The World in Brief

The remains of the Westwind 24 aircraft are seen late Sunday after a fatal re at the airport in Manila, Philippines.
(AP/MIAA Media Affairs Office)
The remains of the Westwind 24 aircraft are seen late Sunday after a fatal re at the airport in Manila, Philippines.
(AP/MIAA Media Affairs Office)

American among 8 dead in plane fire

MANILA, Philippines -- A plane carrying eight people, including an American and a Canadian, burst into flames Sunday while attempting to take off from Manila's airport on a flight bound for Japan, killing all those on board, officials said.

The Westwind 24 plane, which was carrying six Filipino crew members and the American and Canadian passengers, was bound for Tokyo on a medical mission when it caught fire near the end of the main runway, Manila airport general manager Ed Monreal said.

Firetrucks and rescue personnel rushed and doused the twin-engine aircraft with foam to try to extinguish the flames, he said.

"Unfortunately, there were no survivors," Monreal said. He declined to identify the victims until their families were informed and said other details about the flight and the passengers were unclear.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the aircraft apparently encountered an unspecified "problem which resulted in a fire" as it rolled to take off.

Nearly three hours after the accident, the bodies of the victims were still inside the wreckage. Airport authorities were waiting for police investigators to examine the crash scene before retrieving the remains, Monreal said.

photo

AP

People wear masks as they stand in line to receive food being distributed Sunday in Mumbai, India.
(AP/Ra q Maqbool)

Virus rumor sparks Thai prison riot

BANGKOK -- Officials in Thailand say a riot at a prison in a northeastern province was set off when inmates plotting to escape spread false rumors that several prisoners were infected with the coronavirus.

Fires were set in parts of Buriram Prison during a riot Sunday in which about 100 prisoners took part, and gunshots were fired in the operation to quash the violence. The facility houses about 2,100 inmates.

Corrections Department Director-General Narat Sawettanan said no one was killed in the uproar but several people were injured. Thai media reported five people hurt.

Seven inmates who had escaped were recaptured, Narat said. It was not clear if any others were still at large.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said the riot was instigated by a small group who circulated the rumor about coronavirus infections to create a situation in which they could escape.

N. Korea fires two objects into sea

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea on Sunday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea and Japan said, continuing a streak of weapons launches that suggests leader Kim Jong Un is trying to strengthen domestic support amid worries about coronavirus in the country.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the projectiles flying from the North Korean eastern coastal city of Wonsan into the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Sunday morning. They flew about 143 miles at a maximum altitude of 19 miles, the statement said.

The military described the launches as "very inappropriate" at a time when the world is battling the coronavirus outbreak. It urged North Korea to stop such military action.

Japan's Defense Ministry said that presumed ballistic missiles were believed to have splashed into the sea outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Kim "wants to show he rules in a normal way amid the coronavirus and his latest weapons tests were aimed at rallying unity internally, not launching a threat externally," said Kim Dong-yub, an analyst at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies. "North Korea doesn't have time now to spare for staging [external threats]."

India's Modi apologizes for lockdown

NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologized to the public Sunday for imposing a three-week national lockdown, calling it harsh but "needed to win" the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

"I apologize for taking these harsh steps that have caused difficulties in your lives, especially the poor people," Modi said in his monthly address, broadcast by state radio. "I know some of you will be angry with me. But these tough measures were needed to win this battle."

The unprecedented lockdown order, which took effect Wednesday to keep India's 1.3 billion people at home for all but essential trips to places such as markets and pharmacies, is meant to prevent the spread of the virus from surging and overwhelming India's already strained health care system.

Indian health officials have confirmed more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus, including 27 deaths. Experts have said local spreading is inevitable in a country where tens of millions of people live in dense urban areas in cramped conditions with irregular access to clean water.

The lockdown has caused tens of thousands of people, mostly young male day laborers but also families, to flee their New Delhi homes, and has effectively put millions of Indians who live off daily earnings out of work.

Pressure is mounting on the government to find measures to keep people in their homes rather than traveling across large swaths of India, potentially bringing the virus to areas that are not yet affected.

-- Compiled by Democrat Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 03/30/2020

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