Decaying herring inside the fish hold of an 89-foot trawler created enough noxious gas with a rotting-egg smell to sicken two Maine fishermen and leave one of them unconscious.
Poisonous hydrogen sulphide built up in the fish hold after the Starlight trawler offloaded its herring. The first fisherman was overcome and lost consciousness while climbing down a ladder into the hold.
The second became incapacitated while trying to help him.
A third crew member used a breathing apparatus to rescue them.
Firefighters say the rotting-egg smell was strong and their equipment registered dangerous levels. (PA)
Coastal walks around Britain
The eagerness of German tourists to bag the best places around the pool appears to extend to taking the lead in coastal walks around Britain.
Among holiday visitors from overseas markets the Germans are the most likely to enjoy a walk along the coast, said the VisitBritain organisation.
German tourists’ favourite spots for coastal walks are Cornwall and East Sussex, while other keen overseas walkers include Canadians, the Dutch and Australians.
VisitBritain says foreign residents make 3.6 million overseas visits a year to Britain’s seaside and coastal areas – that is nearly 12 per cent of all visits to the UK from overseas. Of those heading for the seaside, 2.4 million specifically go for a coastline or promenade walk. (PA)
Russians on Greenpeace ship
Russian coast guards boarded a Greenpeace ship protesting in the Arctic against oil drilling.
The environmental group is demonstrating against offshore oil exploration conducted by state oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil in the Russian section of the Arctic Ocean off western Siberia.
Greenpeace said the coast guard boarded the ship, the Arctic Sunrise, without permission after the group launched inflatable boats with banners reading “Save the Arctic” near an oil exploration vessel working for Rosneft.
Campaigners have been warning of high risks of oil blowouts and spills in this pristine and hard-to-reach area. (AP)
The fear of being phoneless
More than half of the UK population claims to suffer from “nomophobia” – the fear of being without a mobile phone, a study suggests.
Women are far more likely to experience the anxiety than men, according to its findings. Some 54 per cent of those surveyed said they worry about being “out of mobile phone contact” – with women 17 per cent more likely to suffer from “nomophobia” than men, the poll revealed.
Consumers are now so dependent on their gadgets that one fifth of mobile phone owners check their e-mails in bed and nearly half (42 per cent) take their devices to the beach while on holiday. A quarter of people even consult their phones during a dinner date – with women 10 per cent more likely to do so than their male counterparts. (PA)