world TelegraphHerald.com • Telegraph Herald • Sunday, January 10, 2021 5C Indonesian jet carrying 62 goes missing on flight Official says there is the pilot contacted air traffic A commander of one of the the ELT signal from the miss- control to ascend to an alti- search-and-rescue ships who ing plane,” Aji said. no signal from the tude of 29,000 feet, he said. goes by a single name, Eko, Solihin, 22, a fisherman plane’s emergency The airline said in a state- said that fishermen found from Lancang Island, said ment that the plane was on cables and pieces of metal in he and two other fishermen locator transmitter. an estimated 90-minute flight the water. heard an explosion around BY NINIEK KARMINI from Jakarta to Pontianak, “The fishermen told us 30 meters from them. AND EDNA TARIGAN the capital of West Kaliman- that they found them shortly “We thought it was a The Associated Press tan province on Indonesia’s after they heard an explosion bomb or a tsunami since Borneo island. The plane was like the sound of thunder,” after that we saw the big JAKARTA, Indonesia — A carrying 50 passengers and 12 Eko was quoted by TVOne as splash from the water after jet carrying 62 people lost crew members, all Indonesian saying, adding that aviation the explosion. It was rain- contact with air traffic con- nationals, including six extra fuel was found in the location ing heavily and the weather trollers minutes after taking crew for another trip. where the fishermen found was so bad. So it is difficult off from Indonesia’s capital on Sumadi said a dozen ves- the debris. to see around clearly. But a domestic flight on Saturday, sels, including four warships, Aji said no radio beacon we can see the splash and and debris found by fisher- were deployed in a search- TATAN SYUFLANA • The Associated Press signal had been detected from a big wave after the sounds. men was being examined to and-rescue operation cen- Relatives of passengers arrive at a crisis center set up the 26-year-old plane. He said We were very shocked and see if it was from the missing tered between Lancang island following a report that a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet his agency was investigating directly saw the plane de- plane, officials said. and Laki island, part of the has lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after why the plane’s emergency bris and the fuel around our Transportation Minister Thousand Islands chain just take off, at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in locator transmitter, or ELT, boat,” he said. Budi Karya Sumadi said Sri- north of Jakarta. Tangerang, Indonesia, on Saturday. was not transmitting a signal Tracking service Flightra- wijaya Air’s Flight SJ182 was Bambang Suryo Aji, the that could confirm whether it dar24 said on its Twitter feed delayed for an hour before it National Search and Rescue debris and clothes that were Safety Committee for further had crashed. that Flight SJ182 lost more took off at 2:36 p.m. The Boe- Agency’s deputy head of op- found by fishermen. They investigation to determine “The satellite system than 10,000 feet of altitude in ing 737-500 disappeared from erations and preparedness, handed the items over to whether they were from the owned by neighboring Aus- less than a minute, about four radar four minutes later, after said rescuers collected plane the National Transportation missing plane. tralia also did not pick up on minutes after takeoff.

Top U.S. official Report: Hospitals gears up for in Ethiopia’s U.S. presence in Tigray region Western Sahara struck by artillery Food supplies have been ‘looted, U.S. will recognize Morocco’s burned or damaged,’ says report. claim over the Western Sahara for normalized relations with Israel. BY CARA ANNA The Associated Press The Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya — Many of the hospitals in RABAT, Morocco — The highest ranking U.S. Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Tigray region, outside its diplomat for North Africa and the Middle East capital, have been struck by artillery during the traveled Saturday to the city of Laayoune, which two months of fighting, according to the first hu- Morocco considers the capital of the Western manitarian assessment of the devastation as aid Sahara, laying the groundwork for the United BERNAT ARMANGUE • The Associated Press begins to arrive with desperately needed supplies. States to set up a consulate in the disputed ter- Neighbors have drinks in the middle of the street during a heavy snowfall in The scale of the damage has been largely ritory. Bustarviejo, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, on Saturday. unknown while Ethiopian forces pursue and The U.S. Embassy in Morocco’s capital, Ra- clash with those of the now-fugitive Tigray re- bat, called the visit by Assistant Secretary of gional leaders, with the involvement of troops State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker Snow kills 4, brings much from neighboring Eritrea. Transportation and “historic.” communications links were severed. More than The United States agreed to recognize Mo- 50,000 people have fled to Sudan, some telling rocco’s claim over Western Sahara as part of a The Associated