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Fire Accident
About 40 people were killed and another 115 injured, most of them seriously, after a fire ripped through a bar's New Year celebration in a Swiss Alpine resort less than two hours after midnight Thursday, police said. Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased. The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue, and overnight, its crowded Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of potentially one of Switzerland's worst tragedies. Valais Canton police commander Frederic Gisler said during a news conference that work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the community is devastated. Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage. At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack, Pilloud said. Axel Clavier, a 16-year-old from Paris who survived the
The sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa village was disqualified, and the then secretary of the local panchayat was dismissed from service by the Goa government on Wednesday after they were indicted in a magisterial inquiry committee report on a nightclub fire that killed 25 people. In two different orders, Director of Panchayat, Mahadev Araundekar, disqualified the sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa, Roshan Redkar, and dismissed the then panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar from government service. Based on the findings of the magisterial inquiry report released earlier in the day, Araundekar termed Redkar's conduct as "persistent remiss of duties." "The breach of the public trust resulted in a catastrophe, causing the death of 25 people," stated the order, passed under section 50(5) of the Goa Panchayati Raj Act. Redkar is removed from membership of the panchayat and debarred from holding any office in a panchayat for five years. The order regarding the dismissal of the then secretary of Arpora-Nagoa
A fire at an Indonesian retirement home killed 16 older people on Sunday evening, police said. The fire in the single-story house in Manado, Indonesia's North Sulawesi Province, started while the residents were asleep, police said Monday. The team on the ground has confirmed that the death toll currently is 16," North Sulawesi police spokesperson Alamsyah Hasibuan said. "Fifteen of them were burned to death, while one victim's body remains intact." There were 15 survivors who were treated at two hospitals in Manado, Hasibuan said. The bodies of victims were taken to a hospital for identification with the assistance of families, officials said. Firefighters with six trucks needed more than two hours to extinguish the blaze after nearby residents reported the fire to emergency services, officials said. Television reports Sunday showed bright flames casting an orange glow and filling the night air with smoke. Body bags were lined up outside the retirement home. Neighbours reportedl
A man was killed after two compartments of the Tatanagar-Ernakulam Express caught fire at Yalamanchili, about 66 km from here, a senior police official said on Monday. The official said they received information about the fire at 12:45 am. The official told reporters that there were 82 passengers in one of the affected coaches and 76 in another when the train caught fire. "Unfortunately, a dead body was found from the B1 coach," the official added. The deceased was identified as Chandrsekhar Sundaram. The two damaged coaches were detached from the train, which proceeded towards Ernakulam. The passengers in the damaged coaches will be sent to their destinations. Two forensic teams are working to ascertain the cause of the fire, the police official said.
Ajay Gupta, one of the four co-owners of 'Birch by Romeo Lane' nightclub in Goa, where 25 persons were killed in a fire earlier this month, on Thursday filed a bail application in a court in Mapusa town. Gupta was arrested in New Delhi by the Goa Police on December 10, following which a court in Mapusa remanded him in police custody for seven days. Twenty-five persons, including 20 staff members and five tourists, were killed in the major blaze at the nightclub at Arpora in North Goa around midnight of December 6. Gupta, who is currently in the custody of the Anjuna police, applied for bail before the District Judge in Mapusa. Senior lawyer Rohan Desai will represent him. The court is likely to hear the bail application later in the day, and notices will be issued to the state police seeking their response. So far, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case, including Gupta, and two other owners - Gaurav Luthra and his brother Saurabh - who were deported from ...
Authorities have sealed 'The Cape Goa', a prominent restaurant located on a cliff in South Goa district, for violation of fire and other safety norms, officials said on Tuesday. The Tourism Department had granted permission for one temporary private shack, but it was observed that the establishment was operating a full-fledged restaurant beyond the sanctioned plinth area, according to the sealing order issued on Monday. Continued operation of the premises without mandatory safety clearances poses an imminent, grave and real threat to human life and property, particularly in the event of fire, electrical short-circuit, structural failure, or any emergency requiring evacuation, it said. The action comes after a massive fire at a nightclub in Arporal, North Goa, on December 6 claimed 25 lives. Chairperson of the joint enforcement and monitoring committee, Canacona taluka, Maya Pednekar, on Monday issued the order to seal 'The Cape Goa', located on a cliff at Cabo de Rama Fort in Kuddi
A magisterial inquiry committee has questioned original landowner Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Arpora-Nagoa sarpanch Roshan Redkar in connection with the devastating fire at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in North Goa. Amonkar was summoned at 3.30 pm on Saturday and questioned till 10.30 pm, his lawyer Prasenjeet Dhage said, adding that the panel wanted to know "why this incident happened". "My client had a warrant of appearance before the committee," he said. "It was a very intensive and vigorous inquiry," the lawyer added. The Goa government has constituted a committee headed by district magistrate Ankit Yadav to inquire into the December 6 fire incident which claimed 25 lives. Arpora-Nagoa panchayat sarpanch Roshan Redkar told reporters that he answered the committee's questions. He has already obtained pre-arrest bail from a local court in connection with the case. The Goa police have arrested five managers and staff members of the club. Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra, co
A massive fire broke out early Saturday on the ground floor of a 12-storey mixed-use building in a market in Bangladesh's capital city, officials said. However, no casualties were reported in the blaze at Jabal E Nur Tower, and fire service officials rescued at least 42 people from the building, the state-run BSS news agency reported. The incident marks the second major fire in a multi-storey building in Dhaka in two months. On October 14, a massive blaze ripped through a chemical warehouse and an adjacent garments factory in the capital, killing at least 16 people. According to news portal tbsnews.net, the Fire Service and Civil Defence received information about the blaze at 5:37 am local time and firefighting units reached the scene at around 5:45 am. Fire service media officer Anwarul Islam said 18 firefighting units were deployed to bring the blaze under control. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel were also deployed at the site to assist in maintaining law and order, ...
