Foreign News
Powerful cyclone kills at least 31 as it tears through Madagascar port
At least 31 people have died after a powerful cyclone struck Madagascar, says the disaster authority in the Indian Ocean island.
Cyclone Gezani made landfall on Tuesday, hitting the island’s main port, Toamasina. Madagascar’s disaster management office said there was “total chaos” – reporting that houses collapsed in the impact zone, where the bodies were found.
Neighbourhoods were plunged into darkness as power lines snapped, while trees were uprooted and roofs ripped off.
“What happened is a disaster, nearly 75% of the city of Toamasina was destroyed,” the country’s military leader Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who seized power in October, told the AFP news agency.
“The current situation exceeds Madagascar’s capabilities alone,” he added.
The cyclone’s landfall is likely to have been one of the most intense recorded around the city in the satellite era, according to the CMRS cyclone forecaster on France’s Reunion island, AFP reports.
The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management said many were killed when houses collapsed. Cyclone Gezani hit Toamasina – the country’s second-largest city – with winds reaching 250 km/hour (155 mph).
“It’s total chaos, 90% of house roofs have been blown off, entirely or in part,” the head of disaster management at the Action Against Hunger aid agency, Rija Randrianarisoa, told AFP.
Madagascar’s disaster management office has evacuated dozens of injured people and hundreds of residents from a district around Toamasina, home to 400,000 people.
Residents in and around Toamasina described scenes of chaos as the cyclone made landfall. “I have never experienced winds this violent… The doors and windows are made of metal, but they are being violently shaken,” Harimanga Ranaivo told the Reuters news agency.
Gezani is the second cyclone to hit Madagascar this year. It comes 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia killed 14 and displaced over 31,000 people, according to the UN’s humanitarian office.
Ahead of the cyclone’s arrival, officials shuttered schools and rushed to prepare emergency shelters.
Madagascar’s meteorological service said on Wednesday morning that Gezani had weakened to a moderate tropical storm and had moved westward inland, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Antananarivo.
“Gezani will cross the central highlands from east to west today, before moving out to sea into the Mozambique Channel this evening or tonight,” the service said.
Cyclone season in the Indian Ocean around Madagascar normally lasts from November to April and sees around a dozen storms each year, AFP reports.
[BBC]
North Korea has cancelled the Pyongyang marathon for unspecified reasons, a tour agency linked to the event has said.
British-owned Koryo Tours, which describes itself as the official partner of the marathon, said on Monday that it had received notice of the cancellation from North Korea’s athletics association.
A message it attributed to the association said the marathon was being cancelled “due to some reasons”.
The annual event was established in 1981 to celebrate the birth of North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung. The 2026 race was set to take place on 5 April.
The message, purportedly from the North Korea athletics association’s general secretary, thanked “all the Elite Marathoners and Amateur Runners of the world who are interested in Pyongyang International Marathon”.
The message gave no further explanation on what the reasons for the cancellation were.
Koryo Tours said it understood the decision was final and had been taken “at a level above the organisers of the event itself”.
It said it would be seeking clarification on the circumstances surrounding the decision.
The tour company added that neither organisers nor event partners were involved in making the decision, and said it recognised “this announcement will be disappointing to many runners who had already registered or were planning to participate”.
Koryo Tours, based in Beijing, China, offers several marathon packages to foreigners, departing from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang.
Packages start from €2,190 ($2,529; £1,894) for 2.5 nights in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, including a marathon place and “highlights” of the capital and tickets were sold out this year, according to the agency’s website.
It said all deposits paid will be returned and runners have the option to retain their deposit for a future event or North Korea tour.
A date for the 2027 marathon has not yet been set.
The event had only returned last year after it was suspended for five consecutive years due to the Covid pandemic.
It is open to both amateur and some professional athletes and offers several race distances – 5km (3.1 miles), 10km (6.2 miles), half marathon (21.1km; 13.1 miles) or full marathon (42.2km; 26.2 miles).
[BBC]
Twenty-three people have been rescued by helicopter crews in Ontario, Canada, after the ice shelf they were standing on broke, sending the group floating into Lake Huron.
Ontario Provincial Police said on social media that the rescue began around noon (16:00 GMT) on Sunday after “winds and current moved the ice shelf away from shore” approximately 2km (1.2 miles).
The rescue involved two helicopters making multiple trips to pluck people off the shelf as it continued to fracture into more pieces in the Owen Sound, about 200km north-west of Toronto.
One member of the group said that he only realised the ice he was fishing on had detached from shore when he noticed that his GPS showed him moving.
Members of the rescued group described harrowing moments, with several of them becoming partially submerged in the cold waters as they sought out the thickest ice on the floe, or sheet.
“I looked at my GPS. We were moving,” fisherman Kevin Fox wrote, identifying himself on Facebook as one of those who were caught up in the incident. “I turned around and saw waves forming behind us.”
He said that he and several others started running towards a route that they hoped still connected to shore.
“We decided to run toward one side of the bay, but when we got there the ice had already separated from shore. We turned and ran the other way, but the ice there was breaking apart too,” he wrote.
Some started phoning their families, said Fox, adding: “It’s something I will never forget – seeing grown men crying while saying goodbye to the people they love.”
Fellow fisherman Alfie How told The Owen Sound Sun Times that they eventually “just sat down as a group and said this could be the end”.
Fox told the paper that the rescue occurred during high wind, and the group was concerned that the helicopters would not be able to fly.
“It was being eroded,” Fox said. “It kept getting smaller, and smaller.”
Police say several members of the group suffered hypothermia, but that everyone was expected to make a full recovery.
“Great teamwork and a quick response by all involved,” police added.
Last month in the US state of Vermont, police rescued a group of ice skaters who had also become trapped on floating ice.
Using kayaks and ferry boats, rescuers brought the group back from the icy Lake Champlain.
Officials warn that ice fishing conditions can change rapidly during the relatively warm daylight hours.
[BBC]
At least 23 people have been killed in Nairobi after heavy rain overnight caused severe flooding in Kenya’s capital city.
Police said about 30 people had been rescued but many others drowned after being swept into rivers – some have been electrocuted.
Kenya’s military has been deployed to help people trapped inside their cars as police described widespread damage to properties as well as road closures.
Several flights bound for Nairobi Airport had to be cancelled or diverted to the coastal city of Mombasa.
“The torrential rains have led to significant flooding, unfortunately resulting in 23 fatalities so far, the destruction of property, road closures, and the displacement of residents,” police said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
[BBC]
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