Page 114 - Disaster Accident
Army douse fire at Bal Shiksha Shishu Kendra in Jammu
A major tragedy was averted with timely action by Army to douse a fire which had engulfed a 'Bal Shiksha Shishu Kendra' near here, a defence spokesperson said on Sunday. The fire broke out in the centre at Ratnuchak village around 5.30 pm on Saturday, which was noticed by an alert army sentry at the adjoining post, the spokesperson said. He said the sentry reacted and informed the Army authorities who immediately swung into action and sent a quick reaction team along with fire fighters to the location. "Due to the concerted efforts of the Army along with the civilians, the fire was doused within 10 minutes. A major tragedy was averted due to timely action by the Army," the spokesperson said.
Serious flooding in Mozambique in wake of Cyclone Kenneth
Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in places, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. "Help us, we are losing everything!" residents in the region's main city, Pemba, shouted at passing cars as the rushing waters flooded their homes and heavy rain fell. Women and girls used buckets and pots to try to scoop the torrent from their front yards, in vain. The water poured into doorways. Houses began to collapse and at least one rescue team was mobilized, United Nations staffers said. "We are unfortunately expecting devastating floods," the U.N. humanitarian agency said in a tweet. Some Pemba residents tried to pile up tires and sand-filled sacks as barricades. Children took refuge in a bus that appeared to be stuck as vehicles struggled on the streets. One woman stood in front of the bus, seemingly stunned, as .
137 Air India flights to be delayed on Sunday
The massive glitch in Air India's passenger services system on Saturday continued to have its impact, as around 137 flights of the national carrier were set to delayed by over three hours each on Sunday.
12 killed in Indonesia floods, landslides
At least 12 people were killed, eight others reported missing and almost 15,000 evacuated as floods and landslides hit the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and Bengkulu province, a disaster official said on Sunday.
Srinagar-Leh Highway opens for traffic after 4 months
The 434-km strategic Srinagar-Leh National Highway, connecting Kashmir valley with the Ladakh region, was thrown open for traffic on Sunday after being closed for over four months due to heavy snowfall. The highway was opened by Lt Gen K J S Dhillon, General Officer Commanding of 15 Corps, along with other officials, at a ceremony in Zero-Point here. The strategic road was closed for traffic in mid-December last year due to heavy accumulation of snow from Gagangir in Ganderbal district to Drass in Kargil district. Zojila Pass, at a height of 11,516 feet above sea level, connects the picturesque Kashmir valley with the cold Indus Valley desert through the 434 km long Srinagar-Leh Road. Officials said the snow clearance operation was undertaken by the Border Road Organisation under Project Beacon from Gagangir to Zero Point (33 km from 75 km marker to 108 km). Under Project Vijayak, the road was cleared from Drass to Zero Point (39km from 108 km marker to 147 km), officials ...
French police warn of lead contamination after Notre Dame blaze
The French police on Saturday warned residents living in the vicinity of the Notre Dame cathedral of a lead contamination arising from the blaze which ravaged the historic structure on April 15.The civilians have been advised to clean the dust, which settled after the inferno, with wet wipes, according to Sputnik.The warning was issued based on tests which revealed that the cathedral's frame, as well as its spire, discharged particles of the metal following the blaze which destroyed parts of the iconic Parisian landmark.The probe revealed that lead was found in areas near the cathedral, outlining that it was "very localised" and "notably on premises that may have been standing open at the time of the fire, and where dust had settled".Public areas which fall under the threat of a potential lead contamination have been shut down and will not be reopened until lead levels stabilise, according to the police.Nearly one billion US dollars were raised to rebuild the cathedral within days of .
