Search And Rescue

A new Russian-made civilian plane carrying 46 people lost contact with air controllers in Indonesia while flying over mountains Wednesday in a demonstration flight for potential buyers and journalists, officials said. Search and rescue teams were heading to the area in western Indonesia, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation. Bad weather, however, forced at least two helicopters to turn back. The Sukhoi Superjet-100, a civilian plane, took off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in the capital, Jakarta, at 2:21 p.m. (0721 GMT)

MOUNT SALAK, Indonesia - Search teams who scaled a volcano's steep slopes found at least 12 bodies Friday near the wreckage of a Russian-made jetliner that crashed in Indonesia during a demonstration flight for potential buyers, an official said. All 45 aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 that crashed Wednesday are feared dead. "Today we have discovered 12 victims, all dead," Rear Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency, told reporters Friday. Many of the bodies found Friday had been torn apart in the crash, said Lieutenant Colonel Oni Junianto of the Indonesian...

loading video... (please wait a moment) Requires Adobe Flash Player By Martin Finucane, Travis Andersen, Donovan Slack, and Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, and Jenna Duncan, and L. Finch, Globe Correspondents At least four people were killed and a number of others were injured in the violent storms that swept across Massachusetts today, which included at least two tornadoes, state officials said today....

CIDAHU, Indonesia (AP) — A helicopter spotted the shattered wreckage of a Russian-made passenger plane Thursday that crashed into a steep cliff on a long-dormant Indonesian volcano during a demonstration flight to potential buyers and journalists. There was no sign of survivors among the 47 people on board. Family members, many of whom spent a long, sleepless night at the airport, broke down in tears on hearing the news. Others stared blankly ahead in disbelief. ‘‘From the pictures we're seeing, it looks like it was a total loss," said Daryatmo, chief of the national search...

MOUNT SALAK, Indonesia - Search teams who scaled a volcano's steep slopes found at least 12 bodies Friday near the wreckage of a Russian-made jetliner that crashed in Indonesia during a demonstration flight for potential buyers, an official said. All 45 aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 that crashed Wednesday are feared dead. "Today we have discovered 12 victims, all dead," Rear Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency, told reporters Friday. Many of the bodies found Friday had been torn apart in the crash, said Lieutenant Colonel Oni Junianto of the Indonesian...

General Dynamics Corp. said Wednesday that its C4 Systems business received a $12.7 million contract from the Australian Defence Force to provide search and rescue radios and accessories. The radio send out encrypted global positioning information, user identification, situation reports and other information to search and rescue aircraft in short bursts to reduce the risk of detection and interception, the defense contractor said. Twenty-eight countries currently use the radio systems, General Dynamics said.

CIDAHU, Indonesia - Search and rescue teams found the wreckage of a Russian-made passenger plane on a mountain Thursday after it disappeared during a demonstration flight in western Indonesia. The conditions of the 47 people on board are not known. Helicopters had resumed a search that was halted earlier because of bad weather. They saw the wreckage along a cliff on the mist-shrouded mountain, Major Ali Umri Lubis of Atang Sanjaya Air base told Metro TV. "The helicopter just informed us that they spotted the wreckage about 10 minutes ago," Lubis said.

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of available trucks, boats, planes, and federal officers were unused in search and rescue efforts immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans region last August because the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not give them missions, documents have reported. Additionally, FEMA called off its search and rescue operations in Louisiana three days after the storm on Aug. 29 because of security issues, according to an internal FEMA e-mail message that was given to Senate investigators.

KILLINGTON, Vt. -- Two Massachusetts teenagers who skied out of bounds at Killington spent a frigid night in the woods before one hiked to safety and the other was spotted by a helicopter and rescued, cold but alive. Trevor Orlowski, 18, of East Freetown, Mass., was in serious condition at Rutland Regional Medical Center Wednesday afternoon, suffering from frostbite to his feet, said hospital spokesman Michael Dowdy. Brent Romagnolo, 19, of Assonet, Mass., was treated at the hospital for frostbite and released.

