Indonesia calls off search for Spaniards in boat sinking

Indonesia calls off search for Spaniards in boat sinking
Iceland raises volcano alert to red after signs of eruption
Ngap Sayot ‘tenggelam’
SMK SHOAW juara ragbi Festival Kuching
Lelaki nyaris maut, kenderaan terbabas ke curam setinggi 10 meter
Wanita diragut depan pejabat

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 06:49 PM PDT

JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities called off their search for two Spanish men on Saturday (Aug 23), finding no sign of them one week after their tour boat sank in central Indonesia.

The boat carrying 25 people departed from the island of Lombok near Bali and was headed east toward Komodo Island, a popular tourist destination, when it hit a reef and later sank in stormy weather on August 16. The 18 other foreign tourists on board, as well as four Indonesian crew and one guide, survived the horrific ordeal.

A team with three rescue boats and three fishing vessels combed the seas around several islands in the area for the final day of the search, to no avail.

"We found no sign of the men at all. There are many fishermen in the area looking out for them, and they will continue to do so, even though we've ended our official search," local search and rescue chief Budiawan, who goes by one name, told AFP.

"Of course we'll come back out if there is any sign of them."

Indonesian authorities were unable to confirm the men's full names, while Spain's foreign ministry identified one as 43-year-old lawyer Victor Garcia Montes from Seville, according to Spanish media reports.

The two men had been with a group of 10 others who swam some five kilometres (three miles) to the volcanic island of Sangeang. The 10 reached the island, where some drank their own urine and ate leaves until they were rescued the following day. Another group of 13 people who went out with the vessel's small lifeboat survived. They had to switch between swimming and sitting from more than 40 hours as the boat could hold only seven at a time.

All survivors were treated on the central Indonesian island of Sumbawa.

The foreigners rescued were from New Zealand, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy.

Komodo is one of several islands that make up the Komodo National Park, a protected area. Its eponymous lizards are a major tourist attraction that grow up to three metres (10 feet) long and have a venomous bite.

Indonesia relies heavily on boats to connect its more than 17,000 islands but has a poor maritime safety record. Boat sinkings involving foreign tourists, however, are rare.- AFP

Iceland raises volcano alert to red after signs of eruption

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 05:11 PM PDT

REYKJAVIK: Iceland raised its alert over the nation's largest volcanic system to red on Saturday (Aug 23), banning all air traffic in the area, after detecting a small sub-glacial eruption.

A major explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano could signal a replay of the global travel chaos triggered when another Icelandic peak blew four years ago, creating a massive ash cloud across Europe.

"There is an ongoing eruption beneath the glacial surface, probably a small eruption which has not been enough to melt the ice cap," Iceland Met Office official Theodor Hervasson told AFP.

Police said a number of tourists were being evacuated in an area located north of the Bardarbunga volcano, which lies in southeast Iceland. The authorities said they had decided not to evacuate residents of nearby areas, but encouraged them to be alert and have their mobile phones switched on at all times.

Iceland had raised its aviation alert to orange on Monday after Bardarbunga kicked into seismic action with the biggest earthquake registered since 1996. However police said on Saturday that there was no sign of a change at the surface of the erupting area and that the ice layer was between 150 and 400 metres (500 and 1,300 feet) thick.

'ERUPTION MINOR'

"The eruption is considered a minor event at this point," the national police commission said in a statement.

"Because of pressure from the glacier cap it is uncertain whether the eruption will stay sub-glacial or not," the statement said.

There are fears that a major eruption would melt the glacier but police said that for the moment there was no indication of a flooding risk.

The eruption of Eyjafjoell, a smaller volcano, in April 2010 caused travel mayhem, stranding more than eight million travellers in the biggest airspace shut down since World War II.

"There's nothing we can do if we get another big eruption like that of Eyjafjoell except to interrupt air traffic in the dangerous areas," Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration spokesman Fridthor Eydal was quoted as saying earlier this week.

"It's really the only thing we can do," he said.

