Several Dead after Light Planes Collided in Australia

Police and firefighters stand near where a few people have died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)
Police and firefighters stand near where a few people have died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)
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Several Dead after Light Planes Collided in Australia

Police and firefighters stand near where a few people have died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)
Police and firefighters stand near where a few people have died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)

Three men died after two light planes collided midair and crashed into a forested area southwest of Sydney on Saturday.

Australian police, fire and ambulance crews reached the two wreckage sites, located in a semirural bushland area about 55 miles southwest of Sydney, on foot. One plane had burst into flames on impact, The AP reported.

New South Wales Police Acting Superintendent Timothy Calman confirmed that a Cessna 182 carrying two people collided with an ultralight aircraft from a nearby airfield carrying one.

Further details of the victims have not been disclosed.

Witnesses saw “debris coming from the sky” and tried to help, but “there was probably not much that could’ve been done,” Calman said to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . He noted both crashes, about one kilometer apart, were “not survivable.”

NSW Ambulance Inspector Joseph Ibrahim, part of the emergency response team, said to the ABC, “unfortunately, there was nothing they could’ve done.”

The cause of the crash will be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.



Still No Snow on Japan’s Mount Fuji, Breaking Record

Mount Fuji is seen from Enoshima island, in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 2021. Picture taken August 11, 2021. (Reuters)
Mount Fuji is seen from Enoshima island, in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 2021. Picture taken August 11, 2021. (Reuters)
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Still No Snow on Japan’s Mount Fuji, Breaking Record

Mount Fuji is seen from Enoshima island, in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 2021. Picture taken August 11, 2021. (Reuters)
Mount Fuji is seen from Enoshima island, in Fujisawa, south of Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 2021. Picture taken August 11, 2021. (Reuters)

Japan's Mount Fuji remained snow-less as of Monday -- the latest date that its majestic slopes have been bare since records began 130 years ago, the weather agency said.

The volcano's snowcap begins forming on October 2 on average, and last year snow was first detected there on October 5.

But because of warm weather, this year no snowfall has yet been observed on Japan's highest mountain, said Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster at Kofu Local Meteorological Office.

That marks the latest date since comparative data became available in 1894, he said beating the previous record of October 26 -- seen twice, in 1955 and then in 2016.

"Temperatures were high this summer, and these high temperatures continued into September, deterring cold air" which brings snow, Katsuta told AFP.

He agreed that climate change may have a degree of impact on the delay in the snowcap's formation.

Japan's summer this year was the joint hottest on record -- equaling the level seen in 2023 -- as extreme heatwaves fueled by climate change engulfed many parts of the globe.

Mount Fuji is covered in snow for most of the year, but during the July-September hiking season, more than 220,000 visitors trudge up its steep, rocky slopes.

Many climb through the night to see the sunrise from the 3,776-meter (12,388-foot) summit.

Fewer climbers tackled Mount Fuji this year however after Japanese authorities introduced an entry fee and a daily cap on numbers to fight overtourism.

The symmetrical mountain has been immortalized in countless artworks, including Hokusai's "Great Wave".

It last erupted around 300 years ago.