Press of mass abductions, tor- deal engineered by Washington for the normal- of Spain to a standstill ture and killings along ethnic lines. ization of ties between Morocco and Israel. U.S. Officials warn there might be “It usually takes me 15 minutes, but this The United Nations and rights groups have President Donald Trump announced the deal time it has been 12 hours freezing, without long emphasized that intentional attacks on last month. more snow on the horizon. food or water, crying with other people be- hospitals are war crimes. The assessment does Schenker visited the neighborhood of Laay- BY ARITZ PARRA cause we didn’t know how we were going not say who fired at hospitals; the U.N. human- oune that houses foreign consulates and met The Associated Press to get out of there,” said Morena, 22. itarian agency said it did not have confirmation with the region’s top Moroccan official, or wali, “Snow can be very beautiful but spend- of such details. Abdesslam Bikrat. The American diplomat is MADRID — A persistent blizzard blan- ing the night trapped in a car because of it Tigray leaders dominated Ethiopia’s gov- scheduled to head Sunday to Dakhla, a seaside keted large parts of Spain with an unusual is no fun,” she added. ernment for nearly three decades before Prime town with a fishing port where the official U.S. amount of snow on Saturday, killing at As of Saturday evening, Spanish securi- Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power and side- presence in the Western Sahara likely is to be least four people and leaving thousands ty services had rescued all the people who lined them amid sweeping reforms that won set up over time. trapped in cars or at train stations and air- were trapped in vehicles — over 1,500, In- him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Abiy has re- Schenker’s visit comes less than two weeks ports that suspended all services. terior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlas- jected international “interference” in the con- before the inauguration of President-elect Joe The national weather agency reported that ka said. flict, which continues outside the Tigray capital, Biden on Jan. 20, when Trump is officially set as of 7 a.m., the snowfall in Madrid reached a AEMET had warned that some regions Mekele, and in other areas. to leave office. level unseen in half a century. More than 20 would be receiving more than 24 hours of The full humanitarian assessment, seen U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a inches of snow fell in the Spanish capital, ac- continuous snowfall due to the odd com- by the AP, was prepared by a joint mission of Christmas Eve statement that Washington plans cording to the weather agency AEMET. bination of a cold air mass stagnant over Ethiopia’s government, U.N. agencies and aid initially to establish a virtual presence in West- The bodies of a man and woman were the Iberian Peninsula and the arrival of the groups that visited Mekele and communities in ern Sahara to be managed from the U.S. Embas- recovered by the Andalucía region emer- warmer Storm Filomena from the south. southern Tigray in late December after weeks sy in Morocco, focused on promoting economic gency service after their car was washed The storm is expected to be followed by of pleading by the U.N. and others for access. and social development. away by a flooded river near the town of a severe drop in temperatures in the com- Food, medical supplies and other basics have A “fully functioning consulate” is to follow, Fuengirola. The Interior Ministry said a ing days, the agency said. run alarmingly low across the region. The assess- the statement said. It did not indicate whether 54-year-old man was also found dead in Transport Minster José Luis Ábalos ment cites regional authorities as saying more the diplomatic post would be in Laayoune or Madrid under a big pile of snow. A home- warned that “snow is going to turn into than 4.5 million people, more than two-thirds of Dakhla. less man died of hypothermia in the ice and we will enter a situation perhaps the population, need humanitarian assistance. Washington’s decision to recognize Moroc- northern city of Zaragoza, the local police more dangerous than what we have at the “The little food stock the affected communities co’s claim over the Western Sahara, which the department reported. moment.” had have either been looted, burned or damaged,” North African kingdom annexed from Spain More than half of Spain’s provinces re- He added that the priority was to assist the assessment says, adding that a locust outbreak in 1975, was a major policy shift. The move mained under severe weather alerts for those in need but also to ensure the supply has worsened the situation. “Living conditions for unnerved the Polisario Front, an organization Storm Filomena on Saturday evening, sev- chain for food and other basic goods. both recently displaced people and host commu- that has spent decades pressing for the territo- en of them at the highest level of warning. “The storm has exceeded the most pes- nities remain very critical.” ry’s independence, including during an all-out In Madrid, authorities activated a red alert simistic forecasts we