Cyclone Ilsa: Stranded Indonesian fishermen rescued after six days without food

One of the two fishing boats was washed ashore on Bedwell island - but the other one sunk in stormy weather, survivors said

Eleven Indonesian fishermen have been rescued after surviving for six days without food or water on a tiny island off Australia’s coast.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said they were airlifted to safety on Monday from Bedwell Island, some 330km (205 miles) west of the town of Broome in Western Australia.

But nine others are feared dead.

The survivors said their two boats were hit by the powerful Tropical Cyclone Ilsa last week, sinking one boat.

Nine of the 10 crew members on that vessel are still missing.

The sole survivor is reported to have been in the ocean for hours, clinging onto a jerry can, before being picked up by the fishermen from the other boat, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

That boat was pictured washed ashore on the small Bedwell Island.

The surviving fishermen were eventually spotted by an Australian Border Force aircraft, and evacuated by a rescue helicopter to Broome, where they are being treated in hospital.

They are “all reported to be in good health despite their ordeal”, a Border Force spokesperson said, as quoted by the ABC, adding that the government was now working to “repatriate the group as soon as practical”.

Cyclone Ilsa, the strongest storm in the region in about 14 years, hit Western Australia last week - but it spared populated areas from major damage.

Bedwell island lies near the Rowley Shoals - a series of coral reefs off Western Australia’s coast.

Source: BBC

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) has commenced capacity building of artisans and craftsmen in the built industry to address the challenge of skills’ dearth and skill importation in the country.

The NIOB President Prof. Yohana Izam said this at the 2023 Mandatory Continuous Professional Workshop for External Quality Assurance Managers recently in Abuja.

Izam represented by 2nd Vice President, NIOB, Mr Bimbo Kolade said that the the two-day capacity workshop was organised by the Artisans and Craftsmen Qualification Awarding Board of NIOB

Izam said the workshop was inline with the National Skills Qualification programme of the Government.

“The nation is coming up with the skill qualification. Our youth rather than just going to acquire an education they should alongside with the education acquire a skill.

” And under the National Skill Qualification framework, the Nigerian institute or building is the awarding body that awards skill qualification certificate for the construction workers.

“There are levels with which you go through before you can be and you get qualified in this various levels of training.”

According to him, there are seven trades and these include plumbing, piping jobs, carpentry, aluminum framework, masonry and roofing.

” So we have three levels of assessor, there is the Quality Assurance Assessor. The Internal Verifier Assessor, those ones superintend over the QAA.

“In this training that you are doing now, there is a specialized training for those who are at the highest level of the skill acquisition society which are the External Quality Assurance Assessors. These are quality assurance is managers.

“The participants come from all over the Federation, for now within the construction industry sector, we have 25 of them that are already qualified.

“We have seen some of them going into Morocco or the United Kingdom from where they are recognised and they can practice as quality assurance assessors even in those countries,” Izam said.

Dr Christopher Belonwu, Chairman Artisans and Craftsmen Qualification Awarding Board, said the essence of this training was to bring the participants, up to speed with current practice National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

“At the end of the training you know that so many intervention projects linked to this NSQ, you have the n-power project, the n-skills project, the world Bank ideas project, project teamers, are all on NSQ.

“We want to make sure that all these various intervention projects, the ones that are