Tag Archives: oceania

Pair have no idea they're about to learn a painful lesson

Two men have been dramatically foiled allegedly trying to steal expensive electric scooters from a Gold Coast house.

It's a Saturday afternoon when two men allegedly targeted the top-of-the-line scooters — no one is home, but the owner is secretly watching.

One of the pair is seen jumping a fence to open the garage from inside, allowing his partner to reverse in the getaway car.

READ MORE: Airport delays continue across Australia's east coast

Two men have been caught allegedly attempting to steal electric scooters from a Gold Coast house.

They appear to cut the chain locks and start shoving the $6000 scooters into the boot, oblivious that security camera footage is being streamed live to the owner, and the police and the neighbours have been called.

The footage shows a head suddenly duck under the half-open roller door, yelling "oi, oi, oi".

It startles the pair, who try to escape.

The roller door is still halfway down, so the vehicle smashes through it and flattens a street sign.

But the boot is still open and the scooters fall out, alongside one of the two alleged thieves.

The men drove through the roller door.

The man behind the wheel sped off empty-handed, leaving behind his mate who was pinned by members of the public.

He suffered facial fractures and was taken away by police. He was expected to be charged overnight.

Anyone with information that could help police can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Great-grandmother's harrowing journey from Ukraine to Sydney

More than 10 million Ukrainian people have fled their homes, including one great-grandmother who has been reunited with family in Sydney.

The 91-year-old's granddaughter launched the rescue mission from the other side of the world in the suburb of Northmead.

As Russian tanks and troops rolled into Ukraine, Anya Holik was on the phone with family from inside her Kyiv apartment.

READ MORE: Pregnancy appointments are becoming unaffordable for some women, doctors say

A great-grandmother who has been reunited with family in Sydney.

The great-grandmother, who has lived through World War II, Stalin's famine and the Chernobyl disaster, was confident she could wait out Russia's invasion too.

Granddaughter Karina White said her grandmother tried to keep the family's spirits up "by saying that she was okay and in her old age she can't hear what's going on anyway".

But as the fighting drew closer, her stoicism shattered.

"I called her and she said to me 'you've got to come and get me'," Ms White said.

READ MORE: Death toll rises to 52 in Ukraine train station strike

As the fighting drew closer in Ukraine, Ms Holik's stoicism shattered.

"I said 'ok I'll come and get you' and she said 'but I think you're going to get me in an urn'."

Karina's grandmother was left hiding in her bathroom with the door locked after neighbours and friends abandoned the capital.

Ms Holik watched through her window as her neighbours left one by one and she was "very scared and terrified".

Ms White launched a rescue mission, where she contacted more than 70 agencies and pleaded for someone to save her grandma.

READ MORE: Man who nearly died after falling on Sydney train tracks arrested in hospital

Great grandmother Anya Holik with her daughter Karina White. Ms Holik fled the war in Ukraine and reunited with family in Sydney.

"I was just met with no, no we can't help you," she said.

Ms White even contacted media teams in Kyiv, including 9News.

Nine's local Ukrainian producer, Nikita Nikolaienko, helped to launch the evacuation plan.

"I wanted to do something good for somebody and I saw an opportunity to help the person who really needs some help," Nikolaienko said.

Ms Holik was escorted from her home of 65 years to board a train to the safety of Lviv but that evacuation was cut short when Ukrainian soldiers suddenly blocked the bridge.

A second rescue attempt failed too when Anya's train was cancelled. Pandemonium ensued on the platform of Kyiv's main train station.

But Ms White's scheme to save her grandmother was far from over, and she convinced a security team to help rescue her.

The former special forces operatives didn't want to be identified but sent videos to the family, as Ms Holik safely crossed the border into Poland with a health check from paramedics.

Ms Holik was finally on her way to Sydney after her Australian tourist visa was approved.

"It was a great relief," Ms White said.

"You go from thinking that you might never see her again to then having her in front of you.

"But I knew it was going to be possible, I knew I could do it."

Watch the full story in the video above.

Victorian police officer killed in crash identified

A police officer and a man have been killed in a "catastrophic" car crash in Victoria's far north-west overnight, with another officer fighting for life in hospital.

Bria Joyce, a "highly respected" 25-year-old female senior constable, was killed after six years in the job.

Police said an unmarked police car from the Mildura highway unit and a ute collided on Kulkyne Way near Forbes Road in Red Cliffs about 10pm yesterday.

