(NEW YORK) — A 35-year-old man is missing after falling from a cruise ship off the coast of Florida, authorities said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is searching for a passenger who went overboard from the Carnival Magic cruise ship traveling 186 miles east of Jacksonville on Monday.
The man’s companion reported him missing late Monday afternoon and “an initial review of closed circuit security footage confirms that he leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water at approximately 4:10 a.m. Monday,” Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement to ABC News.
After the Coast Guard released the ship from search and rescue efforts, the 1,004-foot Carnival Magic continued its return trip to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was scheduled to arrive as planned on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard said it is using both air and water assets to conduct the search for the passenger, who has not been publicly identified.
(LONDON) — Several artisanal miners are feared trapped in an underground gold mine shaft in the Ashanti region of Ghana.
Several illegal miners have reportedly entered AngloGold Ltd.’s Obuasi Mines in the Anwiam, Ashanti Region, searching for gold deposits. However, the miners found themselves unable to exit after the entrances were shut, officials said.
AngloGold Ashanti Ghana told ABC News it is aware of reports alleging that illegal miners may have been trapped in the northern areas of its mine.
“Obuasi Gold Mine’s management team has notified the relevant authorities and public security services and is working closely with them,” a statement from the company said.
Several illegal miners are reported to have been in the mine, according to local reports, with devastated family members of the miners telling local media that they have been unable to reach them for four days.
AngloGold tells ABC that seven illegal miners have thus far exited the mine and are currently in the custody of the Ghana Police Service.
“Intrusion of illegal miners into underground areas remains a significantly dangerous activity and AngloGold Ashanti Ghana is working alongside authorities to ensure that only authorized personnel and contractors can access underground work areas,” the company said in a statement.
AngloGold has denied any of the illegal miners are trapped or “confined in any way,” saying the main exit ramp — where security and police remain — is open.
“Unauthorised persons underground are able to exit on foot, via the existing ramp, through the main access of this mining area,” AngloGold’s statement said.
AngloGold Ltd. Is the world’s fourth-largest gold producer. According to AngloGold, its Obuasi underground mine operation runs to a depth of 1,500 meters at its deepest point. It has produced 250koz of gold, with a workforce of 4,403 people, including contractors.
Studies have found that rising unemployment coupled with the lucrativeness of mining has led to an upsurge in miners, many of whom operate illegally as a means to earn a living. Gold mining is a lucrative revenue source for corporations and small-scale and artisanal miners alike. The artisanal and small-scale mining sector is estimated to employ up to 1 million people in Ghana.
According to Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act, persons partaking in small-scale mining are required to obtain a license, however regulation of small-scale mining in Africa’s top gold-producing nation has been mostly unsuccessful, with research finding that over 85% of small-scale mining still occurs illegally. Poor regulation has also led to the occurrence of human rights violations in Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale mining trade such as child labor, according to the Human Rights Watch.
“Intrusion of illegal miners into underground areas remains a significantly dangerous activity and AngloGold Ashanti Ghana is working alongside authorities to ensure that only authorized mine personnel and contractors can access underground work areas,” AngloGold told ABC News.
ABC News reached out to Ghana’s Mineral Commission, who confirmed that incident was ongoing, but declined to comment further.
(WASHINGTON) — The man suspected of ramming a truck into the White House barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square should be locked up as he awaits trial, the government said in a Friday night filing that included a slate of new photos.
The government’s motion for a pretrial detention argued that “there are no conditions, or combination of conditions, which would ensure the Defendant’s presence at trial or the safety of the community if he is released.”
The filing also revealed pictures from surveillance cameras and body-worn police cameras of the suspect crashing into the bollards outside of the White House and getting arrested and more writings from Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, about what he wrote would happen if he was able to take power at the White House.
As prosecutors described in earlier court filings, Kandula came from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport, where he rented a U-Haul truck. Prior court records detailed his alleged admiration for Adolf Hitler and intent to kill President Joe Biden.
In addition to a flag bearing what Kandula confirmed to officials was a swastika, investigators recovered a green book that contained his writings, according to the Friday filing. The filing included an excerpt of what prosecutors said was a speech Kandula intended to deliver after taking power.
The writings, written in the style of a broadcast, spoke of “consequences” for civil unrest following his efforts to topple the government, and what has been described as his draft speech allegedly ended with a Nazi salute, according to the government.
Kandula will appear in court on Tuesday to determine whether he will continue to be locked up pending trial. His lawyers haven’t filed a response or counter motion. Court records show he was referred for a mental health evaluation.
(LONDON) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court on Tuesday opened the trial of Niloofar Hamedi, the first journalist in Iran who reported on Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody in September.