Bardarbunga lies under the country's largest glacier Vatnajoekull. The area around it is uninhabited, with only trekking cabins and campsites used by tourists and hunters in the summer months. It is Iceland's second-highest peak, rising to more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet), and caps the country's largest volcanic system.

On Monday, seismologists recorded an earthquake of 4.5 on the Richter scale in the area. Scientists believe its explosion would be large enough to disrupt air traffic over northern Europe and the northern Atlantic, as well as causing major damage on the island nation from volcanic ash and glacial flooding.

In 2010, the Eyjafjoell volcano in the south of the island shot a massive plume of volcanic debris up to nine kilometres (six miles) into the sky, blowing ash across to mainland Europe. And in 2011, Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano Grimsvotn erupted, forcing Iceland to temporarily shut its airspace and sparking fears of a repeat of the Eyjafjoell flight chaos.

Iceland is home to more than 100 volcanic mountains, some of which are among the most active in the world.- AFP

Ngap Sayot ‘tenggelam’

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 01:15 PM PDT

Gagal menyaingi Kedah meskipun beraksi menarik di laman sendiri

Oleh Harry Illias //

KUCHING: Sarawak kem-punan melakarkan keme-nangan apabila tewas tipis 2-1 di pangkuan Kedah pada aksi Piala Malaysia 2014 di Stadium Negeri di sini malam tadi.

Beraksi di kandang send-iri, skuad Ngap Sayot nam-pak garang pada awal babak apabila melancarkan seran-gan bertali arus ke kubu Sang Kenari.

Ketua pasukan, Joseph Kalang Tie melakukan ujian awal ke gawang Kedah pada minit ke-11 namun bola rembatannya dari luar ka-wasan penalti agak sipi.

Anak-anak buah Robert Alberts terus melakukan asakan dengan percubaan baik menerusi tandukan oleh pemain import, Gabor Gyepes pada minit ke-16 namun ditangkap kemas oleh penjaga gol pasukan pelawat.

Bagaimanapun, Kedah sekali-sekala melancarkan serangan berjaya men-embusi gawang Sarawak dengan jaringan pada minit ke-30 hasil sentuhan Muhd Farhan Roslan setelah menerima hantaran cantik Nam Kung Woong.

Babak pertama, Sarawak ketinggalan 1-0 kepada pasukan pelawat memaksa Alberts memerah otak merencana strategi ampuh untuk anak-anak buah-nya melakukan sesuatu terbaik bagi menggembi-rakan ribuan penyokong setianya.

Percaturan Alberts nyata berbisa apabila penyerang import, Ryan Alan Grif-fiths menjaringkan gol pen-yamaan pada minit ketiga babak kedua hasil umpanan cantik S Chanturu.

Minit ke-61, Sarawak hampir-hampir menghasil-kan jaringan apabila Rashid Aya melakukan tandukan padu yang tersasar sedikit di pintu gol kedah.

Sebelum wisel penamat dibunyikan pengadil, Ke-dah menghukum Sarawak dengan jaringan keme-nangan oleh Billy Osman Mehmet.

Kekalahan itu ternyata menyentap semangat Ngap Sayot untuk bersaing mer-ebut tempat dua pasukan ke peringkat suku akhir.

Bagaimanapun, Sarawak perlu melangsaikan kes-emua baki tiga perlawanan timbal-balik Kumpulan B yang akan bermula Rabu ini.

Sarawak kini kekal den-gan tiga mata hasil satu ke-menangan menentang Ter-engganu di tempat sendiri pada aksi pembukaan.

Skuad Ngap Sayot akan berkunjung ke Alor Setar, Rabu ini (27 Ogos) untuk membuat perhitungan tim-bal-balik dengan Kedah se-belum melayan kunjungan Perak di Stadium Negeri Kuching pada 30 Ogos (Sabtu) depan.

SMK SHOAW juara ragbi Festival Kuching

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 12:58 PM PDT

KUCHING: Sekolah Menen-gah Kebangsaan (SMK) Ag-ama Sheikh Haji Othman Abdul Wahab (SHOAW) buat julung kalinya menjuarai Fes-tival Ragbi Bawah 15 Tahun sempena Festival Kuching selepas menumpaskan Kolej Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah.

