Malaysia to end second search for MH370
Kuala Lumpur, May 29 : Malaysia on Tuesday will end a second search attempt to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after an area of more than 80,000 sq.km was scouted without finding any traces of the aircraft.
However, the Malaysian government has stated that they will review the investigations and left open the possibility of a third search, Efe news reports.
The ship Seabed Constructor, hired by the US company Ocean Infinity, is still conducting a search on Tuesday.
In January, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had signed a contract with Ocean Infinity to track the area of the Indian Ocean where experts believe the plane had crashed.
According to the agreement, Malaysia would pay up to a maximum of $70 million if the company found the plane's fuselage and the two black boxes.
However, with the deadline expired, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced last week an official end to the search.
The flight MH370 disappeared from the radars on March 8, 2014, about 40 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on the way to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The disappearance took place after someone switched off the communication systems and turned the aircraft around, according to the official investigation.
So far, 27 fragments of the plane have been recovered at beaches in Reunion, Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa and Pemba Island (Zanzibar), after they followed the currents of the Indian Ocean, according to the official hypothesis of the disaster.
From these retrieved pieces, experts confirmed that three wing fragments found in Reunion, Mauritius and Pemba belong to the MH370, another seven pieces, including parts of the interior of the cabin, are "almost certainly" from the missing aircraft and another eight bear a "high probability".
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At least 66 dead, 51 injured in hotel fire at ski resort in northwestern Turkey
Ankara, Jan 21 (AP): A fire at a hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday killed at least 66 people, Turkey's Interior Minister said.
Ali Yerlikaya said at least 51 other people were injured in the disaster.
“We are in deep pain. We have unfortunately lost 66 lives in the fire that broke out at this hotel,” Yerlikaya told reporters after inspecting the site.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said at least one of the injured was in serious condition.
The fire broke out at around 3:30 am in the restaurant of the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel in the resort of Kartalkaya in Bolu province, officials and reports said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
Two of the victims died after jumping from the building in a panic, Gov Abdulaziz Aydin told the state-run Anadolu Agency. Private NTV television said some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets.
There were 234 guests staying at the hotel, Aydin said.
Necmi Kepcetutan, a ski instructor at the hotel, said he was asleep when the fire erupted and he rushed out of the building. He told NTV television that he then helped some 20 guests out of the hotel.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke, making it difficult for guests to locate the fire escape.
“I cannot reach some of my students. I hope they are OK,” the ski instructor told the station.
Television images showed the roof and top floors of the hotel on fire.
Witnesses and reports said the hotel's fire detection system failed to operate.
“My wife smelled the burning. The alarm did not go off,” Atakan Yelkovan, a guest staying on the third floor of the hotel, told the IHA news agency.
“We tried to go upstairs but couldn't, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here (outside),” he said.
Yelkovan said it took about an hour for the firefighting teams to arrive.
“People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets ... some tried to jump,” he said.
The government appointed six prosecutors to lead an investigation into the fire. NTV television suggested that the wooden cladding on the exterior of the hotel, in a chalet-style design, may have accelerated the spread of the fire.
The 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff, hampering efforts to combat the flames, the station also reported.
NTV showed a smoke-blackened lobby, its glass entrance and windows smashed, its wooden reception desk charred and a chandelier crashed to the ground.
Kartalkaya is a popular ski resort in the Koroglu mountains, some 300 km east of Istanbul. The fire occurred during the school semester break when hotels in the region are packed.
Aydin's office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site.
Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.
Meanwhile, a gas explosion at a hotel at another ski resort in central Turkey injured four people.
The explosion took place at the Yildiz Mountain Winter Sports Centre in Sivas province. Two skiers and their instructor were slightly injured while another instructor received second-degree burns on the hands and face, the Sivas governor's office said.
A massive fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, a ski resort in northwestern Turkey, killed at least 10 people and injured 32. The fire started early Tuesday in the hotel’s restaurant. Two victims died after jumping from the building. The hotel had 234 guests at the time. pic.twitter.com/3CQEkkBeLd
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