Hamedi’s report came ahead of spiraling mass protests across the country, posing one of the biggest threats against the Islamic regime in over four decades. She published a photo of Amini’s family in the hospital hallway hugging and mourning after hearing the news of their daughter’s passing. She was arrested a few days later on Sept. 22.
Hamedi faces charges including “Collaborating with the hostile government of the United States” and “conspiring to commit crimes against national security and propagandistic activity against the system,” Masoud Setayeshi, judiciary spokesperson, said on April 26.
Amini, 22, was on a trip to Tehran last September when the hijab police, called the “morality police,” arrested her for not wearing an outfit that fully matched the Sharia-based compulsory hijab laws of the country. She was taken into custody only to be announced dead at a hospital three days later, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran Human Rights reported that at least 537 people were killed in the ensuing protests and at least 22,000 people were arrested as IRNA confirmed.
Hamedi’s hearing on Tuesday was “private,” and family members were not allowed, her husband, Mohammad Hassan Ajurlou, tweeted.
“Niloofar denied all the accusations and emphasized that she performed her duties as a journalist within the framework of the law and did not take any action against Iran’s security,” he wrote, adding that Hamedi’s lawyers did not get a chance to defend her.
Another journalist, Elaheh Mohammadi, faces the same accusations as Hamedi for covering Amini’s funeral in Saqez, in northwestern Iran. Mohammadi’s trial opened on Monday. The two journalists have been in jail for over eight months.
One of Mohammadi’s lawyers, Shahab Mirlohi, listed unlawful treatment of his client during her arrest and the hearing process, including keeping her in solitary confinement for long periods of time and assigning the country’s revolutionary court for the hearing.
“In our opinion, the Revolutionary Court does not have the jurisdiction to hear this case, and the case should be heard publicly in a competent court (Criminal Court 1) with the presence of a jury,” Mirlohi said in an interview with the Iranian daily Hammihan Monday.
“No matter how many times we requested a chance to inform the court of our explanations, unfortunately, we were not granted any chance,” he added.
Talking about the atmosphere outside of the court building, one of Hamedi’s friends who was there told ABC News that the guards would not allow people to stay for more than a short time around the hearing time.
The friend, who did not want to share her name for security reasons, added that being upon being taken back to the prison, Hamedi managed to sneak a look outside and wave for her friends from behind the dark windows of the black Hyundai she was in.
The continuation of two journalists’ hearing proceedings was postponed to the next sessions, the date of which has not yet been announced.
(PITTSBURGH) — A federal death penalty trial began Tuesday for the man accused of killing 11 worshippers in a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, with victims’ families looking on from the courtroom.
Robert Bowers allegedly stormed the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, gunning down 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. Bowers allegedly told investigators after his arrest that he wanted to kill Jewish people, according to a criminal complaint.
The jury is comprised of 11 women and seven men, and includes an intensive care nurse, a new father and a veteran.
The prosecution began its opening statements Tuesday by introducing the jurors to the victims, which included a 97-year-old woman who often read the “Prayer for Peace” at Shabbat services and a husband and wife in their 80s who were married in the same sanctuary where they were killed.
Bowers, according to authorities, made posts on the social media site Gab and allegedly posted and reposted photos with antisemitic tropes.
Bowers — armed with a semi-automatic assault-style rifle and three handguns — allegedly posted online minutes before the massacre: “I can’t stand by and watch my people get slaughtered. … I’m going in,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Bowers moved “methodically” through the synagogue and shot many of his victims at close range.
Prosecutor Soo Song warned the jurors that some testimony and evidence may be difficult to hear, including survivors recounting their “terror, confusion and pain.”
Bowers, who faces charges including hate crimes resulting in death, has pleaded not guilty.
The defense began its opening statement by admitting that Bowers was the shooter, calling his actions “incomprehensible” and “inexcusable.”
Bowers “shot every person he saw … and injured first responders who came to their rescue,” defense attorney Judy Clarke said. “There will be no question that this was a planned act and that he killed 11 people and injured others.”
But Clarke asked the jurors to look at the evidence and “scrutinize his intent.”
Testimony is expected to last three weeks. If Bowers is convicted, the sentencing phase could last an additional six weeks.
The defense is expected to argue during the sentencing phase that Bowers suffers from mental illness including schizophrenia, functional brain impairments and health issues such as epilepsy. The judge required Bowers to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the results of which will remain under seal unless the case moves to a sentencing phase and his team proceeds with a mental health defense.
(DAVENPORT, Iowa) — In the wake of the partial collapse of an Iowa apartment building, five people remain unaccounted for, including two people who may still be inside the building, officials announced Tuesday.