READ MORE: 'For the children' written on rocket used in Ukraine train station strike

https://twitter.com/LanaMurphy/status/1512678224475877384

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said the ute had veered onto the wrong side of the road and caused a head-on collision with the police car while a third car rear-ended the police car in a "catastrophic" accident.

The 23-year-old male driver of the ute died at the scene and has not yet been identified.

The officer's colleague, a "highly thought of" 43-year-old male leading senior constable, was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition with internal and leg injuries.

Two young children, who were passengers in the ute, were taken to hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the third car and a child suffered minor injuries and were also taken to hospital.

READ MORE: Floodwaters continue rising in Sydney's north-west

Police officer and man killed in car crash in Victoria.

Police are trying to determine how the crash happened.

Commissioner Patton said the police officers had been on general duties when the crash occurred.

"There is no indication of any attempt of the police vehicle to be intercepting anyone, no pursuit involved," he said.

Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the crash and using recreations to determine what occurred.

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Commissioner Patton said the crash is devastating for the close-knit community in Mildura and the police force, especially as it nears the anniversary of the crash that killed four officers in Melbourne.

"No one expects to go to work and not come home," he said.

"This is an absolute tragedy for the police officers involved, for the family and friends of those police officers.

Chief Commissioner Steve Patton speaks on car crash that killed a police officer and man.

"It is a tragedy and absolutely heartbreaking for the family and friends of the civilian driver involved.

"You come at a loss of words to describe this."

It is expected Kulkyne Way will be closed today while detectives process the scene.

Anyone who saw the crash, or who has dashcam footage, is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Man who nearly died after falling on Sydney train tracks arrested in hospital

A man who nearly died after fainting onto railway tracks as a train was approaching in Sydney was arrested after a stay in hospital.

The 57-year-old fell onto the tracks at Redfern Station on April 1, with harrowing footage captured by a passenger on the platform.

Staff jumped onto the tracks to try and pull the man to safety, but he had been knocked unconscious in the fall and could not be moved.

READ MORE: 'For the children' written on rocket used in Ukraine train station strike

Sydney train nearly crashes into commuter who has called onto tracks.

In the video, the person filming zooms to a display screen showing the time the train is due to arrive: a mere two minutes.

Train staff can be also seen frantically running to alert the train driver to stop.

As the train rounds the bend into the station, a guard desperately waves red flags at the driver while a chorus of screams can be heard from the commuters at the platform.

READ MORE: Floodwaters continue rising in Sydney's north-west

Sydney train nearly crashes into commuter who has called onto tracks.

The 57-year-old man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital with injuries to his head and wrist.

He was questioned by police in hospital and then arrested for breaching an apprehended violence order.

Transport Minister David Elliot said he was delighted in the work from train staff in saving the man's life.

Sydney train nearly crashes into commuter who has called onto tracks.

But he scolded the man who fell onto the tracks.

"It was quite clear he was unsteady on his feet and that really isn't an excuse," he said.

"If you are going to be using public transport … there is a risk associated with being around this sort of heavy machinery."

Sydney train nearly crashes into commuter who has called onto tracks.

Mr Elliot said there would be plenty of places around the world where staff would not have put their lives at risk to save the man.

"When I saw that video I was horrified that someone would be so blatantly ignorant about the situation they are in," Mr Elliot said.

"I also was extremely proud of those staff members who immediately responded."

Ukrainians shocked by 'crazy' scene at Chernobyl after Russian pullout reveals radioactive contamination

The sudden ear-piercing beep of a radiation meter fills the room as a Ukrainian soldier walks in. This is where Russian soldiers were living at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and radiation levels are now higher than normal.

There's no visible presence of the source of the radioactive material in the room, but Ukrainian officials say it's coming from small particles and dust that the soldiers brought into the building.

"They went to the Red Forest and brought radioactive material back with them on their shoes," soldier Ihor Ugolkov explains. "Other places are fine, but radiation increased here, because they were living here."

READ MORE: 'For the children' written on rocket used in Ukraine train station strike

Signs warn against entering the Red Forest around Chernobyl, which is one of the most contaminated nuclear sites on the planet.

CNN was given exclusive access to the power plant for the first time since it came back into Ukrainian control.