RUTLAND, Vt. -- Vermont State Police say they are looking to crack down on skiers who recklessly go off resort trails and become lost, prompting full-scale searches. Four Pennsylvania men who skied out of bounds last month at Killington and spent a cold night in the woods may be the first this season to get a bill. More than three dozen rescue workers took part in the effort to rescue the men, which also involved a Vermont National Guard helicopter. The other rescue this ski season occurred Jan. 10 when a Virginia man skied off a closed trail at Killington.

Rescuers discovered bodies Thursday near the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the steep side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will need to be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. The bodies from Wednesday's crash were to be flown to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members.

A new Russian-made civilian plane carrying 46 people lost contact with air controllers in Indonesia while flying over mountains Wednesday in a demonstration flight for potential buyers and journalists, officials said. Search and rescue teams were heading to the area in western Indonesia, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation. Bad weather, however, forced at least two helicopters to turn back. The Sukhoi Superjet-100, a civilian plane, took off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in the capital, Jakarta, at 2:21 p.m. (0721 GMT)

The Holmes Public Library will host a Coast Guard presentation titled "Search and Rescue," at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Great Hall in Town Hall. Attendees are encouraged to read "Overboard: A True Blue-Water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival," by Michael Tougias, prior to the program. Funding for the event was provided by the state Board of Library Commissioners, as part of the Halifax Reads program. - Christine Legere

One man is dead and three are missing and presumed dead after a yacht carrying nine people issued a distress call off the coast of Nova Scotia in what is being investigated as a case of human smuggling. Canadian search-and-rescue crews rescued five people Tuesday morning and said another died later at a hospital. A search for three other people who were on board the SV Tabasco 2 was called off by early evening Tuesday and turned over to police as a missing persons case. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said some of those rescued from the yacht, which experienced mechanical problems...

General Dynamics Corp. said Wednesday that its C4 Systems business received a $12.7 million contract from the Australian Defence Force to provide search and rescue radios and accessories. The radio send out encrypted global positioning information, user identification, situation reports and other information to search and rescue aircraft in short bursts to reduce the risk of detection and interception, the defense contractor said. Twenty-eight countries currently use the radio systems, General Dynamics said.

loading video... (please wait a moment) Requires Adobe Flash Player By Martin Finucane, Travis Andersen, Donovan Slack, and Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, and Jenna Duncan, and L. Finch, Globe Correspondents At least four people were killed and a number of others were injured in the violent storms that swept across Massachusetts today, which included at least two tornadoes, state officials said today....

BANTUL, Indonesia -- US Marines joined an international effort yesterday to deliver aid and medical equipment to some 200,000 Indonesians left homeless by a devastating earthquake, as hopes faded of finding more survivors. Two US Marine cargo planes carrying a mobile field hospital landed in Yogyakarta, closest to the quake area in central Java, after cracks in the airport runway were patched. A disaster assistance response team from the US Agency for International Development is being readied, and the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, which has extensive medical facilities, is en route to the...

WASHINGTON -- The number of engine malfunctions on the Coast Guard's workhorse helicopter has increased dramatically as efforts to install safer motors have fallen behind schedule, a government watchdog group said yesterday. The Dolphin helicopters, or HH-65s, are used for search and rescue, port security, enforcement of laws and treaties, drug interdiction, marine safety, and environmental protection. The Coast Guard has restricted use of the 84-aircraft Dolphin fleet because of safety concerns related to the engine malfunctions.

JOPLIN, Mo. — Friends and family paid tribute to victims of the Joplin tornado yesterday, beginning the grim task of burying the dead as officials said the savage storm’s death toll had risen to 132 people. As the first funeral began just over the Kansas border, city officials said the body count had gone up by six from the previous day. The state worked to pare down the list of people missing and unaccounted for following the deadliest US twister in more than six decades.