British sailor missing off French coast after yacht found ‘eviscerated' in storm
A French Air Force helicopter was sent to search for the 73-year-old man, who has not been named after his distress beacon went off around 50 miles from Lacanau in Gascony on Saturday.
The Tiger PA, a 12-metre yacht sailing under an American flag, was spotted by helicopter but was later found to be empty, according to the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture, a government body.
A yacht with the same name was last located in Weymouth, Dorset, last week, according to the Vesselfinder website.
The French authorities said they had received an alert from Britain's coastguard on Friday evening after the yacht failed to respond to radio messages.
The yacht was found in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of south-west France, and a cargo ship 'managed to make radio contact after several attempts', the prefecture said.
It said: 'Alone on board, a 73-year-old man of British nationality indicated that he was safe and continuing on his way.'
Helicopter crew then discovered the yacht 'eviscerated' on Saturday and two divers found it empty.
A Portuguese cargo ship, a Spanish hospital ship that treats fishermen at sea and a French navy maritime surveillance aircraft joined the search before it was called off on Sunday.
It comes after gusts of up to 98mph were recorded off the west French coast on Sunday.
A small French sailing boat capsized close to the coast off the Atlantic resort of Les Sables-d'Olonne and the sailor was rescued by a surfer.
Meanwhile, six people got into trouble in kayaks off Saint-Nazaire, Brittany before being rescued by French lifeboats in 55mph winds.
In Britain, a tree hit a 19-year-old's blue Ford Focus at about 6.45 am on Friday in Mauchline, East Ayrshire, and he died the following day.
In Ireland Kacper Dudek, 20, died after a tree fell on his car at Feddyglass, Raphoe in Co Donegal, early on Friday and Irish police are investigating the incident.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
32 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Jeffrey Dahmer arrested in Milwaukee
Today is Tuesday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2025. There are 162 days left in the year. Today in History: On July 22, 1991, police in Milwaukee arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to murdering 17 men and boys. Also on this date: In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln presented to his Cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1933, Aviator Wiley Post landed at Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, completing the first solo flight around the world in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes. In 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie 'Manhattan Melodrama.' In 1937, the U.S. Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court. In 1942, the Nazis began transporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp. In 1943, American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily, during World War II. In 1975, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. In 1992, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin. (He was slain by security forces in December 1993.) In 2011, Anders Breivik, a self-described 'militant nationalist,' massacred 69 people at a Norwegian island youth retreat after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the nation's worst violence since World War II. In 2015, a federal grand jury indictment charged Dylann Roof, the young man accused of killing nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina, with 33 counts including hate crimes that made him eligible for the death penalty. (Roof would become the first person sentenced to death for a federal hate crime; he is on death row at a federal prison in Indiana.) In 2022, Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was convicted of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Bannon is currently serving his four-month sentence in federal prison.) Today's Birthdays: Actor Terence Stamp is 87. Singer George Clinton is 84. Actor-singer Bobby Sherman is 82. Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is 82. Movie writer-director Paul Schrader is 79. Actor Danny Glover is 79. Singer Mireille Mathieu is 79. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 78. Rock singer Don Henley is 78. Author S.E. Hinton is 77. Film composer Alan Menken is 76. Jazz musician Al Di Meola is 71. Actor Willem Dafoe is 70. Actor John Leguizamo is 65. R&B singer Keith Sweat is 64. Folk singer Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls) is 62. Actor-comedian David Spade is 61. Actor Rhys Ifans is 58. Actor/singer Jaime Camil is 52. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 52. Actor Franka Potente is 51. Actor Selena Gomez is 33. NFL running back Ezekiel Elliott is 30.
