Small Plane Crash in Colombia Kills 15, Including Congressman
A small passenger plane crashed in northeast Colombia on Wednesday, killing all 15 people on board, including a member of congress, authorities said. The aircraft, belonging to the state-owned airline Satena, lost contact with air traffic control minutes after takeoff, just before noon, according to a statement from Satena. The plane was flying from the airport in Cúcuta to Ocaña, a municipality surrounded by mountains.
Officials from a nearby community notified authorities about the crash site, prompting the deployment of emergency responders, according to Euronews. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation.
In other news, Turkish authorities detained six people suspected of spying for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to domestic media reports on Wednesday, the suspects allegedly monitored military facilities and strategic sites across the country. Security forces conducted simultaneous raids in five provinces, including Istanbul and Ankara, following a joint investigation by the counter-terror department and Turkey's intelligence agency, state-run TRT television reported. The suspects included an Iranian citizen. The arrests occurred amid heightened regional tensions over fears of a possible US military strike on Iran.
Meanwhile, in Haiti, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported a surge in sexual violence cases. The number of sexual abuse cases being treated at a clinic in Haiti's capital has tripled in the past four years as gang violence surges across the country, the health charity warned on Wednesday. "The extent to which numbers have increased, it has shocked us," said Diana Manilla Arroyo, the group's head of mission in Haiti, according to Euronews. 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.
In Sweden, an amusement park was fined nearly €588,000 ($491,000) on Wednesday in connection with a 2023 rollercoaster derailment that resulted in one death and nine injuries. The tragedy occurred on June 25, 2023, on the Jetline ride at the Gröna Lund park. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the front of the train appeared to jump off the tracks before coming to a stop, with one car tilted toward the ground, according to Euronews. Three people were thrown off the rollercoaster.
Finally, a major fire at the Grandes Alpes hotel in Courchevel, France, led to the evacuation of nearly 300 people on Tuesday evening. Firefighters were called around 7 p.m. as flames spread quickly through the roof spaces of the five-star property. By Wednesday morning, more than 100 firefighters, backed by around 60 vehicles and reinforcements from neighboring departments, were still working to extinguish the blaze. Four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
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