(NEW YORK) — A University of California, Berkeley graduate student was killed in Mexico, ABC News has learned.
Gabriel Trujillo, a botanist who was a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology, was killed in the Mexican state of Sonora last week while doing field research, according to a statement from UC Berkeley obtained by San Francisco ABC station KGO on Friday.
The university, located in Northern California, said it received confirmation of Trujillo’s death on June 23.
“Local police authorities are investigating,” UC Berkeley said in the statement. “This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance.”
Sonora is located in northwestern Mexico, sharing the U.S.-Mexico border primarily with Arizona.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(PHOENIX) — An Arizona woman is fighting for her life after contracting fungal meningitis following a plastic surgery procedure at a private clinic in Matamoros, Mexico.
Alondra Lomas is one of nine confirmed cases of the life-threatening infection in an outbreak the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is tied to cosmetic surgery clinics in the Mexican city that borders Brownsville, Texas. So far, at least seven women have died – one in Mexico and six Americans, according to the CDC.
The fatalities, Lomas says, include another woman she says she befriended in Mexico and who had plastic surgery at the same clinic just two hours after her own procedure.
When asked what her greatest fear is, an emotional Lomas told “Impact x Nightline” from her hospital room, “Death. And I only say that because I have not seen one lady leave. I have not seen no girl go home yet.”
The latest “Impact” episode, “If Looks Could Kill,” explores the medical tourism industry in Mexico, the destination for some patients who travel from the U.S. seeking less expensive medical care, including elective cosmetic surgery. Mexico was the second most popular destination for medical tourism around the world in 2020, according to Patients Beyond Borders. Thailand was the No. 1 most popular destination.
Lomas, a mother of two, sought out plastic surgery, specifically liposuction and a so-called Brazilian butt lift, after she says two C-section births left her with sagging skin on her stomach area.
The surgeon she chose, Dr. Luis Manuel Rivera de Anda, offered a variety of cosmetic surgeries at what seemed like bargain prices, Lomas said. At first, Lomas says she was nervous and scared, but then started to feel happy at the prospect of being able to “get the body that [she] wants.”
Lomas flew to Brownsville, Texas, then crossed the border to Matamoros. Dr. Rivera worked out of Clinica K-3, Lomas said. Like many Mexican clinics, surgery there is done using epidurals for anesthesia.
After the procedure, Lomas says she began to experience headaches and back pain while home in Arizona until it finally got so bad that she couldn’t walk. Lomas immediately reached out to the surgical coordinator and doctor, but she says they didn’t have any real answers. Throughout April, the symptoms would come and go.
Lomas said she began to experience worsening symptoms, including fatigue and hallucinations. On May 7, she went to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix, where she was diagnosed with fungal meningitis.
“The doctors told me that if I didn’t go in time, I could have died within 24 hours because this is a fatal infection,” Lomas said.
Meningitis occurs when an infection causes inflammation in the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Most of the time, the infection is viral or bacterial. Fungal meningitis is much more rare. Symptoms like backaches, headaches and sensitivity to light usually appear gradually, making it harder to diagnose.
Getting treatment as early as possible is critical to survival, according to Dr. Tom Chiller, who runs the fungal disease branch of the CDC.
By May 11, the CDC had enough cases in the U.S. to notify Mexican officials about the outbreak, linking them to cosmetic surgery in Matamoros. They identified two private clinics – Riverside Surgical Center and Clinica K-3, where Lomas had her surgery.
“The strongest hypothesis right now is that a batch of these drugs used for anesthesia, either epidural or spinal anesthesia, were contaminated,” Dr. Vicente Joel Hernandez Navarro, state secretary of health for Tamaulipas, Mexico, told “Impact.”
Both Clinica K-3 and Riverside have been shut down, Navarro said, adding that 10 other clinics are being investigated and currently closed for failing to comply with health requirements.
Both clinics linked to the outbreak, along with Dr. Rivera, did not respond to a request for comment.
The CDC has issued an alert, telling anyone who had procedures under epidural anesthesia at the two clinics between Jan. 1 and May 13 of this year to go to their local emergency room and get tested for meningitis. The CDC is tracking about 200 people they know had surgery in Matamoros and could be at risk.
