World briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 15, 2000

Six Americans die in plane crash in Mexico

ENSENADA, Mexico -- A small airplane crashed Saturday at a military base in Baja California state, killing all six Americans on board, police said.

The plane went down about 11 a.m. while trying to land at the Area 3 military air base outside Ensenada, a coastal city about 50 miles south of the border with California, said police official Jesus Luna. No one on the ground was injured or killed, he said.

The state news agency Notimex reported that the six, four women and two men all of California, were all members of a medical assistance group called Sky Doctors.

Police commander Jesus Eduardo Velez said the plane was leaking fuel and was on fire at the crash site, in a remote mountainous area less than a half mile from the airport runway.

VENEZUELA OIL STRIKE: Striking Venezuelan oil workers claimed victory Saturday and called off a four-day walkout that had paralyzed the nation's oil industry and posed the biggest labor challenge to date for President Hugo Chavez. A new labor agreement with the state oil monopoly will raise workers' base daily pay by $7.25, with another $1.45 per day raise in February. They had demanded $9. The government had offered a $5 raise per day. Oil workers' minimum wage was about $14 a day.

Cambodians get Russian support on Khmer Rouge trial

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Russia supports Cambodia's position on how to stage a trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of crimes against humanity, the president of the Cambodian National Assembly said.

"Russia expressed its opposition to the Khmer Rouge tribunal if it is forced on Cambodia," said Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the assembly president and son of King Norodom Sihanouk.

Ranariddh, speaking after a five-day visit to Russia, said he was "surprised" at the Russian position on the tribunal.

The Cambodian government and the international community, led by the United States and the United Nations, have failed to reach consensus on setting up a court including both international and Cambodian participation.

The United Nations seeks to have maximum responsibility vested in foreign judges and prosecutors because it fears Cambodian courts cannot ensure fairness. The Cambodian government wants to limit the role of outsiders, claiming foreign influence could infringe on its sovereignty.

The main sticking points are related to who will control indictments and dictate who will be put on trial.

CHECHEN VIOLENCE: Rebels challenged tighter security measures in the Chechen capital Grozny with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes, killing four soldiers and wounding six, officials said Saturday. Fighters opened fire with pistols on a Russian military truck at a market, killing three soldiers. Another Russian soldier died and three were injured when their armored personnel carrier hit a land mine, the official said.

BUS CRASH IN TURKEY: Two buses collided on a highway in eastern Turkey Saturday, killing 19 people and injuring 29. The crash occurred on a highway near the Anatolian city of Yozgat, some 135 miles east of the capital, Ankara. Police said they suspect one of the drivers might have fallen asleep at the wheel before the accident.

SRI LANKAN FUNERAL: Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first female prime minister, was remembered at a state funeral Saturday in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hundreds of mourners stood to catch a glimpse of her flower-covered casket as it was carried through the streets in a military procession. Bandaranaike, 84, died of a heart attack Oct. 10, shortly after casting her ballot in the parliamentary election that saw her daughter, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, gain enough seats and supporters to form a new coalition government.

CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP: Garry Kasparov blundered into a losing position but challenger Vladimir Kramnik returned the favor, and the fourth game of their world championship match ended in a draw after 74 moves and over six hours in London. Kramnik leads Kasparov, the world champion, by 2.5-1.5 in the 16-game match. Game five will be today.

Natural disasters

SWISS LANDSLIDE: A landslide swept through the small village of Sion in the southern Swiss Alps close to the Italian border Saturday, and 15 people were missing, police said. The avalanche of mud and rock, which followed days of heavy rain, swept away several buildings in Gondo, including a restaurant and the village hall. Police in Valais said that by nightfall no bodies had been recovered. Police said 15 people were missing. Three people were injured.

BRAZILIAN RAINSTORMS: Heavy rains in southern Brazil swept away houses and flooded cities, killing at least six people and driving more than 5,000 from their homes, civil defense officials said Saturday. The rainstorms, which began last Wednesday, lashed 33 cities and rural towns in Rio Grande do Sul state, said Capt. Alexandre Correia of the state Civil Defense. Rivers overflowed and destroyed rice plantations and other crops in greater Porto Alegre, the state capital, about 700 miles southwest of Rio, Correia said.

ECUADOREAN FLOOD: A lagoon burst on the slopes of an inactive volcano, provoking a mudslide and a flash flood that killed at least two people, injured 30 and left 28 missing in central Ecuador, the Red Cross said Saturday.

TOKYO EARTHQUAKE: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2 shook areas near Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, police said. The quake, which struck at 8:19 p.m., was centered about 50 miles beneath the seabed in waters southeast of a peninsula east of Tokyo.

Mysterious virus kills dozens in remote Ugandan war zone

ENTEBBE, Uganda -- An outbreak of hemorrhagic fever that has killed dozens of people in northern Uganda has been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta as the dreaded EBOLA virus, a CDC official in Uganda said late Saturday.

"It's estimated that there are 40 deaths, and two of those have been nursing students," said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, the CDC's team leader in Uganda.

The disease is highly infectious and has a mortality rate of about 90 percent when it enters the human population. It is transmitted through body fluids, but it seems to weaken as it is passed from one person to another and then another, reducing the fatality rate.

"There is almost certainly an animal host out there, but no one has been able to find out what it is," he said.

MALAYSIAN VIRUS: The spread of a viral disease that has killed seven children in Malaysia was showing no signs of abating with more than 100 new cases reported in the past two days. The southern state of Johor had 200 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease over the past week with 68 new ones reported Thursday, the NEW STRAITS TIMES and STAR newspapers reported. The others were in the states of Malacca, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur, all in peninsular Malaysia.

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