Today's other stories in brief
Eight arrested in plane hijacking
MEXICO CITY – Eight people were arrested by Mexican authorities after the hijacking of an AeroMexico passenger aircraft that landed in Mexico City, a US official said yesterday.
Shortly after the arrests, all the passengers left the aircraft. There were 112 people on board, including Mexicans, Americans and French, the official said.
The Boeing 737 was hijacked in the resort of Cancun yesterday and flown to Mexico City’s international airport.
Local newspaper websites said the hijackers had threatened to blow up the aircraft unless they were allowed to speak to President Felipe Calderon. – (Reuters)
Bone fragment 'probably human'
LOS ANGELES – A bone fragment found near the northern California property of the man accused of holding Jaycee Dugard captive for 18 years is “probably human” and its DNA will be compared with a state database of missing persons, authorities said yesterday.
The fragment was found in a yard next to that of Phillip Garrido (58) and his wife Nancy, who are charged with abducting Ms Dugard in 1991 and holding her for 18 years in a squalid complex of sheds and tents behind their home.
Dugard (29), surfaced last month after Phillip Garrido aroused the suspicion of police while attempting to prostelytise at the University of California. – (Reuters)
Many children among 80 who drowned
FREETOWN – A boat carrying children in Sierra Leone back from their school holidays capsized in a heavy storm off the capital, Freetown, killing at least 80 of its 150 passengers, police said yesterday.
Emergency services rescued 36 people and were continuing the search for survivors, federal police spokesman Ibrahim Samuro said.
“The rest are still missing. The vessel cannot be traced,” Mr Samuro said of the search effort off the coast, adjacent to Freetown’s suburb of Tombo.
“Most of the dead were children between the ages of eight and 16 years old,” Sam Bangura, a senior police officer, said, adding that the boat capsized when it drifted into a storm and its engine failed. – (Reuters)