This isn’t the first time Mexico has dealt with an outbreak. Just six months ago, there were 80 confirmed cases of fungal meningitis linked to a medical center in the Mexican state of Durango, the New York Times reported. Thirty-nine women died.
The issue isn’t limited to Mexico. In 2012, dozens died after 14,000 people were exposed to tainted steroid injections in the U.S, according to the CDC.
After more than a month in the hospital, Lomas said her treatment didn’t appear to be working, so doctors performed brain surgery to create a port that delivers the anti-fungal medication directly to the infection. It appears the surgery worked, she says, but she’s not out of the woods yet.
“So I try to, you know, stay positive, because I need to be there for my children, you know? I don’t wanna have another party in the hospital because my son’s birthday is in August. I wanna be able to go home and be present,” Lomas said.
“Impact x Nightline” is now streaming on Hulu. The episode was produced by ABC News’ Knez Walker, Stephanie Fasano, Zach Fannin, Caroline Pahl, Jaclyn Skurie, Anne Laurent, Tara Guaimano and Candace Smith Chekwa.
(PARIS) — Widespread protests continued for a third night over the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a Paris suburb.
More than 100 people have been arrested across the country so far, as curfews are in place in multiple cities, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Fourteen people were arrested after allegedly breaking into a flagship Nike store in Chatelet, in the heart of Paris, according to an official in the Paris Prefecture Office.
Some 40,000 law enforcement officers were deployed nationwide on Thursday to quell potential violence, including about 5,000 in the capital and its inner suburbs, according to Darmanin.
Riots are also taking place in Brussels, Belgium, in response to the teen’s killing, with some protesters allegedly attacking police, federal police told ABC News. Eight people have been arrested so far, police said.
Dozens of police officers are currently deployed in the city center of Brussels, and two subway stations have been closed.
The unrest comes after a 17-year-old driver was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic check in Nanterre on Tuesday morning. The officer was detained on suspicion of manslaughter amid an ongoing investigation into the incident, according to the local prosecutor’s office.
The Nanterre prosecutor said Thursday that the officer did not meet the requirements to discharge his weapon and will remain in custody awaiting trial.
The shooting sparked violent protests, with police stations, schools and town halls “set on fire or attacked,” Darmanin said. More than 150 people were arrested around the country stemming from Wednesday night’s protests, according to Darmanin, who condemned the “night of unbearable violence.”
Lawyers for the victim’s family identified him as 17-year-old Nael M. and said they intend to file complaints against the officer who fired the lethal shot and another officer who was at the scene.
France’s Inspectorate General of the National Police, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, is also conducting a probe into the fatal shooting.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Darmanin have both called for “calm” as authorities investigate the teen’s death.
ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano, Anna Rabemanantsoa and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — As Ukrainian forces continue their counteroffensive against Russia, some soldiers say an American-supplied vehicle is making a key difference in their advances, and more importantly, saving lives.
The U.S. has provided has provided Ukrainian forces with Bradley Fighting Vehicles as part of aid packages since the beginning of the year and they have been heavily used in the counteroffensive Ukraine that launched in early June.
Two Ukrainian soldiers from the 47th brigade, Serhiy and Andriy, told ABC News that they and their crew wouldn’t be alive today if Bradley didn’t protect them from a battle early on in the counteroffensive where they were struck by mines, high caliber guns and attack drones.
“We were hit multiple times,” Andriy, who drove one Bradley, said. “Thanks to it, I am standing here now. If we were using some Soviet armored personnel carrier we would all probably be dead after the first hit. It’s a perfect vehicle.”
The Bradleys are armed with a 25mm automatic cannon, a 7.62mm machine gun, and a TOW missile system that can hit armored targets more than two miles away.
Andriy and Serhiy’s brigade was part of one of the first major assaults using significant amounts of Western-supplied armored, launched against heavily fortified Russian lines in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine at the start of June.
As they advanced towards the Russian positions, protected by dense minefields, the Ukrainian troops came almost immediately under heavy fire. The vehicle behind Andriy was struck by an attack drone, killing his unit’s commander.
Andriy’s Bradley was then hit first by a 120mm mortar. Two 150mm shells then struck both sides of the vehicle, he told ABC.
“Almost all of my guys were concussed, and they were really disoriented,” he said. But the squad inside bailed out and managed to safely escape back to cover.
