Asia

Surabaya, Indonesia: Survivors said on Monday they heard multiple blasts moments before an Indonesian passenger ferry caught fire, killing five passengers and prompting many to jump into the sea, with some still missing more than 24 hours later. There were 236 people on board the vessel when it left Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, for Makassar on Sulawesi island on Sunday morning, search and rescue agency head Nanang Sigit said. Nanang told Kompas TV on Monday 229 people had been rescued alive and five bodies were also recovered. "Mathematically, only two that have yet to be evacuated. We are confirming this data with the shipowner," he said. Numbers provided by officials have fluctuated wildly. The last toll given on Sunday was 41 people missing and five dead from a total manifest of 271 people. Arman Asmara Syarifuddin, an East Java police official, told Kompas TV on Monday some 28 people were still missing. The reason for the discrepancy was not clear. The fire broke out on Sunday morning as passengers were eating breakfast, survivor Muhammad Abdul Karim told reporters in Surabaya after disembarking from a rescue vessel. "Initially, the smoke entered the information room, the sleeping quarters. And then explosions happened," he said. The blaze originated in the stern, sending passengers fleeing to the bow where they were all given life jackets, Muhammad said. He said he jumped overboard with an elderly man as the fire came closer, and saw flames engulfing "almost all" of the ferry as he looked back. "The waves were big and the ship coming to save us was quite far. Those were our fears when we were about to jump," said Muhammad -- who was rescued drifting at sea in his life jacket about seven hours later. He said he had not seen any lifeboats aboard the ferry. No choice Rescuers worked through the night to find survivors even as estimates of the number of missing people kept changing. Most evacuees were taken back to Surabaya, a six-hour boat ride from where the ferry ran into trouble. Bambang Susilo, 36, said he felt the blaze come closer to the bow of the ferry and the floor getting warmer, convincing him and a female passenger to jump some 10 metres (33 feet) into the sea. "We had no choice but to surrender" to our fate, he told reporters at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya, where he was waiting to retrieve the body of a colleague. Bambang and five other survivors had swum to the nearest rescue ship, some five kilometres (three miles) from the blazing ferry. Another rescue vessel was deployed on Monday to help find the missing, said Nanang. A ferry transporting more than 70 people sank while sailing near Selayar, a small tropical island south of Sulawesi, last month. At least four people were found dead and 14 others remained missing until the end of the search operation.

Americas

Spokane, United States: Fast-moving fires left a trail of destruction in the northwestern US city of Spokane on Sunday, with officials reporting hundreds of structures reduced to cinders. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday and overnight into Sunday, as three separate fires broke out in and around the city in the east of Washington state. The National Weather Service (NWS) had warned of "extremely critical fire weather conditions" in the area due to strong winds and exceptional dryness. Video of the aftermath on Sunday showed scores of homes burned to the ground, with only their brick fireplaces and foundations remaining, while other houses nearby escaped practically unscathed. "Just driving around looking at the homes -- it's just one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen in my life," Spokane resident Geoff Beadles told AFP, after evacuating from his home with his fiancee and two dogs. Mayor Lisa Brown told a press briefing Sunday afternoon: "Hundreds of homes and structures have been lost. We are still assessing the potential for lives to be lost." "To the people who are suffering right now in our region from either loss or uncertainty... our hearts go out to you. We are here for you for the long term," she said. Weather conditions had improved on Sunday, with wind dying down, but the fires were still listed at zero percent contained. Sheriff John Nowels said no deaths or injuries had so far been reported, but "because of the scale of this and what it takes to... do those kinds of investigations in an active fire scene, that could change." Washington Governor Bob Ferguson, who declared a state of emergency, noted that the state is enduring a fourth consecutive year of drought as climate change creates conditions conducive to destructive wildfires. He told the press conference that he had spoken to federal officials about receiving resources to respond to the disaster, including President Donald Trump, who understood "how dire the situation is." 'Extraordinary wildfire season The head of Washington's Department of Natural Resources, David Upthegrove, warned that the fire in Spokane was "one of 15 major fires burning throughout the state of Washington right now." "This is an extraordinary wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest. It's not a normal season," he said. "A confluence of weather conditions, a confluence of fires throughout the West, are stretching our resources and challenging the individuals in this response." The biggest of the three fires burning in Spokane, the Old Trails fire, jumped the Spokane River on Saturday afternoon and crossed into the city proper. Another resident, Tena Risley, said she saw flames behind trees near her home, and in a panic, she grabbed her dog and a few things. She got stuck in traffic has she tried to flee as the fast-moving fires blocked routes out of the city. "There were probably hundreds and hundreds of cars," she told AFP. Authorities issued the highest-level evacuation alert, "Go Now," for swathes of northern Spokane affecting thousands of people within city limits, according to the government's evacuation map. As of Sunday morning the three fires had charred a total of 5,390 acres (2,181 hectares), CNN reported. Emergency authorities set up a fire evacuation shelter at the Spokane Convention Center.

Asia

Islamabad: The death toll from a suicide blast near a public gatheringin Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has risen to 14, while 26 others were injured, police sources told Xinhua on Sunday. The victims included many police personnel who had been deployed to provide security for the rally, the sources said. "The explosion occurred near the gate of a police station at the time when a public gathering was concluding in a closer proximity," Muhammad Umar, district police officer of Swat, told Xinhua. The killed and injured include both civilians of the rally and the policemen, he added. The suicide bomber attempted to enter the police station, but was intercepted by a policeman at the main gate, where he detonated the explosives he was carrying, he added.