Wednesday, December 12, 2007
** Alaskan authorities call off search for missing air ambulance
** Middle East religious leaders gather to help save medics’ lives
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Despite only finding one of the deceased crew members from a missing Alaska air ambulance, rescue authorities have now called off a search for survivors. The Anchorage Daily News (Beth Bragg/December 11) said the stand down comes amidst a full week of inclement weather. On Monday, authorities said it is likely the BK117 Eurocopter crashed into a fjord near Whittier, with wreckage at a water depth beyond divers’ ability to reach. Now a recovery effort, any attempts to locate wreckage will be spearheaded by the Alaska State Troopers. The National Transportation Safety Board will also become involved. Missing and presumed dead is paramedic Cameron Carter, 24, pilot Lance Brabham, 42, and patient Gaye McDowell, 60.
MIDDLE EAST NEWS
** Preserving the lives of medics is the idea behind a meeting today involving Christian, Jewish, and Islamic representatives. That is the word from The Jerusalem Post (Matthew Wagner/December 11) which said the get together in Haifa entitled, “The Three Monotheistic Approaches to the Value of Lifesaving”, Â is aimed at hammering out a common code of conduct for EMS workers toiling with Magen David Adom (MDA), the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. MDA public relations spokesman Eli Jaffe said he hopes the declaration will influence the public to lay off attacking prehospital workers. Jaffe said practitioners have had several narrow escapes, with one instance seeing a unit set alight in east Jerusalem before an Arab EMS worker intervened.
