' six-hour oxygen tanks had almost certainly run out. Scores of...
By Marty GrahamSAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Some of the biggest surf since the El Nino winter of 1997 pounded the Southern California coast this week, damaging piers, forcing beach closures and overwhelming even the most experienced surfers.Driven by a Pacific storm near Hawaii, sets of waves up to 20 feet tall on Wednesday swept San Diego-area beaches, where lifeguards on jet skis pulled more than 100 struggling surfers out of danger on the first day of winter."There's a lot of machismo in...
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Scores of people are missing, feared dead after an Indonesian ferry capsized in rough seas off Papua in the east of the vast archipelago, local officials said on Sunday. So far just 15 survivors have been found, but rescue officials said witnesses had reported seeing more than 100 on board when the vessel went down. "I think the possibility of finding them alive is thin now. All members of the rescue team had returned to the base," Sutarjo, also from the local search and...
