Page 644 - Disaster Accident
Higher axle loads to improve efficiency; safety concerns should be addressed: SIAM
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Wednesday said that the recent central government notification increasing the maximum permissible axle loads on trucks will improve transport efficiency.
Greater Noida building collapse: 7 bodies recovered
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Wednesday retrieved seven bodies from under the collapsed building in Greater Noida.The search and rescue operation is still underway in Shah Beri village.On a related note, at least four people have been arrested in connection with the matter and the District Magistrate has set up a magisterial inquiry under the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) executive to probe the case.Soon after the mishap, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and asked the District Magistrate to follow up with the NDRF teams for relief measures and to ensure immediate rescue.Several people are feared still trapped under the debris.Meanwhile, the state's Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya assured the residents that the government will make all efforts to rescue the victims.
Toll climbs to 27 with more 4 more losing lives in rain
: Four more persons lost their lives in rain related incidents in various parts of Kerala today as the toll in the second spell since early this month climbed to 27. The deaths were reported from Thrissur, Alapuzha and Kottayam districts. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has requested Union Home minister Rajnath Singh to send a central team to visit the stae to evaluate the havoc caused due to the rains. Ninety persons have so far lost their lives since the onset of the South West Monsoon in Kerala on June 29 and over 27,000 people have taken shelter in relief camps, a government release said. The second spell of rains began from July 9. Landslides have been reported from over 50 places. a total of 333 houses have been totally damaged and 8,000 partially. Over 10,000 hecatres of crop has been lost in the last two months. In Alapuzha and Kottayam districts, National Disaster Response teams have been deployed. The state has sought an additional two NDRF teams. The Army was .
Coal production resumes in New Birsa mine under Barka Sayal
Coal production in New Birsa mine under Barka-Sayal area of Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) in Ramgarh district has resumed today amidst tight security arrangement, a CCL official said today. Coal production as well as coal transportation by road was stopped in support of the demand for adequate security in the work place by the outsource BGR company after unidentified gunman had shot dead its project head, Muthukuru Malikarjun on July 12, the official said. General Manager (GM) Barkakana area of CCL, Ajay Singh said that management had requested the administration for security in New Birsa mine in the wake of the killing of Malikarjun following which administration deployed adequate number of security forces in the mine, paving way for resumption of production in the mine since yesterday. Hyderabad-based BGR Company started mining activity in the mine following the deployment of additional security forces, said the senior CCL officer. Earlier Pankaj Kamboj, Deputy ...
Fear grips residents in Greater Noida after building collapse
People living in the Shahberi village in Greater Noida saw a dark dust cloud in the sky on Tuesday evening as they ran out of their houses thinking that it was an earthquake, not realising that two buildings in the area had collapsed.
Over 1,600 passengers died on board trains in the past 3 years: MoS Rajen Gohain
Over 1,600 passengers died on board trains in the past three years, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in the Lok Sabha today. Gohain said 1,678 on board fatalities were reported in the last three years. In all the cases, the bodies were handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) as per procedures and families were provided all possible assistance, the minister said. The Supreme Court in 2006 had directed AIIMS to form a committee and recommend medical facilities to be provided in trains and stations for emergency medical care to passengers. It had also directed that oxygen cylinders be provided in all trains. The minister said that all the recommendations of the committee have been implemented. Under the directions of the committee as many as 88 life-saving equipment, medicines and injections are now be available on trains and at stations, replacing the basic first-aid box that is usually found on railway premises. These include delivery kits, oxygen cylinders, .
Heavy rains affect normal life in Uttarakhand; man falls into Pindar river
A 54-year-old man was swept away by the swirling waters of Pindar today while building an alternative wooden bridge for pedestrians on the river at Dhadar Bagad in the Tharali area of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district. Sujan Singh, 54, fell into the Pindar river at around 2 pm while building the bridge and was flown down by the currents within seconds, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOP) here said. Search and rescue teams are scouring the river to trace him, it said. Heavy rains in different parts of the state over the past few days have affected normal life in the hill districts of the state, with a number of roads and bridges breached or washed out especially in Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts. While Chamoli bore the brunt of heavy rains on July 16 with a number of houses, shops and vehicles swept away in cloudbursts that hit Tharali and Ghat areas of the district, Uttarkashi was at the receiving end of nature's fury early on Tuesday morning where a pedestrian bridge and a ...
Central Kerala badly hit by rains, 16 dead
The death toll in Kerala in the heaviest rains in five years and floods has touched 16, with unabated rains badly affecting life in the central districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Idukki.
Seven killed, 4 injured in road accident in Nepal
Seven persons were killed and four others injured when their vehicle fell into a gorge in the western Nepal's Rukum district today, the police said. The accident happened this afternoon when a jeep en route Dhaulapaira from Rukumkot skidded off and fell about 100 metres below the hilly road near Dharapani, they said. Four persons died on the spot while three others during treatment at a hospital, they said, adding four persons, including the driver of the vehicle were critically injured and airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.
5 killed, many feared trapped as two buildings collapse in Greater Noida
At least five people were killed and several feared trapped under the rubble of two adjacent buildings which collapsed in Greater Noida on the outskirts of the national capital, officials said today. A six-floor under-construction building crashed on a five-storey building next to it, bringing it down as well, in Shahberi village under Bisrakh police station last night. At least 12 labourers were in the under-construction building and all of them are feared trapped, Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Arun Kumar Singh said. Two bodies were pulled out of the rubble late last night and another removed this morning as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the fire department and the police mounted a rescue operation. This evening, about 20 hours after the buildings collapsed, two more bodies were brought out. Rescuers deployed heavy machinery to shift concrete slabs and sniffer dogs tried to detect any signs of life. A crowd of people hung around the mishap site, including some who believed .
