Evidence of 30-foot ancient sea monster found in Mississippi
James Starnes
(STARKVILLE, MS) — Geologists working in Mississippi recently stumbled upon an incredible find: the fossil of an ancient marine apex predator.
They uncovered a piece of vertebra they said likely belonged to a mosasaur, a lizard ancestor that lived in the Late Cretaceous period, according to James Starnes, research director for the surface geology and surface mapping divisions for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
On April 15, researchers were collecting rock, sediment and fossil samples just south of Starkville, Mississippi, Starnes said. Poking out from the sediment of a creek bed was the end an “unusually large” lumbar vertebra.
After Starnes pointed it out, Jonathan Leard, the lead author of the MDEQ’s geological map, pulled the vertebra out of the clay.
“Both of us are standing there looking at each other with our jaws wide open because of the size,” Starnes said.
Starnes “immediately” knew they had found a mosasaur based on the shape of the vertebra, he said. The researchers estimated the specimen, determined to be Mosasaurus hoffmannii, was between 30 and 40 feet long when it died, but mosasaurs typically grew to be about 50 feet and weighed 20,000 pounds.
“These animals, like other lizards, are indeterminate,” Starnes said. “That means they just keep growing, with age, until they die.”
Due to its geological formations, the Mississippi region is known for its fossils, but this was especially rare, Starnes said.
Shell fossils are common, as are much younger Ice Age fossils from land animals, such as mastodons and sloths. But mosasaurs have a “very different” vertebra shape than other animals.
“This was distinctly not a mammal,” Starnes said. “This was definitely a sea lizard.”
Mosasaurs, a diverse group of marine lizards, conquered the seas in the Late Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs inhabited various ocean environments.
The Mississippi River occupies an ancient geologic structure called the Mississippi Embayment, which was inundated by the Western Interior Sea Way during the Cretaceous period.
Mosasaur fossils have been found in the area before, but only in much smaller fragments, Starnes noted. This was the largest mosasaur fossil the researchers had ever encountered.
Mosasaurs were fast and agile swimmers with jaws that contained 60 dagger-like teeth that helped them capture large prey, researchers said.
Scientists believe mosasaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, according to Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality researchers.
(LONDON and DELHI) — An Air India airliner carrying 242 passengers and crew en route to the United Kingdom from India crashed shortly after takeoff, with at least one passenger surviving the crash, local officials said.
“The flight, which departed from Ahmedabad at 13:38 hrs, was carrying 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft,” the airline said in a statement posted on social media. “Of these, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 1 Canadian national and 7 Portuguese nationals.”
The Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad confirmed to ABC News that Ramesh Vishwaskumar, one passenger on the downed Air India flight, is alive and hospitalized there.
Officials earlier said no survivors had been expected in the crash.
The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport, in India’s Gujarat state, Malik said Thursday. Boeing’s Dreamliner planes had not previously been involved in an incident where passenger fatalities were reported. This plane had more than 41,000 hours of flying time, which is considered average for this aircraft, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm.
We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information,” Boeing said in a statement.
The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane “fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter” immediately after it departed from the airport. Video from the site appeared to show the jet disappear below the tree line, which was followed seconds later by a ball of fire and a thick plume of gray smoke.
“Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site,” the Directorate General said in the statement.
India’s Central Industrial Security Force released photos from the site of the crash, which appeared to include civilians and emergency personnel working to put out flaming wreckage. One photo appeared to show the damaged tail of the airplane resting partially inside a hole in a building.
The Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said he had “directed all aviation and emergency response agencies to take swift and coordinated action” to respond to the crash.
“Rescue teams have been mobilized, and all efforts are being made to ensure medical aid and relief support are being rushed to the site,” the minister added.
GE Aerospace, the aircraft engine manufacturer, said in a statement they have also activated their emergency response team and are “prepared to support our customer and the investigation.”
The local governor, Bhupendra Patel, spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the crash to coordinate their emergency response, officials said. Patel said he ordered a so-called “green corridor” for emergency vehicles to travel between the crash site and local hospitals.
Modi in a statement confirmed that he’d been in touch with local officials.
“The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us,” he said in a statement on social media. “It is heartbreaking beyond words. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with everyone affected by it.”
The airline initially announced the crash in a statement on social media, saying the flight had been “involved in an incident,” adding that it was “ascertaining the details” of the incident. The airline updated its social media profiles to display all-black profile pictures.
