Submit your Article

Rescuers from the United States Coast Guard are searching the waters off Florida’s Atlantic coast for 39 people reported missing for several days after a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized, Al Jezeera reported.

A good Samaritan alerted the Coast Guard early on Tuesday after rescuing a man clinging to the mostly submerged hull of the boat after it hit bad weather about 72km (45 miles) east of the town of Fort Pierce, the maritime security agency reported on Twitter.

The survivor told authorities that he had left the Bahamas’ Bimini islands with 39 other people on Saturday night, and that they had not been wearing lifejackets, the Coast Guard added.

Cutter vessels and aircraft have been deployed to search an area stretching from Bimini to Fort Pierce to find the missing.

The Coast Guard said it was treating the incident as a case of suspected human smuggling.

The nationality of those on board is not yet known.

Migrants have long used the islands of the Bahamas as a stepping stone to reach the United States, with the Bimini Islands only about 80km (50 miles) east of Miami, Florida.

Smugglers typically try to take advantage of breaks in the weather to make the crossing, but the vessels are often dangerously overloaded and prone to capsizing. There have been thousands of deaths over the years.

The latest accident follows another ill-fated crossing last week when the authorities rescued 32 people whose boat capsized west of Bimini, Coast Guard spokesperson, Petty Officer Jose Hernandez told the Reuters news agency.

Most of those attempting the crossing come from Haiti and Cuba.

At least 557 Cuban migrants in all have been picked up at sea by the Coast Guard since October, according to the agency.

Crossings by Haitians have also grown more frequent as the Caribbean island nation deals with economic and political crises, as well as gang-related kidnappings.

The Coast Guard said it had intercepted at least 159 Haitian nationals over the past year.

Nepal recorded 8,454 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 13,549 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 5,571 returned positive. Likewise, 6,810 people underwent antigen tests, of which 2,883 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 4,433 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 90,067 active cases in the country.

Nepal’s population has reached 29.1million as per the preliminary results of the National Census 2021.

A report made public today by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) under the National Planning Commission shows that the population is less by around 800 thousand than the projected population of 30 million. It is stated that this data might be slightly changed in the final results.

The population of Nepal as per the 2011 National Census was 26 million 940 thousand 504.

As compared to the previous census, Bhaktapur has the highest population growth rate while Ramechhap district has the most declining rate of population.

The first phase of fieldwork of the 2021 Census was carried out from September 15 to October 4 and the second phase of fieldwork was done from November 11 to 17, 2021.

Province-wise, Madhes Province has the largest population while Karnali Province has the least.

NPC Vice Chairman Dr Bishwonath Poudel expressed all those involved in making the National Census 2021 successful and the preliminary results show that Nepal is the heartbeat of over 29.1 million Nepali.

CBS Director-General Nebin Lal Shrestha said they conducted the population census of Lipulek, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura, the territories included in the new administrative map of Nepal, as well and the detailed information was awaited.

To a journalist’s question, Director-General Shrestha said it is found that discrimination between son and daughter is decreasing and the population might not have increased as projected also because the trend of producing children in preference of son has minimized.

The preliminary results of the first population census conducted after the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 has been made public. RSS

Two persons including a member of the Lumbini Province Assembly were injured when a jeep they were travelling in met with an accident near Kalakate of Gadhawa Rrural Municipality on Wednesday.

According to Mukuda Prasad Rijal, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Dang, Province Assembly member Tulsi Chaudhary was injured in the incident.  The identity of the other person injured in the incident is yet to be established.

They were heading towards Dang to take part in the National Assembly elections when the mishap took place.

They have been taken to the Bhalubhang Hospital for treatment.

The incident occurred when the jeep (Ba 2 Jha 3444) hit a truck coming from the opposite direction this morning.