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Avoiding dangerous vacations 2018

Avoiding dangerous vacations 2018

Planning a vacation? Please consider, among other things, your planned destination and the incidence of criminal activity, terrorism, and disease in the local environment as well as the nature and type of accidents which tourists have previously sustained running the spectrum from wrongful death to slips, trips, and falls. This is the sixth year that we have posted dangerous vacations destination information collected from news articles and reported law cases.

2018 OVERVIEW OF DANGEROUS DESTINATIONS

After Las Vegas: Hotel Security Choices

In Hsu, Las Vegas Shooting Underscores Hotel Security Choices, nytimes (10/2/2017) it was noted that “Before a gunman killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas on Sunday, the police said he brought an arsenal of rifles past security and up to his 32nd floor room in the Mandalay Bay hotel. That the shooter…was able to take at least 17 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition up to a room starkly highlights the security priorities of hospitality companies. Wishing to appear inviting to guests, many hotels employ a lighter touch. Security in most hotels instead focuses on limiting theft, corralling unruly drunks and ferreting out people wandering the halls without a room, said Mr. Segal, a security consultant for an executive protection company, AS Solution. Hotels in the United States and Europe have been ‘much slower on the uptake’ regarding the chances of violence, compared in the Middle East and Africa… Explosive scanners and X-ray machines-standard equipment at airport terminals-will continue to be scarce in hotels because of the enormous premium that customers place on their privacy, said Jim Stover, a senior vice president of the real estate and hospitality practice at the Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance brokerage”.

Mass Shooting American Style

In Fisher & Keller, What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer, nytimes (11/7/2017)(“The United States has 270 million guns and had 90 mass shooters from 1966 to 2012. No other country has more than 46 million guns or 18 mass shooters…The only variable that can explain the high rate of mass shootings in America is its astronomical number of guns…Americans make up about 4.4 percent of the global population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns”).

Most Deadly Attacks Since 911

Most deadly attacks since 9/11, Gulf News Egypt, gulfnews (11/25/2017) the top six most deadly attacks after 9/11 were (1) Iraq in 2007: 400 dead [four suicide truck bombs explode]; (2) Somalia in 2017: 358 dead [a truck bomb explodes]; (3) Iraq in 2016: 323 dead [explosives-packed mini-van blows up]; (4) Egypt in 2017: 305 dead [attack on a mosque]; (5) Egypt in 2015: 224 dead [Russian jet leaving Egypt crashes in Sinai Peninsula]; (6) Indonesia in 2002: 202 dead [attacks on bar in Bali);

Trip Advisor To Report Sexual Assaults

In Schwartz, TripAdvisor Will Identify Hotels Where Sexual Assaults Occurred, nytimes (11/9/2017) it was noted that “Responding to what one travel expert categorized as ‘a wake-up call’ TripAdvisor has begun placing symbols next to hotels and resorts that have been identified as locations of sexual assaults and other major concerns. Based on news reports as well as comments from the TripAdvisor community, the warnings are designed to identify health, safety and discrimination issues in all of the website’s travel categories, said a company spokesman”.

Report Environmental Abuse

Cruise Ship Whistleblower Sails Off With Million-Dollar Reward, dailybusinessreview (4/20/2017) (“Christopher Keays, a native of Scotland, was 27 years old and fresh out of the maritime academy in the summer of 2013 when he got “the chance of a lifetime’ to work on a ship as a junior engineer with the Caribbean Princess. Today he is a millionaire. A federal judge in Miami awarded Keays $1 million Wednesday for blowing the whistle on the Princess Cruise Lines’ illegal dumping of oily waste into the ocean. As part of a plea agreement, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz also ordered the company to pay a $40 million penalty-the largest ever levied for crimes involving deliberate vessel pollution…The cruise lines also falsified logs, dismantled evidence and instructed crew members to lie to investigators, according to court documents, including the cruise lines’ admissions to the court in its plea memo…(The Judge) also placed the cruise lines on five years’ probation under a corporate monitor…the company must make extensive environmental and compliance reforms throughout its ships…According to court documents, Keays discovered and videotaped a ‘magic pipe’ that was illegally discharging oily waste water while clean water was being pumped overboard through another mechanism in order to fool the computer and cover up the illegal act”).

Health Issues Abroad

As noted in Tourism: 49 percent of the health problems when traveling related to the destination, eturbonews (6/25/2015) “Observatory (TIO) with the support of the World Tourism Organization 49 percent of the health problems affecting tourists and travelers when they visit other countries are related to the county of destination, such as gastrointestinal or respiratory infections. 26 percent of the problems faced by travelers have to do with trauma, especially fractures”.

Foreign Foods That Can Kill You

In Morse, 5 Foreign Foods That Can Kill You (But You Should Eat Anyway), smartertravel (1/30/2015) it was noted “How far are you willing to go to enjoy a rare delicacy? These foreign foods aren’t just delicious-they’re also potentially deadly! …Fugu. Just a sliver of ill-prepared fugu fish can send you into paralysis, swiftly followed by death. But if it’s prepared correctly, it’s delicious…Sannakji. Like your food tortured and eaten alive? The you’ll love wriggling octopus, the food that fights back. The small octopus’s legs are cut off while still alive-and then the still-moving limbs are offered up to diners. Chew carefully, as the suction cups on the thrashing tentacles can stick to the inside of your throat…Bitter Cassava. This shrub, native to South America, is a good source of carbohydrates-but also a good source of cyanide…If the bitter cassava isn’t properly soaked and dried, it can contain enough poison to kill you…Giant Bullfrog. Ever looked at a seven-foot-wide bullfrog…Carefully check the calendar if you’re contemplating eating this Namibian delicacy. These giants are only safe to eat after mating season or the third rain of the year, after the frog is mature enough to start croaking. If you eat it at the wrong time of the year…you could suffer kidney failure…Ackee. Ackee, the national fruit of Jamaica is literally a forbidden fruit…When the ackee is unripe, it is full of poison and potentially deadly to eat”. Enjoy.

ORGANIZATION OF THIS TREATISE

The information in this treatise is categorized by region, types of accidents and by country and includes some discussions about liability theories, personal jurisdiction, forum non conveniens and choice of law. Included in these misadventures is a section on Behaving Yourself while abroad and being arrested for failing to respect local customs and traditions1.

THE CARIBBEAN

The Caribbean is a very popular destination for United States citizens and others arriving by cruise ship or aircraft. There are many tourist accidents in the Caribbean some of which involve criminal activity.

[I] WRONGFUL DEATH

Wrongful death claims have arisen from accidents occurring in Antigua2, Aruba3, Bahamas4, Bermuda5, British Virgin Islands6, Cuba7, Dominica8, Dominican Republic9, Great Shrimp Cay10, Jamaica11, Martinique12, Nassau13, Puerto Rico14, St. Maarten15, St. Thomas16, Trinidad & Tabago17 and Turks and Caicos Islands18.

[II] ASSAULTS, ROBBERIES & TERRORISM

Robberies and assaults are quite common in the Caribbean19 have taken place in the Bahamas20, Barbados21, Cayman Islands22, Jamaica23, Puerto Rico24, St. Kitts25, St. Lucia26, St. Thomas, Trinidad [2017 Update: In Robles, Trying to Stanch Trinidad’s Flow of Young Recruits to ISIS, nytimes (2/21/2017) it was noted that “Law enforcement officials in Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean island nation off the coast of Venezuela, are scrambling to close a pipeline that has sent a steady stream of young Muslims to Syria, where they have taken up arms for the Islamic State…American officials worry about having a breeding ground for extremists so close to the United States, fearing that Trinidadian fighters could return from the Middle East and attack American diplomatic and oil installations in Trinidad or even take a three-and-a-half-hour flight to Miami”];

[III] RAPES, SEXUAL ASSAULTS & KIDNAPING

Rapes, sexual assaults and child molestations have taken place in Bahamas28, Barbados29, British West Indies30, Cayman Islands31, Jamaica32, St. Thomas33 and Turks and Caicos34.

[IV] WATER SPORTS

Accidents involving water sports have taken place in Aruba35, Bahamas36, British Virgin Islands37, Cayman Islands38, Cuba39, Dominica40, Dominican Republic41, Grenada42, Jamaica43, Netherlands Antilles44, Puerto Rico45, St. Lucia46, Turks & Caicos47 and U.S. Virgin Islands48.

[V] SLIP & FALLS & VARIOUS OTHER INJURIES

Slips, trips, falls and various other injuries have taken place in Antigua49, Aruba50, Bahamas51, Barbados52, Bermuda53, British Virgin Islands54, Dominican Republic55, Haiti56, Jamaica57, Puerto Rico58, St. Kitts59, St. John60 and St. Thomas61.

[VI] RIDING, VIEWING AND BEING ATTACKED BY ANIMALS

Accidents involving animals have taken place in the Bahamas62, Jamaica63, Nassau64 and Puerto Rico65.

[VII] TRANSPORTATION

Transportation accidents have taken place in the Bahamas66, Bimini67, Dominica68, Dominican Republic69,Jamaica70 Florida: Tracy v. VRL Operators, Ltd., Case No: 50 2006 CA 005719, Fla. Cir. Ct. Palm Beach Cty ( Jan. 29, 2008 )( after stay at Hedonism III in Ocho Rios, Jamaica tourist injured in tour bus accident ), aff’d 985 So. 2d 1101 ( Fla. App. 2008 ))., St. Lucia71, St. Maarten72, St. Thomas73, Trinidad74 and the U.S. Virgin Islands75.

[VIII] DISEASE, FOOD POISONING & MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Tourists are well advised not to rely on foreign clinics and medical professionals when a physical injury occurs. The best course of action for an injured tourist is to return to the U.S. as fast as possible for medical care. Medical malpractice and the contraction of disease has taken place in the Bahamas76, Barbados77 Dominican Republic78, Netherlands Antilles79 and Puerto Rico80.

CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA, CANADA & UNITED STATES

Destinations in Central and South America generate accidents similar to those in the Caribbean. Mexico, in particular, has invested extraordinary sums in developing many beach destinations on both coasts and as a result has the highest number of travel accidents in this region.

