Storm deaths climb in eastern Spain
MADRID -- Authorities in Spain say the death toll from a storm that devastated the eastern part of the country this week has risen to at least 12 with rescuers searching for several missing persons.
Emergency services for the northeastern Catalonia region said late Thursday that a fourth death caused by storm Gloria in the region had been confirmed. That took the national count to at least 12.
Rescuers were still searching Friday for three missing people in the Balearic Islands and for a fishing boat with six on board that has gone missing off Spain's southern coast.
A British man and a Spaniard are feared to have been swept away by high waves on the island of Ibiza, authorities said. Another Spaniard is missing on the nearby island of Mallorca.
Government official Lucrecio Fernandez said an overnight search by Spanish rescuers for the missing fishing boat is continuing with the assistance of a Moroccan frigate.
The storm has lasted for six days, accompanied by heavy winds, snow and hail. Weather authorities said the worst of it had passed on Wednesday, although some areas of southern Spain are under a weather warning for rain and winds.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is meeting with his Cabinet on Friday to discuss aid for the hardest-hit regions.
Earthquake rocks Turkey, kills 18 people
ANKARA, Turkey -- A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked a sparsely populated part of eastern Turkey on Friday, killing at least 18 people, injuring more than 500 and leaving about 30 trapped in the wreckage of toppled buildings, Turkish officials said.
The quake struck in the evening at a depth of about 4 miles near the town of Sivrice in the eastern Elazig province, the disaster and emergency agency said. It was followed by several aftershocks, the strongest with magnitudes 5.4 and 5.1.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said some of the victims were killed in Elazig province and others in nearby Malatya province, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.
Earlier, Soylu told NTV television that rescuers were trying to reach survivors after a four- or five-story building collapsed in the town of Maden in Elazig. Several buildings collapsed in Sivrice, where two people were hurt, he said. About 30 buildings had collapsed in the two provinces, according to Murat Kurum, the environment minister. Hundreds of residents were left homeless or with damaged homes.
Soylu was at a meeting on earthquake preparedness when the quake struck.
The Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said the quake measured 6.5, while the U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 6.7, and said the quake affected not only Turkey but also Syria, Georgia and Armenia.
Death toll in Madagascar flooding hits 26
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar -- The death toll from flooding and landslides from torrential rains in Madagascar has risen to 26, authorities said Friday.
Another 15 people are missing, the national disaster management office said.
More than 92,000 people have been affected by the heavy rains that started Monday on the Indian Ocean island nation.
There is the risk of hunger and soaring food prices as rice fields in several districts have flooded in the region that is considered Madagascar's breadbasket, the office said.
Nearly 10,000 homes have been inundated in the northern part of the country. Authorities have said the military has deployed to help evacuate people at risk from rising waters.
Major roads in the north have been cut off in several places, leaving some villages isolated.
Officials have said the rains are expected to continue into next week.
6 people killed in shooting in Germany
BERLIN -- Six people were killed and another two wounded in a shooting in the southwestern German town of Rot am See on Friday, police said. The suspect's parents were among the dead, and the other victims also were believed to be relatives.
A man called police shortly after 12:45 p.m. and told them he had killed several people, regional police chief Reiner Moeller said at a news conference.
Police kept the man on the line and, when they arrived at the scene several minutes later, arrested a 26-year-old German national as the suspect in the slayings, Moeller said.
Officers found the bodies of six people -- three women and three men, ages 36 to 69 -- in and behind a building where a bar is located.
Another two people were hurt, and one of them has life-threatening injuries, Moeller said. The suspect also threatened two children, ages 12 and 14.
The suspect had a license to own firearms as a shooting club member, Moeller said. Authorities believe he used a semi-automatic pistol.
The suspect's mother and father were among the dead, the police chief said. Police were working to clear up how the others were related.
Rot am See is located about 105 miles northwest of Munich. It is a town of about 5,300 people in a rural area of Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 01/25/2020