Officials have met with the families of the two people who may be inside, Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said at a news conference Tuesday, calling it an “unthinkable situation.”
On Monday, officials had said there was no credible information that anyone was missing and the city was moving forward with plans for staging a demolition beginning Tuesday.
Officials said Tuesday that instead of beginning a demolition, they’re now working to determine the best way to conduct another search, noting that the building is unstable and continues to worsen as time progresses.
The six-story building partially collapsed on Sunday afternoon in Davenport, a city in Iowa’s Scott County located along the Mississippi River. The building housed a total of 84 apartments, including residential and commercial. The cause of the collapse is unknown.
More than a dozen people evacuated the building at the time of the partial collapse and eight people were rescued in the 24 hours that followed.
Over 150 personnel took part in “extensive rescue operations,” using thermal imaging, drones and a team of service dogs in an attempt to locate victims within the structure, according to city officials.
Then, on Monday night, after officials said they believed no one was missing, a ninth victim was extracted.
A crowd of people gathered at the site on Monday, calling for “accountability” and pleading with officials to postpone demolition because they believed more survivors could be inside.
Johnnie Woods told ABC News on Tuesday morning that her nephew, building resident Brandon Colvin, remains unaccounted for. She expressed her frustration that officials would possibly continue with a demolition as he remains missing.
“It’s like burying them in the rubble,” Woods said. “This is ridiculous.”
“We feel like they don’t care,” she added. “Our relatives, loved ones don’t count.”
But Amy Anderson, whose relative, Ryan Hitchcock, is also unaccounted for, asked protesters to stand down at Tuesday’s news conference.
“The city does have a plan,” she said. “Ryan wouldn’t want anyone else to put their lives at risk to [help], unfortunately, somebody who probably has not survived.”
Anderson said city officials have “given us their word that they’re going to treat that already collapsed area with sensitivity” to work to recover any remains.
“I plead with our community just to let the city do their job,” she said. “We don’t want anyone else hurt.”
ABC News’ Laryssa Demkiw, Andy Fies, Jessica Gorman, Ahmad Hemingway and Alex Perez
(HOLLYWOOD, Fla.) — Nine people, including children, were injured in a shooting along the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk on Florida’s east coast Monday night after a dispute broke out between two groups, according to police.
Four children between the ages of 1 and 17 were shot, including a baby between 15 and 18 months old, according to Hollywood police spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi.
The other five victims were adults ages 25 to 65.
Six patients — four children and two adults — remain hospitalized on Tuesday, all in stable condition, according to hospital officials. The other three adults were treated and discharged.
Hollywood Beach Mayor Josh Levy said “multiple” people have been detained.
“No stone will be left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to justice,” Levy said in a statement Tuesday. “We will utilize every available resource to apprehend those responsible.”
“It is completely unacceptable that innocent people spending time with family on a holiday weekend have been affected by a shooting altercation between two groups who came into our city with guns and no regard for the safety of the law abiding public around them,” Levy added.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds, Peter Charalambous and Okelo Pena contributed to this report.
(SITKA, Alaska) — The Coast Guard suspended its search late Monday for four missing people after a charter fishing boat sank off the coast of Alaska.
Rescuers located one deceased individual and the vessel partially submerged near a small island 10 miles from Sitka, Alaska, according to the Coast Guard.
Kingfisher Charters, a Sitka-based company that operates all-inclusive fishing trips, reported the missing vessel to the Coast Guard on Sunday evening. The boat was carrying four passengers and one guide when it sank, according to the Coast Guard.
The 30-foot aluminum vessel was last seen on Sunday afternoon near Kruzof Island, less than 10 miles from the small rocky island where the ship was found.
“Despite our best efforts and those of several partner agencies, we were not able to find the four remaining individuals, ” Coast Guard Captain Darwin Jensen said. “Suspending a search is never an easy decision. We extend our deepest sympathy to the loved ones during this difficult time.
Kingfisher Charters offers all-inclusive fishing packages and operates guided trips on 30-foot power boats that can carry up to six anglers on a boat, according to the company website.
Kingfisher Charters did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Rescuers, including the Coast Guard, local officials, and private boaters, searched 825 miles over 20 hours before suspending the search.
Sitka often attracts anglers from across the United States for its king salmon and halibut fishing, both currently in season. Located in Alaska’s Southeast panhandle, Sitka has over 8,000 residents across Baranof Island, according to the latest census data.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Several drones struck Moscow early on Tuesday, damaging residential buildings in the Russian capital, the mayor said.
