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.
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Aussie charged with sex attack on backpackers
Aussie charged with sex attack on backpackers
Another 131 migrants rescued off southern Crete
ATHENS: The Greek coast guard Saturday rescued 131 would be migrants off Crete, bringing the number of people brought out of the sea in the area over the past five days to 840, a police spokesperson said.
The migrants rescued Saturday morning were aboard a fishing boat some 14 nautical miles south of Gavdos, a small island south of Crete.
The passengers, whose nationality was not revealed, were all taken to Gavdos.
Many people attempting to reach Crete from Libya drown during the risky crossing.
In early December, 17 people — mostly Sudanese or Egyptian — were found dead after their boat sank off the coast of Crete, and 15 others were reported missing. Only two people survived.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 16,770 people trying to get to Europe have arrived in Crete since the beginning of the year, more than on any other Greek island.
In July, the conservative government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months, particularly those of people arriving from Libya, saying the measure as “absolutely necessary” in the face of the increasing flow of migrants.
The migrants rescued Saturday morning were aboard a fishing boat some 14 nautical miles south of Gavdos, a small island south of Crete.
The passengers, whose nationality was not revealed, were all taken to Gavdos.
Many people attempting to reach Crete from Libya drown during the risky crossing.
In early December, 17 people — mostly Sudanese or Egyptian — were found dead after their boat sank off the coast of Crete, and 15 others were reported missing. Only two people survived.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 16,770 people trying to get to Europe have arrived in Crete since the beginning of the year, more than on any other Greek island.
In July, the conservative government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months, particularly those of people arriving from Libya, saying the measure as “absolutely necessary” in the face of the increasing flow of migrants.
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