Gunmen seized a British oil worker from a rig operating off the Nigerian coast in a dawn attack Saturday, a company spokesman said. Work was suspended on the rig and 23 people left on board unharmed were safely taken to shore, a spokesman for Houston-based Transocean Inc. said. He said the worker was a subcontractor on the rig, which was drilling on behalf of the Nigerian oil company ConOil. The latest abduction brings to 22 the number of people seized in armed attacks within 36 hours in Nigeria’s troubled southern oil region.
A 73-year-old woman died in a Taranto hospital because tubes carrying oxygen and anesthesia were switched, and authorities were investigating whether the error was responsible for as many as seven other recent deaths, officials said Saturday. About 21 people have been treated in the Castellaneta hospital’s coronary intensive care unit since it opened on April 20. Eight of them died. The head of the local health department said the presence of the anesthesia in the oxygen tubes was “caused by an erroneous connection” of the pipes during construction.
The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday for more than 40 missing Haitian migrants after local authorities said it was no longer needed as hopes faded of finding more survivors. Several boats and helicopters belonging to the Turks and Caicos, near where the Haitian boat sank Friday, continued to search the Caribbean waters. But a police inspector said Turks and Caicos officials may also suspend their search early today if no more survivors or bodies are found.
A roller coaster traveling up to 46 mph hit a guardrail at an amusement park in western Japan on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 21 others, officials said. An Osaka police official said a woman was killed and 21 others were injured. Two people suffered serious injuries, Kyodo News agency reported. Broadcaster NHK said 12 onlookers were also taken to a hospital after they complained of feeling ill. An axle on one of the six cars broke causing the accident at Expoland in Osaka. Saturday was “Children’s Day.”
From Herald news services
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