Russia’s defense ministry released a widely video of a nearby area showing four Bradleys and one German Leopard 2A6 tanks damaged and abandoned after a different failed breaching assault by the 47th Brigade
Serhiy, who drove a Bradley during yet another nearby assault, said Russian forces were very well prepared. Despite his vehicle also being badly hit, he said he and his team escaped major injuries while inside during the attack.
“It’s a very good car if you are inside. I’ve checked on myself and on my team. Only one guy had a concussion,” he said.
Ukraine has so far lost at least 24 Bradleys, according to the Oryx open source website, that tracks Ukrainian and Russia equipment losses by visually confirming them in public available imagery.
Serhiy and Andriy said the Ukrainians were often able to recover many of the vehicles disabled in the attacks. One of their vehicles was recovered and used for parts that allowed the repair of two more Bradleys, they said.
Andriy was hospitalised for concussion, but a day later snuck out against his doctors advice, determined to recover his vehicle. He returned to the battlefield where the Bradley was still abandoned and discovering its engine was still functioning succeeded in driving it out.
He said, despite the difficulties in advancing he believed Ukraine’s counteroffensive would be successful.
“I think in the near future we will succeed,” he said.
(WATERLOO, Ontario) — Two students and a university professor have been stabbed during a class on gender issues, police said.
The incident occurred at the University of Waterloo in Canada — located approximately 70 miles west of Toronto — when authorities from the Waterloo Regional Police Service were called at 3:35 p.m. to a “report of a stabbing inside a classroom at Hagey Hall,” police said in a statement detailing the attack.
“Through investigation, it was determined that three victims were injured as a result of the incident,” authorities said. “Two females and one male were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
It is unclear if the assailant knew the professor or students or what his motive was for the attack, but police said that officers quickly responded to the incident and one male was taken into police custody.
Authorities did not say how many students were in the classroom at the time of the stabbing but said there was no further threat to public safety after the suspect was arrested.
Classes that were scheduled to take place later on Wednesday were cancelled as police investigated the stabbing, according to the university.
“Waterloo Regional Police Service have now cleared Hagey Hall,” the University of Waterloo said in a tweet late Wednesday. “Hagey Hall remains closed until tomorrow morning while police continue their investigation. There continues to be no further threat to our campus community.”
“Activities and classes in Hagey Hall will resume as scheduled” on Thursday, the university confirmed on their website.
The investigation is ongoing by Waterloo Regional Police Service’s General Investigations Unit and Forensics Identification Unit and anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-570-9777.
(PARIS) — Protesters set cars and buildings ablaze across France in a second night of violent unrest since police shot and killed a teenager in a Paris suburb.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin took to Twitter on Thursday morning to condemn the “night of unbearable violence.” He said 150 people were arrested around the country as police stations, schools and town halls were “set on fire or attacked.”
“Support for the police, gendarmes and firefighters who face up with courage,” Darmanin tweeted. “Shame on those who did not call for calm.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called the violence “unjustifiable.”
While tensions remained highest in the Paris region, the rioting spread to other towns and cities across France on Wednesday night, including Lille and Rennes in the north and Toulouse in the south.
The previous night’s unrest was concentrated in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the fatal shooting took place. Overall, 31 people were arrested, 25 police officers were injured and 40 cars were burned on Tuesday night, according to Darmanin. In response, the interior minister ordered the deployment of 2,000 law enforcement officers in the Paris region and around other big cities on Wednesday to “maintain order.”
A 17-year-old driver was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic check in Nanterre on Tuesday morning. The officer was subsequently detained on suspicion of manslaughter amid an ongoing investigation into the incident, according to the local prosecutor’s office.
During a press conference on Thursday morning, the Nanterre prosecutor said the officer did not meet the requirements to discharge his weapon and will remain in custody awaiting trial.
France’s Inspectorate General of the National Police, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, is also conducting a probe into the fatal shooting.
Lawyers for the victim’s family identified him as 17-year-old Nael M. and said they intend to file complaints against the officer who fired the lethal shot and another officer who was at the scene.
Nael’s mother has called for people to join her in the streets of Nanterre on Thursday afternoon for a march. Nationwide protests are also expected to take place.
