Multiple Global Crises Unfold: Plane Crash in India, Landslide in Sicily, and Sexual Violence Surge in Haiti
A series of unrelated but significant events unfolded across the globe on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, ranging from a deadly plane crash in India to a devastating landslide in Sicily and a surge in sexual violence in Haiti.
In India, a private plane crash killed five people, including Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra state, Sky News reported. The aircraft, en route from Mumbai to Pawar's home city of Baramati, crashed in an open field approximately 159 miles (254 km) from its origin, bursting into flames upon impact. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Pawar, though the cause of the crash remained unknown.
Meanwhile, in Sicily, Italy, a landslide triggered by heavy rain forced the evacuation of 1,500 people in the town of Niscemi. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visited the town, where dozens of homes were left "teetering on the edge of a cliff" after the ground beneath them collapsed, rendering them "uninhabitable," according to Sky News. The landslide heavily damaged the Sicilian town, with some structures and cars falling off the cliff edge.
Separately, in Haiti, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported a dramatic increase in sexual and gender-based violence amid escalating gang violence. Euronews reported that the number of sexual abuse cases being treated at a clinic in Haiti's capital has tripled in the past four years. Diana Manilla Arroyo, the head of mission in Haiti for MSF, stated that the organization was "alarmed and outraged" by the overwhelming level of violence, adding, "The extent to which numbers have increased, it has shocked us." Haiti has been plagued by worsening gang violence since the 2021 assassination of its then-President Jovenel Moïse, with gangs controlling around 90% of the capital.
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