Page 329 - Disaster Accident
Poland says 11 kidnapped foreign sailors freed in Nigeria
Eleven foreign crew, including eight Poles, kidnapped by pirates off Nigeria in October have been freed and are safe, Poland's foreign ministry said. "The crew of the Pomerania Sky taken at the end of October have been freed. All the sailors including the eight Poles are in a safe place and waiting to return to their families," Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said, cited by PAP national news agency. The ministry did not give details about how the crew were freed. The crew, which local media said also included two Filipinos and a Ukrainian, were taken when the Liberian-flagged German-owned vessel was attacked 60 miles off Nigeria en route from Angola. It was the fifth case of kidnapping of Polish sailors in the Gulf of Guinea since 2013, according to the ministry statement.
19 NGO workers killed in Uganda bus crash: police
At least 19 staff members of a non-governmental organisation died and six were injured when the bus they were travelling in lost control and hurtled off a cliff in eastern Uganda, police said. "19 people have been confirmed dead and six others critically injured when the bus went off the cliff and crashed in the valley," regional police spokesman, Rogers Taitika told AFP Tuesday. He said the bus was carrying staff with an American NGO who were on their way to the Kapchorwa region for their annual party when it crashed near Sipi, some 300 kilometres east of Kampala. "We are investigating the matter to establish what could have caused the accident," Taitika said. "The dead were identified to be staff of the NGO based in Kiryandongo and Masindi districts (southern Uganda)." More details about the organisation and victims were not immediately available. Uganda has one of the worst records for road safety, due to the poor condition of vehicles and roads as well as dangerous driving. More ..
India retains highest aviation safety ranking
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday communicated that India is adhering to safety standards of International Civil Aviation Organization and India's International Aviation Safety Assessment rating remains Category 1.FAA conducted an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July this year to confirm India's adherence to the standards laid down by ICAO and oversight of Indian airlines.During consultations held with FAA in early November, DGCA presented the actions taken to address the findings of the July 2018 audit.FAA is an operating mode of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Cyclone Phethai: Missing Andhra fishermen reach island in Krishna district
Twelve fishermen, who were missing from the East Godavari Kakinada coast during Cyclone Phethai, reached the Gullalamoda island in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district Tuesday evening, officials said. The fishermen, belonging to East Godavari district, had gone missing on Monday. They have reached the island near the confluence of the Krishna river and the Bay of Bengal safely, the officials of the state fisheries department said. The fishermen -- six each in two boats-- had lost their way in the cyclone while they were returning to the Kakinada coast, they said They belong to Parlopeta and Dummulapeta villages in East Godavari district. The officials said the 12 fishermen were rescued and provided accommodation in Nagayalanka. The health condition of the fishermen is stable, said Joint Director, Fisheries department, Yakub Basha.
Coal mine mishap: Rights panel takes suo motu action against Meghalaya govt
Taking cognizance of reports that miners were trapped in a coal mine over the past six days in East Jaintia Hills district, the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission on Tuesday initiated suo motu action against the state government and issued a notice for an enquiry into the disaster. At least 14 miners were trapped on December 13 after water from nearby Lytein river had gushed into the illegal rat-hole mine at Ksan area Lumthari village, a senior official said, adding the exact number of victims could not be ascertained as the mine owners did not maintain a logbook. They are now feared dead as water from the river has been gushing into the 370-feet-deep pit. Aldous Mawlong, the secretary of the rights commission, said, a notice has been issued to chief secretary Y Tsering to cause an effective enquiry into the entire matter and submit a detailed report within 30 days. The commission has also filed a suo motu case against the Meghalaya government seeking compensation for the labourers ...
11 cars gutted in fire at showroom in east Delhi
Eleven cars were gutted in a fire at a showroom in east Delhi's Laxmi Nagar area on Tuesday, the Delhi Fire Service said. A fire broke out at a Honda car showroom and a call about the fire was received at 4.24 am, they said. Twelve fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was brought under control by 5 am, a senior DFS official said. No casualties were reported, the officer said. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, he added.
NTPC restores accident-hit 500 MW unit at Unchahar plant
State-owned power giant NTPC Tuesday said it has restored 500 MW Unit-6 Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station in Rae Bareli district, where an accident in November last year resulted in its breakdown. "Unit-6 of 500 MW capacity of Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station has been synchronized with grid after boiler restoration," an NTPC statement to BSE said. As many as 45 people died and many were injured in the accident at the plant. Now, the Unchahar power station is slowly recovering. After the accident, the NTPC officials worked tirelessly to normalise the situation and provided relief to the victims and their families. In order to support the grieving families, around 22,000 NTPC employees had decided to contribute one day salary which amounts to nearly Rs 6 crore. A company official said, all medical expenses of those who are injured in the ill-fated incident were borne by the NTPC, while district officials, state and central governments had extended all support in ..
