Search the Community

MANILA: A medical evacuation plane exploded in a ball of flames during takeoff on Sunday (Mar 29) in the Philippine capital, killing all eight passengers and crew on board, officials said. The plane was bound from Manila to Haneda, Japan, and burst into flames at the end of the runway, Manila's main airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said. Fire crews were dispatched to douse the plane with foam, the airport added. The Lionair plane was carrying three medical personnel, three flight crew, a patient and a companion, Richard Gordon, a senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross, said on Twitter. "The plane caught fire and exploded as it was taking off the NAIA runway," he said. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/lion-air-plane-crash-philippines-manila-airport-naia-12587828?cid=FBcna and for awhile the only bad thing we knew was covid-19... Now it's both.. RIP

MANILA: The Philippines has detected an outbreak of avian flu in a northern province after tests showed presence of the highly infectious H5N6 subtype of the influenza A virus in a quail farm, the country's farm minister said on Monday (Mar 16). Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the bird flu virus, the same strain that hit some local poultry farms in 2017, was detected in Jaen municipality in Nueva Ecija province, where about 1,500 quails had died on one farm alone. A total of 12,000 quails have been destroyed and buried to prevent further infections, Dar said, citing field reports. "We are on top of the situation," he said. "Surveillance around the 1km and 7km radius will be carried out immediately to ensure that the disease has not progressed around the said perimeter." Animal quarantine checkpoints have also been set up to restrict the movement of all live domestic birds to and from the quarantine area, he said. "We would like to emphasise that this is a single case affecting one quail farm only," Dar said. Dr. Arlene Vytiaco, technical spokeswoman for avian flu at the agriculture department, said that while there is a possibility of transmission to humans through excretion and secretion, "the chances are very slim". "There is also zero mortality rate," she said. Dar said his department and the local government were jointly conducting an investigation and contact-tracing to determine the source of infection. To ensure steady domestic supply of poultry, he said the transport of day-old chicks, hatching eggs and chicken meat will be allowed provided the source farms have tested negative for bird flu. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/philippines-detects-bird-flu-outbreak-in-quail-farm-h5n6-12542450?cid=FBcna&fbclid=IwAR0lJ03baGj4-xGZC0F6jwBYzXfZRL6bZTPkT2G2g-7v-q1xm--NTGvKi9c

MANILA - The resort island of Boracay will be closed to tourists for six months from April 26 to fix sewage and environment-related problems that have led President Rodrigo Duterte to describe it as a "cesspool". Mr Duterte approved the recommendation by three government agencies to shut down Boracay, his spokesman Harry Roque told reporters late on Wednesday (April 4). The go-ahead was given despite pleas to carry out the shutdown in phases and to limit its scope. http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippines-to-close-boracay-to-tourists-for-six-months-from-april-26 Take note for those who are planning your vacations! Time to go Maldives then.

MANILA

is the airport still running? im going to manila soon and wondering if i should cancel the trip. from what i understand, the affected area by the typhoon are the low-land areas. manila is huge, so not the whole of manila is affected unlike singapore...if rain, the whole country rain...that kind of thing. what do u guys think?