It was supposed to be just another Thursday in Laos, where Anthonin’s father was born.

Instead, the 30-year-old French citizen found himself among more than 140 people, mostly tourists, on a ferry that capsized in the Mekong River. All but three are thought to have made it to safety.

Videos online show a scene of chaos – people screaming for help, children crying and passengers scrambling to get their belongings.

Anthonin, who declined to give his full name, recalls seeing a mother and her two children on board the ferry – but they were nowhere to be seen on the rescue boat.

On Monday, Lao media reported that the body of a woman, named Pany Her, had been retrieved from the river. Rescuers then found the body of a one-year-old, who they believe was one of her children. Efforts to find a second child are continuing.

The boat was making its way last Thursday from the riverside town of Huay Xay to the historic city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, a common route along the Mekong – and popular with visitors to the country.

There were 118 tourists and 29 locals, including four crew, on board the boat when it struck underwater rocks, according to an official report carried by the Laotian Times.

Within minutes, the ferry began to sink.

“The [crew] were just totally unprepared for that. There was a lot of confusion… it happened really, really fast,” Anthonin said.

“What was, you know, puzzling and alarming is that there were very few life jackets, around like, 15 life jackets maximum… [it] was really bad.”

As the boat continued to capsize, passengers shouted to a passing boat for help, but it did not stop – possibly because, according to him, it was relatively small.

The second one, however, did stop and take them in. However, according to British tourist Bradley Cook, another passenger on board, that briefly “made it worse”.

The 27-year-old told the BBC that as the rescue boat came closer to their ferry, people started to shift and put weight on one side of the ferry, causing water to fill up the hull even quicker.

Mr Cook went to the other side to climb up on the roof, from where he jumped onto the rescue ferry.

Some people managed to climb over to the ferry, while others swam for it, hung onto the rails and got pulled up by others. Both Anthonin and Mr Cook were among those rescued.

But others were less fortunate.

Anthonin says he was helping some other passengers retrieve their luggage at the back of the sinking ferry when he saw a Lao mother and her two children.

However, when he was on the rescue ferry, he realised they weren’t there.

“Some people were crying, panicking. It was a mess,” he said. “[But] I didn’t fear for my life… I was more affected by the three missing people.”

Lao media later reported that the body of the Lao woman Pany Her and a one-year-old child were found, separately, near Luang Prabang.

Another passenger, Gabrielius Baranovičius, 19, told the BBC that he and his friend, both of whom are from Lithuania, did not panic at first.

“We were just joking around,” Mr Baranovičius said, adding that his attitude quickly changed when he realised they were sinking.

After getting on the rescue boat, Mr Baranovičius said he starting filming what was happening on board “but then I heard other people screaming so [I] turned off the camera and went straight to help other people in the water get on the boat.”

Tens of thousands of tourists use slow boat and speedboat services every year along the 300km (185-mile) route connecting Huay Xay, Pak Beng and Luang Prabang, according to the Mekong River Commission.

For Mr Cook, the experience was “terrifying” and it made him want to get out of Luang Prabang, “although everyone’s really friendly here”, because it was a constant reminder of his narrow escape.

Speaking to the BBC from Vang Vieng, a town in northern Laos, Mr Cook said he planned to file for insurance claims for his electrical items that were broken and for cash that was lost, though he was not sure who would be held responsible.

“I’m assuming it’s just a freak accident,” he said, though he added he “was not sure how avoidable” the ferry capsizing was.

It’s not the first time such a sinking has occurred in Laos.

In September 2023, a passenger boat, which travelled on the same river corridor between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang, capsized in the Mekong in Pakbeng district, resulting in three deaths.

The boat reportedly became entangled in a fishing net, causing loss of control and the vessel overturning in strong currents.

People escaping fighting, lack of essential supplies in Heglig area faced with tough humanitarian conditions in search for shelter and safety.

Kosti, Sudan – The flow of displaced people fleeing the fighting in Sudan shows no sign of slowing – the latest hailing from Heglig.

In early December, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the strategic Heglig oilfield in West Kordofan province after its rival, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), withdrew from the area.

Nearly 1,700 displaced people, most of them children and women, escaped the fighting in the southern region and the lack of basic necessities.

Some of them were fortunate enough to board trucks as they fled from their towns and villages in the area. After an arduous journey, the displaced people arrived at their new home – the Gos Alsalam displacement camp in Kosti, a city in the White Nile province.

“We left without anything … we just took some clothes,” said an elderly woman who appeared exhausted and frail.

Inside the camp, the people arriving are faced with extremely harsh humanitarian conditions. Tents are being pitched in haste, but as the number of displaced people grows, so do the immense humanitarian needs. Yet, humanitarian support remains insufficient to cover even the bare minimum.

