BESUT - Kejadian tragis melibatkan sebuah bot penumpang terbalik yang meragut tiga nyawa termasuk dua kanak-kanak di perairan Pulau Perhentian malam Sabtu lalu dipercayai berpunca daripada cuaca buruk yang melanda secara tiba-tiba.

Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pembangunan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JPKK) Kampung Pulau Perhentian, Nik Zawawi Mohd Nor berkata, kejadian kira-kira jam 10.30 malam itu berlaku ketika kesemua mangsa dalam perjalanan pulang ke penginapan selepas menonton pertunjukan api di Long Beach, Pulau Perhentian Kecil.

"Keadaan cuaca pada awal malam itu kelihatan baik, namun mula berubah sekitar jam 9 malam sebelum ribut kuat melanda.

"Pemandu bot ada memaklumkan bahawa dia telah menasihati penumpang supaya menangguhkan perjalanan pulang atas faktor keselamatan, namun mereka tetap mahu balik ke resort," katanya ketika dihubungi Sinar Harin di sini pada Isnin.

Beliau berkata, bot yang membawa 15 penumpang itu hanya mengambil masa sekitar 10 minit perjalanan merentasi jarak kira-kira empat kilometer dari Long Beach ke kawasan penginapan di Pulau Perhentian Besar.

"Kalau mereka boleh tunggu dalam dua hingga tiga jam lagi mungkin tragedi ini tidak berlaku.

"Lagipun ramai penumpang lain yang terkandas mereka sanggup tunggu lama semata-mata mahu pastikan cuaca benar-benar pulih.

"Malangnya dalam insiden ini, bot itu terbalik kerana dihempas ombak besar, hanya beberapa meter dari resort yang mereka duduk," ujarnya.

Tambah Nik Zawawi, ribut kuat yang melanda pada malam itu hanya reda sekitar jam 11.30 malam.

Bagaimanapun, katanya, usaha menyelamat segera digerakkan sebaik kejadian dimaklumkan kepada pihak berkuasa.

"Penduduk setempat dan pihak berkuasa mengambil langkah segera menyelamatkan mangsa yang terlibat.

"Tragedi ini amat menyedihkan kerana ia melibatkan keluarga dan anak kecil. Ia berlaku secara tiba-tiba akibat faktor alam yang sukar dijangka," katanya.

Dalam pada itu, Nik Zawawi berkata, operasi bot atau lebih dikenali sebagai 'water taxi' di pulau itu biasanya bergerak secara fleksibel dan tidak tertakluk sepenuhnya kepada waktu operasi seperti dinyatakan dalam lesen.

"Kita akui, mengikut lesen Jabatan Laut memang bot penumpang tidak dibenarkan beroperasi pada waktu malam.

"Tetapi bagi penduduk dan pelancong di sini, bot merupakan keperluan kerana ia pengangkutan utama kami di sini. Ia digunakan pada bila-bila masa, berbeza dengan daratan," katanya.

Tragedi bot terbalik pada malam Sabtu lalu mengorbankan tiga mangsa iaitu S Arumugam, 40 dan anaknya, A Sarrvihka, 3, dan seorang lagi kanak-kanak perempuan, VR Vennpani, 10.

Seorang lagi kanak-kanak, TS Sakthivel, 6, dilaporkan masih kritikal dan menerima rawatan di Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah (HSNZ), Kuala Terengganu.

Difahamkan, kesemua mangsa datang dari Butterworth, Pulau Pinang dan Sungai Petani Kedah untuk bercuti bersama keluarga dan telah mendaftar masuk ke sebuah resort di pulau berkenaan sejak Jumaat lalu.

Sementara itu, Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia (Maritim Malaysia) Terengganu mengesahkan satu siasatan penuh sedang dijalankan bagi mengenal pasti punca sebenar kejadian termasuk meneliti aspek keselamatan operasi bot.

ROME, June 30 — A punishing heatwave gripped southern Europe on Monday, prompting authorities to issue health and wildfire warnings as temperatures are expected to soar again.

France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been sweltering for several days as the mercury climbed to 44°Celsius in some places.

“This is unprecedented,” Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s ecology transition minister said as a record 84 of the nation’s 96 mainland departments were placed on the second-highest “orange’ heat alert.

Only a small sliver of the country in the northwest was not sweltering, according to the Meteo France weather service, which said the heatwave was due to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The summer’s first major heatwave has seen authorities in the countries along the Mediterranean’s northern coast urging people to seek shelter.