[I] WRONGFUL DEATH

Accidents involving wrongful death have taken place in Argentina81, Belize82, Brazil83, California84, Canada85, Chile86, Columbia87 [2017 Update: In Death toll from Columbia’s mudslides rises to 254, travelwirenews (4/2/2017) it was noted that “Victims dug through the rubble searching for loved ones and trying to save the last remaining possessions on Saturday (April 1) after mud slides in the Colombian city of Mocoa, Putumayo Department, killed 254 people and injured hundreds more”]; Costa Rica88, Florida89 [2017 Update: In Alvarez, Fausset & Goldman, Florida Airport Assailant May Have Heard Voices Urging Violence, Officials Say, nytimes (1/6/2017) it was noted that “Federal law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether the gunman who opened fire on Friday at the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., killing five people and wounding eight, was mentally disturbed and heard voices in his head telling him to commit acts of violence”], Honduras90, Las Vegas [2018 Update: Las Vegas: Chokshi, More Than 450 Las Vegas Shooting Victims Sue Over Attack, nytimes (11/21/2017) (“Hundreds of victims of the October mass shooting in Las Vegas are suing over the attack, arguing that the owners of the hotel the gunmen used to stage the assaults and the organizers of the festival he targeted failed to adequately protect them. In five lawsuits filed on Monday, lawyers representing more than 450 victims of the ordeal sued MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay hotel and the festival venue, as well as Live Nations Entertainment, the concert promoter. They also sued the estate of the gunman, Stephen Paddock, whose attack ended with 58 concertgoers dead and about 500 more wounded”); Las Vegas Shooting: Coroner Identifies Gunman’s Victims, nytimes (10/6/2017)(“The coroner’s office in Las Vegas completed the grim task of identifying all 58 people killed by a gunman at a country music festival…four days after the shooting. The victims include 36 women and 22 men. The oldest was 67, the youngest 20. They traveled to Las Vegas from across the United States. They were teachers, ;police officers, secretaries, retirees. The FBI is still trying to determine a motive, searching the electronic devices…that belonged to Stephen Paddock, the gunman (who) may have scouted other locations before targeting Las Vegas including Fenway Park in Boston, the Loolapalozza show in Chicago and the Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas”); Belson, Medina & Perez Pena, A Burst of Gunfire, a Pause, The Carnage in Las Vegas That Would Not Stop, nytimes (10/2/2017) it was noted that “Many of the terrified concertgoers followed their instincts and crouched or lay flat, not realizing that they remained exposed to a gunman lodged high above them…By sunrise on Monday, the staggering toll…at least 59 people killed, the police said, and 527 injured, either by gunfire or in the flight to safety”); Hsu, Las Vegas Shooting Underscores Hotel Security Choices, nytimes (10/2/2017)(“Before a gunman killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas on Sunday, the police said he brought an arsenal of rifles past security and up to his 32nd floor room in the Mandalay Bay hotel. That the shooter…was able to take at least 17 firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition up to a room starkly highlights the security priorities of hospitality companies. Wishing to appear inviting to guests, many hotels employ a lighter touch. Security in most hotels instead focuses on limiting theft, corralling unruly drunks and ferreting out people wandering the halls without a room, said Mr. Segal, a security consultant for an executive protection company, AS Solution. Hotels in the United States and Europe have been ‘much slower on the uptake’ regarding the chances of violence, compared in the Middle East and Africa… Explosive scanners and X-ray machines-standard equipment at airport terminals-will continue to be scarce in hotels because of the enormous premium that customers place on their privacy, said Jim Stover, a senior vice president of the real estate and hospitality practice at the Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an insurance brokerage”)]; Mexico91 [2018 Update: Ahmed, In Mexico, ‘It’s Easy to Kill a Journalist’, nytimes (4/29/2017)(“The calls come often now: another body discovered, broken and left in rags, felled by bullets. They surface at daytime, midnight and dawn, the deaths keeping to no clock….’We have lived in this hell for some time now’ said Octavio Bravo, a journalist staring at the coffin of a colleague gunned down in Veracruz last year…Mexico is one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist today. At least 104 journalists have been murdered in this country since 2000, while 25 others have disappeared, presumed dead. On the list of the world’s deadliest places to be a reporter, Mexico falls between the war-torn nation of Afghanistan and the failed sate of Somalia”); New York92 [2018 Update: Callimachi, Mueller, Schwartz & Goldman, Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Lower Manhattan Terrorist Attack, nytimes (11/2/2017)(“The Islamic State claimed responsibility late Thursday for the terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan two days earlier that killed eight people and wounded a dozen more…It describes the suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, 29, as a ‘soldier of the Caliphate’ and goes onto say that the attack was carried out in response to the group’s call to target ‘citizens of the Crusader countries involved in the alliance against the Islamic State’”); Otterman, Manhattan Terror Attack Exposes Bike Path’s Vulnerable Crossings, nytimes (11/1/2017)(“More than 10 years ago, Eric Ng was struck and killed by a drunken motorist who drove more than a mile on the bike path of the Hudson River Greenway. He was killed at about the same location where the driver in a terror attack entered the bike path on Tuesday”); Mueller, Rashbaum & Baker, Terror Attack Kills 8 and Injures 11 in Manhattan, nytimes (10/31/2017)(“A driver plowed a pickup truck down a crowded bike path along the Hudson River in Manhattan on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring 11 before being shot by a police officer in what officials are calling he deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001″); Politi & Londono, Argentines on High School Reunion Bore Brunt of New York Attack, nytimes (11/2/2-17) it was noted that “Their big trip to New York had been decades in the making. Thirty years ago, when they were still high school students…10 young men promised to celebrate their reunion somewhere in style”); (“I wanted to kill them”, Times Square crash driver tells police, travelwirenews (5/19/2017)(“The man accused of driving into pedestrians in Times Square, killing an 18-year-old woman and injuring 22 others, wanted ‘to kill them’ and police should have shot him, according to prosecutors”)]; Panama93, Philadelphia94, Peru95 and Venezuela96.

[II] ASSAULTS, ROBBERIES, MURDERS & TERRORISM

Assaults and robberies have taken place in California97 [2018 Update: Northern California Gunman Killed Wife Before Shooting Rampage, nytimes (11/15/2017)(“The death toll in a Northern California shooting rampage rose from five on Wednesday after the authorities said they found the body of the gunman’s wife hidden under the floor of the couple’s home. The death toll, the authorities say, could have been much worse had an elementary school not ordered an immediate lockdown”); Missing Hikers Found Dead of Gunshot Wounds, and Locked in an Embrace, nytimes (10/23/2017)(“Two hikers whose bodies were discovered last week in a steep canyon in a national park in Southern California died of gunshot wounds…in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. The bodies of the hikers…were found embracing each other under a tree in Joshua Tree National Park. Their lower extremities were covered by clothing. They had no water and seemed to have been rationing their food”); Haag, Gunmen, Thought to Be Targeting Whites, Kills 3 in Fresno, Police Say. nytimes(4/18/2017)(“When Kori Ali Muhammad, a homeless man who voiced a hatred of white people and the government, learned on Tuesday morning that he was wanted in the killing of a Motel 6 security guard in Fresno, Calif., he decided he was going to kill again, the police said. About 10:45 a.m., Mr. Muhammad walked up to a Pacific Gas & Electric utility truck and fatally shot a 34-year-old white employee in the passenger seat…Over the span of about a minute, Mr. Muhammad fired 16 bullets from a .357-caliber revolver over several blocks, killing three white men at random”)]; Canada [2017 Update: In Austin & Smith, Quebec Mosque Shooting Kills at Least 6, and 2 Suspects Are Arrested, nytimes (1/29/2017) it was noted that “Gunmen opened fire in a mosque in the City of Quebec on Sunday night, killing six people and wounding eight others in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a ‘terrorist attack on Muslims’…The attack shook Canada, a country where mass shootings are uncommon, and came as the country has become known as a beacon for refugees fleeing warfare and terrorism in Muslin-majority nations”]; Chicago [2018 Update: Smith, A Chicago Neighborhood Faces a New Fear: Assault-Style Rifles, nytimes (5/11/2017)(“Over a five-day stretch this month, in a single police district on this city’s South Side, 13 people were shot with assault-style rifles. The victims included two police officers wounded while sitting in a van. And 10 others were shot on Sunday during an impromptu memorial service for a man who had been killed a few hours earlier near the same spot along a neighborhood street”)]; Columbia [2018 Update: Death toll from Columbia’s mudslides rises to 254, travelwirenews (4/2/2017)(“Victims dug through the rubble searching for loved ones and trying to save the last remaining possessions on Saturday (April 1) after mud slides in the Colombian city of Mocoa, Putumayo Department, killed 254 people and injured hundreds more”); Casey, ‘The Bodies Are Decomposing’ After Mudslide in Columbia, nytimes (4/3/2017)(“The bodies were piling up on Monday morning on Mocoa, a Columbian city where mud and debris had made it impossible in places to see that anyone had ever lived there. Rescue workers continued to scour the rubble for the dead. And family members…pleaded for the bodies of loved ones so they could offer them a proper burial”)]; Ecuador98, Florida99, Georgia100, Las Vegas [2017 Update: In Las Vegas Shooting: Coroner Identifies Gunman’s Victims, nytimes (10/6/2017) it was noted that “The coroner’s office in Las Vegas completed the grim task of identifying all 58 people killed by a gunman at a country music festival…four days after the shooting. The victims include 36 women and 22 men. The oldest was 67, the youngest 20. They traveled to Las Vegas from across the United States. They were teachers, ;police officers, secretaries, retirees. The FBI is still trying to determine a motive, searching the electronic devices…that belonged to Stephen Paddock, the gunman (who) may have scouted other locations before targeting Las Vegas including Fenway Park in Boston, the Loolapalozza show in Chicago and the Life is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas”; In Belson, Medina & Perez Pena, A Burst of Gunfire, a Pause, The Carnage in Las Vegas That Would Not Stop, nytimes (10/2/2017) it was noted that “Many of the terrified concertgoers followed their instincts and crouched or lay flat, not realizing that they remained exposed to a gunman lodged high above them…By sunrise on Monday, the staggering toll…at least 59 people killed, the police said, and 527 injured, either by gunfire or in the flight to safety”. In Mullany & Goldman, Las Vegas Shooting Near Mandalay Bay Casino Kills More Than 50, nytimes (10/2/2017) it was noted that “A gunman firing from a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fie barrage on a huge outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, sending thousands of people fleeing until SWAT units found and killed him. More than 50 victims died, and at least 200 others were wounded, officials said, making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history”]; Mexico101 [2017 Update: In Mexico Travel Warning, travelwirenews (8/26/2017) it was noted that “US citizens have been the victims of violent crimes, including homicide, kidnaping, carjacking and robbery in various Mexican states…Gun battles between rival criminal organizations or with Mexican authorities have taken place on streets and in public places during broad daylight …U.S. citizens have been murdered in carjackings and highway robberies, most frequently at night and on isolated roads. Carjackers use a variety of techniques, including roadblocks, bumping/moving vehicles to force them to stop and running vehicles off the road at high speeds”; In Ahmed, In Mexico, ‘It’s Easy to Kill a Journalist’, nytimes (4/29/2017) it was noted that “The calls come often now: another body discovered, broken and left in rags, felled by bullets. They surface at daytime, midnight and dawn, the deaths keeping to no clock….’We have lived in this hell for some time now’ said Octavio Bravo, a journalist staring at the coffin of a colleague gunned down in Veracruz last year…Mexico is one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist today. At least 104 journalists have been murdered in this country since 2000, while 25 others have disappeared, presumed dead. On the list of the world’s deadliest places to be a reporter, Mexico falls between the war-torn nation of Afghanistan and the failed sate of Somalia”]; New York102 [2017 Update: In “I wanted to kill them”, Times Square crash driver tells police, travelwirenews (5/19/2017) it was noted that “The man accused of driving into pedestrians in Times Square, killing an 18-year-old woman and injuring 22 others, wanted ‘to kill them’ and police should have shot him, according to prosecutors”]; Peru103, Texas [2018 Update: Blinder, Montgomery & Healy, Grisly Videos of a Massacre Raises an Unsettling Question: Who Should See it, nytimes (11/20/2017)(“The scene captured on video is almost too terrible to imagine, much less contemplate watching: seven minutes of gunfire as a black-clad gunman executes his victims-many of them small children-inside the First Baptist Church here”); Texas Church Killings: What We Known and Don’t Know, nytimes (11/7/2017)(“The shooting occurred during morning services at the church…The gunman exited his vehicle and began firing outside the church. He then walked to the side of the church and then inside, firing all the while…The suspect crashed his car…and was found dead with a self-inflicted wound…among the dead were 23 parishioners whose bodies were found inside the church…About 20 more were taken to hospitals with injuries”). Venezuela [2017 Update: In Casey, In a Brutal Year in Venezuela, Even Crime Fighters Are Killers, nytimes (12/30/2016) it was noted that “Venezuela has long suffered from one of the world’s highest crime rates. But the nation’s economic crisis, which has upended everything from its hospitals to its food supply, has deepened the misery and criminality. Killings have risen to 28,479 this year, the highest number ever recorded in the country…Armed gangs have established a tight grip over neighborhoods, with many Venezuelans turning to crime as inflation shrivels their wages and jobs become harder to find”]; and Belize104.

