USA Today - 09.10.2019

2A z WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 z USA TODAY NEWS

At least 11 wild elephants died after

plunging from a waterfall in a national

park in Thailand, wildlife officials said

Tuesday.

Five elephant carcasses were con-

firmed Tuesday from drone cameras

days after six elephants were first

spotted, said Sompote Maneerat,

spokesman for the National Parks,

Wildlife and Plant Conservation De-

partment.

The animals were found at Haew Na-

rok– Ravine of Hell – waterfall in Khao

Yai National Park.

Park officials said five adult ele-

phants and a calf were found at the wa-

terfall Saturday. Officials said the baby

elephant drowned and the five adults,

found in a ravine below the baby, fell try-

ing to reach it.

The five additional elephants con-

firmed Tuesday were from the same

herd, and only two elephants from the

herd survived the incident, said Natta-

pong Sirichanam, governor of Nakhon

Nayok province, according to Reuters.

The two surviving elephants had

been trapped on a cliff above the baby

elephant, park officials said.

A similar incident killed eight ele-

phants at the same waterfall in 1992,

and Sompote said the 11th death is the

highest number of elephants to die in a

single incident in Khao Yai.

According to Reuters, 3,500 to 3,

wild elephants remain in Thailand.

The park is home to about 300 ele-

phants,the news agency reported.

Asian elephants are classified as

endangered by the International

Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The surviving elephants will prob-

ably experience grief. When two ele-

phants died this year at an Indianapo-

lis zoo, officials confirmed that the rest

of the herd reacted emotionally.

“We know that elephants grieve.

They are intensely social,” Indianapo-

lis Zoo President Rob Shumaker said.

Contributing: Joel Shannon, USA

TODAY; The Associated Press

Two elephants are trapped on a cliff at a waterfall at Khao Yai National Park in

central Thailand on Saturday. PANUPONG CHANGCHAI/THAI NEWS PIX VIA AFP/GETTY IMAGES

11 elephants die trying

to save drowned calf

Ryan W. Miller

USA TODAY

HAGATNA, Guam – A 15-year-old

boy fell about 100 feet from a cliffinto

the water off Guam on Tuesday. He

suffered serious injuries but was alert

and conscious when first responders

reached him, Guam Fire Department

officials said.

A crew on a rescue boat pulled the

boy from the water, said Kevin Reilly, a

Guam firefighter and department

spokesman. The crew took him to the

Hagatna marina and then to an ambu-

lance to take him to the hospital.

The boy had multiple lacerations

and injuries to his head and body from

the fall from Jonestown Cliff on the

western side of Guam, Assistant Fire

Chief Daren Burrier said, but rescue

units had responded quickly.

The boy was stable on the way to

the hospital, Burrier said.

Ocean conditions in the Mariana Is-

lands, which Guam is a part of, were par-

ticularly threatening Tuesday with a ty-

phoon in the area. Guam, which is in the

western Pacific Ocean, is about 5,

miles west of San Francisco and nearly

1,600 miles east of Manila, Philippines.

Super Typhoon Hagibis passed over

Anatahan at 1 a.m. local timeTuesday,

according to the National Weather Ser-

vice. By 10 a.m., Hagibis was moving

away from the Marianas.

But Hagibis continued to affect the

region, and Burrier cautioned residents

to heed weather advisories. He said the

skies may clear up and the sun might be

out in the next few days, but the water

will still be rough.

The weather service had issued a

high surf warning and a high surf advi-

sory Tuesday for Guam and Rota. The

surf advisory is in effect until about Fri-

day morning.

Teen survives 100-foot

fall off Guam cliff

Jasmine Stole Weiss

Pacific Daily News

USA TODAY NETWORK

A former university professor in

Philadelphia spent tens of thousands of

dollars in federal money for local strip

clubs and sports bars over a 10-year pe-

riod, the Justice Department said.

Dr. Chikaodinaka D. Nwankpamis-

used $189,062of government grants

from July 2007 through April 2017

while working at Drexel University, ac-

cording to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The university has agreed to pay back

the money to resolve its potential civil li-

ability in the case. Drexel said Tuesday

in a statement to USA TODAY that it

takes “allegations of unethical or unlaw-

ful business conduct ... very seriously.”

The government’s investigation be-

gan in 2017after Drexel voluntarily

disclosed fraudulent charges to eight

federal grants that it received from the

Navy, the Department of Energyand the

National Science Foundation.

The grants were supposed to be spent

on research related to energy and naval

technology, but an internal audit re-

vealed Nwankpa used the money for per-

sonal iTunes purchases and for “goods

and services” provided by Cheerleaders,

Club Risque and Tacony Club.

The Justice Department said Drexel

has been cooperative in the govern-

ment’s investigation to determine the

scope of the former professor’s spending.

Drexel said that Nwankpa was placed

on administrative leave during the in-

vestigation. He subsequently resigned

from his position, paid back the univer-

sity $53,328and was barred from feder-

al contracting for six months. He has not

been charged with a crime. Nwankpa

had been with the university since 1990,

according to his Drexel faculty bio.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Professor’s strip club visits

cost Drexel University $190K

Adrianna Rodriguez

USA TODAY

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