survivor

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor.

The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day.

Hegseth said Mexican search and rescue authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor but didn’t say if that person would stay in their custody or be handed over to the U.S.

In a strike earlier in October which had two survivors, the U.S. military rescued the pair and later repatriated them to Colombia and Ecuador.

Hegseth posted footage of the strikes to social media in which two boats can be seen moving at speed through the water. One is visibly laden with a large amount of parcels or bundles. Both then suddenly explode and are seen aflame.

The third strike appears to have been conducted on a pair of boats that were stationary in the water alongside each other. They appear to be largely empty with at least two people seen moving before an explosion engulfs both boats.

Hegseth said “the four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”

The death toll from the 13 disclosed strikes since early September is now at least 57 people.

WASHINGTON — The United States took survivors into custody after its military struck a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean — the first attack that anyone escaped alive since President Trump began launching assaults in the region last month, a defense official and another person familiar with the matter said Friday.

The strike Thursday brought the death toll from the Trump administration’s military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.

It is believed to be at least the sixth strike in the waters off Venezuela since early September, and the first to result in survivors who were picked up by the U.S. military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the survivors, who the people said were being held on a U.S. Navy vessel.

They confirmed the strike on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been publicly acknowledged by Trump’s administration.

Trump has justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by President George W. Bush‘s administration when it declared a war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. That includes the ability to capture and detain combatants and to use lethal force against their leadership.

Some legal experts have questioned the legality of the approach. The president’s use of overwhelming military force to combat the cartels, along with his authorization of covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust President Nicolás Maduro, stretches the bounds of international law, legal scholars said this week.

Meanwhile, the Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region will retire in December, he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday.

Adm. Alvin Holsey became the leader of U.S. Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. These types of postings typically last between three and four years.

Holsey said in a statement posted on the command’s Facebook page that it had “been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years.”

“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”

U.S. Southern Command did not provide any further information beyond the admiral’s statement.

For the survivors of Thursday’s strike, the saga is hardly over. They now face an unclear future and legal landscape, including questions about whether they are now considered to be prisoners of war or defendants in a criminal case. The White House did not comment on the strike.

Reuters was first to report news of the strike late Thursday.

The strikes in the Caribbean have caused unease among both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans saying they have not received sufficient information on how the strikes are being conducted. A classified briefing for members of the Senate Armed Services Committee this month did not include representatives from intelligence agencies or the military command structure for South and Central America.

However, most Senate Republicans stood behind the administration last week when a vote on a War Powers Resolution was brought up, which would have required the administration to gain approval from Congress before conducting more strikes.

Their willingness to back the administration will be tested again. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with Sens. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, and Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, is bringing another resolution that would prevent Trump from outright attacking Venezuela without congressional authorization.

Toropin and Mascaro write for the Associated Press.

A TEENAGER who was mauled by a shark recalled the terrifying moment she “raised her arm out of the water and saw she had no hand”.

Lulu Gribbin, 15, was enjoying a beach day in Florida last summer when she lost her arm and leg in the brutal attack.

8

8

8

8

She and her family had heard speculation that a shark was in the sea by the beach they were at in Walton County, northwest Florida.

But it wasn’t until the teen saw “a shadow” in the water that panic set in.

She told ABC News: “I never saw a tail or a fin. I never saw its eyes.”

After spotting a “glimpse” of the shark’s body, she initially started swimming as fast as she could.

But after recalling advice she had heard in a movie, she stopped – thinking her frantic movements would encourage the shark to chase her.

It was then that her life would drastically change forever.

She said: “I told everyone to just calm down…and the next thing I know is that I raised my hand out of the water and there just was no hand there.”

Lulu was rushed to the shore where her twin sister, Ellie, sat by her side, keeping her calm and ensuring she remained conscious until paramedics arrived.

Meanwhile, doctors on the beach wrapped a tourniquet around Lulu’s injuries.

Her mom, Ann Blair Gribbin, said she rushed to the beach when her daughter didn’t pick up her phone.

Comparing her child’s injuries to something out of a movie, she said she found her “lifeless” with her “eyes closed, and her mouth white and pale”.

She said: “All I could say was, ‘Just keep breathing. Please keep breathing. God, please let her keep breathing.

“We didn’t know anything, no idea if she was alive.”