At least 10 dead, thousands displaced after severe Indonesia floods
At least 10 people are dead and eight are missing after days of heavy rain-triggered floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, authorities said Sunday. Some 12,000 people have been evacuated while hundreds of buildings, bridges and roads have been damaged by the severe weather which affected nine districts or towns across Bengkulu province, officials said. The waters have receded in some places but officials warned the full extent of the damage was not yet known and some areas were still cut off. "The impact of this disaster may increase," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, adding that several people were also injured in the flooding. "Landslides and floods could happen again if rainfall is high," he said. A "secondary disaster" in the form of skin diseases and acute respiratory infection due to poor hygiene and a lack of clean water was possible, he added. Aerial images showed swollen rivers that had burst their banks and inundated ...
10 dead, 25 injured in Himachal bus accident
Ten people, including three women, were killed and 25 injured when a private bus they were travelling in fell into a 200-foot-deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on Saturday night, the police said. The accident occurred on the Dalhousie-Pathankot road near Banikhet in Dalhousie sub-division after the driver lost control of the vehicle at 7 pm, district Superintendent of Police Monica Bhutunguru said on Sunday. The deceased have been identified as Manish Sharma, Rajni (Nurpur, Kangra) Shreshta Devi, Shivani (Dalhousie), Karam Chand (Saluni, Chamba), Ratto (Chamba), Yaru Ingam Shimre (Manipur), Karan Bhat (Delhi), Wasim Mandal (Malda, West Bengal), Manisha (Rajasthan), Bhutunguru said. Speedy action by quick reaction teams of the Dalhousie cantonment and the civil administration helped in saving the lives of the 25 injured passengers, who were evacuated to nearby hospitals, a Jammu-based defence spokesperson said. The Army reached the accident site immediately and rescue ...
One dead, two injured after car falls into gorge in J-K's Doda
A 35-year-old man was killed and two women were critically injured Sunday when the car they were travelling in skidded off the road and rolled down into a gorge here, police said. The accident occurred near Dunadi village in the district when the car was travelling from Gandoh to Doda on the Thathri-Kilhotran road, they said. The driver, Abdul Latief, lost control over the vehicle while passing a curve and the car rolled down the hill and fell on a mud house near the banks of a river, leaving him dead and critically injuring two passengers - Rozia Bano and Zohra Begum -- who were rushed to a hospital, police said. The roof of the mud-house suffered extensive damages in the mishap but its occupants escaped unhurt, an official said.
Two men killed, woman critically injured in south Delhi road accident
Two men were killed and a woman critically injured when a speeding truck allegedly rammed into a divider and veered into the opposite carriageway before hitting two cars in south Delhi, police said Sunday. The incident took place late Saturday night near South Extension and the victims were occupants of one of the cars, they said. The deceased were identified as car owner Dalip Dutta (52) and his driver Ravi Kumar (48) while Dalip's 49-year-old wife Seema Dutta (49) was inured in the accident, police said. According to a senior police officer, the truck was coming from Lajpat Nagar and heading towards Dhaula Kuan carriageway route. The accident occurred when the vehicle reached an underpass at South Extension, where it hit the divider and landed on the opposite carriageway. It then allegedly hit two cars. The three persons travelling in one of the cars that was hit by the truck were rushed to a Trauma Centre where Kumar and Dalip Dutta were declared brought dead, the officer ...
'Terrifying': Crane falls on busy Seattle street, killing 4
A construction crane fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing four people. One female and three males had died by the time firefighters had arrived Saturday afternoon, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. Two of the dead were ironworkers who had been inside the crane while the other two were people who were inside cars, Fire Department spokesman Lance Garland said. A 25-year-old mother and her 4-month-old daughter were in a car that was smashed by the crane on its passenger side, and both managed to escape with only minor injuries, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said, calling it a miracle. They and a 28-year-old man were taken to Harborview Medical Center. A fourth person also was injured and treated at the scene. The crane collapsed near the often-congested intersection of Mercer and Fairview Avenue just north of downtown in the South Lake Union neighborhood shortly before 3:30
Flooding begins in Mozambique in wake of Cyclone Kenneth
Flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago. The government has urged many people to immediately seek higher ground, with hundreds of thousands of people at risk. Authorities have said at least five people died after the storm arrived Thursday evening with the force of a Category 4 hurricane, stunning residents of a region where a cyclone had not been recorded in the modern era. Kenneth came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai ripped into central Mozambique and killed more than 600 people. The remnants of Kenneth could dump twice as much rain as Idai did, the UN World Program has said. It was the flooding after Idai that caused most of the deaths. Heavy rain was falling in the main city of Pemba, which had lost power. As much as 250 millimeters (9 inches) of torrential rain, or about a quarter of the average annual rainfall for the region, is forecast over the next few days. Nearly 700,000 people could be at risk in the ...