France’s president and interior minister have both called for “calm” as authorities investigate the teen’s death. Macron and Darmanin held a crisis meeting on Thursday morning, and all cabinet ministers have been asked to cancel their engagements in the upcoming days.
(ST JOHN’S, Canada) — Debris recovered from the submersible that catastrophically imploded while on a voyage to see the Titanic wreckage last week contained “presumed human remains,” the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Salvaged pieces of the Titan vessel were unloaded from the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Wednesday morning.
The U.S. Coast Guard said later Wednesday it has received the debris and evidence, including “presumed human remains,” that had been recovered from the ocean floor in the incident, in which five people died.
The evidence will be transported to a port in the U.S. for “further analysis and testing” by the Marine Board of Investigation, the Coast Guard said.
“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy,” Marine Board of Investigation Chair Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement. “There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”
The Marine Board of Investigation has been in contact with the families of those who were aboard the Titan, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News.
The development comes nearly a week after a remotely operated vehicle discovered remnants of the missing OceanGate submersible on the ocean floor. Debris, including the tail cone, was found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked Titanic on June 22, four days after the launch of the doomed tourist expedition.
Additional debris found was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” according to Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District.
The Canadian Coast Guard said at the time it would remain on scene and “provide assistance and support to the recovery and salvage operations as requested by Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Boston.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading an investigation into the deadly incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which said it will “contribute to their efforts.”
Former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Haueter called the probe “uncharted territory” that could take “months” to analyze the failures.
“This is the first fatality on a passenger carriage submarine I can think of and certainly the first one going into Titanic at this depth,” Haueter told ABC News.
Haueter said a big part of the investigation will involve metallurgy specialists looking at the materials the submersible was made of to see what could have failed. The pressure vessel area — the compartment where the passengers were — may also reveal what failed, he said.
“Was it a hatch failure or is it the bolts on the hatch? Was it part of the composite shell?” Haueter said. “And taking a look at all these different pieces to see, is there fatigue crack?”
Investigators will also look at its design, diving history and maintenance, he said. What is learned could improve what he called a very small industry.
“I think there are things they’ll be able to learn to say, OK, if we’re going to do this again and allow people to descend to these incredible depths and amazingly high pressures, that here’s things that should be considered when developing these types of vehicles,” Haueter said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also said over the weekend that they are “examining the circumstances” of the deaths on board the Titan and will launch a full investigation if “the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken.”
ABC News’ Luke Barr and Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The United States assesses that members of Russia’s military leadership were aware of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s planned mutiny before he marched on Moscow, according to Biden administration officials.
One senior official told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz that General Sergei Surovikin, who was previously Russia’s top commander in Ukraine, and others had conversations with Prigozhin before he instructed his paramilitary group to storm the capital city, resulting in the greatest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin since he came into power more than two decades ago.
Nicknamed “General Armageddon,” Surovikin is known to have had a close relationship with Prigozhin in the past. He was also one of the first high-ranking Russian officials to call on Prigozhin to abandon his march in a video message posted on Friday.
The U.S. believes that Prigozhin thought some among the top brass would join his cause although they ultimately did not, and now Putin wants to investigate possible coordination between his military and the mercenary leader, the official added.
But Putin’s desire to carry out such a probe may be overshadowed by his need to project strength and unity among Russia’s top ranks during the precarious time.
The Kremlin has been trying to downplay the risk Putin faced last weekend, and while the Russian president has said little in the wake of the uprising — giving only brief televised remarks on Monday evening — his ardent ally Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has been enlisted as a de facto spokesperson.
Lukashenko, who purportedly brokered the deal that abruptly ended the mutiny and is currently playing host to Prigozhin, also claimed he talked Putin out of killing his former friend.
Sources within the administration say that U.S. intelligence assesses that the Kremlin instructed Lukashenko to emphasize Putin’s initial inclination to kill Prigozhin in an attempt to perpetuate Putin’s image as a strongman.
Prigozhin used a false pretext to lead his forces in an armed insurrection against the Russian state, claiming that his forces had been bombed to justify actions against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian defense leaders, according to one senior U.S. official.
Prigozhin is surrounded by his own security force, which is comprised of Wagner mercenaries, and is said to be in a “forlorn” and “uncertain” mood, a U.S. official said.