The Goa police on Tuesday detained Ajay Gupta, one of the four owners of 'Birch by Romeo Lane' nightclub, where a devastating fire claimed the lives of 25 persons. The state police had earlier issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Gupta and another owner Surinder Kumar Khosla. "We have detained Ajay Gupta, one of the owners of the nightclub. This is the sixth person to be held in connection with the case," a Goa police spokesperson said. "Earlier, an LOC was issued against him as a police team had failed to find him at his Delhi residence when it visited it there," he said, adding that Gupta was later found in the national capital and was detained. He will soon be placed under arrest after the completion of formalities to bring him to Goa, the official said. Two more owners of the nightclub - Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra - are on the run and a blue corner notice has been issued against them. The police have so far arrested five persons - nightclub's chief general manager .
The Goa Police has approached the CBI for issuance of an Interpol Blue Notice against Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the main accused and owners of the Goa nightclub where a massive blaze claimed 25 lives, after they fled the country, officials said Tuesday. Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora where the incident happened on Saturday, are believed to have fled to Phuket, Thailand, hours after the tragedy, the Goa Police said on Monday. The Interpol Blue Notice is issued to collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation. The agency is in touch with the Interpol regarding the request of the Goa Police to track the fugitives. The Red Notice which calls for detention of the fugitive can only be issued after a charge sheet is filed and a Non Bailable Warrant is issued against the wanted person. "Goa Police have taken further steps to coordinate with the Interpol
About a third of Hong Kong 's registered voters elected a new 90-member legislature Sunday, a turnout that avoided an embarrassment for the government but fell short of a ringing endorsement of an electoral system revamp that eliminated the once feisty opposition in the Chinese territory. The turnout rate reached 31.9%, surpassing the 30.2% in the 2021 election, the first held under the new system. It was much lower than before the electoral changes, when turnout topped 50%. Many of the city's 4.1 million eligible voters, especially democracy supporters, have turned away from politics since a crackdown that has stifled dissent. Candidates must now go through a vetting process that ensures they are patriots who are loyal to the Chinese government. The government says the changes were needed to bring stability after massive anti-government protests in 2019. The government launched a major campaign to drive up turnout, adding polling stations, extending voting hours and holding candida
At least 23 persons were killed in a blaze at a nightclub in North Goa following a cylinder blast late Saturday night, police said. Most of the dead were the club's kitchen workers, and included three women, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said. There were three to four tourists among those killed, he added. Sawant, who rushed to the spot, told reporters that of the 23, three succumbed to burn injuries and the others died due to suffocation. As per initial information, the nightclub had not abided by the fire safety norms, the chief minister said. The fire broke out at Birch by Romeo Lane after midnight. The popular party venue at Arpora village, around 25 km from the state capital Panaji, opened last year, We will take action against the club management and also against the officials who allowed it to operate despite flouting safety norms, Sawant said. This is an unfortunate incident during the peak tourist season in the coastal state, Sawant said. We will conduct a detailed ...
A devastating fire at Birch By Romeo Lane, a nightclub at Arpora in North Goa, which killed at least 25 people early Sunday brought back horrific memories of the deadly blaze that claimed 62 lives at a nightclub in North Macedonia in March this year. Here's a look at some other nightclub fires that claimed significant human lives in the past decade: * October 2015: Colectiv nightclub fire in Bucharest, Romania, killed 64 people. Pyrotechnics during a performance by the metalcore band Goodbye to Gravity ignited the club's flammable polyurethane acoustic foam. The fire spread rapidly. * December 2016: Ghost Ship' warehouse fire in Oakland, California, claimed 36 lives. The deadliest blaze in the history of Oakland was triggered during an electronic music and dance party. * January 2022: Fire at nightclub in Yaounde, Cameroon, killed 16 people. Blaze occurred due to fireworks lit while champagne was being served in the club. * January 2022: 19 killed in fire at Sorong nightclub in We
Hong Kong voters are casting ballots Sunday in their second legislative election since a 2021 overhaul of the system eliminated the pro-democracy opposition in the Chinese territory. The poll, coming less than two weeks after an apartment fire that killed at least 159 people, is a possible test of public sentiment about the government's handling of the tragedy. The focus is on voter turnout, which fell to about 30% in the last election in 2021, after the overhaul dampened interest. Some analysts believe mounting public anger over government accountability in the blaze could suppress turnout further. City leader John Lee has called on citizens to vote, saying Friday it would send a signal on promoting reforms. He said he would put forth a proposal to the new legislature on how to support the victims, many who have been left homeless by the fire. The polls close at 11:30 pm. Deadly blaze stalled get-out-the-vote efforts Election campaigning was suspended after the fire and remained