عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Russian Rescued after 67 Days Adrift in Waters Fringing Pacific

Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific. (AFP file)
Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific. (AFP file)
TT
TT

Russian Rescued after 67 Days Adrift in Waters Fringing Pacific

Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific. (AFP file)
Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific. (AFP file)

Russian authorities said on Tuesday they had rescued a man whose tiny boat drifted for 67 days since August in waters edging the northwestern Pacific, but his brother and nephew died during the ordeal.

Social media images showed a thin, bearded man wearing a hooded jacket and orange emergency vest in a catamaran-like sailboat flying a red flag from a small pole.

"On Oct 14, a vessel was discovered in the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk," legal authorities in Russia's Far East said on the Telegram messaging app, referring to waters that sprawl over 1.58 mln sq km (610,000 sq miles).

"Two people died, one survived," added the regional prosecutor's office charged with handling transport issues. "He is receiving medical assistance."

The boat with the man and bodies aboard was finally sighted by fishermen near the village of Ust-Khayruzovo, off the coast of the Kamchatka peninsula, the post added.

Authorities did not immediately identify the voyagers.

Russia's SHOT Telegram channel said the boat was found about 1,000 km (621 miles) from its initial destination.

The legal authorities said two men, accompanied by the 15-year-old son of one, set sail on Aug. 9 from a cape in Khabarovsk Krai in the region, headed for the town of Okha on Sakhalin island.

"After a while, contact with them was lost, their location remained unknown," they added.

The Baza Telegram channel close to Russia's security services said the survivor, aged 46, was taken to hospital in serious condition, after his 49-year-old brother and the teenager had died while adrift.

A month-long search after the boat went astray proved unsuccessful, it added.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
TT
TT

Firefighters Battle a Wildfire Burning Out of Control on the Greek Island of Chios

A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS
A firefighting helicopter during firefighting operations on Chios Island, Greece, 24 June 2025. EPA/KOSTAS KOURGIAS

Hundreds of firefighters backed up by aircraft were battling a wildfire burning out of control for the third day on the eastern Aegean island of Chios Tuesday, with authorities issuing multiple evacuation orders.

Towering walls of flames tore through forest and agricultural land on the island, where authorities have declared a state of emergency and have sent firefighting reinforcements from Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and the nearby island of Lesbos, said the Associated Press.

By Tuesday morning, the fire department said 444 firefighters with 85 vehicles were tackling the blaze on scattered fronts. Eleven helicopters and two water-dropping planes were providing air support.

Emergency services have issued evacuation orders for villages and settlements in the area since Sunday, when fires broke out near the island’s main town. The fire department has sent an arson investigation team to Chios to examine the cause of the blaze.

“We are faced with simultaneous fires in multiple, geographically unconnected parts of the island — a pattern that cannot be considered coincidental,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Giannis Kefalogiannis said Monday from Chios. Authorities, he said, were “very seriously examining the possibility of an organized criminal act, in other words arson.”

The minister said police forces on the island had been reinforced, while military patrols had been doubled.

“Whoever thinks that they can play with the lives of citizens and cause chaos with premeditated actions will be led to court,” Kefalogiannis said. “Arson is a serious crime and will be dealt with as such.”

Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.