Survivors found after 9 days at sea
Fourteen people on board a ferry that sank were picked up by a passing cargo ship after spending nine days on a life raft, a rescue official said today.
A 15th person died soon after being rescued by the ship late Sunday, said Ketut Purwa, head of the search and rescue agency on Bali island.
The survivors were scheduled to arrive in Makassar, a port city on Sulawesi island, tonight, said Purwa, who spoke to the captain of the cargo ship by radio.
About 230 people have been found alive since the ferry sank just before midnight on Dec. 29 after being pounded by waves of up to 12 feet high for several hours. Around 400 people are either dead or listed as missing. Only 10 bodies have been recovered.
NEW ORLEANS
Survey: 9th Ward not so bad off
The predominantly black neighborhoods known as the 9th Ward can be brought back largely as they existed before Hurricane Katrina flooded them, a survey contends.
The finding contradicts the common perception that the neighborhoods are so damaged that they need to be rebuilt from scratch, said urban planners who conducted the survey.
Urban planners and students at Cornell, Columbia University and the University of Illinois carried out the survey, which was sponsored by ACORN, a national group that works to improve poor and moderate-income neighborhoods. The findings were released Saturday.
The survey found that more than 80 percent of the 9th Ward structures “suffered no terminal structural damage” and that the majority of those structures were built atop piers, making it easier to raise them to meet new flood zone requirements.
Researchers and structural engineers based their assessment on the inspection of about 3,000 buildings.
DURHAM, N.C.
Man with TB held over missed care
A man suffering from tuberculosis, a communicable lung disease, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of skipping mandatory treatments since November.
Durham County Health Department officials wouldn’t say how many people Thomas Eugene Harris, 41, might have infected.
Harris is being held at the Durham County jail, his bail set at $50,000. The officers who arrested him and the magistrate who booked him into the jail wore masks over their mouths.
Harris was detained Sunday as an armed robbery suspect.
After determining Harris was not the person sought, officers found an outstanding warrant for skipping tuberculosis treatment when they checked his background.