The pre-dawn attack “caused minor damage to several buildings” in a residential area, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. Some residents were evacuated from their apartments due to “safety reasons” as first responders surveyed the damage, Sobyanin said.
“All municipal emergency services are currently at the scene of the incident,” the mayor wrote on his official Telegram channel. “They will find out the circumstances of what happened.”
It’s believed to be the first major drone strike on a residential area of Moscow.
No one was seriously injured in the attack, according to Sobyanin. Two people sought and received medical attention on site for unspecified injures but did not require hospitalization, the mayor said.
Russian emergency services told state news agency TASS that drone-like fragments were found around at least one of the buildings and that apartment windows were shattered on several floors.
Eight drones targeted Moscow, five of which were shot down while the other three were jammed, causing them to veer off course, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The rare attack came as Russia continues to wage war in neighboring Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry called Tuesday’s drone strike a “terrorist attack” by the “Kyiv regime” and said Moscow will react “as harshly as possible to the actions of Ukrainian militants.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow was Kyiv’s retaliation against the effective Russian strikes “on a decision-making center” on Sunday.
On May 3, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones. Russia later blamed the United States for the attack, a claim rejected by Washington.
Meanwhile, in recent days, Russia has launched a series of drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. At around 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Kyiv residents once again awoke to the sound of air raid sirens as dozens of Russian drones targeted the city for a third straight day.
Most of the drones were intercepted and shot down, but the fallen debris sparked fires that engulfed several cars, houses and residential buildings, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. At least one person was killed and 33 others were injured.
“If the Russians can make Kyiv a nightmare, why do the people of Moscow rest?” Klitschko said in a televised address on Tuesday.
(DAVENPORT, Iowa) — A partially collapsed apartment building is set to be demolished in eastern Iowa on Tuesday morning, despite calls for a delay from members of the community who say their loved ones are still missing.
A six-story building partially collapsed on Sunday afternoon in Davenport, a city in Iowa’s Scott County located along the Mississippi River. The building housed a total of 84 apartments between residential and commercial, according to Davenport Mayor Mike Matson and Davenport Fire Chief Michael Carlsten. The cause of the collapse was unknown and remains under investigation.
More than a dozen people evacuated the building at the time of the collapse, while eight others had to be rescued in the hours afterward. The eighth victim was extracted from the site late Sunday and transported to a hospital in unknown condition, Matson and Carlsten said at a press conference on Monday morning. At that time, no deaths had been confirmed and there was no credible information that anyone is missing.
Over 150 personnel have taken part in the “extensive rescue operations,” using thermal imaging, drones and a team of service dogs in an attempt to locate victims within the structure, according to a press release from the Davenport city government. As of Monday night, crews had found “no confirmed viable signs of life” since rescuing the eighth victim, the city said.
The city hired an independent and certified structural engineer to evaluate the structural integrity of the building. The engineer determined that the building is “in imminent danger of collapse with the condition on site continuing to worsen,” the city said. Officials are working with a local contractor on a plan to safely dismantle and demolish the remaining structure.
A notice and order for demolition has been served to the owner of the property. Demolition is expected to begin Tuesday morning. Due to the unstable condition, residents will not be allowed back into the building prior to demolition, according to the city.
“With the current structure in imminent danger of collapse, the necessity to demolish this building stems specifically from our desire to maintain as much safety for the surrounding areas as possible,” said Rich Oswald, director of the City of Davenport’s Development and Neighborhood Services, said in a statement late Monday. “We appreciate the expertise of the professionals collaborating on site to determine the best way to do this.”
Meanwhile, the Davenport Police Department has been working to make contact with and account for all individuals known to be residents in the building at the time of the collapse. There are currently an unspecified number of residents who remain unaccounted for, according to the city.
A large crowd gathered at the site on Monday, calling for “accountability” and pleading with officials not to demolish the structure because they believe people could still be alive inside. A protest is scheduled for Tuesday morning ahead of the planned demolition.
Johnnie Woods told The Des Moines Register that her nephew Branden Colvin, who lived on the fifth floor of the building, didn’t show up to a family gathering on Sunday and hasn’t been seen since.
“He didn’t make it, so then we heard about this building collapse where he lived and we just assumed he must have been in the building,” Woods told the newspaper on Monday.
“My other nephews and other people have been trying to call his phone, and he’s not answering his phone,” she added. “So we’re assuming something, that he can’t talk, his phone is dead, or something. Really, we don’t know anything.”
Woods said she wants officials to share more information about who was in the building and who had or had not been located.
“You don’t have to say names, but you can at least say: ‘We have everybody out. We have the list of names from the apartment complex, and we got everybody out,'” she told The Des Moines Register.