The teen was then airlifted to a Pensacola hospital where she underwent multiple surgeries leading to her leg and arm being amputated.

Doctors said she had also lost around two-thirds of the blood in her body.

Following the horror incident, her mom paid tribute to the doctors who saved Lulu’s life.

She also described her daughter as a “miracle” admitting the family’s life will “be forever changed”.

Ann said: “At this point, we will have multiple surgeries in the days to come and our lives will be forever changed.

“She is truly a miracle.  We have a long road ahead and our journey is just beginning!”

MULTIPLE ATTACKS

Lulu wasn’t the only victim that day.

According to the teen, there was another shark attack just 90 minutes before just a few miles down the coast.

She said: “If I wouldn’t known about this, I wouldn’t have been in the water”.

Lulu’s friend McCray was also bitten on her foot, and officials suspect the same beast attacked three other people.

This spate of maulings were the first in the county for three years, with the last fatality recorded in Walton County in 2005.

Cops in the area, however, stressed that sharks are always present in the Gulf.

Officers previously said: “Swimmers and beachgoers should be cautious when swimming and stay aware of their surroundings”.

Her brutal attack comes as a little boy was mercilessly savaged off the Florida coast by a blacktip shark earlier this month.

The blacktip shark rushed Richard Burrows, his sister Rose, and his dad, David, as they snorkeled at Horseshoe Reef, about four miles off Key Largo, at around 3 pm on September 1.

Richard was bitten above his right knee and on his arm, leaving him gushing blood in the water as his dad and sister scrambled to help.

David quickly applied a tourniquet to Richard’s leg to stop the bleeding, which doctors later said helped to save his life.

8

8

8

8

It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.

It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.

On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be among 400 people in St Paul’s Cathedral paying their respects to the 52 killed and more than 770 injured in the London suicide bombings of July 7, 2005.

But for Dan – 7/7’s most severely-injured survivor – the day will also mark another anniversary. It’s been 19 years since Dan left hospital and he’s been fighting for an inquiry into what was known. He and countless others want and need answers.

Now instead of tears and platitudes from Britain’s great and the good on Monday, Dan, who can be seen in new Netflix series Attack on London Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, is calling on Starmer to put right what Tony Blair once did wrong – and finally grant the 7/7 victims their long called-for public inquiry.

He says: “We don’t need tears. We don’t need platitudes. We need our public inquiry. And we need answers to the questions we still have. It’s been 20 years – Now is the time to do it.”

Meanwhile there’s one person Dan won’t be wanting to speak with, if, as expected, he attends: Tony Blair. He was prime minister at the time of the attack and blocked the initial plea for an independent public inquiry. The War in Iraq was also cited as one of the motivations for the bloodbath in the bombers’ confession videos.

“I don’t think I could sit in a room with him [Blair] and not use a large amount of expletives, because the anger is always there,” explains Dan, now 46. “I firmly believe 7/7 could have been prevented, and I’ve got to live it with that knowledge. And I cannot believe Blair would be so naive to think that if we go to war, there’s not going to be repercussions in this country. When I think of the money he earns giving talks about it”

The 46-year-old first renewed appeals for Starmer to reconsider an inquiry through the Mirror last month. But he’s vowed to keep on asking.

Hundreds of families were affected that day in 2005 when four suicide bombers, led by primary school assistant Mohammad Sidique Khan unleashed the deadliest terror attacks in Britain since Lockerbie.

Armed with backpacks filled with homemade explosives, Khan, 30, and Shehzad Tanweer, 22, both from Beeston, Leeds, and father-of-one Germaine Lindsay, 19, from Aylesbury, Bucks, boarded three morning rush hour tube trains. Around 8.49am they set off the explosives on circle line trains near Edgware Road and Russell Square stations and a Piccadilly Line train near Aldgate station, killing six, seven and 26.

A fourth bomber, Hasib Hussain, 18, also from Leeds, detonated his device an hour later on the top deck of the Number 30 bus, which had been diverted via Tavistock Square, killing 13. It’s believed his device initially failed.

On the morning of July 7 2005, Dan boarded a circle line train towards Edgware Road, a 26-year-old 6ft4in football-mad construction manager. Then in a flash of the explosion, everything changed. Dan lost both legs, an eye and his spleen and had a pole speared through his abdomen after being one to the victims of the Edgware Road blast.