SHOAW yang menjuarai perlawanan tumpuan apabila menewaskan pasukan lawan dengan 12-7 selepas pada mulanya ketinggalan apa-bila pasukan Kolej Abdillah memulakan skor pada masa pertama.

Bagaimanapun, SHOAW bangkit pada masa kedua dengan tujuh mata sekali gus menyaksikan kedua-dua pasukan seri 7-7 dan menam-bah skor lima mata pada masa tambahan.

Perlawanan yang diadakan di Padang Ragbi Song Kheng Hai itu menyaksikan 10 buah sekolah menengah lain dari Kota Samarahan, Kuching dan Matang turut bersaing dalam pelbagai kategori.

Majlis penyampaian hadiah kejohanan anjuran bersama Majis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan (MBKS) disempur-nakan oleh Menteri Muda Belia (Bandar) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah dan Pengerusi Pengelola Festival Kuching Karnival, Sufian At-eng serta wakil MBKS.

Dalam ucapannya, Abdul Karim mahu agar lebih banyak aktiviti sedemikian dianjur-kan khasnya kalangan anak muda dan belia yang bukan sahaja membawa kebaikan tetapi memartabatkan sukan itu sendiri serta meningkatkan disiplin mereka.

"Kita berharap sukan sep-erti ini dapat mencungkil ban-yak bakat baharu agar dapat dibawa ke peringkat lebih tinggi dan pada masa yang sama lebih mendisiplinkan mereka.

"Malah, mampu menger-atkan silaturahim kalangan pelajar dan pasukan yang terlibat," katanya.

Sementara itu, Sufian mem-beritahu program berkenaan adalah anjuran tahunan sem-pena Festival Kuching.

"Ia bagi bukan sahaja untuk menyerlahkan bakat-bakat muda tetapi penting mewu-judkan semangat berpasukan di kalangan pemain," ka-tanya.

Lelaki nyaris maut, kenderaan terbabas ke curam setinggi 10 meter

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 12:54 PM PDT

KUCHING: Seorang lelaki terselamat dari mengalami sebarang kecederaan sungguhpun pikap yang dipandunya terbabas ke curam setinggi 10 meter di Batu 29, Jalan Kuching-Serian semalam.

Difahamkan, mangsa yang tidak diketahui identitinya itu semasa kejadian dikatakan dalam perjalanan menuju ke arah Serian sekitar jam 4 pagi.

Bagaimanapun, semasa tiba di tempat kejadian, mangsa dikatakan gagal mengawal pikap terbabit lalu terbabas ke dalam curam berdekatan Kampung Panchor.

"Mangsa tidak mengalami kecederaan dan dia sendiri yang naik semula ke jalan raya, seterusnya meminta pertolongan dari pengguna jalan raya yang lain untuk menghantarnya pulang.

"Pagi tadi (semalam) baharu dia datang semula ke tempat kejadian untuk menguruskan mengenai kemalangan tersebut," kata sumber.

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Wanita diragut depan pejabat

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 12:42 PM PDT

KUCHING: Permulaan hari yang menyedihkan bagi seorang wanita yang baharu tiba di pejabatnya apabila dia diragut dua lelaki di Pending di sini, semalam.

Menurut sumber, mangsa 40-an, semasa kejadian baharu melangkah keluar dari kereta dan berjalan menuju ke pejabatnya yang terletak hanya beberapa meter di hadapannya sekitar jam 7 pagi.

Difahamkan, dua lelaki tidak dikenali menaiki sebuah motosikal telah mendekatinya sebelum seorang daripadanya bertindak meragut beg tangannya.

"Mangsa yang masih terpinga-pinga selepas beg tangannya diragut, tidak sempat untuk membuat apa-apa dan kedua-dua suspek terus melarikan diri dari tempat kejadian," kata sumber.

Antara yang terkandung di dalam beg tangan mangsa ialah wang tunai RM300, telefon pintar dan beberapa dokumen peribadi.

Mangsa kemudian dikatakan telah pergi ke balai polis berhampiran untuk melaporkan mengenai insiden tersebut.