Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
Rescue workers using drones and trained dogs searched for survivors Monday following a massive landslide in central Venezuela, as the death toll rose to 34 and residents described harrowing tales of escape from the water and mud.
Jose Medina recalled how the water streaming into his home in the town of Las Tejerias on Saturday night had reached waist level. He and his family were trapped, he realized.
So the 63-year-old turned his refrigerator sideways, opened its door and used it as a boat for his granddaughter. Meanwhile he held on to the fridge with his wife, and pinned it to a table so that the strong currents of water would not push them downstream.
Medina described their survival as a "miracle."
"I'm happy that we're alive but I'm also sad," said the retired construction worker who lost his home and all of his belongings.
His plight began when torrential rains caused by Hurricane Julia unleashed mudslides and floods that destroyed several mountainside neighborhoods in Las Tejerias.
On Monday, Venezuelan officials said at least 34 people died in the flooding and 60 are missing following the worst natural disaster to hit the cash-strapped South American country in recent years.
In Las Tejerias, a city of 50,000 people located along Venezuela's main industrial corridor, crews were using heavy machinery to clear debris from neighborhoods whose streets were still blocked with mud. Meanwhile rescue workers used drones and dogs to find people buried under the debris.
"We are still hoping to find people that can be saved" said Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as she toured one of the neighborhoods affected by the mudslides.
For those who survived, the country's dire economic situation will make recovery more challenging.
Medina said his pension -- which is pegged to Venezuela's monthly minimum wage -- is worth just $17 a month. Now he will depend on government assistance to survive, but added that he considers himself lucky that he did not lose relatives in the mudslide.
Venezuelan authorities said 317 homes in Las Tejerias were wiped out by the mudslide and another 750 homes sustained damage.
Residents said they only had minutes to leave their homes late Saturday, as the avalanche of mud, rocks and tree logs swept over several hillside neighborhoods in the city.
Some people were praying at an evangelical church when the mudslide occurred, while others were at a children's party residents said. Several children are among the missing.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on Sunday declared three days of mourning for the victims and sent rescue workers to Las Tejerias, which lies along a highway that connects Caracas to the industrial city of Valencia. Maduro said that 11 states in the country sustained damage from floods over the weekend.
-----
Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda contributed from Caracas
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing fresh Conservative-led calls to resign, this time over "very partisan" and 'inflammatory' language used – the Liberals say mistakenly – to promote an upcoming event.
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
The organizers of a month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores say they've decided to extend the boycott past May.
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
The trial of a Winnipeg man who has admitted to killing four women has heard he searched the internet to look up the definition of what it means to be a serial killer.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.