الكاتب: kafej

At least 44 people have died in Kenya and Somalia after heavy flooding struck the East African countries.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement late on Thursday that around 1.6 million people in Somalia could be affected by the downpours.

The floods, which followed heavy rains beginning in early October, have killed at least 29 people in the country and forced more than 300,000 from their homes.

Meanwhile, the Kenya Red Cross said 15 people had died in the country since heavy rains began last Friday.

Somalia’s Disaster Management Agency said a state of emergency was in place on Tuesday.

Hassan Isse, managing director of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SOMDA), told Reuters: “What is going on today is the worst for decades. It is worse than even the 1997 floods.”

Floods in November that year killed more than 2,000 people, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Africa branch.

OCHA explained the downpours were worsened by the twin climate effects of El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief coordinator, said: “Extreme weather linked to the ongoing El Niño risks further driving up humanitarian needs in already-vulnerable communities in Somalia and many other places.

“We know what the risks are, and we need to get ahead of these looming crises.”

OCHA also said in a Thursday evening update: “More rain is expected in the coming days with the forecast for 8 to 15 November indicating very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in southern Somalia and wetter than usual conditions in central and southern Somalia.”

In Kenya, the port city of Mombasa and the northeastern counties of Mandera and Wajir were the worst affected in the country.

Peter Murgor, a disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation manager for Kenya’s Red Cross, told Voice of America: “We are informed by the [weather forecaster] that November normally is the peak.”

He added: “If November is the peak and we are just at the beginning of November, chances are… the situation is likely to worsen in the month towards the end, probably seeing a bit more people being displaced, probably seeing a bit more loss of livelihoods.”

In a forecast for the last quarter of the season, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned the country will experience above-average rainfall, driven by warmer sea surface temperatures over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

A British couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a pesticide to kill bed bugs was sprayed in the room next door at their hotel in Egypt, a coroner has ruled.

John and Susan Cooper suddenly fell ill while they were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in August 2018.

Mr Cooper, 69, and his wife, 63, had been enjoying a “brilliant” holiday until the eighth day of their stay, Preston Coroner’s Court heard.

Around lunchtime on 20 August the room next door to the couple – which had an adjoining locked door, was fumigated with a pesticide known as Lambda, to tackle a bed bug infestation.

The room was then sealed with masking tape around the door.

Hours later, the couple returned to the room for the night, but were both found seriously ill by their daughter the following day.

Mr Cooper was declared dead in their room on 21 August, while Mrs Cooper died in hospital.

The three-day inquest heard that in some countries Lambda is sometimes diluted with another substance, dichloromethane, which causes the body to metabolise or ingest carbon monoxide.

On Friday, Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, ruled the couple died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhaling vapour from a pesticide which contained dichloromethane.

‘It should never have been allowed to happen’

Speaking outside the court, Mr and Mrs Cooper’s daughter, Kelly Ormerod, described the “pain and loss” family members have felt in the wake of the tragedy.

“After more than five years of waiting we have finally been given closure today on the cause of mum and dad’s death,” she said.

“No matter what the outcome today brought, nothing would make up for the pain and loss we’ve felt since that day.

“To go on a family holiday full of the joys and excitement, spending quality time together, to then be faced with the heart-rending event that happened, will never be forgotten.

“To this day our family struggle to comprehend what happened. It should never have been allowed to happen.

“The last few years have been the most traumatic and emotional time for all of us involved.

“While time has moved on it’s stood still for our family because of the many unanswered questions we have had.

“There’s now a huge void in our lives and I don’t think we will ever fully come to terms with losing them the way that we did – they were both fit and healthy.”

A doctor reportedly walked out of an operating theatre midway through a bout of surgery after becoming angry at not being served tea.

The medical worker was said to have been carrying out scheduled family planning procedures on eight women at a local health centre in Nagpur, central India.

Having performed the surgery on four of the women and administered anaesthesia to the other patients, he reportedly asked hospital staff to make him a cup of tea.

But after the workers failed to provide him with the hot beverage as requested, he promptly left the operating theatre without carrying out the remaining procedures, according to NDTV.

The chief of Nagpur’s district council, Soumya Sharma, told NDTV that she understood the doctor “left the operation due to not receiving tea” – and suggested he should face criminal charges.

‘The utmost seriousness’

“This incident is a matter of the utmost seriousness,” she said.

“If doctors are willing to abandon such critical procedures over a mere cup of tea, they should be held accountable under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code.”

Read more on Sky News:
The search for a cure for endometriosis
‘Chess saved my life’: Ukrainians and Russians now making moves for England

Another doctor was reportedly sent to perform surgeries on the rest of the anaesthetised women after the authorities were informed.

The district administration is said to have ordered an investigation into the incident.

About 40,000 housing units in the besieged enclave were completely destroyed by the Israeli army, Gaza officials say.

Israeli bombardments have caused damage to more than 50 percent of housing units across Gaza, according to local officials.

In a statement published on Friday, the media office of Gaza’s government said about 40,000 housing units in the besieged enclave were completely destroyed by the Israeli army.

It also said about 32,000 tons (29,000 tonnes) of explosives had been dropped on Gaza since the start of the war on October 7 when Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, attacked Israel, prompting a retaliation.

The estimated preliminary losses in the housing sector and infrastructure are estimated to be $2bn each, the office said.

A new analysis by two United States-based researchers, James Van Den Hoek and Corey Scher, and Al Jazeera’s AJ Labs unit showed that overall at least 16 percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed. In Gaza City alone, the building destruction reached at least 28 percent.

According to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Palestinian government, and as of November 7, Israeli attacks have damaged at least 222,000 residential units, with more than 40,000 completely destroyed.

The UN report also said 278 educational facilities, 270 healthcare facilities and 69 places of worship were damaged, including mosques and churches.

A man who found a snake while out hiking took it home to show his children, only to be rushed to hospital after being bitten.

The father from New South Wales, Australia, believed the creature was a non-venomous diamond python when he picked it up, and was promptly bitten by the reptile.

He took the snake back home anyway, assuming the bite had been harmless.

But he realised all was not well when he began vomiting violently and his hand became badly swollen, triggering an emergency visit to hospital.

A nurse at Bowral Hospital contacted snake expert Ray McGibbon, who was sent a photo of the animal.

He immediately identified it as a broad-headed snake – which inject neurotoxins into the bloodstream when they bite, which can lead to incapacitation and, in some cases, death.

“The hiker was extremely lucky to make it out after being bitten and envenomated [with] no first aid,” he said.

“It could have ended up a lot worse than it did.

“All species of broad-headed snakes have bites that could potentially cause fatalities.”

Mr McGibbon said the man was kept in hospital for six hours before being sent home to recover.

The expert, who runs the South Highlands Snake Catchers service, said he collected the reptile before returning it to its habitat a few days later.

Read more:
Motorcyclist taken to hospital after tarantula crossing the road causes collision
Australia agrees climate pact to offer displaced Tuvalu residents refuge

He said the hiker “was happy for me to share this story for educational purposes and hopefully people will take note and not follow the same mistakes he did”.

“So please, if you see a snake or any reptile in the wild, admire it in its own habitat. Take photos or a video and please DO NOT try and capture it or take it home,” he said on his Facebook page.

“This is a learning curve for all.”

Mr McGibbon told Sky News the broad-headed snake was now an endangered species due to the destruction of its natural habitat, which is believed to be caused by urbanisation, illegal removal of rocks and vandalism.