Rain pounds Odisha, damages standing crops, harvested paddy
Heavy rainfall triggered by Cyclone Phethai lashed several parts of Odisha Tuesday, causing major damage to standing crops and harvested paddy stocked in the southern and western regions of the state. Rainfall is likely to continue in many areas of south and western Odisha till Wednesday as the cyclonic storm weakened gradually after it barrelled through coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday, the Meteorological Centre said. The well-marked low pressure area over the north-west and the adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal and Odisha has further weakened into a low pressure area, H R Biswas, Director of the Meteorological Centre here, said. Inclement weather affected normal life in different parts of south and western Odisha, but no casualty was reported, a senior official said, adding that power supply was disrupted in some areas. Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said Balangir district recorded the highest rainfall of 92.4 mm, followed by 77.9 mm in Jharsuguda and 74.4 mm in ...
Odisha: Cyclone Phethai causes widespread damage to cotton, paddy
Cyclone Phethai, which is currently causing havoc in parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, has caused destruction of paddy and cotton crops in Odisha, Joint Relief Commissioner Pravat Mohapatra said on Tuesday."Government had already alerted farmers to harvest paddy and keep it safe and covered. In Mandis, steps have been taken to cover them but still, damage has been done to cotton and paddy. The damage is being accessed by the agricultural department," he said.Due to the cyclonic disturbance, heavy rainfall was witnessed in many parts of Odisha on Monday. Jharsuguda district witnessed the highest rainfall with 76.3 mm average, while nearly 100 blocks all over the state received more than 50 mm rainfall, the official said.Mohapatra further informed that about 10 lakh people in the Gajapati district were moved to safer locations from the makeshift houses they were living in, owing to the destruction of their houses during Cyclone Titli.Meanwhile, Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner ...
Over 15k cases registered for violating food safety norms during 2017-18: govt
As many as 24,262 of the total 99,353 samples of food products analysed during 2017-18 were found to be non-conforming to food safety norms, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The minister said 15,121 cases were registered during the period, in which conviction was ordered in 5,198 cases while penalties were imposed in 7,627 cases. An amount of around Rs 25.23 crore was imposed as penalty, he said. In 2016-17, 78,340 food samples were analysed, of which 18,325 were found to be violating the provisions under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 and prosecution (civil/criminal) was launched in 13,080 cases, Choubey said. Of these, conviction was ordered in 1,605 cases and penalties were imposed in 4,757 cases, which amounted to nearly Rs 17.01 crore, he added. Choubey further said that the enforcement of provisions under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 primarily came under the jurisdiction of the state and UT ...
L&T contributes 1.50 crore to cyclone Gaja relief fund
: Infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro Tuesday contributed Rs 1.50 crore to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund towards relief and rehabilitation work in cyclone Gaja affected districts of Tamil Nadu. L&T chief executive officer and managing director S N Subrahmanyan handed over a cheque for the amout to Chief Minister K Palaniswami at the Secretariat, a company statement said. "Our heavy civil infrastructure business has also been in touch with the fisheries authorities on ground at Nagapattinam and have been helping them to enable fishermen retrieve their boats that were swept (away) during the cyclone", he said. The cyclone hit state coast on November 16 near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district, about 350 km from here, claiming 63 lives besides leaving a trail of destruction in 10 districts.
Huge fire ravages 600 homes in Brazil's Amazon
A huge fire blazed through 600 wooden homes built on stilts next to a river in Brazil's Amazon region overnight, decimating a poor area of the city of Manaus but causing no deaths, authorities said Tuesday. "It's perhaps the biggest city fire in the history of Manaus," said the deputy chief of the local emergency service, Hermogenes Rabelo. The inferno started late Monday and was only brought under control shortly after midnight after a three-hour struggle by more than 100 firefighters, the security secretariat for Amazonas state said. Four people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. The fire happened in Educandos, an impoverished and densely populated district near the center of Manaus that sits on the Rio Negro, a river that joins up with the Amazon River to flow out to the Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of people ran out of their homes in panic, grabbing what they could, an AFP photographer at the scene saw. Access for fire services was hampered by the narrow alleyways in the ...
US watchdog FAA retains highest aviation safety ranking for India
The US regulator FAA has retained the highest aviation safety ranking for India, a senior official said Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) carried out an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July this year. The official said that the FAA on Tuesday formally confirmed that India's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) rating remains 'Category 1'. Category 1 means the carriers from the assessed state may initiate or continue service to the US in a normal manner and take part in reciprocal code-share arrangements with American carriers. The FAA carried out an audit to confirm India's adherence to the standards laid down by the ICAO and oversight of Indian airlines. "During consultations held with the FAA in early November, the DGCA presented the actions taken to address the findings of the July 2018 audit," the DGCA official said. According to him, the FAA has formally communicated that India is adhering to the safety standards of the ...