He perforated his colon, burst his eardrum, lacerated his liver, was covered in burns and spent eight weeks in a coma. He now faces a daily battle with Complex PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, and survivor’s guilt.

It later emerged Khan was known to intelligence services but was not considered a high priority. The Government’s internal 2009 Intelligence and Security Committee review concluded the decision was “understandable” given “the information available” at the time.

Dan and Adrian Heili, the hero Army medic who saved his life against the odds that day, meanwhile maintain there are still vital questions not answered by either the committee’s 2009 report, their earlier report in 2006 or indeed, the latter 2011 Coroner’s Inquest, which identified a number of failures and missed opportunities by MI5 – but ultimately ruled they would not have prevented 7/7.

Former construction manager Dan says: “The inquest was more about ascertaining time of death, place of death, perpetrator, that type of thing. A public inquiry looks at what was known. It looks at ‘was there any point where there could have been an intervention to stop it’?”

“The guy that did this is dead. I don’t get a trial. I don’t get my day in court. But why can’t we have the same disclosure around what led up to 7/7 as other atrocities got?”

Dan has a long list of questions, including: how long Khan was on MI5’s radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos of him at a suspected extremist training camp. It was also reported that the US National Security Agency had looked into disturbing emails from Khan the year before the attacks. These are just a few of many.

“A public inquiry won’t give me my legs back,” says Dan, now an accessibility consultant in Abergavenny. “It won’t give me my eye back. But I’d have a sense of justice that somebody has been held accountable.

“Some 52 people lost their lives, why doesn’t that warrant one[an inquiry]? Jean Charles de Menezes was tragically shot a couple of weeks after 7/7, he got a public inquiry. Why is his one life worth more than 52? If they really think it’s not possible, then please just explain to me why – and I’ll get back in my box.”

Dan has recently spent days reviewing all the previous Government reports line by line while writing his first book Back From the Dead, which was released in June.

The 2006 Intelligence and Security Committee Report had originally been sent to Dan while he was still in hospital. It came with a covering letter from the then-Committee chairman The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP. It referred to the attacks of “July 7, 2006.”

“Talk about adding insult to literal injury,” says Dan, who married the love of his life Gem, 42, in 2015. “How can you put much credence in the report if they can’t even get the date of the attack right?”

A public inquiry could also be a financial lifeline to those, like Dan, with life-changing injuries. Dan received just shy of £116,000 from the Government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

It’s a fund which gives a standardised payout, calculated by which body part is injured, to all victims of violent crime, with no regard as to whether it was a street mugging or a terror attack. Dan says he was also instructed he could only claim for three injuries.

“The money’s gone,” he says. “It barely lasted five years.”

If an inquiry found anyone was to blame, it could open up an avenue for victims to receive extra compensation.

Meanwhile Dan admits the thought of Blair earning north of £100,000 for speaking engagements about his time as prime minister – including the War in Iraq – is particularly painful. “I think he’s disgraceful,” says Dan.

In one final plea to the dignitaries who’ll be attending on Monday, Dan adds: “I’m not a stupid man. I knew that getting blown up, life was going to be tough. But I didn’t think it would be unjust.”

The Home Office has no current plans to hold a public inquiry.

Complete timeline of how the 7/7 bombings unfolded

*Around 8:49 a.m Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Germaine Lindsay, 19, detonated homemade devices on Circle Line trains between Edgware Road and Paddington and Liverpool Street and Aldgate, and a Piccadilly Line train between King’s Cross St Pancras and Russell Square. They killed six, seven and 26.

*At 9.47am Hasib Hussain, 18, detonated a device, believed to have earlier failed, on the top deck of the Number 30 bus outside the British Medical Association HQ in Tavistock Square.

*All but Lindsay were British-born, from Beeston, Leeds. Jamaican-born Lindsay, an Islam convert, lived with his then-pregnant wife in Aylesbury, Bucks. She was later revealed to be the ‘White Widow’, Samantha Lewthwaite, an alleged member of Somalia ’s radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.