“We have no blankets or any sheets, nothing. We are old people,” said a displaced elderly woman.

‘I gave birth in the street’

Nearly three years of war between the RSF and SAF have forced 14 million people to flee their homes in a desperate attempt to find shelter and safety away from the heavy fighting that has killed tens of thousands.

Some 21 million across the country are facing acute hunger, in what the United Nations calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

In a small corner of the Gos Alsalam camp, Umm Azmi sits next to her newborn baby. She recalled how she was overtaken by labour on the road and delivered her baby in the open air without any medical assistance.

“I was trying for nine months … but I gave birth in the street – the condition is very difficult,” the mother said.

“I had just given birth, and I had nothing to eat. Sometimes we eat anything we find in the streets,” she added.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a pill version of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, according to pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.

It is the first pill of its kind to receive approval from the regulator, marking a new era for weight-loss drugs.

Wegovy’s Danish makers Novo Nordisk said the once-daily pill was a “convenient option” to the injectable and would provide the same weight loss as the shot. It comes after Wegovy was approved by the FDA specifically for weight loss.

Others like Ozempic, which has similar weight-loss effects, were primarily approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

The BBC has contacted the FDA for comment.

The Wegovy pill showed an average weight loss of 16.6% during Novo Nordisk’s trials, the firm said on Monday.

A third of around 1,300 participants experienced 20% or greater weight loss in the same trial, it added.

The pill is expected to be launched in the US in early January 2026.

“Patients will have a convenient, once-daily pill that can help them lose as much weight as the original Wegovy injection,” said Mike Doustdar, the firm’s chief executive.

The pill version of Wegovy could give Novo Nordisk’s sales a boost after a challenging year which saw its shares slide as it warned over its profits.

The company has faced intense competition in the weight-loss market from rival drugmakers like Eli Lilly.

Novo Nordisk’s shares rose by almost 10% in after-hours trade in New York after the announcement.

United States President Donald Trump has issued a new warning to Nicolas Maduro, saying “it would be smart” for the Venezuelan leader to leave power, as Washington escalates a pressure campaign against Caracas.

The warning on Monday came as Russia pledged “full support” for Maduro’s government, and China condemned the US’s seizure of two oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela.

Trump, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida alongside his top national security aides, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, suggested that he remains ready to further escalate his four-month pressure campaign.

When asked if the ⁠goal was to force Maduro from power, Trump told reporters: “Well, I think it probably would… That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it’d be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re gonna find out.”

“If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the ​last time he’s ever able to play ‌tough,” he added.

Trump levied his latest threat as the US coastguard continued for a second day to chase a third oil tanker that it described as part of a “dark fleet” that Venezuela uses to evade US sanctions.

“It’s moving along, and we’ll end up getting it,” Trump said.

The US president also promised to keep the ships and the nearly 4 million barrels of Venezuelan oil the coastguard has seized so far.

“Maybe we’ll sell it. Maybe we’ll keep it. Maybe we will use it in the strategic reserves,” he said. “We’re keeping it. We’re keeping the ships also.”

Maduro fires back

Trump’s campaign against Venezuela’s vital oil sector comes amid a large US military buildup in the region with a stated mission of combating drug trafficking, as well as more than two dozen strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation.

Critics have questioned the legality of the attacks, which have killed more than 100 people.

Venezuela denies any involvement in drug trafficking and insists that Washington is seeking to overthrow Maduro to seize the country’s oil reserves, which are the world’s largest.

It has condemned the US’s vessel seizures as acts of “international piracy”.

Maduro fired back at Trump hours after the latest warning, saying the US president would be “better off” if he focused on his own country’s problems rather than threatening Caracas.

“He would be better off in his own country on economic and social issues, and he would be better off in the world if he took care of his country’s affairs,” Maduro said in a speech broadcast on public television.

The exchange of words came on the eve of a United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss the growing crisis.

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil, slammed the US’s actions and expressed support for Caracas.

“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added.

US blockade

China also condemned the US’s latest moves as a “serious violation of international law”.

“China opposes any actions that violate the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and infringe upon the sovereignty and security of other countries,” said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“Venezuela has the right to develop independently and engage in a mutually beneficial cooperation with other nations. China understands and supports Venezuela’s stance in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests,” he added.

Last week, Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.

Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine”.

US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution on the war in Ukraine

Gil, on Monday, also read a letter on state television, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning that the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.

“Venezuela reaffirms its vocation for peace, but also declares with absolute clarity that it is prepared to defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity and its resources in accordance with international law,” he said.

“However, we responsibly warn that these aggressions will not only impact Venezuela. The blockade and piracy against Venezuelan energy trade will affect oil and energy supply, increase instability in international markets, and hit the economies of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the world, especially in the most vulnerable countries.”