Rescuers Search for Dozens Missing in Indonesia Ferry Sinking

Rescue teams search for victims at Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Tuesday. (AFP)
Rescue teams search for victims at Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Tuesday. (AFP)
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Rescuers Search for Dozens Missing in Indonesia Ferry Sinking

Rescue teams search for victims at Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Tuesday. (AFP)
Rescue teams search for victims at Lake Toba in North Sumatra on Tuesday. (AFP)

Dozens of passengers were still missing on Tuesday after their ferry capsized in Indonesia's Lake Toba.

Police said in a statement that 18 people were rescued and one body was recovered, unchanged from figures released by disaster and police officials after the ferry sank on Monday evening.

It released the names of 94 people confirmed as missing but said the figure was expected to rise as information from relatives is compiled.

About 130 people have been reported missing by relatives in the area but it was not clear if they were all on the vessel, authorities said.

Cellphone video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the waters shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough waters.

Anguished relatives waited by the shore for news as several hundred personnel fanned out across the huge body of water on Sumatra island.

"Whether they were all passengers on the boat or not, we don’t know," transport ministry official Sri Hardianto told AFP. "We haven't found any new passengers today."

Budiawan, the head of the search and rescue agency in the nearby city of Medan, said the overcrowded boat was filled with an estimated 150 people and 55 motorbikes.

Officials are relying on reports from the families of victims and survivors to estimate the number of victims. Budiawan, who uses one name, said the vessel did not have a passenger manifest.

It was believed to be operating illegally. It was not clear if any foreigners were on board or what caused it to capsize.

Survivor Rahman Saputra said trouble started about halfway into the 40-minute trip from an island in the middle of the lake to shore.

"The waves started getting rough and the wind picked up. Then the boat started shaking," he told Kompas TV.

"Many passengers tried to get out but a lot were trapped inside the boat. Not long after that it capsized."

Among the grief-stricken relatives waiting by the shore was Juwita, a survivor who lost hold of her child in the confusion.

"It happened so quickly," she told TVOne. "I wanted to grab my child but I couldn't. There were three people stacked on top of him."

The search was called off Monday evening due to bad weather and low visibility, but it resumed Tuesday morning with about 350 personnel involved.

Hardianto said operations would continue for at least a week given the size of the search area.

The enormous lake fills the crater of a super-volcano that is believed to have erupted tens of thousands of years ago.

It is one of the deepest lakes in the world and covers some 1,145 square kilometers (440 square miles).

Maritime accidents are common in Indonesia, a 17,000-island archipelago nation where many depend on ferries and other boats to get around, despite lax safety standards.

Last week a traditional wooden boat with about 40 people capsized in the island of Sulawesi, killing more than a dozen people.

In 2015 a ferry sank near Sulawesi island and left 78 people dead.



Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
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Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, ⁠Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media ⁠said.

The FSB said a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. ⁠Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alexeyev's boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia's delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.


Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
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Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China has killed eight people, Chinese state media reported Sunday, increasing the total number of fatalities by one.

State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities.

Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm's legal representative had been taken into custody.

The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometers west of Beijing, AFP reported.

Xinhua said clean-up operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the site of the explosion.

Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.
In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.


Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.