*Video confessions later saw the bombers citing the War in Afghanistan and Iraq as one of their motivations. The Met Police’s Operation Trident collected more than 2,500 pieces of evidence. There was further tragedy at Stockwell Tube on 21/7 when Brazilian student Jean Charles De Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a suspect in a feared follow up attack and shot dead by police

*A 2006 Initial Intelligence and Security Committee Report finds no evidence MI5 could have prevented the attacks.

During a separate trial regarding a foiled fertiliser bomb plot, it was revealed Khan and Tanweer had been tracked by MI5 for a time during 2004, but it was decided they were not a priority.

The then Home Secretary John Reid refused a public inquiry into what had been known, saying it would be a “massive diversion of resources” from the security services’ operations. Some 25 7/7 Families start legal proceedings to force a public inquiry.

*Reid authorises the subsequent 2009 IASC report which also concluded 7/7 could not have been prevented.

* David Cameron becomes Prime Minister and grants the seven-month Coroner’s Inquest, overseen by Lady Justice Hallett, with a more limited scope of inquiry. In 2011, after seven months of evidence, she made nine recommendations to the Home Office, Security Services and Emergency Services. She also concluded MI5 could not have prevented it and rules against a public inquiry as it would add further distress to the families.

*The 25 Families drop their legal suit for an inquiry immediately after the inquest report. They make it clear they still have unanswered questions but fear their emotionally-draining legal action is futile.

* Various news organisations report on allegations that Khan visited a Pakistan Al-Qaeda training camp as well as military training camps in Dubai and that The US’s NSA had intercepted alarming emails from him the year before the attacks.

*Dan maintains several key questions around how long Khan was on their radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos at a training camp.

Back From The Dead: The Untold Story of the 7/7 Bombings by Dan Biddle with Douglas Thompson, by Mirror Books hardback, £20, is out Thursday. Buy here

Fans and former contestants have shared their outcry after Australian Survivor presenter Jonathan LaPaglia confirmed he has been axed from the show

Australian Survivor fans are devastated as decade-long host Jonathan LaPaglia announced he will no longer be at the helm.

The iconic actor and Survivor presenter has led the Australian version of the hit reality competition series on Network 10 since 2016.

On Monday (30th June), LaPaglia, affectionately known as ‘JLP’ by contestants and fans, took to Instagram to confirm the sad news.

“Australian Survivor has seen some of the most epic blindsides over the last 10 years, but this one might just be the craziest of them all….because it happened to me,” he shared.

“I received a call from the Network thanking me for all my hard work and dedication to the show but for next season they are ‘going in a different direction’.

“Ratings had dipped a bit recently and they wanted to do something drastic to shake things up. So for the first time ever this is not a tribe swap, but a HOST SWAP®️ Yes, you read that right.”

He went on to thank the cast and crew, as well as the show’s loyal legion of fans, for all their support over the past 10 years, calling the hosting gig “one of the greatest adventures of my career”.

Thankfully, there’s still one more season with JLP as host for fans to look forward to, Australian Survivor: Australia V The World, coming up later this year on Network 10.

“Probably our best season EVER!” he claimed, before adding an emotional sign-off: “(Ps. Whoever said a blindside is the most humane way to put someone down is an idiot. It hurts like a b***!)”

His post received an outpouring of support from fans and several former Survivor contestants.

Matt Tarrant, who competed in JLP’s first-ever season, replied: “Mate, this is genuinely devastating.

“One of my favourite memories of the game is you pulling out the beers from the crew fridges for us Season 1 Cast at the finale because no one else cared about us at that point, absolute gem of a bloke – good luck for whatever is next JLP.”

Get 30 days of Prime Video totally free

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

£8.99

£0

Amazon

Get Prime Video here

TV lovers can get 30 days’ free access to binge tantalising TV like The Handmaid’s Tale and The Rings of Power by signing up to Amazon Prime. Just remember to cancel at the end and you won’t be charged.

And two-time competitor Flick Eddington wrote: “HUGE MISTAKE!!! It honestly won’t be the same without you!!! This news breaks my heart!”

She then cheekily suggested: “Maybe you can come back as a contestant and blindside everyone!”

Viewers have also slammed the decision on Reddit, where one user decried: “Ratings dipped a bit recently so they ditch the host? Aussie Survivor has its faults, but JLP wasn’t one of them.”

Someone else slammed the move: “Needless to say completely shocking news. Awful choice by production.”

