Asia

Cyclone threatens to disrupt search for missing Malaysian plane

By Byron Kaye PERTH, Australia Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:48pm EDT (Reuters) – A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for a missing Malaysian jetliner in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean on Monday, as a submarine drone neared the end of its mission scouring the sea bed with still no sign of wreckage. The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, has […]

Japan expands army footprint for first time in 40 years, risks angering China

(Reuters) – Japan began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years on Saturday, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan. The move risks angering China, locked in a dispute with Japan over nearby islands which they both claim. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, who attended a ceremony on Yonaguni island to mark the start of construction, suggested the military presence could be enlarged to […]

Malaysian plane search in 44th day, sea bed scans could end in days

By Byron Kaye and Matt Siegel SYDNEY/PERTH, Australia Sat Apr 19, 2014 10:27pm EDT (Reuters) – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 entered its 44th day on Sunday as Australian search officials said a crucial series of sonar scans of the Indian Ocean floor could be completed within a week. The air, surface and underwater search is now focused on footage taken by a U.S. Navy deep sea drone, which has narrowed its […]

Prosecutors extend Korea ferry captain’s detention as death toll mounts

By Ju-min Park and Jungmin Jang JINDO/MOKPO, South Korea Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:56am EDT Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors investigating a ferry disaster said on Sunday they would seek to extend the detention of the ship’s captain and two other crew by 10 days as they tried to determine the cause of an accident that may claim more than 300 lives. The ferry, the Sewol, was on a 400-km (300-mile) voyage from Incheon to […]

Ferry captain defends evacuation delay on capsized South Korean vessel

The detained captain of the capsized South Korean ferry has justified a decision not to immediately evacuate the vessel. More than 270 passengers are still missing, although divers have located another three bodies. Captain Lee Joon-seok told reporters the evacuation was delayed to prevent passengers entering the freezing waters before the arrival of rescue vessels. “At the time a rescue ship had not arrived. There were also no fishing boats around for rescues, or other […]

Bodies found trapped inside sunken South Korean ferry: coastguard

By Ju-min Park JINDO, South Korea Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:54pm EDT (Reuters) – Divers searching for survivors of a capsized South Korean ferry saw three bodies floating through a window of a passenger cabin on Saturday but were unable to retrieve them, the coastguard said, hours after the ship’s captain was arrested. The ferry, carrying 476 passengers, many of them schoolchildren, and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon […]

South Korea ferry death toll rises, hopes fade for hundreds missing

By Ju-min Park and Jungmin Jang JINDO, South Korea Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:52pm EDT (Reuters) – The death toll from a capsized South Korean passenger ferry rose to 25 on Friday as parents of missing schoolchildren blamed the ship’s captain for the tragedy after he and shipping company officials made emotional apologies for the loss of life. Of 475 passengers and crew on the Sewol ferry, which capsized in calm seas on Wednesday, 179 […]

Obama, Abe to battle negative images at U.S.-Japan summit

By Linda Sieg and David Brunnstrom TOKYO/WASHINGTON Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:28pm EDT (Reuters) – When President Barack Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a summit next week, they will be battling negative undercurrents that could undermine their message that Asia’s most important security alliance is firm. Obama, stopping in Tokyo at the start of a four-nation Asian trip, must counter worries in Japan that his commitment to its defense in the face […]

Obama looks to salvage Asia ‘pivot’ as allies fret about China

By Matt Spetalnick and Manuel Mogato WASHINGTON/MANILA Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:51pm EDT (Reuters) – When a Philippine government ship evaded a Chinese blockade in disputed waters of the South China Sea last month, a U.S. Navy plane swooped in to witness the dramatic encounter. The flyover was a vivid illustration of the expanding significance of one of Asia’s most strategic regions and underscored a message that senior U.S. officials say President Barack Obama will […]

Hundreds still missing in deadly Korea ferry sinking

By Narae Kim JINDO, South Korea Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:39pm EDT (Reuters) – South Korean coastguard and navy divers resumed searching on Thursday for about 290 people still missing, many of them students from the same high school, after a ferry capsized in sight of land. Grieving family members gathered on the quay of the coastal city of Jindo, huddled in blankets against the spring cold as efforts to locate the missing went into […]

Search continues for hundreds missing in South Korea ferry capsize

Rescue teams in South Korea are racing against time to find almost 300 people missing after a ferry sank off the country’s southern coast. The vessel was carrying a large group of high school students. A distress signal was sent from the ferry at 9:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT), but the 6,825-ton vessel sank within two hours, after listing sharply and capsizing. It sank 20 kilometers (13 miles) off the southern island of Byungpoong. […]

More than 300 people missing after South Korea ferry sinks: coastguard

(Reuters) – More than 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea, the coastguard said on Wednesday, with a three-fold increase in the number of passengers unaccounted for put down to a miscalculation by officials. The ferry was carrying 477 people, of whom 164 were confirmed rescued, coastguard officials said. Two people were confirmed dead after the ferry listed heavily onto its side and capsized in apparently calm conditions off South Korea’s […]