recounts

Kuwait and Bahrain expats describe sleepless nights as sirens sound, schools shift online Irish expatriates in Kuwait and Bahrain say nights of sirens and distant explosions have upended daily life this week, prompting schools and universities to move classes online as families weigh contingency plans but try to carry on. Jake McAllister, a school principal originally from Portstewart in Derry who has lived in Kuwait for more than seven years, said the atmosphere changed less than a day after he, his wife, Marlene, and their…

All 55 survive as plane overruns Mogadishu runway, comes to rest in knee-deep surf MOGADISHU, Somalia — All 55 people aboard a Starsky Aviation Fokker 50 escaped unharmed after the aircraft overran the runway at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport and came to a stop in shallow water along the capital’s seashore, Somali officials and passengers said. The plane reported a technical problem shortly after taking off on Tuesday and turned back toward the airport, the Somali Civil Aviation Authority said. During the…

SYDNEY — An Irish doctor out for a jog on Sydney’s Manly beach helped save the life of a surfer mauled by a shark, racing alongside lifeguards and a helicopter medical team to restart the man’s heart and rush him to surgery amid a spate of shark attacks along Australia’s east coast. Brian Burns, a clinical professor of emergency medicine and emergency physician at Royal North Shore Hospital, told RTÉ’s News at One that his “training just kicked into gear” when he saw professional lifeguards performing CPR on the sand on…

Irish trainee field guide rescued by helicopter as deadly floods swamp Kruger National Park PHALABORWA, South Africa — In the pitch black and pouring rain on a hillside above the Olifants River, Kim McNaughton waited for the thump of rotor blades. The trainee field guide from County Monaghan had scrambled to higher ground with colleagues after floodwaters cut off their safari lodge in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, washing away a nearby bridge and turning escape routes into impassable mud. “Survival mode just kicked…