“This is so damn stupid,” a third fan wrote. “Maybe if they wanted to save on costs they could make it shorter than 50 days lol.

“Worst decision they have ever made. Channel 10 has been going down for a while though.”

Survivor fans – will you continue watching once JLP officially steps down?

Australian Survivor is available on Network 10 and 10play and can be streamed on Prime Video in the UK.

Viswashkumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the Boeing 787 plane crash, said he witnessed other passengers die.

The only survivor of the Air India plane crash says he couldn’t believe he made it out alive after escaping from a broken emergency exit in a deadly crash that killed 241 people.

Shortly after Thursday’s crash, social media footage showed Viswashkumar Ramesh limping down the street in a blood-stained t-shirt and with bruises on his body.

The British national was sitting in seat 11A on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was flying in to London when the plane crashed into a medical college hostel moments after taking off from India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad.

Ramesh, 40, told India’s national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed on Friday that he thought he was “also going to die”.

“But when I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive and I tried to unbuckle myself from the seat and escape from where I could. It was in front of my eyes that the air hostess and others [died],” he said.

He was travelling with his brother Ajay, who had been seated in a different row, members of his family said.

“The side of the plane I was in landed on the ground, and I could see that there was space outside the aircraft, so when my door broke, I tried to escape through it and I did,” Ramesh said.

“The opposite side of the aircraft was blocked by the building wall so nobody could have come out of there,” he added.

He explained that the plane had seemed to have come to a standstill midair for a few seconds shortly after taking off and felt the engine thrust, which later “crashed with speed into the hostel”.

Ramesh’s cousin Hiren Kantilal, 19, told the AFP news agency that he called his family in Leicester, in the East Midlands in England, after the crash to tell them he was alive.

“Our plane has been crashed,” Ramesh told his dad, according to his cousin.

“He was bleeding all over him, in the face and everything, and he said, ‘I am just waiting for my brother and I don’t know how I get out of the plane.’

“He said: ‘Do not worry about me, try to find about Ajay Kumar’ and he said: ‘I am totally fine.’”

Kantilal said his cousin had spent about 10 to 15 minutes seeking his brother, and then was whisked away to hospital by the rescue services.

“We are happy Vishwash has been saved, but on the other hand, we are just heartbroken about Ajay,” he told AFP.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site on Friday and met Ramesh at the hospital.

Rescue workers continued to search for missing people and aircraft parts on Friday following the worst aviation crash in a decade.

One black box found as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the scene and calls the devastation ‘saddening’.

Investigators and rescue teams are searching the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met with the lone surviving passenger, a day after an Air India flight fell from the sky and killed 241 people on the plane and multiple people on the ground.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, en route from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick Airport with 242 people on board, went down shortly after takeoff on Thursday, striking a medical college hostel in the western Indian city.

One of the plane’s black boxes has been found, local media reported, and operations on Friday were focused on locating missing people and recovering aircraft fragments and the remaining black box.

An official from the National Disaster Response Force said it deployed seven teams to the crash site and they have recovered 81 bodies so far.

The crash caused extensive damage and left bodies scattered both inside the aircraft and among buildings at the site.

‘The devastation is saddening’

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene in his home state of Gujarat on Friday, meeting with rescue officials and some of the injured in hospital. “The scene of devastation is saddening,” he posted on X.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau launched an investigation into the incident.

Medics are conducting DNA tests to identify those killed, said the president of the Federation of All India Medical Association, Akshay Dongardiv.

Meanwhile, grieving families gathered outside the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.

Two doctors at the hospital said the bodies of four medical students killed on the ground were released to their families. They said at least 30 injured students were admitted to the hospital and at least four were in critical condition.

Witnesses described hearing a blast on Thursday before dark smoke engulfed the area. “We were at home and heard a massive sound. It appeared like a big blast,” the Reuters news agency quoted 63-year-old resident Nitin Joshi as saying.

Footage from CCTV cameras captured a fireball rising above the crash site shortly after the Dreamliner took off. Parts of the fuselage were found scattered across the hostel complex, and the aircraft’s tail was lodged in the building’s roof.

Boeing said it was ready to send experts to assist in the investigation, which Air India warned would take time. The crash marks the first fatal accident involving a Dreamliner since the aircraft began commercial service in 2011.

