International
Pilot attended party before crashing stolen chopper
• The chopper crashed into a hotel in northern Australia
A pilot who died after they crashed a stolen helicopter into a hotel in Australia had attended a party with staff members the night before, their employer has said.
The helicopter belonged to Queensland-based helicopter tour agency Nautilus Aviation who said the employee had been celebrating at a private send-off with colleagues hours before the crash.
Nautilus added that the individual was licensed to fly helicopters in New Zealand but had never flown in Australia.
The pilot was killed in the accident, while two hotel guests were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
In a statement to the BBC, Nautilus said the individual had recently been promoted to a “ground crew position” at another of the company’s bases.
On Sunday night, he joined colleagues at a private send-off, which was also attended by off-duty pilots. Nautilus clarified that this was “not a work event and was coordinated by friends”.
Nautilus added that the individual later gained “unauthorised access to our helicopter hangar”.
The helicopter hit the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in the northern Queensland city of Cairns at around 01:50 local time on Monday (16:50 BST Sunday), sparking a fire and forcing the evacuation of about 400 guests.
Authorities say the only occupant of the helicopter died at the scene, and two hotel guests – a man in his 80s and a woman in her 70s – were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Amanda Kay, who was staying in the hotel on the main esplanade in Cairns, described seeing a helicopter flying “extra low”, without lights in rainy weather.
“[It] has turned round and hit the building,” she said, adding that the aircraft “blew up”.
Another bystander said she saw the helicopter fly past the hotel twice in the moments before the collision.
“Boy that was going fast, that helicopter. Unbelievable,” a woman said, in video showing the fiery aftermath of the crash.
“It was just going out of control, that thing was.”
Two of the helicopter’s rotor blades came off on impact, landing on the esplanade and in the hotel pool, according to Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS).
Nautilus Aviation said in its statement that it had completed interviews with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the Queensland Police Service (QPS), and had cooperated with full transparency on its disclosure of the events leading up to and following the incident.
“We offer our heartfelt condolences to the individual’s family and all who have been affected by this tragedy and continue to offer our support to our employees during this very challenging period,” the statement said.
“We will continue to work very closely with QPS and the ATSB as they investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
Located in northern Queensland, the city of Cairns is a popular tourist destination due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. (BBC)
International
France braces for another weekend of protests as authorities launch massive security operation
France is bracing for yet another wave of protests this weekend with authorities racing to prevent a repeat of the kind of violence and riots that hit the nation last week.
French authorities will be launching a massive security operation with some 70,000 police officers deployed across the country over the weekend, according to the interior ministry.
Specialist SWAT units, helicopters, armored vehicles, police dogs and water cannons will all be part of the operation. On top of that, the number of French army soldiers that normally patrol Paris as part of the country’s counter-terrorism measures will be increased to free the police from stationary guard duties.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez issued a stark warning on Friday to anyone looking for trouble, saying the government would be “uncompromising with those who engage in destruction.”
Last week’s violence followed weeks of protests over education, dismal job prospects and the cost of living. Initially peaceful and attended mostly by students, the demonstrations quickly turned into the worst wave of deadly, nationwide violence in years.
This week, curfews were imposed in some cities to help maintain calm.
Bracing for Saturday
A large demonstration has been called for Saturday afternoon in Paris and French media are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to attend.
The protest is organized by France’s main student union, UNEF, with one of the country’s biggest trade unions, CGT, announcing it would join. Other groups are expected to attend, including farmers, climate activists and the Yellow Vests, the movement that first emerged in 2018 during the protests over fuel costs.
While the protest in Paris has been authorized by the authorities, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday banned all non-trade union protests on Saturday as he seeks to control the civil unrest.
But the preparations go well beyond bans and police warnings, especially since last week’s riots sparked criticism of the authorities for not taking the threat seriously enough.
A police officer ties in place a perimeter tape near Chatelet – Les Halles to enforce a curfew, in central Paris on October 20.
A police officer ties in place a perimeter tape near Chatelet – Les Halles to enforce a curfew, in central Paris on October 20.
Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty Images
The City of Paris announced earlier this week it was clearing public spaces of equipment and materials that could be used to cause damage, including barriers, bins, construction material and other items.
Many of the main tourist sites in the French capital, including world-famous museums like the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie will be closed on Saturday.
Art Basel finished the Paris version of its fair on Friday, two days earlier than scheduled. The Paris National Opera cancelled its performances on Saturday, citing the protests as the reason, and at least two dozen metro stations will also be closed for much of the day, according to Paris municipal authorities.
An NFL game between Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints is set to take place at the Stade de France just outside of the capital on Sunday. While the match is scheduled to go ahead, a Steelers fan event in Paris was cancelled by the NFL.
During last weekend’s riots, at least two people died and multiple others suffered serious injuries, including two people who lost their hands. French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said some 2,700 people were held for questioning and 232 have been incarcerated in connection to the riots. (CNN)
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)
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