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Tag: US Coast Guard

  • Fires ‘nearly completely consume’ historic town in Hawaii

    Fires ‘nearly completely consume’ historic town in Hawaii

    The historic town of Lahaina on Hawaii’s island of Maui neary got destroyed completely by raging wildfires exacerbated by hurricane winds.

    The state’s US senator, Brian Schatz, claimed on social media that Lahaina is “almost completely burned to the ground.”

    Officials said on Wednesday that there were at least six fatalities in Maui County.

    Burn victims and those suffering from smoke inhalation have overrun Maui’s hospital system.

    Firefighters are still working to put out the fires, and our first responders are in search and rescue mode, according to Mr. Schatz.

    According to early Wednesday morning reports, some people attempted to flee the raging flames by jumping into the water. At least twelve persons were pulled from the ocean, according to the US Coast Guard.

    At a press conference, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. stated that numerous residences and commercial buildings had been totally destroyed.

    One of the town’s 12,000 residents told the local media that every boat in the harbour was on fire.

    Chrissy Lovitt said to Hawaii News Now, “It looks like something out of a movie, a war movie.”

    The real scale of the damage on Maui, according to officials, is still impossible to assess, and they have issued a warning that the death toll could grow. There have been about 2,100 displaced persons.

    Some Lahaina residents’ relatives expressed concern for missing members of their family.

    Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now, “I still don’t know where my little brother is. I have no idea where my stepdad is.

    “Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down,” Ms. Lawrence added.

    According to the monitoring website PowerOutage.us, there were about 13,000 people without power on Maui.

    Due to the fires, thousands of people were left without cell phone coverage, and West Maui 911 services were unavailable on Wednesday.

    On Maui, three sizable fires are still burning and are out of control, according to officials.

    The Big Island, commonly known as Hawaii island, which is next to Maui, is also engulfed in a number of fires.

    Due to the fires, thousands of people were left without cell phone coverage, and West Maui 911 services were unavailable on Wednesday.

    On Maui, three sizable fires are still burning and are out of control, according to officials.

    The Big Island, commonly known as Hawaii island, which is next to Maui, is also engulfed in a number of fires.

    Sylvia Luke, the lieutenant governor of Hawaii, said, “This is not a safe place to be.”

    Shelters in certain areas of Maui are overcrowded, Ms. Luke continued. Our resources are subject to taxation.

    On the westernmost point of Maui is the historic town of Lahaina. Its centre is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places and dates back to the 1700s.

    The second-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, Maui is situated more than 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) from the US mainland in the northern Central Pacific.

    It draws a lot of tourists because of its stunning beaches and whale-watching opportunities in the winter, and 2.9 million people visited it last year.

    The tiny island features both wet and green jungles and dry, sunny microclimates. Hawaii experiences wet and dry seasons, with droughts growing increasingly frequent on its islands.

  • Hawaii wildfires: Residents run towards ocean to escape fires

    Hawaii wildfires: Residents run towards ocean to escape fires

    A Hawaiian town‘s residents apparently had no choice but to jump into the ocean to escape the raging wildfires that are consuming parts of Maui.

    Lahaina, which was partially destroyed or significantly damaged by the fire, was the site of “apocalyptic scenes,” according to local media.

    Aside from causing power outages, the fire forced evacuations. Debris has complicated the rescue operation.

    There are at least seven active fires in Hawaii, including the one in Lahaina.

    Several homes and businesses have been damaged in the city of roughly 13,000 inhabitants on the western portion of Maui, the second-largest and third-most populous island in the state, according to a local CBS News affiliate, the BBC’s US partner.

    The US Coast Guard reports that 12 persons were saved after jumping into the water to flee the fire.

    Videos sent on social media from the island show the town’s main street and a number of nearby shops on fire, however it is unclear how much damage was done.

    According to local business owner Alan Dickar, “buildings on both sides were engulfed.” “At that time, there were no fire trucks. The fire department was probably overworked.

    Mr. Dickar continued, “Many individuals just lost their employment since many businesses burnt. Many folks lost their homes; this will be disastrous for Maui.

    Dustin Kaleiopu, another local, told Hawaii News Now that his home was among those lost in the blaze.

    “Everything we had ever known had vanished. Every single memory we had of this home—our church, our schools, and so on—he remarked. In the blink of an eye, everything vanished.

    According to the Honolulu office of the National Weather Service, there are multiple fires burning in Hawaii as a result of Hurricane Dora’s powerful winds blowing from hundreds of miles away, low humidity, and dry air. Winds have reportedly made it more difficult to employ helicopters for firefighting operations, according to local officials.