[III] RAPES, SEXUAL ASSAULTS & KIDNAPING

Rapes and sexual assaults have taken place in Brazil105, the Galapagos Islands106 and Mexico107.

[IV] WATER SPORTS

Accidents involving water sports have taken place in Canada108, Costa Rica109( Ill. App. 1998 )( tourist purchased a fishing vacation tour to Costa Rica from travel agent Fish & Game Frontiers with accommodations at Rio Parismina Lodge; tourist joins fishing trip and is injured when his boat is swamped by waves as river empties into ocean ). and Mexico110.

[V] SLIP & FALLS AND VARIOUS OTHER ACCIDENTS

Accidents involving major and minor injuries have taken place in Argentina111, Belize112, Brazil113, Canada114, Costa Rica115, Ecuador116, Mexico117 and Peru118.

[VI] RIDING, VIEWING & BEING ATTACKED BY ANIMALS

Accidents involving animals have taken place in Brazil119, Canada120, Florida121, and Mexico122

[VII] TRANSPORTATION

Transportation accidents have taken place in Argentina123, Bolivia124, Canada125, Costa Rica126, Mexico127, Philadelphia128 and Virgin Islands129.

[VIII] DISEASE, FOOD POISONING & MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Medical malpractice and the contraction of diseases have taken place in Belize130,

Brazil [2017 Update: In Belluck & Franco, For Brazil’s Zika Families, a Life of Struggle And Scares, nytimes (3/11/2017) it was noted “In the impoverished northeast, devoted parents live around the needs of children whose grave disabilities are only beginning to be understood…Now more than a year old, Sophia is a child of the Zika epidemic, one of nearly 2,500 babies in Brazil born to infected mothers, with brain damage so profound the consequences of which are only beginning to be understood. Thirteen months after the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency, some of the public alarm over the mosquito-borne virus that swept through Latin America is receding. (However) Thousands of new Zika infections continue to be reported throughout Latin America and W.H.O. officials said that their action simply signals that, like malaria or yellow fever, Zika is a continuing threat in the region rather an urgent pandemic”]; Costa Rica131, Mexico132 and New York133

AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA & THE PACIFIC

Africa, Asia, The Middle East and the Pacific nations are attracting ever greater numbers of tourists while at the same time attracting terrorists, pirates and very scary diseases like Ebola.

