Page 336 - Disaster Accident
Lion Air accident: Victims' kin demand recovery of more bodies
Dozens of families of people who were aboard a Lion Air plane that crashed last month in Indonesia demonstrated here on Thursday to urge the Indonesian government and airline to continue their search for bodies.
5 killed in two separate road accidents
Five people have died in two different road accidents in Mathura district, police said Thursday. On Wednesday night, three men were hit by an over-speeding car in Gosana village, they said. While two died on the spot, the third succumbed to injuries en route to the hospital. The deceased have been identified as Sonu (22), Sunil (29) and Kalua (25), police said, adding that the three men were returning after taking their payments from a marriage party, where they had worked as casual labourers. In another case, 28-year-old Shiv Singh was run over by a tractor along with his seven-year-old son in Mant area when they were walking towards their home on Wednesday evening. While Singh died on the spot, his son died on his way to Agra medical college, police said. In both the cases, the accussed, car and tractor driver managed to flee from the spot, they said.
13 miners trapped in coal pit in Meghalaya
Thirteen miners were trapped inside a coal pit filled with gallons of water in Meghalayas East Jaintia Hills district on Thursday, police said. Officials said their chances of survival were bleak.
13 trapped in illegal coal mine in Meghalaya
At least 13 persons were trapped due to flooding in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district, police said Thursday. The incident was reported to the district authorities on Thursday morning and since then efforts are on to rescue the labourers, officials said. "As per verbal information received, 13 persons are trapped inside an illegal coal mine at Ksan village under the jurisdiction of Saipung police station," the Superintendent of Police (SP) of East Jaintia Hills district, Sylvester Nongtynger, said.
Families of Lion Air crash victims demand search for wreckage continues
Dozens of family members whose loved ones were killed in a Lion Air plane crash rallied in the Indonesian capital Thursday, demanding the search for the jet continue. The Boeing 737 MAX vanished from radar about 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, crashing into waters off Indonesia's northern coast and killing all 189 people onboard. Authorities called off the grim task of identifying victims of the crash last month, with 125 people officially recognised after testing on human remains that filled some 200 body bags. Some of the victims' families gathered in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta Thursday afternoon, where they called on authorities to help retrieve the remaining 64 bodies and pay compensation. "Right now only around 30 per cent of the plane's body has been found," the group said in a statement. "We hope the search for the victims will use vessels with sophisticated technology." The protest comes just a day after Indonesian media reported that ..
Six members of wedding procession killed as jeep collides with bus in western Nepal
Six members of a wedding procession, including the parents of the groom, were killed Thursday when a jeep carrying them collided with a bus in western Nepal, police said. The driver of the jeep and another passenger were also seriously injured in the accident, which took place at Lamahi area in Dang district, they said. The jeep was en route to Shamshergunj from Gitanagar when it collided with the passenger bus, which was heading towards Kathmandu from Lamahi, police said. Six people, all members of a marriage procession, travelling in the jeep were killed in the accident, they said, adding that the deceased included the groom's parents and their five-year-old grandson. The bride and groom escaped the mishap as they were travelling in another vehicle, police said.
WB: Coach of DMU intercity passenger derailed, no casualty
A coach of DMU intercity passenger train got derailed in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal on Thursday. No casualties have been reported.According to an official statement by the Northeast Frontier Railway, following the derailment two trains have been canceled, routes of five trains have been diverted and six trains have been short terminated.Restoration work is underway.
Another cyclone to hit Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
Another cyclone is reportedly heading towards coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.The warning comes a month after cyclone Gaja hit the two states, claiming 46 lives and causing widespread damage to property and livestock..Hyma Rao, deputy officer at Visakhapatnam's Cyclone warning center, told ANI, "Yesterday's well-marked low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression and centered about 1330 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam.""Due to this influence, rain will start from December 15 onwards with a heavy fall at one or two places and strong winds will also start from the same day. Due to these factors, fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea from December 14 onwards," he added.The Central Government, earlier in the day had issued a pre-cyclone watch for Andhra Pradesh."It (cyclone) is very likely to intensify further into a deep depression during next 12 hours and into a cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours. It is very ..
Indian national jailed and banned from driving for causing fatal accident
A 36-year-old Indian national was on Thursday sentenced to 12 weeks of jail and banned from driving for five years for causing an accident that killed two electric bike riders and injured another in 2016, according to a media report. The accident happened along the West Coast Highway when Sahadevan Senguttuvan, a trailer driver collided into three electric bike riders, killing two of them and injuring the third. He had pleaded guilty in the court, Channel News Asia reported. Sahadevan had worked for more than 12 hours, since 7.20 am, and he was driving his motor trailer towards Telok Bengale suburb estate when the tragedy struck on October 27, 2016, the report said quoting an investigations into the case. The three victims - 25-year-old Ang Yee Fong, 18-year-old Ong Zi Quan and 17-year-old Marcus Loke Teck Soon were on their e-bikes in single file on the leftmost lane in front of the trailer. Sahadevan stopped his trailer and alighted, before calling for the ambulance and waiting for .
DMK men on "false" info drive over cyclone relief saree:
The ruling AIADMK Thursday hit out at arch rival DMK for allegedly indulging in a "false, malicious" propaganda that saree and dhoti in the Gaja cyclone relief kit being distributed to the storm-hit people were torn. The government initiative of providing quality saree, dhoti and 25 other essential items including mattress and blanket in the relief kit has won appreciation from the people, AIADMK daily 'Namadu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma,' said. Unable to tolerate the appreciation, "DMK men, in a bid to bring bad name to the government are indulging in a false and malicious propaganda claiming that torn saree and dhoti are distributed...they are politicising this with an ulterior motive," the AIADMK mouthpiece alleged. The "truth is, the government is providing quality and new relief items," and people disapproved of the "uncivilised" propaganda of the main opposition party, the AIADMK organ said. The severe cyclonic storm Gaja, which crossed coast in Tamil Nadu last month ..
