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A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 16 OcTOber 2018

France: 12 die in floods unseen in more than a century

By JOHN LEICESTER are in water. I go to the
Associated Press kitchen, I open the door.
PARIS (AP) — Flash floods Impossible. I am trying hard
that tore through several and then the water rose up
towns in southwest France to my belly,” the resident,
following an overnight who was identified only as
storm killed at least 12 peo- Jean-Marc, told the broad-
ple, authorities said Mon- caster. “We took what we
day. Some residents had could and went to the at-
to be helicoptered from tic. So I had to take the lad-
rooftops as the equivalent der that was behind the
of several months of rain house and had water up
poured down in a few hours to my torso. I was terribly
and turned waterways into afraid.”
raging torrents. Some of the dead ap-
Initially, the French Interior peared to have been
Ministry reported 13 deaths swept away by floodwa-
from the floods in the Aude ters, Aude prefect Alain
region. French officials low- Thirion said. In the town of
ered the number to 10 lat- Conques-sur-Orbiel, the
er, saying some victims had river rose by more than six
been counted twice. The meters (20 feet), and flood-
Interior Ministry and Aude waters were in some cases
officials put it at 12 after People try to pull a car out of a torrent after flash floods in the town of Villegailhenc, southern too powerful for emergen-
two more bodies were re- France, Monday, Oct.15, 2018. cy services to get through,
covered in the towns of Associated Press even on boats, he said.
Trebes and Carcassonne. overflowed from the ex- Siguet, 17, posted video of quickly inundated homes. Vigicrues, the French agen-
At least six of the deaths ceptional rainfall, and the a ripped-up road where a A Villegailhenc resident cy that monitors rivers for
happened in Trebes, flooding was the region’s bridge used to stand. described for French news flood risks, said water levels
Mayor Eric Menassi said. worst in more than a centu- “There’s nothing left. There’s channel BFMTV how little in the Aude region were
Eight people were injured ry, the French agency that just a hole,” the teenager, time there was to escape. higher than at any time
throughout the affected monitors flood risks said. whose school was closed “It was raining, raining, rain- since 1891.
region and one person was In the town of Villegailhenc, amid the destruction, told ing and my wife says to me, Television images showed
missing as of late Monday. resident Ines Siguet said The Associated Press. “It ‘We can hear water, switch water coursing through
The River Aude that flows floodwaters rose so quickly was very violent.” on the light.’ So I switch on towns and villages, strand-
through towns such as Car- after the rains swept in from Residents described vio- the light and nothing, it’s ing cars and piling them on
cassonne and Trebes was the Mediterranean that lent walls of water that pitch black. So, what do I top of each other like chil-
among the waterways that residents fled to rooftops. crashed through doors and do? I get up and my feet dren’s toys.q

Germany deports convicted 9/11 accomplice home to Morocco

By DAVID RISING It wasn’t immediately clear “I swear by God that I did
Associated Press what awaited him in Mo- know the attackers were
BERLIN (AP) — A Moroccan rocco. in America,” he shouted
man convicted of help- El Motassadeq was con- in accented German at
ing Mohamed Atta and victed of being part of the a sentencing hearing. “I
the other Hamburg-based so-called Hamburg cell, swear by God that I did not
Sept. 11 suicide pilots as including Atta and fellow know what they wanted to
they plotted attacks on Sept. 11 pilots Marwan al- do.”
New York and Washington Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah. Originally arrested in Ham-
was deported Monday German courts ruled that burg in November 2001, el
from Germany to his home- el Motassadeq was aware Motassadeq was convict-
land. the three planned to hijack ed in 2003 of membership
German authorities con- and crash planes, even in a terrorist organization
firmed that Mounir el Mo- though he might not have and thousands of counts of
tassadeq was aboard a known specifics of the plot. accessory to murder — tak-
plane that had taken off They said el Motassadeq ing into account victims on
from Frankfurt airport in the helped “watch the attack- the ground — becoming
evening. In this Jan. 8, 2007 file picture Moroccan Mounir El Motassadeq ers’ backs and conceal the first person convicted
waits prior his trial at a court in Hamburg, northern Germany,
El Motassadeq was con- The Moroccan man has been sentenced to a 15-year prison them” by helping them anywhere on charges re-
victed of membership in a sentence in Germany for helping three of the suicide pilots in keep up the appearance lated to Sept. 11. He was
terrorist organization and the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. of being university students sentenced to the maxi-
accessory to the murder Associated Press paying tuition and rent and mum 15 years in prison.
of the 246 passengers and Interior Minister Andy Grote leased shortly before com- transferring money. However, a federal court
crew on the four jetliners told The Associated Press. pleting his 15-year-sen- El Motassadeq acknowl- overturned that verdict in
used in the 9/11 attacks in Earlier in the day, he had tence on the condition that edged training at an al- 2004, largely because of
2001. been taken from a Ham- he agreed to be deported Qaida camp in Afghani- a lack of evidence from
“It’s a good feeling to know burg prison to Frankfurt air- to Morocco. That would al- stan but insisted he knew al-Qaida suspects in U.S.
that Mr. Motassadeq is out port. low Germany to re-arrest nothing of his friends’ plans custody, and sent the case
of the country,” Hamburg’s El Motassadeq was re- him if he ever returned. to attack the U.S. back to Hamburg.q