[I] WRONGFUL DEATH

Travel accidents involving wrongful death have taken place in Afghanistan134 [2018 Update: ISIS claims credit for suicide bombing at Kabul Shia mosque killing at least 39, travelwirenews (10/21/2017)(“The blast killed at least 39 people. (ISIS) did not provide evidence to support its claim, but said the attacker detonated his explosive vest inside the mosque as worshipers were gathering for prayer”); Kabul blast death toll rises to 159 as deadly attacks continue, travelwirenews (6/6/2017)(“‘Over 150 innocent Afghan sons and daughters were killed and more than 300 wounded were brought to hospital with burns and amputations’”); Mashal, Abed & Sukhanyar, Deadly Bombing in Kabul Is One of the Afghan War’s Worst Strikes, nytimes (5/31/2017)(“A truck bomb devastated a central area of Kabul near the presidential palace…In one moment more than 80 lives ended, hundreds of people were wounded and many more were traumatized”); Mashal & Rahim, Taliban Attack Afghan Army Base, Killing Dozens, nytimes (4/21/2017)(“Dozens of soldiers were killed on Friday when Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers in military uniforms stormed an Afghan Army base in northern Afghanistan… The attack…began around 1 p.m. in a crowded area where soldiers, most of them unarmed, were leaving Friday Prayer or eating lunch”)]; Algeria135, Australia136, Bali137, Bangladesh138, Botswana139, Burkina Faso [2018 Update Gunmen Kill 18 at Restaurant in Burkina Faso, AP (8/14/2017)(“Gunmen believed to be Islamist extremists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, late Sunday, killing at least 18 people, the second attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in two years…Gunfire could still be heard almost seven hours after it began”)]; Cameroon140; Cape Verde Islands141, China142, Congo143, East Java144, Egypt145 [2018 Update: Youseff, Egypt Hangs 15 for Terrorism Stoking Fears Among Islamists, nytimes (12/26/2017)(“The Egyptian authorities hanged 15 men on Tuesday for an attack in the Sinai Peninsula in 2013, the start of an Islamic insurgency that the military-dominated government has been battling ever since. The hangings…were the biggest mass execution in Egypt since six convicted jihadists were hanged in 2015″); Walsh & Youseff, Militants Kill 305 at Sufi Mosque in Egypt’s Deadliest Terrorist Attacked, nytimes (11/24/2017) “Militants detonated a bomb inside a crowded mosque in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday and then sprayed gunfire on panicked worshipers as they fled, killing at least 305 people and wounding at least 128 others. Officials called it the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history. The scale and ruthlessness of the assault, in an area racked by an Islamist insurgency, sent shock waves across the nation-not just for the number of deaths but also for the choice of target. Attacks on mosques are rare in Egypt, where the Islamic State has targeted Coptic Christian churches and pilgrims but avoided Muslim places of worship”); Youssef, Egypt Shakes Up Security Forces After Deadly Ambush of Police, nytimes ftline(10/30/2017)(“Egypt carried out a sweeping reshuffle of its security forces, removing a dozen senior police and military officials from critical posts just a week after an ambush by militants killed 16 policemen in the desert outside Cairo”); Walsh & Youssef, Militants Kill Egyptian Security in Devastating Ambush, nytimes (10/22/2017)(“Militants carried out a devastating ambush on a convoy of Egyptian police and security officers deep inside the western desert late Friday…At last 59 Egyptian police officers and security officials were killed”); 24 ISIS militants, 6 soldiers killed in mass attack in Sinai, Egypt, travelwirenews (10/15/2017)(“At least six soldiers and 24 ISIS militants have been killed (in) a series of coordinated attacks on checkpoints in the north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula… Six outposts…were simultaneously targeted with car bombs and rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) by Islamic State…fighters, which claimed responsibility for the attack”); 18 killed in ISIL ambush on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, travelwirenews (9/11/2017)(“ISIL fighters ambushed a police convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday, killing 18 officers and wounding seven others in one of the deadliest attacks this year in the restive region”); Walsh, Attacks Shows ISIS’ New Plan: Divide Egypt by Killing Christians, nytimes (4/10/2017)(“Grief and rage flowed through Egypt’s Christian community on Monday as tear-streaked mourners buried the victims of the coordinated Palm Sunday church bombings that killed 45 people in two cities…It was just the reaction the Islamic State wanted. Routed from its stronghold on the coast of Libya, besieged in Iraq and wilting under intense pressure in Syria, the militant extremist group needs to find a new battleground where it can start to proclaim victory again. The devastating suicide attacks on Sunday in the heart of the Middle East’s largest Christian community suggested it has found a solution: the cities of mainland Egypt”); Bomb Blast near police training center leaves 16 casualties in Egypt’s Nile Delta, travelwirenews (4/2/2017)(“A newly-emerged militant group in Egypt has detonated a motorcycle bomb in the country’s Nile Delta region, killing a policeman and wounding 15 other people. The bomb exploded near a police training center in the city of Tanta on Saturday”); Ghana147 [2018 Update: Iyare & Stevens, Gas Station Explosion in Ghana Kills at Least 7 and injures Over 100, nytimes (10/7/2017)(“An explosion at a gas station in Ghana’s capital killed at least seven people and injured more than 130 others Saturday…Videos on social media showed giant balls of fire that set the night sky aglow. According to one witness…a fire started at a gas station in the capital, Accra, and then spread to another station nearby…there was an explosion that engulfed at least one tanker”)]; Hong Kong148, India149, Indonesia150 [2018 Update: Daesh cells present in nearly all Indonesian provinces: Military chief, travelwirenews (6/13/2017)(“The military chief in Jakarta says Daesh is present in almost all the Indonesian provinces as the Middle East-based Takfiri terror group is expanding its foothold in Southeast Asia…Militants have launched several terrorist attacks across Indonesia over the past few years, in the latest such assaults, two bombings claimed by Daesh rocked a bus station in eastern Jakarta on May 24, killing three police officers”)]; Iraq151, Iran [2018 Update: Erdbrink, Iran Says Tehran Assailants Were Recruited Inside the Country, nytimes (6/8/2017) it was noted that “At least five assailants in the deadly Tehran attacks were recruited by the Islamic State from inside Iran…a strong indication they were Iranian citizens…Iranian news media reported that the civilian casualty toll had risen to 17 dead and 52 wounded”)]; Israel [2018 Update: Kershner, Deadly Violence Erupts in Standoff Over Mosque in Jerusalem, nytimes (7/21/2017)(“Six people were killed on Friday in an outbreak of violence that erupted over Israel’s placement of metal detectors at entrances to the sacred Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and spread to the West Bank. Three Israelis were killed in what appeared to be a terrorist attack in a West Bank settlement hours after three Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces”); Israel Agrees to Remove Metal Detectors at Entrances to Aqsa Mosque Compound, nytimes (7/24/2017)(“After days of violent protests, bloodshed and a diplomatic crisis with Jordon over the placement of metal detectors at the entrance of the Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Israeli government said early Tuesday it would remove them”)]; Japan [2018 Update: Rich, Suspect in Japan Serial-Killer Case Sought Out Suicidal People, nytimes (11/1/2017)(“The man, Takahiro Shiraishi was arrested Tuesday, a day after the police visited his apartment almost 30 miles southeast of Tokyo and found the dismembered parts of nine bodies. Japan was riveted as the news media disclosed more grisly details from the second day of the investigation, reporting the Mr. Shiraishi, 27, had confessed to finding the victims, who he said were considering suicide, on twitter. In Japan, a low-crime country, it is the grimmest such case since a former employee of a center for the disabled went on a knife rampage there, killing 19 people last year”)]; Jordan152, Kenya153 [2018 Update: No survivors: Helicopter with five people on board crashes into Kenya’s Lake Nakuru, travelwirenews (10/21/2017)(“The crash in Lake Nakuru occurred shortly after takeoff from a nearby hotel. Early indicators showed there were no survivors”); Three civilians killed in Kenya landmine blast, travelwirenews (8/31.2017)(“Three civilians were killed after their vehicle ran over a landmine on a road near Kenya’s border with Somalia…the fifth such incident in the area in three months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast”)]; Laos154, Malaysia155, Maldives156, Mali157 [2018 Update: Two dead in attack on Mali tourist resort, hostages freed, travelwirenews (6/18/2017)(“Special force troops freed around 20 hostages seized by the gunmen…Bamako: Two people were killed in a terror on a tourist resort”);Mongolia [2018 Update: 10 mountaineers killed, 7 missing in Mongolia’s highest peak avalanche, travelwirenews (10/23/2017)(“The bodies of 10 people who were caught in an avalanche on Mongolia’s highest peak, Otgontenger, were recovered by rescuers…Seven of the mountaineers remain missing. A group of 30 climbers, aged between 30 and 50, was hit by an avalanche as it was descending from the 4,021-meter peak”)]; Myanmar158 [2018 Update: US urges Myanmar to avoid reprisals after attack kills 71, travelwirenews (8/26/2017)(“An attack by ethnic Rohimgya militants in western Myanmar left 12 security personnel and 59 Rohingya Muslims dead in a dramatic escalation of communal violence that had plagued the region …Police fought off groups of as many as 100 Rohingya attackers armed with guns, machetes and homemade grenades”); Three killed at suspected Rohingya insurgent camp in Myanmar, travelwirenews (6/22/2017)(“Myanmar security forced have killed three people in raids on ‘terrorist’ training camps run by Rohingya Muslin militants in the north of Rakhine state…Guns, ammunition and gunpowder were found at the camps in the Mayu Mountains”. Nepal159, New Caledonia160, New Zealand161, Nigeria162 [2018 Update: Suicide bomber kills 13 people in northeast Nigerian city-police official, travelwirenews (10/22/2017)(“A suicide bomber killed 13 people in the northeastern city of Maiduguri on Sunday…The evening attack, which also injured five people, struck the city’s Muna Garage area…The area is home to a camp for those who have fled the conflict with the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency”); Boko Haram attack on oil exploration team in Nigeria kills over 50: Sources, travelwirenews (7/28/2017)(“An ambush attack by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria against an oil exploration team has killed more than 50 people”)]; North Korea163; Pakistan164, Philippines165 [2018 Update: Philippine police kills 32 in drug’s war bloodiest day, travelwirenews (8/16/2017) (“Philippine police killed 32 people in dozens of anti-drug operations in a province north of the capital, Manila, the single deadliest day of (an) unrelenting was or drugs”); ISIS-linked fighters decapitate civilians as Philippines city siege enters 6th week, travelwirenews (6/28/2017) (“The Philippines military has uncovered five decapitated bodies of civilians among a total of 17 dead bodies found in Malawi City. The macabre find comes amongst reports of widespread looting and sex slavery by Islamic State-affiliated Maute fighters”); Manila casino attacker identified and he’s no terrorist, travelwirenews (6/4/2017) it was noted that “The lone suspect behind a deadly attack on a casino and shopping complex in Manila was a heavily armed indebted Filipino gambling addict…The gunman in a deadly casino rampage in the Philippines was seen on security camera footage firing his M4 rifle in the air, setting fires and shooting at security forces in a stairwell during an attack that killed at least 38 people”); Paddock & Villamor, a0 After 37 Die in Attack at Manila Resort, Questions Mount, nytimes (6/2/2017)(“The first victims, identified as 22 guests and 13 employees of Resorts World Manila, appeared to have died of smoke inhalation…though autopsies had not yet been conducted. The fire was started in the early hours of Friday morning, when a man carrying an assault rifle and a two-liter soda bottle filled with gasoline fired shots at a television and set gambling tables ablaze, sending patrons and workers into a panic. Some fled through the exits, and others jumped from second-floor balconies. But others hid in restrooms and gambling rooms where they were overcome by smoke…The Islamic State claimed responsibility”); Red Sea166, Saudi Arabia167, Somalia168 [2018 Update: Mohamed, In Mogadishu, Truck Bomb and Gunmen Kill at Least 23 on hotel attack, nytimes (10/29/2017)(“A truck bomb detonated outside a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, minutes before gunmen on foot stormed the building on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 23 people and wounding at least 30 others, the police reported….The Nasa-Hablod hotel is frequented by government ministers, lawmakers and Somali business leaders”); Mohamed & Freytas-Tamura, Somalia Blasts Expose Security Failings and Possible Shabab Infiltration, nytimes (10/17/2017) (“Car bombs, grenade attacks, assassinations and abductions by Shabab insurgents shatter the fragile veneer of calm in Somalia with such regularity that barely a week goes by without a deadly assault. Two large explosions occur on average in Mogadishu… every month….But even by Somalia’s standards, the twin truck bombings this past Saturday in Mogadishu that killed more than 270 people, including at least three Somali-Americans were unusual in their scale and brutality”); Car bomb explosion kills 6 people in Mogadishu, wounding nearly dozen, travelwirenews (5/8/2017)(“The deadly incident occurred in central part of the capital on Monday, when an explosive-laden car exploded next to an Italian café, across from the Immigration Directorate…The huge blast also left 10 people wounded, police added”); Al-Shabab car bomb kills up to 10, injures 20 outside govt building in Mogadishu, travelwirenews (6/20/2017) (“Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for a massive suicide bomb attack at a government building in Mogadishu Tuesday that killed up to 10 people”); Suicide attack on Mogadishu hotel kills 9, eturbonews (6/14/2017)(“At least nine people were killed as a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden car into a hotel in Somalia’s capital…He said that a terrorist drove his car into the entrance of the Posh Hotel in the center of the city”); Al Shabab restaurant assault leaves 18 dead in Mogadishu, travelwirenews (6/15/2017)(“Men prepare the transport of bodies of civilians killed in an attack at the Pizza House restaurant in Mogadishu on June 15, 2017. A suicide car bombing and assault by Shabab militants on two neighboring restaurants in Somalia’s capital…ended Thursday morning with 18 dead”); Nearly 70 dead in al-Shabab attacked on Somalia military base, travelwirenews (6/8/2017)(“Heavily armed al-Shabab extremists have stormed a military base in Somalia’s semiautonomous state of Puntland, killing close to 70 people…Officials called it the region’s deadliest attack in years”); Car bomb explosion kills 6 people in Mogadishu, wounding nearly dozen, travelwirenews (5/8/2017)(“The deadly incident occurred in central part of the capital on Monday, when an explosive-laden car exploded next to an Italian café, across from the Immigration Directorate…The huge blast also left 10 people wounded, police added”)]; South Africa169, South Korea170, Sri Lanka [2018 Update Mudslides, floods kill over 200 in Sri Lanka, travelwirenews (5/31/2017)(“The Disaster Management Center said 300 people were confirmed dead. More than 77,000 have been displaced and over 1,500 homes destroyed since rains began inundating the southern and western areas of the Indian Ocean island nation last Friday”)); Sudan171, Taiwan172, Tanzania173, Tibet174, Thailand175 [2018 Update: Tour bus overturns in Phetchabun; 1 killed, 20 injured, travelwirenews (11/12/2017)(“A bus taking a group of elderly people on a tour of Khao Kho and Lom Sak districts overturned on Sunday morning, killing one of the tourists and injuring about 20 others…The passengers told police that the double decker bus was taking 43 elderly people from Bangkok to visit several temples and tourist attractions in Phetchabun”)];

Tunisia176, Turkey177, Uganda178 and Yemen179.