Ambulances stood on standby near tourist hotspots as experts warned that such heatwaves, intensified by climate change, would become more frequent.

Firefighters were on standby after blazes broke out Sunday in France and Turkey, fed by the heat and strong winds.

Already last week, Greek firefighters had to battle a forest blaze on the coast south of Athens that forced some evacuations.

‘Not normal’

Spain’s weather service AEMET said temperatures in Extremadura and Andalusia, in the south and south-west, had reached up to 44°C Sunday.

In Madrid, where temperatures approached 40°C, 32-year-old photographer Diego Radames told AFPTV: “I feel that the heat we’re experiencing is not normal for this time of year.

“As the years go by, I have the feeling that Madrid is getting hotter and hotter, especially in the city centre,” he added.

In Italy, 21 cities across the length of the country were on high alert for extreme heat, including Milan, Naples, Venice, Florence, Rome and Catania.

“We were supposed to be visiting the Colosseum, but my mum nearly fainted,” said British tourist Anna Becker, who had travelled to Rome from a “muggy, miserable” Verona.

Hospital emergency departments across Italy have reported a 10-per cent increase in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine.

“It is mainly elderly people, cancer patients or homeless people, presenting with dehydration, heat stroke, fatigue,” he told AFP.

‘More frequent, more intense’

Several areas in the southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, were under a red warning until Monday night, said the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).

Two-thirds of Portugal was also on high alert Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires — as was the Italian island of Sicily, where firefighters tackled 15 blazes Saturday.

Scientists say climate change is stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities where the so-called “urban heat island” effect amplifies temperatures among tightly packed buildings.

“The heat waves in the Mediterranean region have become more frequent and more intense in recent years,” said Emanuela Piervitali, a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).

“A further increase in temperature and heat extremes is expected in the future, so we will have to get used to temperatures with peaks even higher than those we are experiencing now,” she told AFP.

Invasive species

The heat is also attracting invasive species, which are thriving in the more tropical climes.

ISPRA launched a campaign this week urging fishermen and tourists alike to report sightings of four “potentially dangerous” venomous species.

The lionfish, silver-cheeked toadfish, dusky spinefoot and marbled spinefoot are beginning to appear in waters off southern Italy as the Mediterranean warms, it said.

In France, experts warned that the heat was also severely hitting biodiversity. — AFP

ISTANBUL: Pasukan bomba di Turkiye bertungkus-lumus memadam kebakaran hutan yang sudah memasuki hari kedua di wilayah barat Izmir, apabila api marak diburukkan oleh angin kencang, menurut kenyataan Menteri Perhutanan dan laporan media tempatan pada Isnin.

Kebakaran berlaku di kawasan Kuyucak dan Doganbey, dengan kelajuan angin mencecah antara 40 hingga 50 kilometer sejam, yang menyebabkan api merebak pantas sehingga memaksa empat buah kampung dan dua kawasan kejiranan dipindahkan, kata Menteri Perhutanan, Ibrahim Yumakli.

Lebih seribu anggota termasuk helikopter, pesawat pemadam api serta jentera darat telah dikerahkan bagi mengawal situasi, kata Yumakli kepada pemberita di Izmir.

Rakaman media tempatan menunjukkan usaha pasukan penyelamat menggunakan jentera pertanian bersama tangki air, serta helikopter menjatuhkan air dari udara bagi mengawal api menyelubungi kawasan berbukit yang kini dipenuhi pokok-pokok hangus terbakar.

Wilayah pesisir pantai Turkiye sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini sering menjadi mangsa kebakaran hutan berikutan musim panas yang semakin panas dan kering, satu fenomena dikaitkan para saintis dengan perubahan iklim global. -AGENSI

ISTANBUL: Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires for a second day raging in the western province of Izmir fanned by strong winds, the forestry minister and local media said on Monday.

Wildfires in Kuyucak and Doganbey areas of Izmir were fanned overnight by winds reaching 40-50 kph (25-30 mph) and four villages and two neighbourhoods had been evacuated, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.

Helicopters, fire extinguishing aircrafts and other vehicles, and more than a thousand people were trying to extinguish the fires, Yumakli told reporters in Izmir.

Media footage showed teams using tractors with water trailers and helicopters carrying water, as smoke billowed over hills marked with charred trees.

Turkey’s coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires, as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists relate to climate change.