Page 670 - Disaster Accident
Fireworks explosions kill 24 in central Mexico
At least 24 people were killed in a series of explosions at fireworks warehouses in the town of Tultepec in central Mexico, including rescue workers who died saving others' lives, officials said. The initial explosion occurred around 9:30 am, then spread to other warehouses just as police and firefighters began attending to the first victims. Tultepec, a town of 65,000 people just north of Mexico City, is known for its artisanal fireworks -- and a history of deadly accidents. "We deeply regret the deaths of those who were killed this morning in... Tultepec, including our firefighter and police colleagues who lost their lives saving those of many others," read a tweet from the Red Cross in the state of Mexico, where Tultepec is located. At least 24 people were killed -- including a minor -- and 49 wounded, officials said. The victims included four firefighters and five police. Hundreds of soldiers, police and firefighters deployed to the neighbourhood of Xahuento, on the outskirts of ..
19 killed in Mexico factory blasts
Two explosions on Thursday at a small fireworks factory in central Mexico left at least 19 people dead, including firefighters and police officers, and another 40 people injured, authorities said.
Fireworks explosions kill 19 in central Mexico
At least 19 people were killed in a series of explosions today at fireworks warehouses in the town of Tultepec in central Mexico, including rescue workers who died saving others' lives, officials said. The initial explosion occurred around 9:30 am (local time), then spread to other warehouses just as police and firefighters began attending to the first victims in the town, which is known for its artisanal fireworks -- and a history of deadly accidents. "We deeply regret the deaths of those who were killed this morning in... Tultepec, including our firefighter and police colleagues who lost their lives saving those of many others," read a tweet from the Red Cross in the state of Mexico, where Tultepec is located. At least 19 people were killed -- including a minor -- and 40 wounded, said state Interior Minister Alejandro Ozuna. Hundreds of soldiers, police and firefighters deployed to the neighborhood of Xahuento, on the outskirts of the town, cordoning off a wide area around the ...
17 killed in blasts at small Mexican fireworks factory
Two explosions on Thursday at a small fireworks factory in central Mexico left at least 17 people dead and several others injured, authorities said.
Fireworks explosions kills 17 in central Mexico: Officials
At least 17 people were killed in a series of explosions today at fireworks warehouses in central Mexico, including rescue workers who died saving others' lives, officials said. The initial explosion occurred around 9:30 am (local time), then spread to other warehouses just as police and firefighters began attending to the first victims in the city of Tultepec, which is known for its artisanal fireworks and a history of deadly accidents. "We deeply regret the deaths of those who were killed this morning in La Sucera, Tultepec, including our firefighter and police colleagues who lost their lives saving those of many others," read a tweet from the Red Cross in the state of Mexico, where Tultepec is located. Governor Alfredo del Mazo ordered the state interior and health ministries to immediately go to the scene and attend to the victims and their families. The explosions leveled at least four warehouses before they were brought under control, reported the newspaper Reforma. Tultepec is
One dead, dozens of Chinese tourists missing as Thai boat capsizes
One man died and dozens of Chinese tourists remain missing after a boat capsized as high winds whipped up rough seas off the Thai island of Phuket, officials said late today, confirming the rescue had been suspended for the night. The Phoenix was carrying around 90 passengers when it began to keel over after it was hit by massive waves, prompting a rescue operation that stretched into the night and left authorities scrambling to react. The body of a man wearing a life jacket with the logo of the Phoenix boat was pulled from the sea late Thursday. Footage shown live on the public relations Facebook page of Phuket showed the body being brought to shore. The victim was found near one of a string of islands off Phuket's coast. "There are 53 people missing," the governor of southern Phuket, Noraphat Plodthong told reporters. "We have stopped the rescue... we'll start again in the morning." Television footage taken at a pier in Phuket showed stunned tourists huddling in blankets, while ...
