Search and rescue efforts

Residents and rescuers check damaged structures following an earthquake that struck Padada, Davao del Sur province, southern Philippines on Sunday Dec. 15, 2019. A strong quake jolted the southern Philippines on Sunday, causing a three-story building to collapse and prompting people to rush out of shopping malls, houses and other buildings in panic, officials said. (AP Photo)
December 15, 2019 - 6:05 am

Strong quake kills 1, collapses building in Philippines

DAVAO, Philippines (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least one person and causing a three-story building to collapse, setting off a search for people feared to have been trapped inside, officials said. The magnitude 6.9 quake struck an area about 6...
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This photo released by the New Zealand Defence Force shows an operation to recover bodies from White Island after a volcanic eruption in Whakatane, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. A team of eight New Zealand military specialists landed on White Island early Friday to retrieve the bodies of victims after the Dec. 9 eruption. (New Zealand Defence Force via AP)
December 14, 2019 - 9:45 pm

Toxic air, gases hamper search for last 2 volcano victims

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — A second land search of New Zealand's volcanic White Island on Sunday failed to locate the bodies of the last two victims of an eruption that claimed the lives of at least 15 people, most of them tourists. Two four-person teams landed on the island by helicopter early...
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This photo released by the New Zealand Defence Force shows an operation to recover bodies from White Island after a volcanic eruption in Whakatane, New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. A team of eight New Zealand military specialists landed on White Island early Friday to retrieve the bodies of victims after the Dec. 9 eruption. (New Zealand Defence Force via AP)
December 14, 2019 - 2:56 pm

Specialist teams hope to recover last 2 volcano victims

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — Specialist teams were due to return to New Zealand's volcanic White Island on Sunday to resume a land search for the bodies of two victims of an eruption which has now claimed 15 lives. Two four-person teams wearing protective clothing and using breathing apparatuses...
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A Navy helicopter hovers at Whakatane Airport, as the recovery operation to return the victims of the Dec. 9 volcano eruption continues off the coast of Whakatane New Zealand, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. A team of eight New Zealand military specialists landed on White Island early Friday to retrieve the bodies of victims after the Dec. 9 eruption. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
December 13, 2019 - 3:39 am

New Zealand recovers 6 bodies from toxic volcanic island

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — As grieving families sang traditional Maori songs, New Zealand military specialists wearing protective gear landed on a small volcanic island on Friday and recovered six bodies of the 16 people who died in an eruption four days earlier. The specialists — six men and...
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FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2016, file photo, the Volcano of Fire releases lava, seen from Escuintla, Guatemala. In Spanish it's known as "El Volcan del Fuego." (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
December 11, 2019 - 9:30 pm

Volcanoes an ever-present, if usually distant danger

The eruption of an island volcano in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty killed up to 16 people, injured dozens and prevented rescuers from retrieving the bodies of eight victims believed to be on the island. A famed tourist attraction, White Island is one of several active volcanoes in New Zealand and one...
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Relatives of passengers of a missing military plane arrive in a Chilean military airplane to an airbase in Punta Arenas, Chile, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. Searchers using planes, ships and satellites were combing the Drake Passage on Tuesday, hunting for the plane carrying 38 people that vanished en route to an Antartica base. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
December 11, 2019 - 7:40 pm

Chile: Debris believed from missing plane carrying 38 found

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (AP) — Debris believed to be from a military transport plane carrying 38 people that vanished two days ago en route to the Antarctic has been discovered in the frigid, treacherous waters between the icy continent and South America, Chile's Air Force said Wednesday. Air Force Gen...
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In this Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, photo provided by Lillani Hopkins, Lillani Hopkins pictured with her father Geoff prior to the eruption on White Island off the coast of Whakatane, New Zealand. Lillani Hopkins was feeling seasick and keeping her eyes trained on the open water as her tour boat swung around for a last view of the White Island volcano on Monday afternoon, Dec 9, 2019. Suddenly people started gasping and then her dad whacked her, telling her to turn around. The eruption had been so silent she hadn't heard it over the noise of the boat's engines. (Lillani Hopkins via AP)
December 11, 2019 - 7:23 am

Rescuer describes horror of New Zealand's silent eruption

WHAKATANE, New Zealand (AP) — The eruption was so silent that Lillani Hopkins didn't hear it over the hum of the boat’s engines. She didn't turn around until her dad whacked her. Then she saw it. Huge clouds of ash and steam shooting into the sky. She was so excited, she grabbed her phone out of...
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December 09, 2019 - 10:08 pm

Chile military plane with 38 is missing on way to Antarctica

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile's air force said it lost radio contact with a transport plane carrying 38 people on a flight Monday evening to the country's base in Antarctica. It said the military had declared an alert and activated a search and rescue team. The C-130 Hercules carried 17 crew members...
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This aerial photo shows White Island after its volcanic eruption in New Zealand Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. The volcano on a small New Zealand island frequented by tourists erupted Monday, and a number of people were missing and injured after the blast. (George Novak/New Zealand Herald via AP)
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December 09, 2019 - 4:26 am

5 dead, many more missing in eruption of New Zealand volcano

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A volcanic island in New Zealand erupted Monday in a tower of ash and steam while dozens of tourists were exploring the moon-like surface, killing five people and leaving many more missing. Police said the site was still too dangerous hours later for rescuers to...
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People and rescue workers attend the scene of a building that collapsed in Tasia Embakasi, an east neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya on Friday Dec. 6, 2019. A six-story building collapsed in Kenya's capital on Friday, officials said, with people feared to be trapped in the debris. Police say people have been rescued by residents using their bare hands. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
December 08, 2019 - 12:38 pm

Kenya building collapse toll hits 10 but 2 survivors found

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan rescuers digging through the rubble of a six-story building found two survivors alive Sunday, two days after it collapsed in Nairobi, as the death toll rose to 10. When the survivors of Friday's building collapse were found Sunday morning, a crowd of onlookers burst...
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