ADELAIDE: Two female backpackers from Europe were savagely attacked on a remote Australian beach by a traveling companion they had met hours earlier, police said.
A 59-year-old Australian man was charged with a string of offenses including attempted murder and sexual abuse following the attack that left both women, aged in their 20s, in hospital. The court suppressed the man’s name and police have not revealed the women’s nationalities to protect their identities.
The women had met their alleged attacker on Tuesday and had driven with him in his four-wheel drive vehicle 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast from the South Australia state capital Adelaide to Tea Tree Point beach in the Coorong National Park where they set up camp for the night, Police Superintendent James Blandford said.
The Adelaide man allegedly attacked both women at the camp site before one managed to flee from the scene.
“One of the victims was able to run away and came across some people who were fishing in the area and they were able to comfort and secure her and make phone calls to police,” Blandford told reporters. One of those men who found her, Abdul-Karim Mohammed, said the scene was confronting with the woman screaming, crying and yelling.
“She ran straight to the car yelling. She opened the back door, jumped straight in and like, ‘get me out of here, get me out of here. He’s going to kill us all,’” Mohammed told Seven News television.
“She had some scratches and that on the legs. Looked like she’d been pulled around, dragged around and that,” Mohammed added. Police were called and arrested the alleged attacker in the national park on Tuesday evening.
The man had attacked that evening before one of the women fled and raised the alarm.
Aussie charged with sex attack on backpackers
Aussie charged with sex attack on backpackers
Spain swine fever spreads outside containment zone
- African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars
BARCELONA: African swine fever has been detected outside a containment zone in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region for the first time since its outbreak in November, officials said on Friday.
African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars.
Although it has not spread to domestic pig farms, the outbreak has disrupted exports from Spain, the world’s third-largest producer of pork and its derivatives.
Thirteen new cases in wild boars have been reported, including two in areas outside the six-kilometer containment zone near Barcelona, Catalonia’s agriculture department said.
Authorities then expanded the high-risk zone to the affected municipalities and restricted access to the surrounding woods to prevent further spread.
The outbreak was Spain’s first reported case since 1994, and more than 100 cases have now been detected in wild boars.
“More than ever, it is essential not to lower our guard against a disease that remains present,” said Oscar Ordeig, regional agriculture minister.
The origin of the outbreak remains unknown, and a judicial investigation is ongoing.
