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Tragedy

Today

A smouldering home in Altadena.

Los Angeles on high alert with extreme winds due to return

The US National Weather Service issued a red flag warning and officials have warned all of LA County’s nearly 10 million residents to be ready to evacuate.

  • Nathan Frandino and Lisa Baertlein

Yesterday

The sun rises behind a home destroyed by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades.

More reported missing as strong winds fuel LA blazes

The Eaton fire, which has killed at least 11 people, ranks among the 10 deadliest in California history. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise.

  • Amy Graff, Jonathan Wolfe, Claire Moses and Yan Zhuang

This Month

Death toll expected to rise as fires rage through Los Angeles

President Joe Biden has pledged federal aid for recovery efforts after wildfires killed at least five people and caused an estimated $92 billion in damages across Los Angeles.

  • Reuters and AP
An ID belonging to Matthew Livelsberger found inside the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.

Cybertruck bomber said he wanted stunt to be ‘wake up call’ for US

The FBI confirmed the incident was a tragic case of suicide involving an elite soldier struggling with PTSD and other issues.

  • Susie Coen
Emergency services attend the scene on Bourbon Street.

New Orleans ‘act of terrorism’ leaves 15 dead, 30 injured

A vehicle raced into a crowd of New Orleans revellers early on New Year’s Day. After stopping, the driver shot at police, who returned fire and killed him.

  • Updated
  • Eric Tucker and Jim Mustian
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December 2024

Bowline sails out of the heads following the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Veteran skipper calls for Sydney to Hobart rule review after deaths

Geoff Hill, who has completed 21 Sydney to Hobarts, says entrants must be more experienced after the tragic deaths of two sailors in the prestigious yacht race.

  • James Hall
Sailor Nick Smith died on board the yacht Bowline.

Two deaths and a remarkable survival in Sydney to Hobart yacht race

Two men died in similar circumstances while another was forced to unclip himself from a safety line and drifted more than a kilometre in cold water.

  • James Hall
The Bowline Yacht, which was hit by tragedy.

Two dead as wild weather hits Sydney to Hobart yacht race

One sailor each on Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline were killed after being struck by the boom, a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the sail.

  • Updated
  • Jasper Bruce
Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 crash.

Russian missile probably caused Azerbaijani plane crash, say experts

Aviation specialists claim holes in the aircraft’s tail section could indicate that it came under fire from air defence systems targeting Ukrainian drones.

  • Jon Gambrell
The Azerbaijan Airlines’ crash on Christmas Day.

Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan, killing dozens

The Embraer 190 was flying from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny when it tried an emergency landing. Remarkably, many passengers survived. Watch the footage.

  • Katie Marie Davies
Video uploaded to social media shows damage to a road and shops in Port Vila.

Australian rescue teams race to Vanuatu after huge earthquake

The Red Cross said at least 14 people had been killed, and hundreds injured. Social media videos showed rescue efforts through the night for people trapped in buildings.

  • Updated
  • Charlotte Graham-McLay

November 2024

A woman lights a candle outside the “Zhuhai People’s Fitness Plaza” where a man deliberately rammed his car into people exercising at the sports centre.

Rare hit-and-run attack in southern China kills 35

Police said a man drove a small off-road vehicle into a large group of people exercising outside a sports centre, killing and injuring dozens of people.

  • David Kirton
A family walks through muddy waters in a street after the recent flash flooding in the Alfafar municipality of Valencia, Spain.

Spain flood death toll surpasses 200, rescuers struggle to reach some parts

Rescuers have opened a temporary morgue and battled to reach areas still cut off in Europe’s worst weather disaster in five decades.

  • David Latona and Charlie Devereux

September 2024

Boats were pushed ashore by floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Hurricane Helene kills 64 in US, leaves $37b damage bill

Hurricane Helene has killed dozens of people and knocked out power to millions across several US states, as the threat of flooding and dam bursts continues.

  • Stephen Smith, Kate Payne and Heather Hollingsworth

August 2024

Italian firefighter divers bring ashore in a plastic bag the body of one of the victims of a shipwreck, in Porticello, Sicily.

Manslaughter, negligence investigation in Lynch yacht sinking

Authorities in Sicily have opened a manslaughter and negligent shipwreck probe into the August 19 sinking of British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s yacht.

  • Updated
  • Donato Paolo Mancini
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Hannah and Mike Lynch, who both died when the superyacht Bayesian sank in a storm.

Final body recovered from sunken superyacht off Sicily

Hannah Lynch, the teenage daughter of British IT tycoon Mike Lynch, was the last person unaccounted for after her family’s superyacht sank four days ago.

Mike Lynch is one of Britain’s best-known and most controversial technology entrepreneurs.

Mike Lynch died just as he was planning his ‘second life’

The billionaire British tech tycoon loved to appear ruthless but was quick to help those in need.

  • Ben Wright, Matthew Field and James Titcomb
Rescue divers arrive back with a fifth body from the luxury yacht.

Bodies recovered from superyacht wreckage include Morgan Stanley exec

Divers continue to search for the final missing person, thought to be the technology entrepreneur’s 18-year-old daughter, who may have been swept out to sea.

  • Updated
  • Guglielmo Mangiapane and Giselda Vagnoni
Scuba divers at the harbour of Porticello, southern Italy.

Divers find five bodies in superyacht, but questions remain

Among the recovered were reportedly technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter, as questions intensified over why the vessel sank so quickly.

  • Nicole Winfield, Danica Kirka and Andrea Rosa
Rescue teams and divers returned to the site of the storm-sunken superyacht.

Investigation into ‘open hatches’ on doomed superyacht

One expert at the scene in Sicily told Reuters that an early focus would be on whether the yacht’s crew had failed to close access hatches into the vessel.

  • Updated
  • Connor Stringer, Albert Tait and Josephine McKenna

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/tragedy-63c