Briefly

WEST AFRICA

Over 60 feared dead in sinking off Cape Verde

More than 60 people are believed to have died after a migrant boat from Senegal was found off West Africa's Cape Verde islands, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday. Sixty-three people are thought to have died, while the 38 survivors included four minors aged 12 to 16, IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli told Agence France-Presse. The long wooden fishing vessel was spotted on Monday in the Atlantic Ocean about 280 kilometers from the Cape Verdean island of Sal, police said. The Spanish fishing vessel that saw it alerted Cape Verdean authorities. The Cape Verde archipelago lies about 600 km off the coast on the maritime migration route to the Spanish Canary Islands.

MALAYSIA

10 killed in light aircraft crash in Selangor state

Ten people were killed following the crash of a light aircraft in Malaysia's Selangor state on Thursday afternoon, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said. Speaking at a news conference following the incident, Loke said there were no survivors among the aircraft's six passengers and two crew members, with another two being killed on the ground where the aircraft crashed. The plane took off from the northern resort island of Langkawi and was heading to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, civil aviation authority chief Norazman Mahmud said. "No mayday call was made," he said. An investigation will be conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau.

NASA

Helicopter completes 55 flights on Mars

NASA's Mars helicopter has completed 55 flights on the Red Planet, the agency said on Wednesday. The helicopter had its 55th flight on Saturday, in which it reached an altitude of 10 meters and traveled 264 meters for 143 seconds, NASA said. The helicopter, named Ingenuity, arrived at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover. The helicopter is the first vehicle to make powered, controlled flights on another planet, USA Today reported. It was designed to fly for up to 90 seconds, to distances of almost 300 meters at a time and about 3 to 4.5 meters from the ground.

Agencies - Xinhua