At least six people have died and dozens of others have been rescued after a tourist submarine sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt.
Nine of those rescued were injured after the vessel sank near Hurghada, two municipal officials said.
Sky’s US partner NBC News, citing the Russian embassy in Cairo, reported four Russian citizens were among those who had died.
The submarine, called Sindbad, was carrying 45 passengers, including children, NBC reported.
It is not immediately clear what caused the submarine to sink.
The Russian embassy told NBC: “On March 27, at about 10:00, the Sindbad bathyscaphe, owned by the hotel of the same name, crashed 1km off the shore. […] In addition to the crew, there were 45 tourists on board, including minors.”
It added: “Most of those on board were rescued and taken to their hotels and hospitals in Hurghada.
“Their health condition is not a concern. Four people died. The fate of several tourists is being clarified.”
Emergency crews were able to rescue 29 people during the disaster, according to a statement released by the Red Sea governorate.
The group had paid for a sea trip to the coral reefs in Hurghada, according to local media reports.
Security and emergency services responded to the incident, including 21 ambulances, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
The submarine had been operating tourist trips in the area for several years, the news outlet added.
Hurghada is a beach resort town stretching around 25 miles along Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
The submarine embarked off one of the beaches in the tourist promenade area, Egyptian officials who did not want to be named, told the Associated Press news agency. Tourists of different nationalities were on board.
Some tourist companies have stopped or limited travelling on the Red Sea due to the dangers from conflicts in the region.
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The number of people killed in Myanmar following Friday’s powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake could top 10,000, experts say.
The current death toll stands at 1,700, with 3,400 others injured and 300 missing, according to pro-junta Telegram channels, citing the military rulers.
But the US Geological Service’s predictive modelling estimates the fatality figure will increase in the thousands and could reach 10,000. It also suggests financial losses could exceed the country’s annual economic output.
Image: Buddhist monks walk past a collapsed building in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Pic: AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo
While emergency rescue teams have started trickling into the area hardest hit by the quake, efforts have been hindered by damaged roads, downed bridges, poor communications and the challenges of operating in a country in the middle of a civil war.
Many areas still have not been reached.
The earthquake struck at around 12.50pm local time (6.20am UK time) on Friday near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, at a shallow depth of six miles.
More on Myanmar
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Most rescues occur within the first 24 hours after a disaster, with the chances of survival diminishing as each day passes.
Neighbouring Thailand was also shaken, such as in the capital Bangkok where 18 people were killed, including 11 who died when an under-construction skyscraper collapsed. At least 76 people are missing and believed to be trapped under the debris.
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Monks film as building collapses
Twelve Chinese nationals are among the injured, according to Chinese state media.
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Rescuers look for survivors of Myanmar earthquake
An initial report on earthquake relief efforts issued on Saturday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted the severe damage or destruction of many health facilities in Myanmar.
And it warned that a “severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anaesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers”.
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Building in Thailand collapses after earthquake
India, China and Thailand are among the neighbours that have sent relief materials and teams, along with aid and personnel.
The UK government has announced a package of £10m to support the people of Myanmar in the aftermath of the quake.
Image: A building tilts precariously in Mandalay, Myanmar. Pic: Reuters
Rescue efforts in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, are being complicated by the bloody civil war disrupting much of the country, including in quake-affected areas.
In 2001, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, which in turn sparked armed resistance.
Image: The earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand, and tremors also affected Laos, Vietnam, and Bangladesh
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach.
More than three million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
Image: Debris of a damaged building in Mandalay. Pic: AP
The military government has been fighting long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy People’s Defence Forces, and has heavily restricted much-needed aid efforts to the population already displaced by war even before the earthquake.
On Saturday, Myanmar’s opposition shadow National Unity Government, to which the PDF militias are loyal, announced a unilateral partial ceasefire to facilitate earthquake relief efforts.
The military did not immediately comment on the announcement and it continued airstrikes even after the earthquake.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, a group of three of Myanmar’s most powerful and well-armed militias that launched a combined offensive in October 2023 which broke a strategic stalemate with the military regime, didn’t mention a ceasefire in a statement on Saturday.
In Bangkok, at the site where a mass of rubble sits, rescue workers have the machinery they need and the manpower to try and pull people out of the high-rise building that collapsed.
In neighbouring Myanmar, they certainly don’t have that kind of capacity and they’re confronting a much larger death toll– one that is rising.
And yet, progress at the site where an unfinished building was instantly destroyed has been painfully slow.
All day, we watched as cranes tried to shift the concrete and steel around to make way for rescuers to enter.
Tide Banluerit, a volunteer rescuer, emerged looking bewildered after 11 hours inside.