    Large portions of Maui were evacuated, and roads and schools were closed as a result of the fires. Residents who had to leave their homes have been provided with shelter.

    According to PowerOutage.us, as of 9:00 EST (14:00 BST), almost 15,000 individuals are still without electricity.

    Acting governor of Hawaii Sylvia Luke declared an emergency and called in the National Guard on Tuesday night. Josh Green, the state’s governor, is on the road.

    Given the several fires and countless evacuations in the various district regions, it is undoubtedly one of the more difficult days for our island, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin told CBS on Tuesday.

    Hawaii rarely experiences large fires like those that ravage California and other western US states.

    However, experts have cautioned that they are frequently more harmful since they can eliminate vegetation and Hawaii’s ecology evolved without fires before the arrival of humans.

  • Myrtle Beach in US witnesses a plane crash into the sea

    Myrtle Beach in US witnesses a plane crash into the sea

    Hundreds of beachgoers in Myrtle Beach watched as a banner plane crashed into the water.

    At the South Carolina beach, a yellow jet crashed into the surf at 11:35 a.m. on Monday near 40th Avenue North.

    According to Cpl. Chris Starling of the Myrtle Beach police, the pilot was taken to a local hospital.

    From the shore, onlookers could be seen staring as the plane continued to float in the water around 20 yards away.

    South Carolina‘s Myrtle Beach is the scene of an aeroplane disaster.

    According to Starling, authorities were waiting for the US Coast Guard and maybe the Federal Aviation Administration to handle retrieving the jet from the water safely.

    The pilot’s status wasn’t known right away.

    The pilot was apparently able to escape with the assistance of about a dozen individuals who had reportedly already entered the water.

    Valerie Randolph, a witness, stated to The Mirror that “this happened right in front of us.” The first male to board the plane was the boyfriend of my daughter.

    Ten to fifteen men were supporting the plane while lifeguards freed the man. With the aid of some very heroic spectators, those four to five guards were able to save his life.

    There was supposedly no one else in the aircraft but the pilot.

    According to WPDE, his aircraft is a 1947-built Piper PA-12 Fixed Wing Single-Engine Aircraft with the registration number N3036M from Barnstormers Aerial Advertising.

    Only two days prior, a banner plane near Hampton Beach in New Hampshire attempted to make a water landing but overturned in the air as soon as its nose touched the sea. The aircraft performed a somersault and landed upright in the water.

    The pilot was pulled out of the water by state lifeguards even though he was unharmed. There was nobody else in the aircraft. What precipitated the collision was not immediately clear.

    Liane McNamara, a witness, reported that the plane crashed not far from where beachgoers were swimming.

    Some others questioned whether this was a joke. Is it a prank? McNamara spoke with WMUR. It was quite bizarre. Even now, it seems absurd.

    One person was hurt in a shooting in the city the night before the jet crash in Myrtle Beach.

  • ‘Human remains’ discovered in Titan submarine after debris washed ashore

    ‘Human remains’ discovered in Titan submarine after debris washed ashore

    The Titan submersible‘s wreckage has reportedly yielded presumed human remains, according to the US Coast Guard.

    Now that presumed human remains have been found from the implosion’s debris, medical experts will formally examine them.

    Follow Metro.co.uk’s live blog here for the most recent information on the Titan submersible recovery.

    At the scene of the deadly implosion of the deep-sea vessel, which claimed the lives of five individuals, the US Coast Guard (USCG) reported receiving wreckage and evidence from the ocean floor.

    Large pieces of debris from Titan were transported to St John’s harbour on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where it was seen being unloaded by a crane.

    Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigation’s chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: ‘The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.

    ‘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.’

    OceanGate Expeditions’ Titan was reported missing on Sunday, June 18 but after a huge search debris from the wreck was eventually discovered around 1,600 feet from the bow of the infamous sunken ship Titanic.

    The implosion was confirmed on June 22. All five passengers were killed.

    Those killed were British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, prominent Pakistani business tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

    The alarm was raised when the submersible lost contact with its mothership, MV Polar Prince, off the coast of Newfoundland. The implosion was confirmed a few days later.

    However the US Navy picked up sounds ‘consistent with an implosion’ shortly after it lost contact.

    The debris was located by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) named ‘Odysseus’.

    Rear Admiral John Mauger, of the US First Coast Guard District, said: ‘This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up.

    He described the region of the North Atlantic where the implosion took place as ‘unforgiving and difficult to access’ – and animations have reconstructed what the implosion could have looked like.