[II] ASSAULTS, ROBBERIES, PURGES, FIRES & TERRORISM

Assaults and robberies have taken place in Afghanistan180, Algeria181, Australia182 [2017 Update: In Australia foils ‘terror plot’ aimed at downing plane, travelwirenews (7/30/2017) it was noted that “Australia has thwarted a Takfiri-inspired ‘terrorist plot’ aimed at downing an aircraft with explosives. ‘I can report last night that there has been a major point counter-terrorism operation to disrupt a terrorist plot to bring down an airplane’”]; Bali183, Bangladesh184, Cape Verde Islands185, China186, Dubai187, Egypt188 [2017 Update: In 18 killed in ISIL ambush on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, travelwirenews (9/11/2017) it was noted that “ISIL fighters ambushed a police convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday, killing 18 officers and wounding seven others in one of the deadliest attacks this year in the restive region”; In 5 policemen shot dead in Egypt ambush-state media, travelwirenews (7/14/2017) it was noted that “Masked gunmen opened fire on a security checkpoint south of Cairo, Friday morning killing five policemen before fleeing the scene”; In Two Ukranian tourists dead, four wounded in Egypt’s Red Sea resort attack, eturbonews (7/14/2017) it was noted that “Two Ukranian tourists were killed and four other tourists wounded when a man attacked them with a knife at a resort in Hurghada on Friday afternoon. According to a short statement from the Egyptian interior ministry, the assailant, who was arrested after the attack, had swum to the resort from a nearly beach…Three foreign tourists were stabbed at the same resort, renowned for the scuba diving, in January 2016 by two suspected militants from the Islamic State militant group”; In Walsh, Attacks Shows ISIS’ New Plan: Divide Egypt by Killing Christians, nytimes (4/10/2017) it was noted that “Grief and rage flowed through Egypt’s Christian community on Monday as tear-streaked mourners buried the victims of the coordinated Palm Sunday church bombings that killed 45 people in two cities…It was just the reaction the Islamic State wanted. Routed from its stronghold on the coast of Libya, besieged in Iraq and wilting under intense pressure in Syria, the militant extremist group needs to find a new battleground where it can start to proclaim victory again. The devastating suicide attacks on Sunday in the heart of the Middle East’s largest Christian community suggested it has found a solution: the cities of mainland Egypt”; In Bomb Blast near police training center leaves 16 casualties in Egypt’s Nile Delta, travelwirenews (4/2/2017) it was noted that “A newly-emerged militant group in Egypt has detonated a motorcycle bomb in the country’s Nile Delta region, killing a policeman and wounding 15 other people. The bomb exploded near a police training center in the city of Tanta on Saturday”; In EgyptAir crash: Bodies of crew members returned to families, bbc (12/31/2016) it was noted that “The bodies of the victims of the EgyptAir plane which crashed in the Mediterranean in May are being returned to their families …Bodies of the 10 crew members were handed over on Saturday. Passengers would follow next week. Investigators say traces of explosives have been found on the victims and a criminal investigation will be held. Flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo plunged into the sea on 19 May killing all 66 people on Board. Among those who died were 40 Egyptians and 15 French nationals”]; Ethiopia189, Fiji190, India191 [2018 Update: Stampede on Crowded Indian Pedestrian Bridge Leaves 22 Dead, Associated Press, nytimes (9/29/2017)(“A stampede broke out on a crowded pedestrian bridge connecting two railway stations in Mumbai during the Friday morning rush, killing at least 22 people and injuring 32 others…Police were investigating what caused the stampede on the bridge which led some commuters to leap over the railing. Others were crushed or fell underfoot and were trampled”); At least 10 killed and over 100 wounded in India train derailment, etn (8/19/2017)(“A train came off the tracks in India’s northern state of Utter Produce on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 100 as carriages slammed into each other”); 16 Pilgrims killed in India bus crash: police, travelwirenews (7/16/2017)(“At least 16 Hindu pilgrims were killed and many more injured Sunday after a bus crash in India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state”); Violent anti-India protests keeping tourists away from Kashmir, etn (4/29/2017)(“The violence since last summer, largely in the form of Indian troops firing on civilian crowds with shotguns after protesters throw stones, has left 84 civilians dead and more than 12,000 civilians and security force personnel wounded”)]; Indonesia [2018 Update: Indonesian police shoot dead 2 men in police station attack, travelwirenews (11/12/2017) (“Indonesian police say that they have fatally shot two men suspected of burning down a remote police station on Sumatra island. National police spokesman Rikwanto says the suspects were killed early Sunday in the West Sumatra district of Dharmasraya. The fire had totally destroyed the main building of the Dharmasraya police station”); Daesh cells present in nearly all Indonesian provinces: Military chief, travelwirenews (6/13/2017)(“The military chief in Jakarta says Daesh is present in almost all the Indonesian provinces as the Middle East-based Takfiri terror group is expanding its foothold in Southeast Asia…Militants have launched several terrorist attacks across Indonesia over the past few years, in the latest such assaults, two bombings claimed by Daesh rocked a bus station in eastern Jakarta on May 24, killing three police officers”). Assaults; Indonesia: Emont, Lynched Over an Amplifier: Mob Justice Alarms Indonesians, nytimes (8/30/2017) it was noted that “His last words were: ‘I’m not a thief’. But the mob, believing he had stolen an amplifier from a mosque, refused to accept the denial. They beat him to death and burned his body as onlookers filmed the proceeding. A triumphant cry went up as he burst into flames…Last month in Surabaya, a large city in East Java, two young men accused of stealing were beaten by a huge crowd and struck with stones…That same month, a video surfaced of residents tying up, interrogating, beating and burning a man on suspicion of stealing in Madura, an island off East Java…In June, a theft suspect in Madura was tied to a tree and fatally beaten by villagers”. Iran [2017 Update: Erdbrink, Iran Says Tehran Assailants Were Recruited Inside the Country, nytimes (6/8/2017) it was noted that “At least five assailants in the deadly Tehran attacks were recruited by the Islamic State from inside Iran…a strong indication they were Iranian citizens…Iranian news media reported that the civilian casualty toll had risen to 17 dead and 52 wounded”]; Irag192 [2017 Update: In Daesh claims attack killing at least 30 in Iraq, travelwirenews (6/9/2017) it was noted that “A woman detonated ger explosive belt in a market east of the Shiite holy city of Kerbala on Friday, kill at least 30 and wounding 35, Iraqi security sources said”]; Israel193 [2017 Update: In Kershner, Deadly Violence Erupts in Standoff Over Mosque in Jerusalem, nytimes (7/21/2017) it was noted that “Six people were killed on Friday in an outbreak of violence that erupted over Israel’s placement of metal detectors at entrances to the sacred Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and spread to the West Bank. Three Israelis were killed in what appeared to be a terrorist attack in a West Bank settlement hours after three Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces”; In Israeli policewoman ‘in critical condition’ after simultaneous stabbing attacks in Jerusalem, travelwirenews (6/16/2017) it was noted that “A 20 year-old Israeli border guard is in critical condition in a Jerusalem hospital and several civilians are injured after two simulations knife and gun assaults…Three assailants have been killed”; In Kershner, 4 Die in Jerusalem Attack as Palestinian Rams Truck Into Soldiers, nytimes(1/8/2017) it was noted that “A Palestinian driver plowed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers as they were getting off a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, killing four and injuring 17 others…The police called the episode an act of terrorism…the attacker had been shot and the police released images showing the truck’s windshield riddled with bullet holes”]; Kenya194 [2017 Update: In Three civilians killed in Kenya landmine blast, travelwirenews (8/31.2017) it was noted that “Three civilians were killed after their vehicle ran over a landmine on a road near Kenya’s border with Somalia…the fifth such incident in the area in three months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast”]; Libya195 [2017 Update: In Schmitt, Warnings of a ‘Powder Key’ in Libya as ISIS Regroups, nytimes (3/21/2017) it was noted that “After B-52 bombers struck an Islamic State training camp in Libya in January, killing more than 80 militants, American officials privately gloated. On the heels of losing its coastal stronghold in Surt the month before, the Islamic State seemed to be reeling. But Western and African counterterrorism officials now say that…its leaders are already regrouping, exploiting the chaos and political vacuum gripping the country…’The instability in Libya and North Africa may be the most significant near-term threat to U.S. and allies’ interests on the continent’”]; Malaysia196, Mali197, Mongolia198, Mozambique199, Nigeria200 [2017 Update: In Searcey & Gilbertson, Beneath Mask of Normal Nigerian Life, Young Lives Scarred by Boko Haram, nytimes (3/18/2017) it was noted that “Boko Haram has abducted many hundreds, if not thousands, of girls and boys across the region, forcing them to fight, cook, to clean and even to bear children. Too much of the world, the kidnaping of nearly 300 girls from their school dormitory in the town of Chibok three years ago was the seminal moment in the crisis, followed by another horror: children as young as 7 or 8, being used as suicide bombers. The Nigerian military has made recent gains, pushing into the forests where Boko Haram hides…the war, now in its eighth year”]; Pakistan201 [2018 Update: Pakistani bride kills 17 in botched plot to kill husband, /travelwirenews (11/1/2017)(“Pakistani police say they have arrested a newly married woman on murder charges after she poisoned her husband’s milk and it inadvertently killed 17 other people. District police chief…says the woman…was married against her will in September. He says she obtained a poisonous substance from her boyfriend last week and mixed it in milk for her husband who refused to drink it. Tajak said the woman’s mother-in-law later used the tainted milk to make a traditional yogurt based drink and served it to 27 of her extended family”); Masood, ISIS Claims Suicide Bombing That Killed at Least 15 in Pakistan, nytimes (8/13/2017)(“A suicide bomber rising a motorcycle rammed into a military truck near a busy bus station in southwestern Pakistan, killing at least 15 people, including eight soldiers and wounding at least 40 others…The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta”); Pakistan suicide bomber kills dozens, travelwirenews (7/24/2017)(“A suicide bomber struck near a police team in the eastern city of Lahore Monday killing at least 26 and wounding another 53, many of them police officers. An outlawed Taliban faction claimed responsibility”); Twin blasts kill dozens in Parachinar market, travelwirenews (6/23/2017)(“At least 26 people have been killed and 75 others wounded when two explosions ripped through a crowded market in northwest Pakistan…’When people rushed to the site…to rescue the wounded, a second blast took place’”); Philippines [2018 Update: Villamor, ISIS Threat in Philippines Spreads in Remote Battles, nytimes (10/24/2017)(“The leader of the Islamic State in the Philippines…is dead…But the Islamic State’s influence in the Philippines is far from over and communities on Mindanao are bracing for the next battles…That separatist movement and the sectarian and political resentment that drove it, never went away. It evolved into Muslim militant groups that fought the government for decades and in recent years proved to be fertile ground for the Islamic State ideology…the old and resilient militant cells here are now being strengthened by the brand and resources of the Islamic State’s international network…”); Villamor, Key ISIS Operative in Philippines ‘Taken’ in Gunfight, President Says, nytimes (10/19/2017)(“A high-level Islamic State operative who funneled money and foreign fighters to the Philippines, helping militants seize territory there, was ‘taken’ during a gunfight on Thursday, President Rodrigo Duerte announced. The operative, Mahmud Ahmad, 39, a Malaysian former university lecturer, helped finance the siege of the southern city of Marawi, which jihadists stormed in May, killing scores of peoples and sending thousands of residents fleeing. After a fierce battle to retake the city, Mr. Duerte on Tuesday declared Marawi liberated”); Solomon & Villamor, In City of Ruins, Philippines’ Battle Against ISIS Rages On, nytimes (9/1/2017)9“The houses still standing after more than three months of fierce urban combat in Marawi are barely holding on-pocked with bullet holes on the outside and blackened by fire from within…With the battle now past the 100-day mark, it was the first time in months that the military had allowed the press in…Marawi and the surrounding area…is now a mostly emptied-out field of wreckage, contested by a dwindling group of Islamist militants who claim loyalty to the Islamic State”); ISIS-linked fighters decapitate civilians as Philippines city siege enters 6th week, travelwirenews (6/28/2017)(“The Philippines military has uncovered five decapitated bodies of civilians among a total of 17 dead bodies found in Malawi City. The macabre find comes amongst reports of widespread looting and sex slavery by Islamic State-affiliated Maute fighters”); Passock, Duterte, Focused on Drug Users in Philippines, Ignored Rise of ISIS, nytimes, (6/11/2017) (“Hundreds of militants belonging to the Maute Group and its allies fighting under the black flag of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, seized Marawi three weeks ago, leading to a battle with the Philippine armed forces and the biggest test yet of Mr. Duterte’s leadership…A president who has focused on a deadly antidrug campaign that has claimed the lives lot thousands of Filipinos seems to have been caught unprepared for a militant threat that has been festering in the south for years”); Paddock & Villamor, After 37 Die in Attack at Manila Resort, Questions Mount, nytimes (6/2/2017)(“The first victims, identified as 22 guests and 13 employees of Resorts World Manila, appeared to have died of smoke inhalation…though autopsies had not yet been conducted. The fire was started in the early hours of Friday morning, when a man carrying an assault rifle and a two-liter soda bottle filled with gasoline fired shots at a television and set gambling tables ablaze, sending patrons and workers into a panic. Some fled through the exits, and others jumped from second-floor balconies. But others hid in restrooms and gambling rooms where they were overcome by smoke…The Islamic State claimed responsibility”)]; Saudi Arabia202 [2017 Update: In Car bomb hits predominantly Shia city in Saudi Arabia, travelwirenews (6/1/2017) it was noted that “A car bomb has exploded in the predominantly Shia city of Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province…two people were killed in the bombing that happened near Qatif’s Sheikh Hussein al-Omran Masque”]; Somalia203[2017 Update: In Attacks in Somalia-a 2017 Timeline, travelwirenews (10/21/2017) it was noted that:” Jan 2 Suicide bomb 3 killed, Jan 7 Explosion 3 killed, Jan 28 Car bomb 28 killed, Feb 19 Suicide bomb 39 killed, Mar 13 Car bomb 5 killed, Apr 4 Car bomb 3 killed, Apr 9 Car bomb 15 killed, Apr 7 Mortar attack 3 killed, May 8 Suicide bomb 8 killed, May 25 Bombing 8 killed, June 15 Car bomb 9 killed, June 20 Suicide bomb 15 killed, Jun 22 Car bomb 7 killed, Jul 2 Roadside bomb 2 killed, Jul 30 Car bomb 6 killed, Aug 4 Car bomb 1 killed, Aug 11 Suicide bomb 1 killed, Sep 10 Suicide bomb 6 killed, Sep 28 Car bomb 7 killed, Oct 14 Explosion 358 killed”. And October 22, 2017 a Roadside bomb kills 7 outside Somali capital of Mogadishu, travelwirenews (10/22/2017); In Mohamed, In Mogadishu, Truck Bomb and Gunmen Kill at Least 23 on hotel attack, nytimes (10/29/2017) it was noted that “A truck bomb detonated outside a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, minutes before gunmen on foot stormed the building on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 23 people and wounding at least 30 others, the police reported….The Nasa-Hablod hotel is frequented by government ministers, lawmakers and Somali business leaders”]; South Africa204, Tanzania205, Thailand206 [2017 Update: In 18 suspects in car-bombing of Big C, travelwirenews (5/11/2017) it was noted that “Pattani police chief…shows a picture of Pattani native Makorseng Maae, a prime suspect in Tuesday’s bombing of the Big C Supercentre in Muang Pattani district”]; Tunisia207 [2017 Update: In Gall, Tunisia Fears the Return of Thousands of Young Jihadists, nytimes (2/25/2017) it was noted that “Tunisia has sent more fighters abroad to join the ranks of the Islamic State than any other country. And now, as the Islamic State takes a battering on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, the country is at odds over what to do if and when they come home. Tunisians have been dealing with a frenzied polemic in recent weeks, as secularists have raised fears that a returning wave will bring further mayhem to this fragile state and Islamists have been forced to condemn the jihadists”]; Turkey208 [2017 Update: In Fourteen tourists injured, 400 evacuated after hotel fire in Kemer, Turkey, eturbonews (7/29/2017) it was noted that “Fourteen people-four Russian tourists and 10 Turkish citizens, have been injured in a fire at a hotel in Kemer, Turkey. Around 400 others were reportedly evacuated. The fire started in the kitchen of the 5-star hotel, local news sources reported”; In All those responsible for failed coup will be beheaded: Ergogan, travelwirenews (7/16/2017) it was noted that “Addressing a thousand-strong march on Saturday, Erdogan warned that his government was seriously mulling reintroducing the death penalty. ‘First of all we will chop off the heads of those traitors’ he said”; In Kingsley, Turkey Purges 4,000 More Officials, and Blocks Wikipedia, nytimes (4/30/2017) it was noted that “The Turkish government expanded its crackdown on dissent and free expression over the weekend, purging nearly 4,000 more public officials, blocking access to Wikipedia and banning television matchmaking shows…The dismissals mean that an estimated 140,000 people have now been purged from the state and private sectors and more than 1,500 civil groups closed, since a failed coup last year”; In Istanbul New Year Attack: Islamic State proud to have killed foreign Christian tourists, eturbonews (1/1/2017) it was noted that ”The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) international terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the New Year’s Eve shooting in a crowded Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people (and injured nearly 70)…Saudi Arabian, Moroccan, Libyan and Lebanese (Jordanian, Tunisian, Russian) citizens were among those killed in the attack…An American citizen has been injured”]; Uzbekistan209, Vietnam210, Zaire211, Zanzibar212, Zimbabwe213 and the Indian Ocean waters off the coast of Somalia214.