Maha police to file case of 'negligence' in pothole death
After rising pothole-related deaths, police in Maharashtra are mulling action against the state government's road development corporation for causing "death due to negligence". Police issued a notice to the executive engineer of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in suburban Bandra here, after a pothole-related death in Thane district last week, an official told PTI. The notice says action will be initiated under section 304A (causing death by rash and negligent act) of the Indian Penal Code in case of "serious accidents" due to potholes. On July 10, Hasim Shaikh (45) from Kalyan died in Kongaon, Bhiwandi, after a truck crashed into the auto he was in due to a pothole. Four others were injured. Pothole-riddled roads have led to five accidental deaths in Thane since last month. The notice, issued by the Thane police a day after the Bhiwandi accident, also warns the MSRDC official of action under section 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by
SpiceJet passengers wait 2 hrs in plane as tech snag delays flight
A Dubai-bound SpiceJet flight carrying 70 passengers from here was delayed today by two hours due to a technical snag, an official said. The flight had to take-off at 9.25 am for Dubai from Jaipur. It was allowed to take-off at 12.30 pm after the technical fault was repaired, Jaipur airport director J S Balhara said.
Sweden struggles to contain ferocious wildfires
Dozens of forest wildfires raged across Sweden today, prompting Stockholm to ask for emergency EU help to fight the blazes that broke out during an extreme heatwave in the Nordic region. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) said two Italian firefighting aircraft had been sent to assist in badly-hit areas of central Sweden, while Norway had also dispatched six helicopters. Swedish authorities said there were 37 fires raging across the country today, urging locals living close to the blazes in the central counties of Gavleborg, Jamtland and Dalarna to evacuate. MSB fire chief Britta Ramberg told TT news agency the fire in Jamtland was "the largest and spreading the fastest". The fire there had already engulfed 2,500 hectares and was spreading by 10 square metres a minute, authorities said. No casualties have been reported so far. MSB said it had asked the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for more firefighting planes in addition to those sent from Italy due to lack of capacity and ..
Corrosion, excess load caused bridge collapse: railway report
Corrosion of steel brackets and piling of additional weight by the Brihanumbai Municipal Corporation led to the partial collapse of a Road Over Bridge(ROB) here earlier this month, a railway probe report has said. The preliminary inquiry report by Sushil Chandra, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Western Circle, attributed the mishap to "failure of Railway staff and others". A press note issued by the CRS' office said the probe found that civic officials allowed extra load on the bridge in the form of various cables, sand, paver blocks and other materials, without the approval of Western Railway (WR). Chandra submitted his report to the WR authorities today, the last day of the deadline set by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for submitting it. "The accident...occurred due to heavy/deep corrosion and pitting of cantilever steel brackets supporting the pathway resulting in thinning down of section...," said the report. "Additional load of various cables, sand, paver ...
Books destroyed in fire in school room
A fire broke out in a room of a private school in the district where old books were stored, police said today. The students were evacuated as soon as the blaze was noticed, they said. Police said the fire was caused by short circuit. Fire service personnel extinguished the blaze. The books were destroyed in the fire, they added.
Four killed, many trapped as building collapses into another in Greater Noida (Roundup)
At least four persons were killed and several others trapped under the debris of two residential buildings that collapsed in a village in Greater Noida -- one of the fast-developing real estate hubs on the outskirts of Delhi, officials said on Wednesday.
Over 150 shops gutted in fire at Pakistan's market
At least 150 shops were gutted in a high-intensity fire that broke out in a weekly market in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday, officials said.
MiG-21 crashes in Himachal, pilot dead
A MiG-21 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed on Wednesday during a test flight in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district, killing its pilot, officials said.
Rs 1,000 aid for rain-hit families in relief camps
: The Kerala government today decided to give Rs 1,000 as assistance to families who have sought refuge in relief camps due to heavy rains across the state. A cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, took the decision to disperse the amount as a one time relief to the families who had reached the camps till last evening. The amount would also be given to those who had gone back home after seeking refuge in the camps, an official release said. The financial aid is being given considering the loss of personal belongings,including clothes and furniture, it added. A large number of people have been shifted to relief camps in the last few days in the southern state due to heavy rains and strong winds. Rain is still continuing in many parts of the state, especially in Kottayam district, where roads and low-lying areas are flooded and houses have been damaged.
MHCC be impleaded in Esplanade building petition: HC
The Bombay High Court today directed that the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) be impleaded as a party to a petition seeking that the heritage Esplanade building in South Mumbai be repaired. A portion of the facade of the building had collapsed earlier this week. The building that houses several small shops, and offices of lawyers from the HC and the city civil and sessions court, has been in a dilapidated condition for years now. In 2015, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had served eviction notices to all the tenants in the building. However, the tenants, led by advocate Ashok Sarogi who has an office in the building, had secured a stay from the high court on the notice after they told the court that they would continue occupying the building at "their own risk. Today, MHADA informed the bench of Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudesai that around 15 families who were co-owners of the building and 208 tenants were still occupying the