fire

A New Zealand Defence Force Orion located the vessel about 400 nautical miles west of Tuvalu earlier Friday.

The Orion dropped communications equipment, fresh water and lights to the crew of the Jin Xiang 6.

Now the Fiji Maritime Surveillance Rescue has reported there are 16 crew with the vessel and that life boats are in the water, as the vessel takes on seawater.

Fiji is connecting with nearby resources to help the crew.

Photo: New Zealand Defence Force

According to TV1Samoa, the entire Vailoa School, in Faleata, was reduced to ashes from the fire, believed to have started around 4am on Wednesday morning.

Police have launched an investigation, along with the Fire Service, into the cause of the fire.

Videos of the fire circulated on social media showing flames so high that they threatened power lines.

It is not clear what the school committee has planned to accommodate the students when the school year starts on January 28.

Photo source Facebook/ Mikaele Iosefa O’Connor  

The donation is a gift from Faalogo Situtuila Sissy Vaa Vuki, a Samoan-born and now a resident of St George Utah, USA.

Upon hearing the tragic news that Palalaua College was gutted, Faalogo who has been silently making donations to education developments in Samoa for the last ten years, quickly put together whatever funds she can raise for her village school.

And it’s to honor the memory of her late father Tuatagaloa Te'o Fuimaono Fa'alogo Tupuola Asuao Vaa.

Footage posted on social media showed flames spreading up the Torch Tower, and burning debris falling down.

Civil defence officials have "successfully evacuated" the building and are now working to bring the blaze under control, Dubai's authorities say.

It is not clear what caused the fire in one of the world's tallest buildings.

"No injuries have been reported so far in the Torch Tower fire incident," the government of Dubai's media office tweeted.

The Torch Tower was damaged by an earlier blaze in 2015.

At least 10 people were injured when the fire tore through closely-packed huts at the Grande-Synthe camp, near the port of Dunkirk.

Last month officials said the camp would be dismantled because of unrest.

The French north coast has been a magnet for migrants trying to reach Britain.

"There is nothing left but a heap of ashes," said Michel Lalande, prefect of France's Nord region.

"It will be impossible to put the huts back where they were before," he added.

All five lanes of the highway in each direction were blocked and will be closed for the foreseeable future, officials said.

Wednesday's blaze at the government-run Virgen de Asuncion shelter in San Jose Pinula, near Guatemala City, has focused attention on how it was run.

Police say some residents set fire to mattresses after a riot and an escape attempt.

There have been allegations of abuse at the overcrowded centre.

At least 40 other people suffered burns in the fire, and some remain in critical condition.

President Jimmy Morales declared the country to be in official mourning. His office said the cause of the fire was being investigated.

The victims have been transferred to local hospitals, although their conditions are not known, Hong Kong officials said.

A 60-year-old man has been arrested and accused of arson, Hong Kong police said at press conference Friday.

The man, whose last name is Cheung, was critically injured and told police he set the fire, authorities said.

Police said they believe the fire was an isolated incident carried out for personal reasons. There is no evidence it was terror-related, they said.

Six of them are in critical condition, while others suffered from burns and smoke inhalation - including children.

Police said the suspect walked into a Commonwealth Bank branch in the suburb of Springvale and set himself alight with a flammable liquid.

Police quickly detained the man who was sent to hospital for treatment while under police guard.

Acting inspector Jackie Poida from Victoria Police told reporters that it was "too early to tell" what the man's motives were.

Video shot by an onlooker at the airport showed a fireball exploding out of the damaged aircraft and recorded the startled cries of people watching.

The pilot and copilot escaped harm using a rope ladder on the right side of the aircraft, according to Mike Jachles of Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue. No members of the ground crews were hurt, he added.

The fire occurred after the plane's landing gear collapsed as it touched ground, the FAA said. The Boeing MD-10 was operating as Flight 910 from Memphis, Tennessee, where FedEx is based.