[III] RAPES, SEXUAL ASSAULTS, KIDNAPING & PIRACY

Rapes and sexual assaults have taken place in Australia215, Dubai216, Egypt217, India218 [2017 Update: In India’s top court upholds 201 gang rape death sentences, travelwirenews (5/5/2017) it was noted that “Joti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student was raped and left for dead by a gang of five men and a teenager after she boarded a private bus while going home from the cinema with a male friend. She died of grievous internal injuries 13 days later. The brutality of the attack and her determination to survive long enough to identify her attackers to police, triggered large-scale angry street protests as well as soul-searching about India’s treatment of women”]; Israel219, Malaysia220, Nepal221 and Thailand222. Kidnaping and piracy continue to be a problem in this region223.

[IV] WATER SPORTS

Accidents involving water sports have taken place in China224, Fiji225, Gabon226, Guam227, Hong Kong228, Indonesia229, Laos230, Northern Mariana Islands231, Tahiti232, Taiwan233 and Thailand234.

[V] SLIP & FALLS, FIRES & VARIOUS OTHER ACCIDENTS

Slips, trips and falls and various other injuries have taken place in Australia235, China236, Egypt237, Fiji238, Hong Kong239, Indonesia240, Israel241, Japan242, Jordan243, Kenya244, Northern Mariana Islands245, Philippines246, Saudi Arabia247, South Africa248, Tanzania249, Turkey250 and Wake Island251.

[VI] RIDING, VIEWING AND BEING ATTACKED BY ANIMALS

Accidents involving animals have taken place in Australia252, Egypt253, Namibia254, New Caledonia255, South Africa256, Sri Lanka257, and Thailand258.

[VII] TRANSPORTATION

Transportation accidents have taken place in, Australia259, Bali260, Bangladesh261, China262, Congo263, Egypt264, Fiji265, French Polynesia266, Gabon267, Ghana268, India269, Israel, Jordan, Kenya270, Macau271, Malaysia272, Malawi273, Mali274, Morocco275, Myanmar276, Nepal277, New Zealand278, Philippines279, South Africa280, South Korea281, Sudan282, Taiwan283, Tanzania284 [2017: Update: In Grisly bus accident kills 32 school children in northern Tanzania, eturbonews (5/7/2017) it was noted that “Bus safety has been an issue in Tanzania. Specifically, in a country relying on tourism for foreign trade exports, safety should be on top of the agenda. Tanzania is among African countries prone to accidents and rampant corruption where more than 3,000 die from frequent road carnages…Thirty-two children were killed Saturday morning after their bus crashed into a gorge in northern Tanzania’s tourist region of Arusha”]; Thailand285, Turkey286 [2017 Update: In Tour boat sinks in Mediterranean off Turkey, 3 missing, travelwirenews (8/2/2017) it was noted that “Three people were missing after a tour boat sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Turkey’s southwestern province of Mugia on Wednesday, an official said. The boat, named Anemore, was carrying 11 people when it sank off the Marmaris district of Mugia, a popular tourist area…Eight passengers have so far been rescued”; In Turkish Airlines Boeing 747 crashed in Kyrgyzstan, etn (1/15/2017) it was noted that “A scene of horror is developing in Kyrgyzstan, where a Turkish Airlines Boeing 747 crashed into a residential neighborhood close to Manas International Airport on Monday morning (located) 25 kilometers north-northwest of the capital Bishkek”];

and Vietnam287 [2017 Update: In Truck-bus collision in central Vietnam kills 12, travelwirenews (5/7/2017) it was noted that “A truck collided with a passenger bus in central Vietnam killing 12 people and injuring 33…The newspaper quoted police as saying that the initial investigation showed the truck was speeding at 105km per hour and crossed into the lane of the bus. Traffic accidents killed 8,685 people in Vietnam last year”.

[VIII] DISEASE, FOOD POISONING, DRUGS & MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Incidents of medical malpractice and the contraction of disease and sale of illicit drugs have taken place in China288, Congo [2017 Update: In Freytas-Tamura, Ebola Outbreak Is Declared in Congo, With at Least 3 Dead, nytimes (5/12/2017) it was noted that “An Ebola outbreak has been declared in northern Democratic Republic of Congo and has killed at least three people in the past three weeks, World Health Organization said of Friday…The outbreak is not linked to previous Ebola flare-up in Congo, nor the one that tore through West Africa in 2014, killing more than 11,000 people…That outback was significant because it reached major cities and began in an art of Africa that had never seen Ebola before”]; Dubai289, Fiji290, Guinea291, India292 [2017 Update: In ‘Chemical snowfall’: Toxic foam causes mayhem on busy Bangalore street, travelwirenews (5/29/2017) it was noted that “Commuters in India are being forced to drive through large clumps of foul-smelling froth as local officials try to stem the flow of chemical foam rolling off Bangalore’s Varthur Lake. The event, which has been dubbed a ‘chemical snowfall’, occurred after pre-Monsoon showers whipped the surface of the sewage-ridden lake into a foam. Heavy winds then lifted the toxic froth over a wire mesh fence onto Varthur Kodi Junction, a busy commuter area, over the weekend”];In Callimachi & Fourquest, Long Before It Lost Turf, ISIS Was Already Targeting Britain, nytimes (6/10/2017) it was noted that “In the weeks after Islamic State operatives struck Paris in November 2015, the group released a prerecorded video of the killers. They stared into the camera, waved serrated knives, raged at the West and specifically warned Britain: You’re next. Footage showed scenes of London through a gunsight. For the next 13 months, the Islamic State and those inspired by the group killed and maimed in Brussels, Berlin, Nice and Normandy as well as across the Atlantic in California and Florida…The strikes in the past week against the capitals of the United Kingdom and Iran followed back-to-back attacks in recent months in Britain…’This is for Allah!’ the attackers were heard screaming in the latest bloodshed in London as they plunged knives into their victims”]; Japan [2017 Update: In de Freytas-Tamura, Radioactive Boars in Fukushima Thwart Residents’ Plan to Return Home, nytimes (3/9/2017) it was noted that “They descend on towns and villages, plundering crops and rampaging through homes. They occasionally attack humans. But perhaps most dangerous of all, the marauders carry with them highly radioactive material. Hundreds of toxic wild boars have been roaming across northern Japan where the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant six years ago forced thousands of residents to desert their homes, pets and livestock…Wild boar meat is a delicacy is northern Japan, but animals slaughtered since the disaster are too contaminated to eat. According to tests…some of the boars have shown levels of radioactive element cesium-137 that are 300 times higher than safety standards”]; Kenya293, Liberia294, Lebanon295, Mali [2017 Update: In Two dead in attack on Mali tourist resort, hostages freed, travelwirenews (6/18/2017) it was noted that “Special force troops freed around 20 hostages seized by the gunmen…Bamako: Two people were killed in a terror on a tourist resort”]; Nigeria296, Saudi Arabia297,Sierra Leone298, South Korea299, Sudan300 [2017 Update: In Gettleman, War Consumes South Sudan, a Young Nation Cracking Apart, nytimes (3/4/2017) it was noted that “South Sudan’s war and its full ugliness are engulfing, new, previously peaceful areas of the nation, spelling horror for the victims ad signifying something deeper: This country is cracking apart…South Sudan’s conflict started as a power struggle between the country’s political leaders before slipping into a broader feud between the two biggest ethnic groups, the Nuer and the Dinka. But as it enters its fourth year, this war, Africa’s worst, is rapidly sucking in many of the nation’s other ethnic groups, including the Azande, the Shilluk, the Moru, the Kakwa and the Kuku”];