Air India also announced it will organize two relief flights, one each from Delhi and Mumbai, to Ahmedabad for the next of kin passengers and Air India staff.
Tata Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate of companies that owns Air India, said they will provide families of each person who has lost their life in the crash with ₹1 crore (about $116,000) and will also cover the medical expenses of those injured.
The flight was scheduled to fly from Ahmedabad airport, which is officially Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, to London’s Gatwick Airport.
It had been scheduled to depart at 9:50 a.m. local time, with a planned arrival time in London at 18:25 p.m. local time. Gatwick in a statement confirmed the scheduled arrival time.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation in Ahmedabad, adding that his “thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time.”
“The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating,” Starmer said in a statement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement he is “heartbroken to hear the news of the tragic plan crash” and will “stand with the emergency responders working to help those impacted.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also responded to the incident, saying he extends condolences “to the families of the victims grieving this immense loss.”
The captain had 8,200 hours of experience and the copilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience, India’s Directorate General added.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading a team of U.S. investigators traveling to India to assist in the investigation of the crash.
All information regarding the investigation will be provided by the Indian government.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Ellie Kaufman, Clara McMichael, Sam Sweeney and Camilla Alcini contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Over a ton of cocaine worth close to nearly half a billion dollars has been seized from a boat off the coast of Australia, officials have confirmed.
Detectives from the Organised Crime Squad in Australia have charged five people following the seizure of the drugs from a vessel off the New South Wales coast after police there obtained potential intelligence to the drugs following a “suspicious purchase” of a 43-foot-long motor cruiser paid for by just cash in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire on April 28, according to a joint statement from the New South Wales Police Force and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
“On Friday (9 May 2025), as the vessel travelled back to shore – towards South West Rocks – it was intercepted by the Marine Area Command about 9.30am.,” the statement said. “Two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested on board and escorted to shore by the police vessel. They were taken to Coffs Harbour Police Station.”
Approximately 1,110 blocks of cocaine, weighing 1.039 tons were located on the vessel, police confirmed.
“The seized cocaine equates to over a million individual hits, with an estimated potential street value of $623.4 million,” (more than $400 million U.S. dollars) police said.
Three other people – aged 28, 29 and 35 – were simultaneously arrested on shore after investigators stopped two vehicles attempting to leave the South West Rocks area and they were taken to Taree Police Station.
Forensic specialists are currently examining the seized drugs and will be conducting further testing to determine the exact weight and purity of the drugs.
“The two men at Coffs Harbour were charged with supply prohibited drug – large commercial quantity and participate in criminal group,” Australian officials said. “The three men at Taree were charged with take part in supply prohibited drug – large commercial quantity and participate in criminal group.”
All five of the suspects appeared at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday where they were all formally refused bail and mandated to appear at Coffs Harbour Local Court on July 15, authorities said.
“The AFP and NSW Police Force have a long history of disrupting criminal networks attempting to import drugs that destroy our community. Combining our resources and expertise allows us to get successful outcomes like the one we are announcing today,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said. “Australia’s vast coastline is attractive to organised crime groups, who attempt to exploit this by trying to import drugs using boats. The bad news for them is the AFP will continue to work together with our partners to target organised crime syndicates who wrongly believe they can operate with impunity.
NSW Police State Crime Commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Jason Weinstein said these arrests are testament to how rapidly our policing resources can coordinate and stop significant amounts of drug coming into NSW.
“Whether on land or sea, NSW Police have the investigative capability to disrupt and undermine criminal enterprise,” Weinstein said. “This seizure shows how our continuous monitoring of known organised crime methodologies with industry partners, can be actioned into a successful multi-agency operation with those involved immediately arrested to prevent illicit drugs entering NSW. Our ability to pivot and protect the community is evident in this week’s actions. Make no mistake these drugs, if allowed to enter our communities, would have had devastating impacts on people’s lives and social cohesion, particularly in regional townships.”
Investigations into the origin of the drugs and the group’s alleged associates remain ongoing.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Tuesday claimed to have conducted a new attack on Russia’s Kerch Strait Bridge — which links occupied Crimea to Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region — two days after the service’s dramatic drone strikes on Russia’s strategic bomber fleet.
The SBU posted a video, photograph and statement to its official Telegram channel detailing the operation, which it said “lasted several months.”
“SBU agents mined the supports of this illegal facility,” the statement read. “And today, without any civilian casualties, at 4:44 am the first explosive device was activated.”