33 minutes ago
Inside the crackdown on a flashy new generation of illicit vapes targeting US teens
U.S. officials are waging a robust crackdown on a surge of sophisticated illicit vaping products flooding U.S. markets, many of which appear designed to attract teenagers and avoid parental detection, an ABC News investigation found. The new generation of products, most of which are imported from China, feature vaping mechanisms that are concealed as backpacks, smartphone cases, highlighters and handheld video game consoles, officials said. The products, some of which include LED lighting, Bluetooth connectivity or hidden compartments, allow teens to vape discreetly while attempting to evade parents and teachers. "So it's very possible the child can go, 'Hey, mom and dad, I want to get these headphones, I want to get this video console,' and the parents unwittingly are buying their child vapes?" ABC News anchor Linsey Davis asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Eric Everson. "That could happen, yes," Everson said. 'Just a small fraction' Federal authorities are treating the deluge of vapes being smuggled into the country as an international threat to America's youth. Investigators with CBP and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced the seizure of nearly two million units of unauthorized e-cigarette products in Chicago, with an estimated retail value of nearly $34 million. Despite a ban on flavored vapes, stores across the United States continue to sell cartridges like "pineapple express" and "killer custard blueberry." In Louisiana, federal agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been seizing vapes hidden in safes, vehicles, and elaborate concealments like trap doors. The agency told ABC News it is seizing "so much product" that officials have had to drastically increase the capacity of the holding facilities where they store seized products. It's the same situation in Chicago, where 4 million vape sticks sit in a law enforcement warehouse. "Do you have any sense what kind of percentage this is of all that's out there illegally?" Davis asked Everson regarding the 4 million vapes. "This is just a small fraction of the seizures we have here," Everson replied. 'Enticing to kids' The vaping industry, which has been around for more than a decade, is currently worth billions of dollars, according to industry experts and law enforcement. The CDC Foundation has found that more than 20 million e-cigarettes are sold in the U.S. each month. But experts suggest the illicit vaping industry is even bigger, with one think tank estimating that about 240 million illegal vaping devices were sold in the U.S. in 2024. It's part of an innovation boom, with the U.S. accounting for nearly two-thirds of Chinese vape exports, according to the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce. And although vaping rates among teens have tapered off in recent years, more than 1.6 million American kids reported using vape products in a 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey. One ongoing trend among illicit vapes entering the country is that they often feature sugary flavors -- despite a 2020 nationwide ban on flavored cartridges – and sleek, colorful marketing that's geared explicitly toward young people, officials say. Brian King, a former official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said it's not just the flavors and the packaging used to lure young people, but robust marketing campaigns on popular social media apps. "It's a variety of factors," said King, who now serves as an executive vice president for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group aimed at preventing teen tobacco use. "We do know that flavors are enticing to kids, but we also know that they're promoted in channels that can be appealing to kids, including on social media and elsewhere." According to the FDA, e-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth who reported current tobacco use. In some cases, the nicotine in some vape products is equal to 35 packs of cigarettes, according to experts, making them highly addictive and dangerous to children and young adults whose brains haven't yet fully developed. This past April, more than two dozen state attorneys general penned a letter asking the Trump administration for its support in "combating the flood of illegal Chinese products -- including illegal Chinese e-cigarettes marketed to minors." "While we are doing our best to fight the problem in the states, its nature and scope are international," the bipartisan coalition of attorneys general wrote. "President Trump can secure our borders against this influx of dangerous products and hold China accountable for preying on American youth." 'We can't rest on our laurels' Currently, there are 39 total vape products authorized by the FDA -- all tobacco and menthol flavored. And despite a nationwide prohibition on flavored cartridges imposed by the FDA in 2020, flavored products remain widely available in convenience stores, smoke shops, and online marketplaces across the country. The FDA has issued more than 800 warning letters to retailers for selling these products. In cities across the country, local law enforcement is cracking down on illicit vapes by going to smoke shops and seizing illicit products. "It's important, because you have people that are children buying these things," said Sergeant Michael Thorp with the New York Sheriff's Office. "You don't know what's in the product." Thorp told ABC News during a ride-along to vape shops across New York City that they find illicit vapes everyday. Despite the progress made by U.S. authorities in curbing illicit vape imports, King warned that a "rapidly dynamic landscape" makes vapes a persistent threat to American youth. "We can't rest on our laurels," warned King, who said authorities have to keep pace "as the landscape and manufacturers continue to evolve."
UPI
4 hours ago
- UPI
U.S. to deport some Haitian permanent residents
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday announced they have determined some Haitian nationals with permanent resident status will be deported for supporting a Haitian gang. File Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo July 22 (UPI) -- The Trump administration has said it will deport Haitian nationals with permanent resident status in the United States who are accused of supporting or collaborating with gangs the White House has labeled foreign terrorist organizations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement in a statement Monday, saying the actions of these Haitian individuals and their presence in the United States have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences." Neither the identities of the Haitian nationals to be deported nor the number to be expelled from the country were made public, though U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday announced the arrest of Haitian national Pierre Reginald Boulos. The Miami Herald reported that Boulos, 69, is an American-born entrepreneur, physician and influential political powerbroker in Haiti. ICE said Boulos was arrested Thursday for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act for contributing to the destabilization of Haiti. "Specifically, officials determined that he engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti's destabilization," ICE said in the statement. "Additionally, in his application to become a lawful permanent resident, he failed to disclose his involvement in the formation of a political party in Haiti, Mouvement pour la Transformation et la Valorisation d'Haiti, and that he was referred for prosecution by the Haitian government's unit for the Fight Against Corruption for misusing loans, supporting an additional ground of removability based on this fraud." Rubio's statement, which was made public following the announcement of Boulos' arrest, says they have determined some Haitians with permanent resident status have supported or worked with Haitian gang leaders connected to Viv Ansanm, an organization that the State Department declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization in May, calling it "a primary source of instability and violence in Haiti." "The United States will not allow individuals to enjoy the benefits of legal status in our country while they are facilitating the actions of violent organizations or supporting criminal terrorist organizations," Rubio said Monday. The announcement comes as the Trump administration seeks to conduct mass deportations. As part of its efforts to fulfill the Trump administration's goal, the State Department has used the Immigration and Nationality Act to impose visa restrictions on foreign nationals and deport others.