Tanzania [2017 Update: In Tourist hotels in Tanzania in the spotlight over illicit drug deals, etn (2/21/2017) it was noted that “Tourist hotels and several tourist recreational facilities in Tanzania’s commercial city of Dar es Salaam are in the spotlight, accused of working closely and in connection with illicit drugs and narcotics dealers…Dar es Salaam’s Regional Commissioner …said he had a list of 67 hotels and 20 recreational clubs which are well connected with illicit drugs and narcotics dealings”]; and Uganda301.

ARCTIC, ANTARCTIC, EUROPE, RUSSIA & CENTRAL ASIA

From frozen waste lands to old and traditional venues travel accidents occur here as well.

[I] WRONGFUL DEATH

Wrongful deaths have taken place in Albania302, Austria303 [2018 Update: Eight Die in the Alps in Three Climbing Accidents, AP, nytimes (8/27/2017)(“Eight mountain climbers died in three accidents this weekend in the Austrian and the Italian Alps. The Austrian Red Cross said five mountain climbers died Sunday in the Austrian Alps in Wilfgerlostal on Mount Gabler…and a sixth climber was severely injured…The group of six men…was roped together when they fell in a remote area of the mountain at an altitude of about 6,500 feet”)]; Belgium304, Britain305 [2017 Update: In Bilefsky, Grenfell Tower Death Toll Rises to 17, U.K. Government Is Criticized, nytimes (6/15/2017) it was noted that “with the death toll from horrific London fire rising and many residents still unaccounted for, Prime Minister Theresa May-under pressure from critics-on Thursday ordered a formal inquiry into the disaster that turned an apartment tower into a smoldering ruin”]; Bulgaria306, France307, Germany308 [2018 Update: German killer nurse murdered at least 90 patients: Police, travelwirenews (8/28/2017) (“A make nurse jailed for life two years ago for killing two hospital patients with lethal drug overdoses has murdered at least 90 patients in total, and possibly twice as many, police say, calling it post-war Germany’s worst killing”)]; Greece309, Hungary310, Iceland311, Italy312 [2017 Update: In Cut off and up to 30 dead: Rigopiano di Farindola Hotel in Italy, etn (1/18/2017), it was noted that “Up to 30 people (may have) been killed after an Italian ski resort was buried by an avalanche during a series of earthquakes. The disaster happened at the base of the Gran Sasso mountain range near the Rigopiano di Farindola hotel. Rescue teams are still battling to access Hotel Rigopiano, in Pescara, a province in the Abruzzo region, which has been hit by heavy snowfall in the last week”]; Kazakhstan313, Mallorca314, Malta315, Norway316, Portugal317 [2017 Update: In 2 dead as plane hits Portugal beach, travelwirenews (8/2/2017) it was noted that “Lisbon: An eight-year-old girl and a man were killed while sunbathing when a small plane plummeted on to a crowded beach in Portugal on Wednesday, apparently due to engine failure”]; Russia318, Spain319, Switzerland320, Tajikistan321, Turkey322 and Ukraine323.

[II] ASSAULTS, ROBBERIES, FIRES & TERRORISM

Assaults, robberies and terrorist acts have taken place inBelgium324 [2017 Update: In Man shot in Brussels after knife attack on soldiers-report, travelwirenews (8/25/2017) it was noted that “A knife wielding man has been shot in the center of the Belgian capital of Brussels after attacking a group of soldiers,…Police confirmed to the Belgian media that the suspect was shot dead…The attacker was a Somalian man about 30 years old who shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ during his assault”; In Police shoot attacker following blast at Belgium train station, travelwirenews (6/20/2017) it was noted “Belgian police have ‘neutralized’ a suspect after an explosion rocked Brussel’s central train station”]; Britain325 [2018 Update: Magra & Chan, Van Hits Pedestrians Near a Mosque in London, Killing One, nytimes (6/18/2017)(“A van drove into a group of pedestrians early Monday near a mosque in London, killing one person and injuring to in what the mayor called a ‘horrific terrorist attack’ that struck Muslims as they finished prayers”); Scott, After Terror Attacks, Britain Moves to Police the Web, nytimes (6/19/2017 it was noted “After deadly terrorist attacks and a nationwide election, Britain is once again focusing on a controversial plan: to regulate the internet. Lawmakers from across the political spectrum are promoting some of the widest-ranging plans anywhere in the western world to rein in the like of Google, Facebook and Twitter, setting up a likely standoff”); nytimes Bilefsky, Grenfell Tower Death Toll Rises to 17, U.K. Government Is Criticized, nytimes (6/15/2017)(“with the death toll from horrific London fire rising and many residents still unaccounted for, Prime Minister Theresa May-under pressure from critics-on Thursday ordered a formal inquiry into the disaster that turned an apartment tower into a smoldering ruin”); Erlanger, Callimachi & Schmitt, Manchester Bomber Met With ISIS Unit in Libya, Officials Say, nytimes (6/3/2017)(“The bomber who killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester, England, last month met in Libya with members of an Islamic State unit linked to the November 2015 Paris Terrorist attack, according to current and retired intelligence officials …the possibility that he was directed or enabled by Islamic State operatives in Libya, as opposed to Syria, suggests that even as the group’s Middle East base is shrinking, at least one of its remote franchises is developing ways to continue attacks within Europe”); Bennhold, London Attackers Slipped By Despite an Avalanche of Warnings, nytimes (6/6/2017)(“Islamic State propaganda had been found in the bag of one attacker while he was trying to board a flight in Italy. An FBI informant said he had raised alarms about the second attacker two years ago. The third attacked, denied asylum in Britain, appeared to have sneaked in from Ireland. The warning signs about the three assailants in a white van who smashed and stabbed their way through a trendy London neighborhood tumbled into the open on Tuesday compounding the pressure on the police…to explain them”); Terrorist Attacks in the Heart of London Hit a Nation Still Reeling, nytimes (6/3/2017) it was noted that “Another night of terrorism unfolded in Britain on Saturday with two attacks that killed six civilians in the center of the capital, London police said. At least one of the dead was killed when a van careened onto the sidewalk along London Bridge, mowing down pedestrians. The London Ambulance Service said it had brought 48 injured to five hospitals. The police said they killed three attackers, which they believed to be the total number of assailants”). Bulgaria326, Dagestan327, Finland [2017 Update: In Anderson, Fatal Knife Attack in Finland Is investigated as Terrorism, nytimes (8/19/2017) it was noted that “A knife attack that killed two people and wounded eight others in southwestern Finland is being investigated as a terrorist attack apparently aimed at women, Finland National Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday. The suspect, who was shot after the attack in Turku and hospitalized with a leg wound, is an 18-year-old Moroccan”]; France328 [2018 Update: ISIS claims responsibility for Marseille knife attack that killed two people, travelwirenews (10/1/2017)(“(ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the deadly knife attack which left two women dead at a train station in Marseille Sunday. The message, via its propaganda channel allegedly says the attack was staged in retaliation against the US-led Coalition countries which are fighting against the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq”); Paris police: Champs-Elysees attacker killed, firearms and explosives fund in car, eturbonews (6/19/2017)(“France’s interior minister has said that a driver who rammed a car into police in an ‘attempted attack’ on security forces on the Champs-Elysees was carrying a ‘number of firearms and explosives’”); Paris attacker was on terrorist watch list, had gun permit, travelwirenews (6/20/2017)(“The man who rammed a car into police in Paris had a gun permit, despite being on a terrorist watch list over suspected jihadist links”); Breeden & Moreen, Police Shoot Attacker Outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, nytimes (6/6/2017) it was noted that “A police officer shot and wounded an assailant armed with a hammer and kitchen knives on the square outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Tuesday afternoon”); Rubin, Breeden & Morenne, Paris Shootout Leaves Police Officer and Gunman Dead, nytimes (4/20/2017)(“A gunman wielding an assault rifle on Thursday night killed a police officer on the city’s most iconic boulevard, the Champs-Elysees, stirring France’s worst fears of a terrorist attack…The gunman was shot dead by the police as he tried to flee on foot; two other police officers and a bystander were wounded…The attack set off panic and a scramble for shelter, and officers began searching for possible accomplices after the attack”; Germany [2017 Update: In German intelligence agencies ‘knew about Hamburg attacker’, travelwirenews (7/30/2017) it was noted that “The man who killed one person and injured six others in a knife attack in the German city of Hamburg had been known to intelligence authorities in Germany, an official says. The 26-year-old man, identified as Ahmad A., attacked customers at random at a German chain store before he was overpowered by passersby on Friday”; In Two men detained in Stuttgart airport after bomb scare travelwirenews (6/18/2017) it was noted that ”Two unidentified men have been detained at Stuttgart airport over an alleged terrorist threat…All flights were temporarily canceled”; In Shooting takes place at subway station, leaves casualties, travelwirenews (6/13/2017) it was noted that “A shooting incident has taken place at a subway station in a suburb of the southern German city of Munich, leaving several people wounded, including a police officer”; In German prosecutors probe officers over Berlin terrorist attacker ‘cover-up’ inquiry, travelwirenews (5/30/2017) it was noted that “Investigators have raided officers’ homes and offices amid an ongoing inquiry into document forgery in the case of Berlin terrorist Anis Amri. It is alleged that Amri’s criminal history was downplayed to justify inaction prior to the assault…Amri…rammed a lorry into a crowd at Merlkin Christmas market in December, killing 12 people”; In Several people wounded in an attack at Dusseldorf train station, etn (3/9/2017) it was noted that “Police in Dusseldorf have arrested at least two people following an ax attack at the city’s main train station…Up to five people were understood to have been injured in the attack…’They just came in here and attacked with an axe. I saw many things in my life, but I have never seen anything like this. He just started hitting people with an axe’”; In Povoledo, Pianigiani & Callimachi, Hunt for Berlin Suspect Ends in Gunfire on an Italian Plaza, nytimes (12/23/2016) it was noted that “It was a routine check, the kind Italy has relied on to stem the flow of illegal migration deeper into Europe…He turned out to be perhaps Europe’s most wanted man, Ania Amri, the chief suspect in the deadly terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people. Asked to show his papers and empty his backpack, he pulled out a gun, shot one officer, and in turn was shot and killed by another. ‘Police bastards’, Mr. Amri…shouted in Italian before dying]; Greece329 [2017 Update: In Magra, Greece’s Most-Wanted Terrorist Is Arrested in Athens Suburb, nytimes (1/5/2017) it was noted that “She (Panagiota Roupa) was a leader of an anarchist group called Revolutionary Struggle. She helped organize, officials say, a car bombing near the country’s central bank. Later, the authorities say, she rented a helicopter using a fake name and then tried to hijack it in an effort to rescue her imprisoned partner”]; Ireland330, Italy331, Poland332, Portugal [2017 Update: In Minder, Portugal Fire Survivors Recount Confusion Amid a Search for Escape, nytimes (6/19/2017 it was noted that “‘People fought to save their houses’, Mr. Graieta said. ‘I knew that, with road completely cut and the whole forest on fire, firefighters were never going to get here quick enough to help us’. At least 64 people were not as fortunate, perishing in the wildfire, many of them while in their cars trying to flee. With 135 people injured, the authorities warned that the death toll could still rise from the fire…apparently ignited by lightning strikes”]; Russia [2017 Update: In 7 wounded in knife rampage in Russia, ISIS claims responsibility, attacker shot by police, etn/travel 8/19/2017) it was noted that “A man armed with a knife has injured seven pedestrians in the Russian city of Surgut. Police killed the assailant as he was resisting arrest and are investigating claims he was mentally ill. Meanwhile, terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack”; In Nechepurenko & MacFarquhar, Explosion in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kills 11 as Vladimir Putin Visits, nytimes (4/3/2017)(“The train had just entered a tunnel between stations, on its way out of a sprawling hub, when the bomb exploded. The homemade device, filled with shrapnel, tore through a third car. It killed 11 people; wounded more than 40, including children, and spread bloody mayhem as the train limped into the Technology Institute station with smoke filling the air…’What a nightmare’ somebody yelled amid piercing screams”]; Scotland333, Spain [2017 Update: In Bolon, Karasz & McKinley, Van Hits Pedestrians in Deadly Barcelona Terror Attack, nytimes (8/17/2017) it was noted that “Spain was hit by its worst terrorist attack in more than a decade on Thursday, when a van driver plowed into dozens of people enjoying a sunny afternoon on one of Barcelona’s most famous thoroughfares, killing at least 13 people and leaving 80 bloodied on the pavement. Hours later, the Catalan police said they foiled a second vehicular attack, in the seaside town of Cambrils, 70 miles to the South, fatally shooting four people. A fifth died later of wounds…The suspects appeared to be wearing explosive belts, though these devices were later found to be fake…Six civilians and one police officer were injured”]; Sweden [2017 Update: In Anderson & Sorensen, Stockholm Truck Attack Kills 4; Terrorism Is Suspected, nytimes (4/7/2017) it was noted that “A man drove a stolen beer truck into a crowd of people in a popular shopping district in Stockholm on Friday afternoon and then rammed it into a department store, killing four people and injuring 15 others in an attack that unleashed bloodshed and panic on the streets of another European capital. ‘Sweden has been attacked’, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a televised news conference.’ This indicates that it is an act of terror’”];

