INDONESIA: Indonesian rescuers today recovered wreckage from a missing plane that is believed to have crashed the previous day with 11 people on board while approaching a mountainous region on Sulawesi island during cloudy weather.

The turboprop ATR 42-500 was on its way from Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s main island of Java to Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi province, when it vanished from radar on Saturday shortly.

GUATEMALA: Hundreds of anti-riot police entered a maximum-security prison in Guatemala early today to free guards who had been taken hostage and retake control of the facility that houses gang leaders. 

Shots sounded as police swept into the Renovation prison, about 47 miles south-west of Guatemala City.

About 15 minutes later, reporters saw guards being escorted from the prison. They appeared to be unharmed. No injuries or deaths were immediately reported.

CHINA: An explosion at a factory in China’s Inner Mongolia region killed two people and left 66 others in hospital today.

China’s Xinhua news agency said the blast occurred at a plant of Baogang United Steel in the city of Baotou at around 3pm local time.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the blast, the agency said.

SOUTH AFRICA: South African authorities today declared a national disaster after torrential rains and floods killed at least 30 people in the northern part of the country and damaged thousands of homes and washed away roads and bridges.

The declaration was made by the head of the National Disaster Management Centre and announced by the government. It allows the national government to co-ordinate the response to the disaster.