Latest Oceans News
Prayers and tears mark 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — People started gathering in prayer on Thursday and visiting the mass graves in Indonesia’s Aceh province to mark 20 years since the massive Indian Ocean tsunami, one of modern history’s worst natural disasters. Many openly wept as they placed...
California residents on edge as high surf and flooding threats persist on Christmas Eve
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Persistent high surf and flooding threats along California’s coast had residents on high alert a day after a major storm was blamed for one man’s death and the partial collapse of a pier, which propelled three people into the Pacific Ocean. And two...
Sailors greeted with tears and cheers as USS Cole returns to home port ahead of Christmas
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Hundreds of sailors and their loved ones got an early Christmas present when the USS Cole docked at its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, after seven months at sea. The ship was greeted at Naval Station Norfolk on Monday with cheering from a crowd bundled in...
Major storm pounds California's central coast, blamed for man's death and partially collapsing pier
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — A major storm pounded California’s central coast on Monday, bringing flooding and high surf that was blamed for fatally trapping a man beneath debris on a beach and later partially collapsing a pier, tossing three people into the Pacific Ocean. The storm...
20 years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, a boy found in the mud embraces being known as 'Baby 81'
KURUKKAL MADAM, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa...
Trauma lingers on for survivors of the deadly tsunami that hit Thailand 20 years ago
BAN NAM KHEM, Thailand (AP) — The 20-year-old freshman student was still asleep that Sunday morning at the family's house on the Andaman Sea coast of southern Thailand when her mom, sensing something wasn't right, woke her up saying they needed to leave right away. The day is...
AP PHOTOS: Scenes of devastation from the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
On Dec. 26, 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, causing a massive wave that devastated Asian coastal communities across thousands of miles. Some 230,000 people died as the tsunami leveled remote villages, ports and tourist resorts in Indonesia,...
A paraplegic man in Brazil is lifted into the clouds on one of Rio de Janeiro's hardest trails
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s perhaps Rio de Janeiro’s hardest trail, featuring one particularly daunting section requiring a perilous scramble that can cause hikers to freeze up with fright. But this week, Ezequiel da Luz, a 40-year-old paraplegic, traversed jungle and...
What to know about Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation struggling to recover from a massive quake
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A search expanded on Thursday for those killed or trapped alive by an earthquake in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, as rescue workers arriving from abroad fanned out through the capital, Port Vila, encountering flattened buildings that had not yet been...
Cyclone Chido leaves Mayotte reeling. Warmer oceans fueled it
The Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte is reeling from Cyclone Chido, the most intense storm to hit the French territory in 90 years. At least 22 people have been killed since Chido made landfall on Saturday, as high winds swept away entire neighborhoods, damaged major...
