Three bodies have been recovered from waters off WA tourist destination Rottnest Island after a seaplane crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday.
The premier, Roger Cook, confirmed today that the victims were a Perth resident and two tourists, believed to be from Switzerland and Denmark. The seven passengers on board included three couples, with a Swiss man and Danish woman among the four survivors airlifted to hospital.
Top news
Rapidly spreading California wildfire destroys homes and threatens Getty Villa Museum north of Santa Monica
Nick Kyrgios in doubt for Australian Open after fresh injury scare
Man accused of setting fire to Caulfield racecourse grandstand faces court
Soldier who exploded Cybertruck in Las Vegas used ChatGPT to plan attack
‘A snowball’s chance in hell’: Trudeau rejects Trump threat to annex Canada
In pictures
For today’s selection of photos from around the world, the Guardian’s picture editors have showcased Ghanaians gathering for the inauguration of their new president, John Mahama, on 7 January.
What they said …
***
“This is one of the best times of my entire life.”
After being snowed in with 33 people at Britain’s highest pub for four days, Barry Newitt was in no hurry to leave once a local farmer came to the rescue on his tractor. “I mean, look out there,” the Londoner said. “Have you ever seen scenery like that?”
In numbers
The latest ABS data has shown the inflation rate rose in November. The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said inflation figures have been within the RBA’s target range for four months, but the central bank will “come to its own decision” on cutting interest rates.
Before bed read
When a beloved family member texted Alex Michael “how are you doing?”, he replied that he had beat all his friends in a new game. But the response that followed shocked him. “A solitary yellow thumb,” he writes. “What the hell? Everybody knows ‘thumbs up’ is code for ‘I don’t care about your Mario Party!’”
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: SHAM. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter.