FSSAI asks food business operators to gear up for rigorous inspection regime
Food regulator FSSAI will launch "rigorous" inspections on food companies to ensure that best standards are followed as part of its effort to build trust among people about the safety and quality of cooked or packaged products, its CEO Pawan Kumar Agarwal said Thursday. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will also conduct surveys on many food products being sold in the market to check quality, he said, adding a survey on milk and dairy products has recently been done. "Our mandate is to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. We have taken initiative in last few years to create demand for such foods. Businesses will make it available only if consumer demands," Agarwal said at a CII conference on Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory summit here. However, he said an average, Indian citizen is still not confident about safety of packaged or cooked food. "We need to do something to bring trust among people". Agarwal highlighted various ...
Floods affected over 1 billion people during 2015-17, caused damages worth Rs 85k crore
Floods affected over a billion people in the country and caused damages amounting to Rs 85,673 crore during 2015-17, the government said on Thursday. In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, said 4,902 people and 82,146 cattle were killed in floods during the period. In 2015, 1,420 people lost their lives due to floods, with Tamil Nadu topping the list with 421 casualties, he said. The overall losses stood at around Rs 57,291.11 crore. Tamil Nadu topped the list incurring damages worth Rs 25,912.51 crore, followed by West Bengal, which registered a loss of Rs 25,353.27 crore. Losses incurred due to floods in 2016 stood at around Rs 5,675 crore. The year also saw 1,420 casualties, Meghwal said. In 2017, 2,062 people lost their lives and damages incurred amounted to Rs 22,706.98 crore. West Bengal reported a loss of Rs 43,081 crore in the last three years. In 2015, 33.20 ...
Passenger traffic grew by 20 pc in 2017-2018 as compared to previous year: Aviation min
There has been a 20 per cent growth in passenger traffic this year from January to October as compared to the same period the previous year, the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed Parliament Thursday. Responding to a query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha provided data in which he pointed out that from January to October last year, the passenger traffic stood at 95.1 million, while this year in the same period the number of passengers grew to 114.4 million. Replying to another question on passenger traffic, he said that more than 10 crore people were travelling every year. The number of domestic passengers being carried by scheduled domestic airlines in 2017-2018 was 12.33 crore, the number of international passengers carried by Indian and foreign carriers during the same period was 6.06 crore. The growth as compared to 2016-2017 was 16.03 per cent, he said.
9 killed in Turkey train accident
At least nine people were killed and 47 injured on Thursday when a high-speed train collided with a locomotive in Turkey's capital city of Ankara, according to authorities.
Snowfall shuts Srinagar-Jammu highway
The strategic Srinagar-Jammu highway was closed on Thursday due to fresh snowfall, an official said.
Turkey train crash leaves 7 dead, dozens injured
A high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, killing seven people and injuring 46 others, officials said. The 6:30 am (0330 GMT) train from Ankara to the central Turkish city of Konya collided with the engine, which was checking the tracks at the capital's small Marsandiz station, Ankara Gov Vasip Sahin told reporters at the scene. The high-speed train transits that station without stopping. Private NTV television said at least two cars derailed. Parts of the overpass collapsed onto the train. Sahin initially said four people were killed in the crash. His office later issued a statement saying seven people were killed in the crash, including the high-speed train's engine driver. Three of the injured passengers were in serious condition. Television footage showed emergency services working to rescue passengers from wrangled cars and debris. Rescue teams were looking for more survivors, Sahin ...
Pre-cyclone watch issued for Andhra Pradesh coast
Pre-cyclone watch was issued for Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday by Union Ministry of Earth Science, adding that a depression has formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal."It is very likely to intensify further into a deep depression during next 12 hours and into a cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards towards Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast during next 72 hours," said the ministry in a statement."Latest satellite imageries and surface observations indicate that a depression has formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal and lay centred at 0530 hrs IST of today, 13th December, 2018 near latitude 6.5°N and longitude 88.7°E, about 850 km east-southeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 1170 km southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 1350 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh)," further informed the ministry.
7 killed in Turkey train accident
At least seven people were killed and 43 others injured on Thursday when a high-speed train collided with a locomotive in Turkey's capital city of Ankara.
Death toll in Ankara train crash rises to seven: governor
Seven people were killed after a high-speed train crashed into a locomotive in the Turkish capital on Thursday, the Ankara governor's office said, revising an initial death toll. The governorate said in a statement that one of those killed was the train driver and that 46 people were injured including three in a serious condition. Ankara governor Vasip Sahin had earlier said four people had died and 43 were injured.
Floods kill 13 in central Vietnam
Floods caused by heavy downpours have killed 13 people in central Vietnam, officials said Thursday, as farmers scrambled to save crops and livestock ahead of more bad weather forecast for this week. Torrential rains have lashed six provinces in the centre of the country since Saturday, killing thousands of cows and chickens and flooding several cities -- including the coastal resort town of Danang. More than 50 centimetres (20 inches) of rain hit some areas, with more downpours expected in the coming days, the disaster management office said Thursday. "Thirteen people were killed, while one remains missing in Quang Ngai province," the office said. Around 12,000 hectares of crops were destroyed, and some 160,000 livestock killed, it added. One farmer in Quang Nam province said he lost all his chickens in the flooding, costing him tens of thousands of dollars. "The water receded but thousands of our chickens were dead. We had to collect them for burial as the smell was so bad," Nguyen ..