International
Baltimore bridge collapse: Six presumed dead after ship collides with bridge
Six people are missing and presumed dead after a container ship hit the landmark Francis Scott Key Bridge in the US city of Baltimore, causing it to collapse.
The Coast Guard said it had suspended its search and begun a recovery effort.
The bridge, which is more than 2.6km (1.6 miles) long, was destroyed after the vessel hit a support.
Officials say the ship suffered a “power issue” and issued a distress call moments before the crash.
Boats and helicopters were part of a huge search and rescue effort searching for the six missing people. Two others were pulled from the water, with one in a serious condition.
Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath of the US Coast Guard said in the evening that the remaining missing men were presumed dead based on the temperature of the waters they had fallen in and the length of time they have been under water.
Authorities say they were part of a construction crew repairing potholes at the time the bridge snapped.
The focus is now turning to the investigation into what went wrong, with a team of transportation safety experts hoping to board the stricken ship and recover its data recorder.
It had departed from the terminal at Port Breeze at around 00:45 bound for the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
A US federal government agency said the vessel “lost propulsion” as it was leaving the port.
The crew then warned Maryland transport officials of a possible collision, according to an unclassified Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report on the incident.
Maryland state governor Wes Moore said he could confirm that “the crew notified authorities of a power issue”, adding that the ship had lost power before smashing into one of the columns supporting the bridge.
A number of vehicles, including “one the size of a tractor-trailer”, plunged into the water below, officials said.
Baltimore fire department, the US Coastguard and other agencies from the state of Maryland have been involved in the rescue operation.
Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace confirmed that two people had been rescued and one of them had been “transported to a local trauma centre… in a very serious condition”.
Mr Wallace said the tide was posing a challenge to rescue efforts. Local officials said another huge concern for rescue teams was the freezing conditions, with air temperatures of about 3C (37.4F) near the bridge.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott described the incident as an “unthinkable tragedy”, adding the focus right now should be on “the people, the lives, the souls… there are people in the water that we have to get out and that’s the only thing we should be talking about.”
Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said engineers were at the site determining the structural impact of the collapse.
ReutersShipping company Synergy Marine Group told the BBC there were 22 people on the ship, including an all-Indian crew and two Baltimore locals serving as port pilots, and that there were no reports of any injuries.
Pilots are people with local knowledge who board ships and help manoeuvre them into and out of a port.
The company said in a statement that the exact cause of the incident had yet to be determined and that it was “fully co-operating” with federal agencies.
Shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel and it was carrying its customers’ cargo.
“We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected,” it said in a statement. No Maersk crew and personnel were onboard the vessel.
US President Joe Biden said he would travel to Baltimore as soon as possible, and that search and rescue efforts should be prioritised.
“I’ve directed my team to move heaven and earth to reopen the port and rebuild the bridge as soon as humanly possible,” he said.
He said the collapse had been an accident and that federal government would “pay for the entire cost of that bridge” – the spending, he added, would need to be approved by members of congress.
BBC
There are grave fears for the passengers of a private plane that suddenly vanished mid-flight, sparking a major search off the coast of the US.
US authorities say the Gulfstream G100 lost contact with air traffic control about 2am local time on Saturday (4pm Saturday AET) while flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.
The US Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it after contact was lost with the aircraft – which plummeted from 23,500 feet to 11,000 feet in just three minutes, according to FlightAware data.
“We are praying for a safe outcome,” a spokesperson for Latitude Air Ambulance, which operates the missing plane, told City News.
A search is now under way off Nantucket in the air and on water as crews work to locate the missing jet, the Coast Guard said. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a number of aircraft searching south of the island.
Six people are missing after a private jet vanished, sparking a major search off the coast of Nantucket in the US.
The plane was en route from Bermuda to Boston when it vanished.
“Air & surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft. Updates will be provided here as info becomes available,” the Coast Guard Northeast District said on X.
The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda – a British overseas territory in the north Atlantic Ocean, according to Clarence Togeretz, Director of Flight Operations at Latitude Air Ambulance.
“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” he told NBC News.
“But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”
Seventeen people were killed when eight gunmen stormed a bar close to Johannesburg on Saturday evening, with 15 more injured.
In a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town and a further 11 were injured.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and has struggled to contain gang-related gun violence in recent years. Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.
In Johannesburg, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside and torching two vehicles before fleeing.
Police said thirteen men and four women were killed.
Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another wounded, according to AFP news agency.
Speaking at the scene, he said police had clear pictures and in some cases names for the suspects.
In Cape Town, five victims died at the scene and a further five people died in hospital.
No arrests had been made in either case on Sunday morning.
The two mass shootings came days after 11 people were killed in the city of Duban when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
Illegal weapons are prevalent in South Africa and gun violence has been a persistent problem for decades, with about 60 murders recorded every day in the country of 62 million.
But a recent spate of mass shootings has raised fears that the problem is deepening, with violence often linked to turf wars between gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates in an effort to reduce armed violence.
On Saturday a tenth woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, to the east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they were unable to rule out a serial killer operating in the area with similarities between the deaths. (BBC)
The United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations, according to an investigation published Monday.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to UN agencies to facilitate the returns.
At least 25,447 people had already been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026, according to data compiled by Forbidden Stories with a consortium of international journalists.
The vast majority — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalised with seven more.
The deals vary, including over which nationalities can be deported and whether people with criminal records can be accepted.
An AFP investigation earlier this year found Washington is using visa bans and restrictions on African countries to strongarm them into accepting deportees.
Lawyers told AFP that deportees were being thrown into a “legal black hole”, held without charge in countries where they have no ties and few if any rights.
Forbidden Stories said 49 of Africa’s 54 countries had been approached about accepting third-country deportees.
A little-known State Department division called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025, has handled most of the negotiations and payments, according to Forbidden Stories.
The office is headed by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat who previously worked as a security officer.
The report details his visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in December on accepting deportees. A week later, it also signed a five-year health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The following month, the State Department said it would provide a further $30 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon to “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first plane carrying deportees arrived in Cameroon on January 14.
– Payments –
Other agreements have involved direct payments to governments.
Palau, a small Pacific island nation with a population of under 18,000, signed an agreement in December 2025 to accept up to 75 third-country nationals in return for $7.5 million.
However, only three people have so far been sent under the agreement.
In Eswatini, 32 people have arrived since July 2025 out of a possible 160 under an agreement worth more than $5 million. It has accepted deportees with criminal records, the investigation found.
Of the $410 million planned for the agreements, internal State Department records showed that $81 million was earmarked for signatory governments.
The rest was intended for aid organisations, including more than $178 million for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and $123 million for UNHCR.
The agencies have faced criticism over their involvement, although UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that US funding was being used in line with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
An IOM spokesperson told Forbidden Stories that the agency’s decisions to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
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