    Pictures show pieces of the Titan wreckage being unloaded from the Horizon Arctic ship at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

    US maritime officials are investigating and say they will issue a report aimed at improving submersible safety, The Mirror reports.

    Investigators from Canada, France and the UK are also involved in the probe.

  • ‘Presumed human remains’ discovered in the Titan submersible’s wreckage – US coast guard

    ‘Presumed human remains’ discovered in the Titan submersible’s wreckage – US coast guard

    The US Coast Guard reported Wednesday that “presumed human remains” were among the trash and proof retrieved from the seafloor where the Titan submersible‘s wreckage were discovered.

    The Coast Guard announced in a news statement that the bodies were found “within the wreckage” of the submersible, about a week after investigators decided the Titanic-bound ship had sunk in the North Atlantic, killing all five men on board.

    The alleged remains were among the evidence from the submersible that arrived at a Canadian pier on Wednesday, according to the military department, and will be examined by US medical experts.

    The company that owns the remotely operated vehicles that brought Titan’s remains to the surface, Pelagic Research Services, for now has “successfully completed” the offshore work, it told CNN.

    A white panel-like piece – taller than the two men guiding it onto land – and another similarly sized part with cords and wires draped with white tarp were among the debris taken off the anchor handling vessel Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, photos by The Canadian Press’ Paul Daly show.

    It was not immediately clear what those pieces were. Titan was made of carbon fiber and titanium and weighed 23,000 pounds, with room for only five adults, according to OceanGate Expeditions, which operated the craft as part of its offering for extreme tourists to get close to the century-old wreckage of the Titanic for $250,000 per person.

    Crew members “have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones,” the company said in a statement.

    Pelagic Research Services deferred questions to the US Coast Guard, adding its team cannot comment on or provide any information related to the investigation into the Titan’s demise. The company will hold a news conference at its East Aurora, New York, operations base after “our team has regrouped,” it said.

    A Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesperson declined to comment to CNN, saying more information about its investigation is forthcoming as warranted.

    The OceanGate submersible and its five passengers began their descent to the 111-year-old wreckage of the Titanic on the morning of June 18. But about an hour and 45 minutes into its dive, the cramped vessel lost contact with its mother ship and did not surface as expected, kicking off a massive, dayslong multinational search and rescue operation that captured the world’s attention.

    On Thursday, the US Coast Guard announced the vessel had suffered a “catastrophic implosion” that presumably killed all those aboard.

    The tail cone and other debris from the submersible were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

    Over the weekend, the military branch said it convened a Marine Board of Investigation to probe what caused the implosion and to offer possible recommendations “to pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary.”

    In its news release Wednesday, the Coast Guard said those working on the investigation board are collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses ahead of an expected public hearing for additional witness testimony.

    “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,” Capt. Jason Neubauer, who heads the investigative board, said Wednesday.

  • A cruise passenger goes missing while traveling from Australia to Hawaii

    A cruise passenger goes missing while traveling from Australia to Hawaii

    The Australian tourist who is thought to have gone overboard on a cruise ship sailing from Brisbane to Hawaii has not yet been located by the US Coast Guard.

    The Quantum of the Seas cruise liner reported a guy overboard late Tuesday night, around 500 miles (805 kilometers) south of Kailua Kona, Big Island, the coast guard said in a statement.

    The cruise ship stayed on the scene for around two hours and deployed six life rings in an effort to save the passenger, but it then continued on its way after no sign of him was discovered, according to the coast guard.

    A US Coast Guard Hercules helicopter conducted an aerial search of the area for six hours on Wednesday and it will resume the search at first light on Thursday, the coast guard said.

    Royal Caribbean issued a statement confirming a passenger was missing.

    “While on its trans-pacific sailing, a guest onboard Quantum of the Seas went overboard,” the company said in a statement, according to CNN affiliate Nine News.

    “The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities,” it added.

    A passenger on board the vessel, Georgina Thompson, told Nine News she and her husband were in bed when they heard the call “Oscar, oscar, oscar” – the cruise ship line’s code for “man overboard.”

    “There were lights, you know, the big lights shining on the ocean,” she said.

    Quantum of the Seas is a 16-day voyage which departed from Brisbane, Australia on April 12 and is scheduled to reached Honolulu, Hawaii on April 28.

    The vessel made its maiden voyage in 2014 from Southampton to New York, and was at the time branded as the “world’s smartest cruise ship” with robot waiters and features skydiving on deck.

    It is 16 stories high and has room for 4,500 passengers and a 1,500-strong crew, according to the cruise company’s website.