17 Missing in Indonesia Fishing Boat, Cargo Ship Collision

A rescue team evacuates locals on an inflatable boat during a flood after heavy rain in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 1 2020. (Antara Foto/Saptono/via Reuters)
A rescue team evacuates locals on an inflatable boat during a flood after heavy rain in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 1 2020. (Antara Foto/Saptono/via Reuters)
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17 Missing in Indonesia Fishing Boat, Cargo Ship Collision

A rescue team evacuates locals on an inflatable boat during a flood after heavy rain in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 1 2020. (Antara Foto/Saptono/via Reuters)
A rescue team evacuates locals on an inflatable boat during a flood after heavy rain in Bekasi, near Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan. 1 2020. (Antara Foto/Saptono/via Reuters)

A collision between a cargo ship and a fishing boat left 17 people missing off Indonesia’s main island of Java, officials said Sunday.

The fishing boat with 32 aboard capsized after hitting the Indonesian bulk carrier MV Habco Pioneer late Saturday off Indramayu district, said the head of the Search and Rescue Agency, Deden Ridwansyah.

Fifteen were rescued from the fishing boat and local fishermen and the navy were searching for the others, said Wisnu Wardana, a spokesperson for the sea transportation directorate general.

The cargo ship, which was loaded with crude oil from Borneo island, was moored after its propeller got caught in the fishing net, Ridwansyah said.

Also Sunday, rescue officials said that at least 23 people were killed and two are still missing after flash floods swept an island in Indonesia's easternmost province.

Hours before people woke to celebrate Easter, torrential rain unleashed flash floods in the Catholic-majority Flores Island.

Mud inundated homes, while bridges and roads in the eastern end of the island were destroyed, according to National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati.

Rescuers are struggling to reach the remote and worst-hit area in East Flores regency.

"The only access there is by the sea from Adonara Island, but the rains -- as well as strong waves -- have prevented any crossing," Jati told AFP on Sunday.

Extreme weather is expected to continue in the coming week, he added.

Separately on Sunday, major floods also killed two people in Bima city in the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara, according to the disaster agency.



China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
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China Discovers Cluster of New Mpox Strain

A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A woman walks on the Youyi Bridge at the Liangmahe river in Beijing, China on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Chinese health authorities said on Thursday they had detected the new mutated mpox strain clade Ib as the viral infection spreads to more countries after the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency last year.
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said it had found a cluster outbreak of the Ib subclade that started with the infection a foreigner who has a history of travel and residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported.
Four further cases have been found in people infected after close contact with the foreigner. The patients' symptoms are mild and include skin rash and blisters.
Mpox spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. Although usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases.
WHO last August declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that spread to neighboring countries.
The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But the clade Ib variant appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
The variant has spread from DRC to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the emergency declaration from the WHO.
China said in August last year it would monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox.
The country's National Health Commission said mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school, and sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.