Maharashtra approves Rs 11cr for farmers hit by untimely rains
The Maharashtra government Tuesday granted administrative sanction to disburse Rs 11 crore to farmers who lost their crops due to unseasonal rains during the summer this year. It issued two GRs (government resolutions) sanctioning Rs 8,14,98,540 and Rs 2,93,00,655, respectively, for farmers who lost their crops during unseasonal showers in April-May. In April, 12,726 cultivators were identified as having 5,093.65 hectares of the unseasonal rain-affected agricultural land, the order stated. The GR for May said there were 4,409 farmers who have lost crops on 1,740.74 hectares of land. However, it was not clear from the GRs whether beneficiaries would overlap from disbursements for the two months. Officials from the revenue department also could not throw any light on this issue. The numbers of beneficiary farmers who lost their crops, spread over 5,093.65 hectares, to unseasonal downpour in April stood at 12,726. Similarly, there were 4,409 farmers whose crops, spread over
Gadkari to launch projects worth Rs 9,533 cr in Arunachal
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is likely to lay the foundation for national highways projects worth Rs 9,533 crore in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday, officials said on Tuesday.
Missing fishermen safe, CM conducts aerial survey of affected
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Tuesday conducted an aerial survey of Cyclone Phethai-hit districts of East and West Godavari districts in the State, even as rescue and relief measures were stepped up. Naidu interacted with people, who have been lodged in a relief camp at Bhairavapalem village, and enquired about food and other facilities. Officials said about 12 crew members and fishermen of three deep-sea fishing trawlers, who went missing in the Bay of Bengal Monday, were reported safe Tuesday. Another group of 14 fishermen, stranded at sea off Kakinada coast, were rescued in an operation by the Coast Guard. Three boats that drifted in the sea under the impact of Phethai reached Sorlagondi near Nagayalanka in Krishna district Tuesday, according to the State Real-Time Governance Centre (RTGS). "Twelve people, who were reported missing Monday, were safe," RTGS CEO Babu Ahamed told PTI. Meanwhile, a release from the Coast Guard Station in Visakhapatnam
Cyclone Phethai: 5602 farmers affected, 37 houses damaged
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said a total of 5602 farmers have been affected, 37 houses damaged so far due to the cyclonic storm 'Phethai.'Addressing the media here, Naidu said, "17 Mandals are affected in East Godavari district, in which 5602 farmers are affected, 37 houses are damaged, 28 partially damaged, and 2179 hectares of paddy fields and 30 hectares of horticulture have been damaged."However, Naidu said electricity supply has been restored in 14 mandals, while 187 rehabilitation camps have been set up. "32,000 people have been provided food. Mobile connectivity has been restored. East Godavari and Krishna administration brought the situation under control within hours," he added.Talking about the preparedness of the state administration, Naidu said hourly bulletins were issued to create awareness, assisted by the Andhra Pradesh Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Research Centre (AWARE), with the help of the Indian Space Research ...
Heavy rain hits search operation in Meghalaya coal mine
The search operation launched to trace trapped miners in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district took a hit on Tuesday due to strong winds and heavy rain, police said. The miners were reportedly trapped in the illegal coal pit on December 13 with district authorities making futile attempts to locate them over the past six days. They are now feared dead as water from a nearby river has been gushing into the 370-feet-deep pit. A top police officer said the exact number of miners trapped inside the pit is yet to be ascertained. "With the identification of one more victim, the number of trapped miners rose to 14. As the mine operators did not maintain a log book, it is difficult to ascertain the exact figure," Superintendent of Police (SP) S Nongtynger told PTI. One person, identified as Krip Chullet, has been arrested so far pertaining to the case. Chullet was allegedly involved in hiring labourers, overseeing the work and sending them down the shaft. The SP said that "incessant rainfall
NHRC issues notice to Maha govt and Labour Ministry over hospital fire in Mumbai
The National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Maharashtra government and the Labour Ministry Tuesday over a fire incident in a Mumbai hospital in which six people died, an official statement said. The commission has also asked them to submit a detailed report in the matter within four weeks, including action taken against the guilty, if any. According to the statement, the NHRC took suo motu cognisance over media reports that a massive fire engulfed the Employees State Insurance Corporation Hospital Monday in Andheri area of Mumbai, killing six people and injuring 141 others.
Meghalaya: 6 days on, 13 workers remain trapped in flooded coal mine
Rescuers were unable to reach the 13 miners trapped in a coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district on the sixth day as heavy rains made the operation difficult, police said.The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), police and State Disaster Response Force have been fighting against time to rescue the workers after an illegal coal mine, full of water, at Ksan in Saipung area of the district collapsed on Thursday and got flooded by the adjacent Lytein river.According to police, only three helmets have been found during the search operation even as miners remain trapped in the coal pit.Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday said that rescue teams have been facing challenges to evacuate the trapped miners. He also highlighted that the high water level is making the operation difficult."It is a very difficult and complicated situation. The NDRF is trying to save them but it looks very difficult," said Sangma while sharing details of the rescue operation."No matter ..