A five minute bulletin for English language learners
Welcome to SBS News in Easy English.
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At least five people have died and 87 are missing after a ferry caught fire in waters near in the Philippines island of Palawan.
According to the country's coast guard, a total of 42 people (38 passengers and four crew) have been rescued, since the fire broke out about two kilometres offshore.
Speaking to a local radio station, Captain Noemi Cayabyab says the passenger vessel MV June Aster - which departed from Manila - had listed 134 passengers and crew on board.
In a social media clip on Facebook posted by the coast guard, the vessel is seen completely engulfed in flames.
Captain Cayabyab says the search and rescue operations are ongoing and the numbers of the dead and missing may change.
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This RU OK? Day, members of the Nepali diaspora in Australia are warning of the need to take care when viewing updates on the flood disaster on social media.
The United Nations says 1,367 people are confirmed dead and 5,132 remain missing, with the organisation's resident coordinator in Kathmandu, Lila Pieters Yahia, appealing for $50 million to help survivors.
Speaking to SBS Nepali, a former President of Australian Nepalese Journalist Association, Chiranjebi Raj Devkota, says asking someone if they're ok can help a lot.
He says he's developed a strategy to cope with the videos he sees online.
"We need to be very cautious about consuming those kind of videos. We need to take care of our mental health as well when we are looking into these kind of videos. Usually I just switch off the every electronics devices which is giving those kind of information, and then I start to walk, you know, uh, for half an hour or one hour. After that, I have found that, you know, the stress level is definitely down."
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The latest national drowning report from Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia shows 313 people died in Australian waterways and oceans in the past year.
The figures are prompting calls to address growing inequalities, with drowning rates significantly higher in regional and remote areas compared to major cities.
This year's toll remains 10 per cent above the 10-year average, while Australia is still behind its target to cut drowning deaths by 50 per cent by 2030.
CEO of Royal Lifesaving Australia, Dr Justin Scarr, says people in regional areas are more than three times more likely to drown than those living in the city.
"People living in country towns, in the bush, they really struggle to get access to swimming and water safety lessons, often the local pool is not open frequently enough, and of course the waterways in inland communities are deeply concerning, very, very dangerous, often the flat still calm appearance of perhaps the local river or lake, it really hides sudden drop offs, significant changes in water temperature, snags and currents that really can catch people unawares if they don't have strong swimming skills."
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