Officials at the plant explain the levels inside the room used by Russian soldiers are only slightly above what the World Nuclear Association describes as naturally occurring radiation. One-time contact would not be dangerous but continuous exposure would pose a health hazard.

"They went everywhere, and they also took some radioactive dust on them [when they left]," Ugolkov adds.

It's an example of what Ukrainian officials say was the lax and careless behaviour of Russian soldiers while they were in control of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area around Chernobyl, namely the Red Forest, is still the most nuclear contaminated area on the planet, with most of the radioactive particles present on the soil.

READ MORE: UN assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body

Ukrainian National Guardsmen were detained by Russian soldiers in Chernobyl's own underground nuclear bunker.

Ukrainian officials have released drone footage of what they say were trenches dug by Russian soldiers in that area, which is particularly radioactive. At a safe location, on the edges of that area, CNN saw a Russian military ration box that exhibited radiation levels 50 times above naturally occurring values.

Russian soldiers held Chernobyl for a month and are thought to have been operating in contaminated areas most of the time.

"It's crazy, really," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko tells CNN at the plant. "I really have no idea why they did it (go into the Red Forest).

"But we can see they went in there, the soldiers who went there, came back here and the level of radiation increased."

Although Chernobyl is not an active power plant, the sarcophagus above the reactor that exploded nearly 36 years ago needs to be maintained to avoid further radiation leaks. There is also a considerable amount of spent nuclear fuel that needs to be looked after.

"That confinement is supposed to have electricity, it's supposed to have the ventilation system and so on," Galushchenko explains. "When the country cannot control this, and we are responsible, Ukraine is responsible for the security, of course, that is a threat."

READ MORE: Experts set to travel to Ukraine to identify the war's dead

Russian soldiers ransacked the room where the plant staff was sleeping, looting some of their belongings.

Part of that threat also came from how Russian soldiers managed those responsible for maintaining the nuclear facilities.

"[Our staff] were here from the first day of occupation, and they only had the possibility of being replaced a month later," he said. 

"When people are physically and morally exhausted, when you are under threat of guns, and you have this everyday pressure from the soldiers, it's really a very difficult job."

Volodymyr Falshovnyk, 64, is a shift manager at Chernobyl. He returned to the power plant on March 20 when the Russian military allowed the fatigued personnel to rotate with their colleagues from the nearby city of Slavutych, where many of the plant's workers live.

READ MORE: Zelenskyy warns situation in retaken town 'much scarier than Bucha'

A view of a building at the Chernobyl exclusion zone in the abandoned city of Pripyat.

He says the staff were working under tremendous pressure, not just because of what was happening at Chernobyl, but also because of the news they were receiving from the outside world.

"Our relatives began to call and say that the city was being stormed, that there were wounded and dead," he says. "We asked the Russians what was going on and they said there were no regular Russian troops there but we continued to hear that there was shelling."

Falshovnyk also accused the Russian soldiers of looting the power plant.

"They gave us personnel from Rosatom (Russian Nuclear Agency) to escort us, and in their escort we toured the uncovered warehouses. They robbed these warehouses all the time," he adds.

Satellite image Chernobyl nuclear facilities

Operating under those conditions was intense, but nothing compared to what the security staff endured.

The 169 Ukraine National Guard soldiers, who guarded the facility, were locked in the plant's Cold War era underground nuclear bunker, crammed up in tight quarters without access to natural light, fresh air or communication with the outside world, according to the Ukrainian Interior Minister.

"They were kept here for 30 days without sufficient lighting and food. They were not allowed outside. On the last day they were taken away from here to an unknown direction," Denys Monastyrskyy says while standing inside the bunker.

The minister says he believes the men have been taken to Russia, via Belarus, as prisoners of war, but doesn't know for certain.

"Today we know nothing about their fate unfortunately," he says.

A Soviet-era top secret object Duga, an over-the-horizon radar system once used as part of the Soviet missile defense early-warning radar network, seen behind a radioactivity sign in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Nov. 22, 2018.

CNN was shown inside the bunker and other places usually occupied by the plant's staff by Ukrainian officials who claimed Russian soldiers had ransacked the place. Clothes, hygiene supplies and other personal belongings were scattered all over the floor.

"The Russian military went through all Ukrainian clothes, personal belongings, like dogs, in search of, probably, money, valuables, laptops," Monastyrskyy continues. "There was looting here. The Russian military stole computers and equipment."