“I looked at the structure and the foundation looked strong,'” he said. “But it’s not meant to collapse like dominoes and stack like pancakes in that way.”
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Moment Bangkok building collapses after earthquake
The Thai police told us overnight that they had seen signs of life on thermal imaging systems.
Perhaps as many as 15 people, they believed.
Families of the missing were holding on to those nuggets of information – holding vigil at a dusty area now full of makeshift water and footstalls, laid on to support the round-the-clock rescue efforts.
Hovering outside a white tent, Munyapa Thongkorn was waiting for news.
Wiping away tears as she clutched onto her husband, she told me her 17-year-old daughter Naiyana was trapped.
She was working as an electrician inside the multi-storey building when the quake hit.
Image: Munyapa Thongkorn’s daughter is missing after the building collapse
Image: Naiyana, 17, was working as an electrician inside the building when the quake hit
“They told me she’s still inside, still stuck,” she says. “I was only just talking to my friends about her before the earthquake. But I haven’t been able to reach her since.”
A rescuer told me he thought it could be 72 hours before they could properly get inside the mangled structure.
That’s a long time when every second counts.
In Myanmar, people are using their own hands to pull their neighbours from the rubble.
There have been some miraculous escapes.
Image: Tide Banluerit spent 11 hours inside the building looking for survivors
Image: Pic: Reuters
One video from Mandalay shows a young woman emerging from the smallest of gaps – a flash of a hand and then a smile – confirmation after a long rescue that she had survived against all the odds.
China, Russia, and India have sent teams into the country now after the ruling military junta asked for international support – a rare move.
They have their work cut out.
Information in the isolated country has been slow to emerge – the junta restricting access to the internet.
Not one of 134 Irish politicians who replied to a Sky News survey would support Conor McGregor’s ambition to become the country’s president.
Comments ranged from “not a hope in hell” to “I could not think of anyone more unfit” and “I would genuinely rather we didn’t have a president at all”.
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‘Ireland and America are siblings’
Sky News asked: Would you nominate McGregor for a presidential candidate? Irish politicians answered:
“I consider him to be a tacky, moronic vulgarian. I would never consider him even remotely a suitable person for a nomination.” – Senator
“He’s a misogynist and a thug. On behalf of the women of Ireland he can f*** off.” – TD
“McGregor has become the cheerleader for misogyny in Ireland… a populist buffoon.” – Senator
“I genuinely would struggle to think of anyone worse to hold that position.” – Garret Ahearn, Fine Gael senator
“I could not think of anyone more unfit for public office.” – Duncan Smith, Labour TD
“There is no evidence Mr McGregor has the necessary skillset for the role.” – Malcolm Byrne, Fianna Fail TD
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance… he made a show of himself in Washington DC last week and with no elected mandate he certainly does not “speak for Irish people” when he travels overseas.” – Cathal Crowe, Fianna Fail TD
“Conor McGregor’s divisive behaviour and rhetoric would be completely unsuitable for such a role.” – Maeve O’Connell, Fine Gael TD
“As a mother of four young boys I have far more ambition for them than to have someone like that in a position of respectability.” – Erin McGreehan, Fianna Fail TD
Sky News has approached McGregor’s representative for comment on our findings. None has yet been received.
If McGregor chooses to pursue the council route to a nomination, he may not find it much easier, according to Gary Murphy, professor of politics at Dublin City University.
“The difficulty there is they are also dominated by the political parties. And so I think he would find this extremely difficult to actually get on the ballot.
“Now there is a big independent vote in Ireland, and maybe McGregor is targeting that, but the problem with that independent vote here in Ireland is that it’s very left wing and he’s not.”
Many don’t believe McGregor actually wants to be president
This is not an exhaustive or a very scientific poll, and several strong-willed independent politicians declined to give a view, despite repeated emails, calls and WhatsApps.
So it is still possible Conor McGregor could pick up a few nominations from the Oireachtas… should he ask.
But the 134-strong No camp – combined with the scathing replies we received – paints a picture of the strength of opposition to McGregor running.
That is of course, assuming he actually wants to be president. There are many who don’t believe he does.
Pretty much anyone can run in Irish general elections, and we had one of those a few short months ago.
McGregor was nowhere to be seen. But every time he posts about his political ambitions, he is lauded as the “Irish Trump” by a mostly American fanbase.
It could be a strategy to further burnish his reputation and brand in America, rather than a sincere desire to embrace a restrictive seven-year stint of often symbolic public service back home.
McGregor is currently appealing the result of a civil case in which a Dublin jury found he had raped a woman, Nikita Hand, in 2018 and ordered him to pay her damages. He also faces a civil case in Florida, where a womanclaims he sexually assaulted her at a basketball game in Miami in 2023. His legal team says the allegation is “false”.