Switzerland [2017 Update: In Armed assailant attacks 5 people in Switzerland, police launch manhunt, travelwirenews (7/24/2017) it was noted that “A manhunt is underway in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen after an armed assailant injured five people, two seriously, in a violent attack”; Kajikistan334, Russia [2018 Update: 7 wounded in knife rampage in Russia, ISIS claims responsibility, attacker shot by police, travelwirenews (8/19/2017)(“A man armed with a knife has injured seven pedestrians in the Russian city of Surgut. Police killed the assailant as he was resisting arrest and are investigating claims he was mentally ill. Meanwhile, terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack”); Ukraine335 [2017 Update: In Kramer, Ukraine Cyberattack Was Meant to Paralyze, not Profit, Evidence Shows, nytimes (6/28/2017) it was noted that “The day started like most for Roman N. Klimenko, an accountant in Kiev who had just settled in at this desk, typing at a computer keyboard and drinking coffee. He was unaware that concealed within his tax preparation software lurked a ticking bomb (which) soon exploded, destroying his financial data and quickly spreading through computer systems vital to Ukraine’s government-and beyond. The cyberattack on Tuesday was caused by a virus similar to one that wreaked global havoc less than two months ago. Both had the appearance of hacker blackmail assaults known as ransomware attacks: screens of infected computers warn users their data will be destroyed unless ransoms are paid. But in Ukraine’s case, a more sinister motive-paralysis of the country’s vital computer systems-may have been the motive”.

[III] RAPES, SEXUAL ASSAULTS & KIDNAPING

Rapes and sexual assaults have taken place in France336 and kidnappings in Cyprus337 and Pakistan338.

[IV] SLIP & FALLS AND VARIOUS OTHER ACCIDENTS

Slip and falls and other injuries have taken place in Czech Republic339, England340, France341, Greece342, Hungary343, Ireland344, Italy345, Russia346 and Spain347.

[V] RIDING. VIEWING & BEING ATTACKED BY ANIMALS

Riding accidents have taken place in Greece348, alligators have been reported in Spain349, polar bears attack tourists in Norway350 and seagulls terrorize tourists in Wales351.

[VI] TRANSPORTATION

Transportation accidents have taken place in Antarctica352, Austria353, Belgium [2017 Update: In Belgium passenger train derailment leaves one dead, dozens injured, etn (2/18/2017)it was noted that “A passenger train has derailed on the way from Leuven to Brussels in Belgium, killing at least one person and leaving up to 25 people injured…The Leuven fire department has confirmed to local media that two people are in critical condition and 23 others have been injured. 14 people have already been transferred to local hospitals for treatment”]; Delaware [2017 Update: In Booth, Judge Orders $5M in Coverage for Fatal Bus Crash, newyorklawjournal (7/7/2017) it was noted that “A federal magistrate judge has ordered the distribution of $5 million in insurance coverage to the families of three people who died and to 42 others who were injured when their tour bus overturned in Delaware…News reports at the time described the accident as horrific, with passengers being ejected from the bus and being crushed. Many of the passengers…were foreign nationals who were in the United States on a sightseeing tour”]; England354, France355, Germany356, Greece357, Holland358, Hungary359, Italy360 [2017 Update: In Sixteen people killed, two dozen injured in Italian bus crash, etn (1/21/2017) it was noted that “Sixteen people have been killed when a bus transporting Hungarian students crashed in northern Italy. The bus was traveling from France to Hungary on Saturday when it crashed…The bus was carrying the students home from a school ski trip to France. The vehicle burst into flames when it hit a highway barrier”]; Kazakhstan361, Poland362, Portugal363, Rumania364, Russia365 [2017 Update: More than 20 people wounded in Moscow two-train head-on collision, etn (4/8/2017) it was noted that “More than 20 people have reportedly been injured and 16 hospitalized after a train going from Moscow to Brest collided with a commuter train…Four carriages were derailed, with one turning upside down and visibly wrecked”]; Scotland366, Spain367 and Ukraine368.

[VII] DISEASE, FOOD POISONING & MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Medical malpractice and the contraction of disease have taken place in Europe369, Germany370, Greece371, Italy372, New York City [2017 Update: In Southhall, Bacteria Behind Legionnaires’ Disease Found in New York Police Station, nytimes (6/11/2017) it was noted that “Traces of the bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease have been found in the water at a Manhattan police station where an officer who recently fell ill works, the police and health officials said on Sunday”; In Nir. Legionnaires’ Outbreak on Upper East Side Kills One and Sickens Six, nytimes (6/16/2017) it was noted that “One person is dead and six other people have been sickened in an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the city health department announced on Friday”]; Russia [2017 Update: In MacFarquhar, H.I.V. Cases Surpass a Million in Russia, but Little Is Done, nytimes (12/28/2016) it was noted that “Quietly, the number of Russians who have received a positive H.I.V. diagnosis passed the one million mark this year. There is, however, little indication that the government will commit resources to stem the acceleration of the virus from high-risk groups into the general population. About 850,000 Russians carry H.I.V. and an additional 220,000 have died since the late 1980s, said Vadim Pokrovsky, the longtime head of the Moscow-based Federal AIDS Center, who estimated that at least another 500,000 cases of H.I.V. have gone undiagnosed. Although the label ‘epidemic’ prompts denials from some senior officials, experts on the front lines like Mr. Pokrovsky are calling it just that”]; Sweden [2017 Update: In Stockholm clinic probed for discouraging vaccination, says measles is good for child’s development. travelwirenews (5/10/2017) it was noted that “A children’s clinic in Stockholm is being investigated after giving parents dubious information about vaccines and advising homeopathy, leaving their young patients at risk of developing potentially life-threatening diseases, local media report. The Allvis clinic in the Sodermain district, which practices alternative medicine, allegedly advised parents to wait before vaccinating their child against measles, mumps and rubella, claiming that having the diseases can help along their child’s development”]; Slovakia373 and Ukraine374.

The author, Thomas A. Dickerson, passed away on July 26, 2018 at the age of 74. Through the graciousness of his family, eTurboNews is being allowed to share his articles that we have on file which he sent to us for future weekly publication.

The Hon. Dickerson retired as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department of the New York State Supreme Court and wrote about Travel Law for 42 years including his annually-updated law books, Travel Law, Law Journal Press (2018), Litigating International Torts in U.S. Courts, Thomson Reuters WestLaw (2018), Class Actions: The Law of 50 States, Law Journal Press (2018), and over 500 legal articles many of which are available here. For additional travel law news and developments, especially in the member states of the EU, see www.IFTTA.org

Read many of Justice Dickerson’s articles here.

This article may not be reproduced without permission.

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