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Naples, Florida plane crash kills two on US highway; officials investigate

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Smoke and fire fills the air after a plane crashes on Interstate 75 near Naples, Florida (Aljazeera)

A private passenger jet crash-landed on a busy highway in Florida in the United States and collided with two vehicles on the ground in a fiery accident that killed two people, authorities and witnesses said.

Moments before the jet with five people on board slammed into the highway on Friday, the pilot calmly told an airport controller that the aircraft “was not going to make the runway” since it had lost both engines.

The jet was bound for the airport in Naples when it tried to make an emergency landing on Interstate 75. But witnesses say it collided with a vehicle – the wing of the plane dragging a car before slamming into a wall. An explosion followed, with flames and black smoke rising from the scene.

Two people were killed, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, but it was not immediately known whether the victims had been passengers on the plane or were on the ground.

Federal authorities have launched an investigation into the crash near Naples, just north of where the interstate heads east towards Fort Lauderdale along what is known as Alligator Alley.

The plane had taken off from an airport at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, at about 1pm. It was scheduled to land in Naples around the time of the crash, Naples Airport Authority spokesperson Robin King said, when pilot contacted the tower requesting an emergency landing.

“Got that. Emergency. Clear to land. Runway. Two. Three,” the air traffic controller responded to the pilot, in audio obtained by The Associated Press.  “We’re clear to land, but we’re not gonna make the runway. We’ve lost both engines,” the pilot calmly replied.

The tower lost contact, and then airport workers saw the smoke from the interstate just a few miles away, King said.  King said they sent fire trucks with special foam to the scene, and three of the five people on board were taken from the wreckage alive.

Brianna Walker saw the wing of the plane drag the car in front of hers and slam into the wall.  “It’s seconds that separated us from the car in front of us,” she said. “The wing pulverised this one car.”

Walker and her friend spotted the plane moments before it hit the highway, allowing her friend to pull over before the crash. “The plane was over our heads by inches,” she said. “It took a hard right and skid across the highway.”

According to the FlightAware aircraft tracker, the plane was operated by Hop-a-Jet Worldwide Charter based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The aircraft had been scheduled to fly back to Fort Lauderdale on Friday afternoon.

Federal authorities said a preliminary report about the cause of the crash can be expected in 30 days.

(Aljazeera)



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Foreign News

At least 13 people killed in Nigeria stampedes at charity events

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At least 13 people, including four children, have been killed in two incidents in Nigeria as large crowds gathered to collect food and clothing distributed at annual Christmas events, police say.

In the capital, Abuja, at least 10 people died on Saturday and many more were injured in a scramble to receive gifts of charity being distributed by the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama district.

“This unfortunate event, which took place around 6:30am [05:30 GMT], resulted in a stampede that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, including four children, and left eight others with varying degrees of injuries,” said Josephine Adeh, a police spokesperson.

In a separate incident in Okija in Anambra State in southern Nigeria, three people were killed in a crush at a charity event organised by a philanthropist, state police said.

“The event had not even started when the rush began,” police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. There could be more deaths recorded as officers investigate, he said.

In both incidents, the victims were mostly women and children who were trampled as crowds tried to reach the provisions being offered.

[Aljazeera]

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Nine-year-old among five killed in attack on German Christmas market

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A nine-year-old child and four adults have been killed, and more than 200 injured after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, officials say.

At least 41 people were critically injured after the incident which lasted around three minutes, police said.

The arrested suspect has been named in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had worked as a doctor.

Reiner Haseloff, the premier of Saxony-Anhalt state, said a preliminary investigation suggested the alleged attacker was acting alone.

He added that he could not rule out more deaths due to the number of injured.

The suspect is currently being questioned and prosecutors expect to charge him with murder and attempted murder in due course, the head of the local prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.

Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens added that the investigation was ongoing but suggested the background to the crime “could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.

The suspected attacker has no known links to Islamist extremism – social media and posts online appear to suggest he had been critical of Islam.

Footage from the scene showed numerous emergency services vehicles attending while people lay on the ground.

Further footage then emerged of armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground by a stationary vehicle.

Unverified video on social media purports to show a car ploughing into the crowd at the market.

City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who travelled to the city on Saturday, described the attack as a “dreadful tragedy” as “so many people were injured and killed with such brutality” in a place that is supposed to be “joyful”.

He told reporters that there were serious concerns for those who had been critically injured – which German media reports is in the dozens – and that “all resources” will be allocated to investigating the suspect behind the attack.

There would be a memorial service for the victims at the Magdeburg Cathedral later on Saturday, he added.

[BBC]

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Irish parliament elects first female speaker

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Verona Murphy said politics is "the last blood sport" [BBC]

Independent Wexford TD Verona Murphy will be the next Ceann Comhairle (speaker) of Dáil Éireann.

She will become the first woman to ever hold the role after being elected by her fellow TDs (members of the Irish parliment).

Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness and Seán Ó Fearghaíl as well as Aengus Ó Snodaigh from Sinn Féin also ran for the position.

Politicians in the Republic of Ireland met for the first time since the general election on Wednesday.

[BBC]

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