Moscow has said very little about what its soldiers did at Chernobyl. The last time the Russian Ministry of Defence mentioned the nuclear site was on February 26, confirming its capture and claiming it had made arrangements to ensure the safety of power units, the sarcophagus and a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.

Chernobyl is not an isolated case

Ukrainian officials say the behaviour of the Russian military and the treatment of Ukrainian staff at the Chernobyl power plant highlights the danger posed by Moscow's invasion as it gains control of plants in other areas.

In addition to the decommissioned reactors at Chernobyl, Ukraine has four active nuclear power plants, including the largest in Europe in Zaporizhzhia. The Russian military occupied that facility in early March, when it took control of the area, shelling some of the site's buildings in the process.

"The situation there is also horrible, especially taking into account how they capture Zaporizhzhia because they fired at the station, with heavy weapons," Energy Minister Galushchenko says.

"It is really an act of nuclear terrorism," he adds. "I'm not even talking that they are shelling the stations well as a situation in Zaporizhzhia NPP, but when we do not have the possibility of being responsible for nuclear security, there's a threat."

And despite Ukraine having regained control of Chernobyl, Ukrainian officials fear that Russian soldiers could try to come back.

"We understand that today we must be ready for a new attack on a nuclear power plant at any moment. We will use the best world experience to ensure that the station is protected as the border is only a few dozen kilometres away," Interior Minister Monastyrskyy says.

"What we see [in Chernobyl] is a vivid example of outrage at a nuclear facility. It is the responsibility not only of Ukraine, but of the whole world, to keep the stations safe," he says. "The whole world watched live as tanks fired at nuclear power units [in Zaporizhzhia]. This history must never repeat itself."

Monastyrskyy says in order to do that his country needs continued international support.

"We are ready to invest in the future of Ukraine and in the future security of the world," he continues, repeating his government's call for additional weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

"Today the border between totalitarianism and democracy passes behind our backs, the border between freedom and oppression," he says. "We are ready to fight for it."

Floodwaters finally reach their peak but evacuation orders remain

Floodwaters have finally peaked in Sydney's north-west but the devastating flood crisis is not yet over.

A dozen evacuation orders remain in place for towns in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley, including Pitt Town Bottoms, Leets Vale, Sackville North and Ebenezer.

Residents in parts of Sackville have been told they can return home safely, while some from Ebenezer can return with caution.

READ MORE: 'For the children' written on rocket used in Ukraine train station strike

Floodwaters have peaked at the Hawkesbury River near the Windsor Bridge.Popular wedding venue in Windsor remains submerged by floodwaters.

The State Emergency Service (SES) has confirmed the Hawkesbury River at Windsor reached a peak of 9.07 metres this morning, narrowly avoiding engulfing the Windsor Bridge.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has maintained a flood warning for the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley with more rainfall expected today.

"Flooding is continuing across the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley due to heavy rainfall Wednesday night and Thursday," the BoM said.

"Further showers are forecast during Saturday, which are not expected to produce renewed river level rises."

Warragamba Dam, the main dam in the catchment, is continuing to spill which is not aiding the flood crisis in the region.

READ MORE: Tracey Spicer opens up on 'debilitating' long COVID

The SES said flooding will continue at North Richmond and Windsor today despite the water levels slowly receding.

There were more than 280 calls to the SES for help in the past 24 hours.

There were also nine flood rescues.

The Nepean River at Camden Weir fell below the minor flood level of 6.8 metres on Friday night.

Camden saw unprecedented flood levels this week, leaving residents shocked by the disaster.

READ MORE: Zelenskyy warns situation in retaken town 'much scarier than Bucha'

Floodwaters covering Windsor where the Hawkesbury River continues to rise.Flooding scenes from Camden as the water drops.RFS pump and sweep out flood water from the Camden RSL as flooding drops.

Resident Larry Burke experienced the 1988 floods and said he has never seen three rounds of flooding in the town in such a short period of time.

"This is the first time I have seen it come up three times so close together," he said.

"I have not seen that before."

Now, Camden residents are able to return home and assess the damage of the devastating floods.

A man has died in floodwaters in Cobbitty.

The flood crisis has turned deadly in Sydney's north-west.

Father-of-two Tony Ikin was identified as the man found dead in Sydney floodwaters yesterday.

Stay up to date with the latest evacuation orders at the SES website, and all weather updates and warnings at the Bureau of Meteorology website.