had,” Ábalos added. It adds: “As a result of the conflict, many war with Morocco. for the first time since the system was ad- Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Inter- houses, shops, and private stores were burned The decision also unnerved Morocco’s neigh- opted four decades ago and called in the national Airport, the main gateway in and or damaged.” Schools, health centers, shops bor Algeria, where the Polisario Front is based. military to rescue people from vehicles out of Spain, will remain closed at least un- and other buildings were looted. Schenker on Saturday also visited the head- trapped on everything from small roads til Sunday, Ábalos said, after the blizzard The European Union’s foreign policy chief, quarters of the United Nations peacekeeping to the city’s major thoroughfares. bested machines and workers trying to Josep Borrell, said Saturday that he had spoken mission in Western Sahara, known as Minurso. Sandra Morena, who became trapped keep the runways clear of snow. with Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister, Deme- He was in Algeria a day earlier, reiterating late on Friday as she commuted to her All trains into and out of Madrid, both ke Mekonnen, “and conveyed the EU’s alarm there that Morocco’s plan for Western Saha- night shift as a security guard in a shop- commuter routes and long-distance pas- over the situation in Tigray. Full and unrestrict- ra’s autonomy should be the framework for ping center, arrived home, on foot, after an senger trains, as well as railway lines be- ed humanitarian access must be granted. This negotiations, the online TSA-Algeria news site army emergency unit helped her out on tween the south and the northeast of the is not an EU demand — this is international reported. Saturday morning. country, were suspended. l a w .”

U.S. motions expand drug claims against Honduras president Honduran President Juan The motions filed Friday with the He has said that traffickers are “By late 2013, the defendant now-convicted brother. U.S. Southern District of falsely accusing him to seek ven- partnered directly with CC-4 and The motions also implicate senior Orlando Hernández has New York do not specif- geance for clamping down on them. high-ranking officials in the Hon- military, police, political and busi- not been charged and has ically name the presi- The government did not immediate- duran military. At this time, CC-4 ness figures in laundering money dent, referring to him as ly respond to a request for comment was pursuing election as the Presi- and bribery. denied the allegations. “CC-4,” or co-conspira- on the new filings. dent of Honduras as a member of the Hernandez, who had been BY CLAUDIA TORRENS tor No. 4, but clearly The motions seek pretrial ap- Partido Nacional de Honduras (the president of congress before being The Associated Press identify him by naming proval to admit evidence in the case “National Party”),” the motion said. elected president in 2013, was re- his brother and his own Juan of Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez, who It added that a witness “would elected in 2017 to a term that ends NEW YORK — U.S. federal prose- post as president. Orlando was arrested in Miami in March. testify that they and other drug-traf- in January 2022. He has cooperat- cutors have filed motions saying that The president, who Hernandez And they expand upon allegations fickers were paying massive bribes ed with the Trump administration Honduran President Juan Orlando has not been charged, filed shorty after the arrest accus- to CC-4 in exchange for protection and its efforts to stem migration Hernández took bribes from drug has repeatedly denied any connec- ing Hernandez of taking bribes in from law enforcement and extradi- from his nation and others in Cen- traffickers and had the country’s tion to traffickers despite the 2019 exchange for protection from law tion to the United States;” and that tral America. armed forces protect a cocaine lab- conviction of one of his brothers, enforcement. the president-to-be “accepted ap- During a January 2020 visit to oratory and shipments to the United Juan Antonio Hernandez. During Fuentes Ramirez is accused of proximately $1 million in drug traf- Honduras, acting U.S. Department of States. that trial, the president was accused conspiring to smuggle cocaine into ficking proceeds that was provided Homeland Security Secretary Chad The documents quote Hernández of accepting more than $1 million the United States and the motions to his brother by the former leader of Wolf said, “Honduras is a valued and as saying he wanted to “‘shove the from Mexican drug trafficker Joa- filed Friday accuse him of producing the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín Guzmán proven partner to the United States drugs right up the noses of the grin- quín “El Chapo” Guzmán — an “hundreds of kilograms a month” of Loera.” in managing migration and promot- gos’ by flooding the United States accusation repeated in the new mo- cocaine and of having several people Prosecutors say he had agreed ing security and prosperity in Cen- with cocaine.” tions. killed to protect his illicit business. to work through the president’s tral America.”