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson arrived in Ahmedabad early on Friday.

Modi meets lone survivor

The sole survivor of the crash was seen in television footage meeting Modi at the government hospital where he was being treated for burns and other injuries.

Viswashkumar Ramesh told India’s national broadcaster he still could not believe he is alive. He said the aircraft seemed to become stuck immediately after takeoff. He said the lights came on and right after that, the plane accelerated but seemed unable to gain height before it crashed.

He said the side of the plane where he was seated fell onto the ground floor of a building and there was space for him to escape after the door broke open. He unfastened his seatbelt and forced himself out of the plane.

“When I opened my eyes, I realised I was alive,” he said.

The crash claimed the life of Vijay Rupani, Gujarat’s former chief minister. Police said most passengers were still strapped in their seats when found.

The passengers included 217 adults, 11 children and two infants, a source told Reuters. Air India said 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven were Portuguese and one was Canadian.

Footage shows the only known survivor of the Air India Flight AI171 crash, 40-year-old Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, limping along a road near the wreckage as a medic helps him. Police say he leapt from emergency exit row 11A moments before the plane with 242 people on board crashed.

LIVERPOOL fans who lined the streets to celebrate the club’s Premier League triumph have spoken out after a car ploughed into a crowd.

A 53-year-old white British man from Liverpool was arrested at the scene on Water Street just after 6pm and is thought to have been the driver of the car, police said.

4

4

4

Some 27 injured people were rushed to hospital – two with serious injuries – and 20 were treated at the scene, with more patients self-presenting later on, the North West Ambulance Service said.

A survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing was one of those knocked to the floor by the car.

Frankie, 24, told the Mail: “I was at the Manchester Arena incident. I don’t want to go out again.

They continued: “The side of the car went into me and I fell to the floor. It’s all a blur.

“I’ve got cuts and bruises and I’ll be fine but there’s loads who have got more severe injuries.”

Meanwhile, supporter Harry Rashid, 48, was a stone’s throw away from the swerving vehicle during the terrifying scene.

“It happened about 10 feet away from us,” he said.

“We were just in a crowd and we had no control over where we would be, because it was a very narrow street. 

“The vehicle came to our right. It emerged from just right next to an ambulance, which was parked up.

“This grey people carrier just pulled up from the right and just rammed into all the people at the side of us.

“It was travelling south, down Water Street, straight towards this strand, which is where the docks are.

“It was extremely fast. Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”

Merseyside Police are leading the investigation and were initially supported by counter-terrorism police.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected.”

He later praised the “remarkable bravery” shown by the emergency services in Liverpool and added: “Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the scenes as “truly shocking” and thanked the emergency services for their “swift response”.

4

FAN-favourite Survivor star Jane Bright – who won $100,000 in the reality TV show – has passed away aged 71.

Her daughter Ashley Hammett announced the tragic news of her mum’s passing on Thursday, saying that she was found dead in her home.

3

3

3

She died nearly 15 years since appearing on the CBS competition series.

Bright was born in North Carolina, and worked as a dog trainer before appearing on Survivor in 2010.

After being crowned as fan-favourite on the show, she earned $100,000, but missed out on the $1million first place prize.

The beloved TV star placed 6th out of 20 contestants on season 21 the reality game show, and started the season in the Espada tribe.

She was known for her straight-talking personality and underdog story.

Her daughter announced her death on Facebook, saying: “Today Jane Hammett Bright was found passed away within her home by a good friend and county sheriff.”

Grieving fans poured out on social media, with many remembering her iconic moments on Survivor.

One fan said: “RIP. She was iconic, she had some of the most entertaining moments on that (slightly underrated) season.”

Another said: “Rest in peace Jane. one of if not the best part about Nicaragua.”

The user added: “She was a legend and of my favourite that season. I really wish I could have met her. RIP Jane.”

Her cause of death is currently unclear.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

Like us on Facebook at TheSunUS and follow us on X at @TheUSSun

Israeli forces destroyed homes in the occupied West Bank and killed dozens in Gaza as Palestinians marked 77 years since the Nakba. Israel’s ‘brutality’ has displaced 85-year-old Nakba survivor Mohammed once again, but he says this time it’s worse.