“The underwater supports of the piers were severely damaged at the bottom level — 1,100 kg of explosives in TNT equivalent contributed to this,” the SBU said. “In fact, the bridge is in a state of emergency.”
SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk said in a statement, “Previously, we hit the Crimean Bridge twice in 2022 and 2023. So, today we continued this tradition under water.”
The official account for the bridge said the structure was “temporarily closed” after the explosion. The Russian Defense Ministry and government are yet to comment.
Meanwhile, at least seven people were killed and 27 were injured across Ukraine overnight into Tuesday as Russia continued long-range attacks on multiple cities, local officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said it recorded 112 Russian drones launched into the country overnight, 75 of which were either shot down or neutralized in flight. The air force reported impacts in 11 locations across the country.
Most of the reported deaths were clustered in two northeastern regions of Ukraine, close to the front lines.
Three people were killed and 20 were injured by a Russian cluster rocket attack on the city of Sumy, local authorities said. At least five rockets landed in open areas of the city center, the Sumy Regional Administration said, including along a busy road filled with cars and morning commuters.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media that the “savage strike” was a “fully deliberate attack on civilians.”
Another three people were killed and six were injured in the Kharkiv region as a result of Russian shelling, the regional military administration said.
One person was killed and 13 were injured by Russian fire in the southern Kherson region, said Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the local military administration.
Five people were also injured by strikes in the northern city of Chernihiv and five others in the southern Black Sea coast city of Odesa, according to officials there.
In his Tuesday morning message, Zelenskyy said the ongoing Russian attacks indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no genuine interest in peace, despite the Kremlin’s participation in ongoing U.S.-brokered talks to end its 3-year-old invasion.
Ukrainian and Russian representatives met in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday for a second round of direct negotiations, the two sides having previously gathered in the city for the first round in May. That meeting allowed the first face-to-face peace talks between the two sides since the spring of 2022.
Ukraine is demanding a full 30-day ceasefire during which time peace negotiations can take place. Zelenskyy also said ahead of Monday’s meeting that Kyiv wants the release of all prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia during Moscow’s invasion. Zelenskyy also suggested direct future talks with Putin.
In a “peace memorandum” delivered to Ukraine’s negotiating team on Monday, Russia set out similar maximalist demands to those issued during the opening days of its spring 2022 invasion.
Among the demands are a Ukrainian withdrawal from all four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims — Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk — including areas that Russian troops do not occupy. Moscow said it would accept a ceasefire if Ukraine agreed to stop receiving foreign weapons and end mobilization — two demands Kyiv has rejected.
Moscow is also demanding limitations on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, a permanent block on Ukrainian NATO accession, international recognition of Russian control over the areas of Ukraine it claims, the lifting of all sanctions and Ukraine to abandon its demand for war reparations to be paid by Moscow.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Tuesday that there was no significant breakthrough during Monday’s talks. “It would be wrong to expect any immediate decisions or breakthroughs here,” he said. “But work is ongoing.”
A meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump “is unlikely in the near future,” Peskov continued.
Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — wrote on Telegram that the talks “are not meant to achieve a compromise peace based on some imaginary and unrealistic conditions invented by others, but rather to secure our swift victory and the complete destruction” of Zelenskyy’s government.
Zelenskyy on Tuesday said it is “obvious: without global pressure — without decisive actions from the United States, Europe, and everyone in the world who has the power — Putin will not agree even to a ceasefire.”
“Not a single day goes by without Russia striking Ukrainian cities and villages,” the president continued.
“Every day, we lose our people to Russian terror. Every day, Russia gives new reasons for tougher sanctions and stronger support for our defense. I am grateful to everyone around the world who is promoting exactly this agenda: sanctions for aggression and the killing of people, and assistance in defending the lives of Ukrainians.”
Ukraine continued its own long-range strike campaign into Russia overnight. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces downed eight Ukrainian drones on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
Monday’s Istanbul talks were held despite Ukraine’s audacious covert operation targeting Russian strategic bombers on Sunday, in which drones concealed in the back of trucks attacked at least five airfields deep inside Russian territory.
Zelenskyy told ABC News’ Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that the attack was a “strategic operation” that “is definitely reducing Russia’s potential, and demonstrates that Ukraine is working on certain steps.”
“Unless they will stop, we will continue,” he said.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the Trump administration’s involvement, Zelenskyy told Raddatz, “We are looking for very strong steps on the part of President Trump to support the sanctions and to force President Putin to stop this war, or at least proceed with the first stage of putting an end to this war — that is the ceasefire.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