Rs 300 cr hole in Air India pocket as Pakistan air space closes
Air India has suffered losses of around Rs 300 crore since late February as its long haul flights from New Delhi are taking longer to reach destinations in Europe, the Gulf and the US because of the closure of Pakistan's airspace.
Cyclone Fani likely to turn 'very severe'
Cyclone Fani, currently over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining East Equatorial Indian Ocean, is likely to intensify into a "very severe cyclonic storm" on Monday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
Four people killed in US crane collapse
Four people were killed and eight others injured after a crane collapsed onto several cars in the US city of Seattle, authorities said.
Chernobyl nuke disaster had positive impact on environment: UN Study
Over three decades after the devastating Chernobyl nuclear explosion, a United Nations report is claiming that positive environmental changes have been witnessed since the termination of human and industrial activities in the region.According to the UN Chernobyl Forum's paper, 'Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts', "The recovery of affected biota in the exclusion zone has been facilitated by the removal of human activities, e.g., termination of agricultural and industrial activities."The report cited by Daily Star claimed: "As a result, populations of many plants and animals have eventually expanded, and the present environmental conditions have had a positive impact on the biota in the Exclusion Zone,""Indeed, the Exclusion Zone has paradoxically become a unique sanctuary for biodiversity," it added.The findings run paradoxical to the official statistics on the Exclusion Zone, where multiple biological species suffered a detrimental radioactive ...
4 dead after construction crane collapses in Seattle
Four people were killed and three wounded when a construction crane collapsed Saturday in downtown Seattle, pinning five cars underneath. The four were dead by the time firefighters got to the scene, the Seattle Fire Department said. Three people were transported to the hospital, the department said. The crane collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue near Interstate 5 shortly after 3 pm. "It was terrifying," Esther Nelson, a biotech researcher who was working in a building nearby, told The Seattle Times. "The wind was blowing really strong," she said, and added that the crane appeared to break in half. The crane was atop an office building under construction in a densely populated area. Tweets from the scene showed the crane collapsed on the street, with vehicles stopped in the vicinity. All lanes were closed, and motorists were told to avoid the area. With Amazon and other tech companies increasing their hiring in Seattle, the city has dozens of ...
One killed , 2 injured after car rams into E-rickshaw
The driver of a battery-operated rickshaw was killed and two women passengers injured after the vehicle in which they were traveling in was rammed by a car at Jail Road Khalsa School in Hari Nagar here on Saturday.Soon after receiving reports of the incident, police rushed to the spot to carry out rescue operations. "The three persons who met with an accident were admitted to DDU Hospital where the driver Mohd Tahid was declared brought dead by doctors," police said.During the preliminary enquiry, police learned the driver of car, a Honda City, who was driving rashly and hit the E-rickshaw causing injuries to Mohd Tahid, Kanchan (22) and Rakesh (32).The police have formed a team to arrest the absconding driver.A case has been registered and legal action is being taken as per law, police said.
5.6-magnitude earthquake hits Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 struck Japan's northernmost Hokkaido prefecture on Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
One dead, three injured in California synagogue shooting: mayor
One person was killed and three others injured after a man opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, the mayor said Saturday. "We had four folks with gunshot wounds. We do have one fatality. The rabbi was shot in the hand. My understanding is none of the other injuries are life threatening," Mayor Steve Vaus told cable news network MSNBC.