Typhoon Mujigae makes landfall as it roars into south China

• OCTOBER 4

Taking cover ... Ships berth at Xingang harbour in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province as typhoon Mujigae makes landfall. Picture: Zhao Yingquan/Xinhua News Agency via AP

A STRONG typhoon roared into southern China bringing powerful winds and heavy rain to the region after leaving more than a dozen fishermen missing in the Philippines.

Tens of thousands of people in southern China were evacuated before Typhoon Mujigae made landfall near the city of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province just after 2pm, according to the National Meteorological Center.

The centre had already issued a red alert — China’s highest level of weather preparedness — warning that as much as 280 millimetres (11 inches) of rain could fall in some places from Sunday morning to Monday morning.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the storm.

Packing winds of 180 kilometres (112 miles) per hour at its centre, Mujigae was moving northwest at about 20kph (12mph), the meteorological centre said.

The typhoon is expected to lash both Guangdong and the resort island province of Hainan, where thousands of Chinese have flocked during the weeklong National Day holiday that runs through to Wednesday. It is expected to weaken as it heads further inland over the next two days.

Scores of flights in and out of Hainan’s main airport in the provincial capital of Haikou have been cancelled, and high-speed rail service between Haikou and the tourist centre of Sanya was suspended.

More than 60,000 fishing boats returned to port in the two provinces and more than 40,000 fishermen working on fish farms moved to shelters, according to the provincial government websites.

Mujigae blew out of the northern Philippines early on Saturday, causing floods and a few landslides and leaving more than a dozen fishermen missing, said regional Office of Civil Defense spokesman Mike Sabado.

More than 150 fishermen had been reported missing at the height of the storm, mostly from the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union, but most sailed back home after taking shelter or were rescued at sea. Thirty fishermen remained unaccounted for on Sunday, Sabado said.

Mujigae, meaning rainbow in Korean, is the 22nd typhoon of the year overall.

Barack Obama promises full probe into suspected US airstrike on Kunduz hospital

Médecins Sans Frontières says patients burned to death in their hospital beds in a bombing raid the UN describes as a ‘tragic, inexcusable’ war crime

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Handheld footage shows the devastation at a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF) in Kunduz that may have been caused by a US airstrike. Link to video

Guardian staff with wires

Sunday 4 October 2015 07.06 BSTLast modified on Sunday 4 October 201507.08 BST

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The US president, Barack Obama, has pledged a full investigation into an apparent US airstrike on an Afghan hospital that killed 19 people.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said patients burned to death in their beds during a bombing raid that continued for half an hour after US and Afghan authorities were informed the hospital had been hit. The United Nations said it could amount to a war crime.

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“Twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, were killed; 37 people were injured,” the charity said. “This attack constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”

MSF said despite frantic calls to American and Afghan military officials in Kabul and Washington, the attack continued for another 30 minutes, with the main hospital building housing the intensive care unit and emergency rooms being targeted.

“The bombs hit and then we heard the plane circle round,” said Heman Nagarathnam, MSF’s head of programmes in northern Afghanistan. “There was a pause, and then more bombs hit. This happened again and again. When I made it out from the office, the main hospital building was engulfed in flames.”

“Those people that could had moved quickly to the building’s two bunkers to seek safety. But patients who were unable to escape burned to death as they lay in their beds.”

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The air raid came days after Taliban fighters seized control of the strategic northern city of Kunduz, in their most spectacular victory since being removed from power by a US-led coalition in 2001.

Afghan forces, backed up by their Natoallies, claimed to have wrestled back control of the city. But the defence ministry in Kabul said “a group of armed terrorists ... were using the hospital building as a position to target Afghan forces and civilians”.

MSF, which is also known as Doctors Without Borders, has denied any combatants were present in the hospital.

MSF hospital bombing 'violates international law'

 

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The UN rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called for a full and transparent probe, noting: “an airstrike on a hospital may amount to a war crime”. “This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable and possibly even criminal,” he said.