Publicly, leaders in Washington have sought to walk a fine line in the wake of the revolt, declining to even characterize Prigozhin’s march on Moscow, which saw his fighters temporarily overtake Russian military facilities and come within a hundred miles of the city while facing limited opposition.
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Putin had “absolutely” been weakened by Prigozhin’s challenge, but to what extent was “hard to tell.”
A White House spokesperson also declined to say whether the White House believed top Russian military leaders had advanced knowledge of Prigozhin’s mutiny, calling it “an internal matter in Russia.”
At an event in New York, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also asked about the latest developments involving Prigozhin and Moscow, where he predicted there would be more fallout to come.
“This is a moving picture, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last act,” Blinken said. “We have to have a certain amount of humility in any predictions we make.”
ABC News’ Ian Pannell, Molly Nagle and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
(ST JOHN’S, Canada) — Debris from the submersible that imploded while on a voyage to see the Titanic wreckage last week has been brought ashore.
The Canadian Press captured pieces of the Titan vessel being unloaded from the Canadian ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Wednesday.
The development comes nearly a week after a remotely operated vehicle discovered remnants of the missing OceanGate submersible on the ocean floor. Debris, including the tail cone, was found about 1,600 feet from the bow of the wrecked Titanic on June 22, four days after the launch of the doomed tourist expedition.
Additional debris found was “consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” according to Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the First Coast Guard District. Five people were aboard the submersible when it imploded.
The Canadian Coast Guard said at the time it would remain on scene and “provide assistance and support to the recovery and salvage operations as requested by Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Boston.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is leading an investigation into the deadly incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which said it will “contribute to their efforts.”
Additionally, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said over the weekend that they are “examining the circumstances” of the deaths on board the Titan and will launch a full investigation if “the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken.”
(NEW YORK) — The reports of hundreds of Pakistanis losing their lives as they attempted to enter Europe last week sent shockwaves across the country, forcing officials in Islamabad to acknowledge the increasing number of people embarking on perilous journeys.
An estimated 350 Pakistanis were on board the ill-fated and overcrowded boat that sank near Greece on June 14. Pakistan’s interior minister, Rana Sanaullah Khan, said only 104 people, including 12 Pakistanis, were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered.
“So far, 281 families have contacted the government saying their sons or dear ones might have been among those who were on the boat,” Khan said on national TV.
The Greece water tragedy is just the latest incident to shed light on the desperation that’s driving families to undertake dangerous journeys, hoping to find solace and refuge in foreign lands.
A similar incident happened in February. Shahida Raza, a professional national women’s hockey player, was among more than 60 people who died in a shipwreck off the cost of Italy.
“She was a national hero but she left the country for economic reasons and because she did not have a job,” Raza’s close friend, Sumaiya Mushtaq, told ABC News.
“She had a son with disability and, as a mother, she decided to leave the country because she would do anything for a better future for her son,” Mushtaq added. “When I heard the news, it was like I had died. I was devastated. Life [had stood] still for me.”
With a population of 250 million, Pakistan struggles with many economic and political crises. Human trafficking has become a thriving business, costing those who want to leave fees between $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the destination.
Khan noted that “hardly” any trafficker has been punished. But he added that laws are being amended so the “mafias involved in this heinous act can be punished.”
It’s not only the destitute who are fleeing the country; large numbers of educated youth are leaving the country in search of a better future.
Pakistan’s inflation rate is an unprecedented 38%, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Industries are closing, unemployment is on the rise and people are finding it hard to survive on their earnings.
Sher Ali, 42, is forced to work for daily wages after losing his job as a factory worker. Ali told ABC News he can “barely feed his family of seven.”
Political polarization and tensions have also created confusion in the country.
“[The] political system has crippled the entire social fabric of the country,” Mian Aamer Mumtaz told ABC News.
He is the chief executive officer of an international consulting firm in Pakistan.
“The youth is no exception,” Mumtaz said. “Since they believe there is no concept of merit … [they] look for opportunities outside Pakistan where at least the system provides them opportunities to work hard and earn a decent living.”
Added Mushtaq: “There is no future for anyone here. When I open my eyes in the morning I wonder if my life is going to end like Shahida … it is very difficult to survive in Pakistan under this circumstance.”
