Red Crescent News

Stunned residents of the Bahamas surveyed the wreckage of their homes and officials struggled to assess the number killed by Hurricane Dorian, as the storm bore down on the South Carolina coast, threatening record flooding on Thursday.The United Nations said 70,000 people in the Bahamas needed immediate humanitarian relief after the most damaging storm ever to hit the island nation.Aerial video of the worst-hit Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas showed widespread devastation…

How do you deal with maritime crimes at sea - and how do you train others to do so? These are the skills being taught on the latest in a series of regional training of trainers courses on combating insecurity in the maritime domain.Participants from 18 countries have attended the course, at the Mohammed Bin Naif Academy for Maritime Science and Security Studies, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (30 June - 11 July).Bahrain, Bangladesh, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen were the participants.Participants learned teaching skills.

The death toll from a ship packed with migrants that sank off the Tunisian coast last weekend has risen to 58 after Tunisia recovered 38 bodies on Thursday, the Tunisian Red Crescent said.More than 80 African migrants in total are feared to have drowned in the incident, in what would be one of the worst migrant boat disasters to date. The boat capsized after setting off for Europe from neighbouring Libya.Reporting By Tarek Amara

MISRATA, Libya, Dec 4 - Fifteen migrants have died in a boat off the Libyan coast after spending 12 days at sea without food or water, an Egyptian survivor said on Tuesday.Only 10 migrants from the capsized boat survived, all of whom were suffering from severe dehydration, Othman Belbeisi, head of the U.N. migration agency IOM in Libya, said on Twitter.The owner of a beach chalet found the migrants washing up on the shore near the city of Misrata and called authorities, who brought them to the Red Crescent relief service and hospitals, residents said."We were 25 migrants on a boat ... We set off from (the western Libyan town of) Sabratah and we were at sea for 12 days without food and water," the survivor said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced a five-point aid plan for Yemen's Hodeidah port and surrounding areas on Wednesday, after a Saudi-led alliance of Arab states launched an attack on Yemen's Houthi-held main port city.As part of the plan, the two coalition states aim to establish a shipping lane to Hodeidah from the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, and Jizan, a city in southern Saudi Arabia, officials told a news conference in Riyadh.They will also distribute food, provide medical supplies, equipment and staff to hospitals, sustain electrical stations and provide economic support, they

Drydocks World - a DP World company, the leading provider of maritime and offshore services to the shipping, oil, gas and energy sectors has received the Dubai Chamber Corporate Social Responsibility Label for the fourth year in a row in recognition of the company’s efforts and contributions to excellence in various areas of social responsibility. The Dubai Chamber Social Corporate Responsibility Label is designed to provide a diagnostic practice that enables the Chamber to scrutinize and examine the activities of companies both internally and externally. This helps companies assess their current contributions to CSR and determine how to further improve their leadership position in the area of social responsibility within industry.

Press release - Officials at Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah said the first ship to dock there in three weeks arrived on Tuesday, carrying desperately needed fuel, as Saudi Arabia denied it was obstructing aid supplies heading for Yemen by sea. Yemen is suffering what the United Nations has designated as one of its highest-level humanitarian crises but aid efforts have been severely hampered by ongoing fighting and air and sea ports being blocked for long periods. Hodeidah port officials said that two cargo ships, one carrying wheat and the other timber, were the last vessels to enter the facility about three weeks ago. The tanker that arrived on Tuesday had been waiting in international waters for two months…

In September 2012 Moscow-based crew members of the arms-carrying 'MV Myre Seadiver' were arrested in Lagos & detained without trial. In September 2012 Moscow-based crew members of the MV Myre Seadiver were conducting professional and legitimate counter-piracy operations along Africa's western coast when, in October, their anchorage in Nigeria's Port of Lagos took a fateful turn. Ignoring the fact that all permits, licenses and clearances were in place, the Nigerian Navy captured the Master and crew of fifteen Russian sailors on the eve of their departure from the Port of Lagos. Held for months in a bleak Lagos prison without charge or trial…

1917- With the outbreak of World War I, the President issued an executive order transferring 30 lighthouse tenders to the War Department. All were subsequently assigned to the Navy Department and 15 lighthouse tenders, four lightships, and 21 light stations also were transferred to the Navy Department. One more tender was transferred on 31 January 1918 making a total of 50 vessels and 1,132 persons. The War Department used those assigned in laying submarine defense nets during and in removing these defenses after the war. Other duties performed by these vessels were placing practice targets, buoys to mark wrecks of torpedoed vessels and other marks for military purposes, as well as being employed on patrols and special duty assignments.

The Coast Guard Cutter Wrangell and USS Firebolt, with embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 406, escorted the first commercially transported humanitarian aid shipment into the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr on friday. The Motor Vessel Manar, owned by Manar Marine Services of the United Arab Emirates, delivered almost 700 tons of humanitarian aid including food, water, first aid and transport vehicles. This aid shipment was supplied and coordinated by the UAE Red Crescent Society. This is the fourth aid shipment to arrive in Umm Qasr since the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The first three shipments were transported on British and Spanish naval vessels.