Pauri accident effect: Uttrakhand govt to act tough against errant drivers
The Trivendra Singh Rawat government in Uttarakhand has directed police and other authorities to take stern action against drivers of public or private vehicles who violate traffic rules. The state government directive comes days after 48 people were killed after a bus rolled in to a gorge in Pauri district. A heavily overloaded 28-seater bus was carrying all the passengers, officials said. Yesterday, the Uttarakhand High Court had taken cognisance of the accidentand directed authorities to file a reply before it by July 20. The division bench of Chief Justice KM Joseph and Justice Sharad Sharma had sought the response of the state's transport secretary, transport commissioner, Garhwal and Kumaon commissioners, regional transport authorities of Pauri, Dehradun, Almora and Haldwani and DIGs of Garhwal and Kumaon. In the state capital today, Secretary (Transport) D Senthil Pandiyan in a letter to Uttarakhand DGP, the transport commissioner, Kumaon and Garhwal commissioners, police and ..
One dead, dozens of Chinese tourists feared missing as Thai boat capsizes
One man died and dozens of Chinese tourists remain missing after a boat capsized as high winds whipped up rough seas off the Thai island of Phuket, officials said late today. The boat was carrying around 90 passengers when it began to keel over after it was hit by massive waves, prompting a rescue operation that stretched into the night and left authorities scrambling to react. The body of a man wearing a life jacket with the logo of the Phoenix boat was pulled from the sea. Footage on the public relations Facebook page Phuket showed the body brought to shore. The governor of southern Phuket, Noraphat Plodthong, said 49 people -- over half of the passengers -- were still "being helped" as rescue boats rushed to the scene. A second provincial official, requesting anonymity, told AFP rescuers "are working to find" the 49 missing. Television footage taken at a pier in Phuket showed stunned tourists huddling in blankets, while several women cried as medics tended to the injured. The boat .
Dozens of Chinese tourists missing in boat capsize off Thailand's Phuket
Dozens of mainly Chinese passengers are missing after a boat capsized as high winds whipped up rough seas off the Thai tourist island of Phuket, officials said tonight. The boat was carrying around 90 passengers when it keeled over after it was hit by massive waves, prompting a rescue operation that stretched into the night and left authorities scrambling to react. The governor of southern Phuket, Noraphat Plodthong, said 49 people -- over half of the passengers -- were still "being helped" as rescue boats rushed to the scene. A second provincial official, requesting anonymity, told AFP rescuers "are working to find" the 49 missing. Television footage taken at a pier in Phuket showed stunned tourists huddling in blankets, while several women cried as medics tended to the injured. The boat was returning to Phuket from Koh Racha at around 4:00 pm (local time) when a storm hit, according to the captain, who identified himself as Somjing Boontham in a televised interview. He said the boat
Five Mumbai youth swept away at Juhu Beach, one rescued
Five youth were swept away at the famed Juhu Beach on Thursday evening and while one was rescued from the waters, the four are still missing, an official said.
Five killed in accident in Haryana
Five persons of a family were killed and four others injured when their vehicle rammed into a truck coming from the opposite direction on the Sadhoura Kalaamb road here, police said today. The incident took place when the family was returning to Rasulpur village, they said. When they reached the Sadhaura Dosarka crossing in front of the Bala Sundry petrol pump, their vehicle collided with a truck coming from an opposite direction, police said. The injured have been referred to Mullana and Yamunanagar hospitals, they said. The truck driver was taken into custody and a case was registered, police said.
Dozens missing in boat capsize off Thailand's Phuket
Dozens of passengers are missing after a boat capsized as high winds whipped up rough seas off the Thai tourist island of Phuket, officials said late today. The boat was carrying 90 passengers when it capsized. It was not immediately clear if the passengers were tourists. Conflicting details emerged as the rescue operation carried on into the night leaving authorities scrambling to react. The governor of southern Phuket, Noraphat Plodthong, said 49 people -- over half of the passengers -- were still "being helped" as rescue boats rushed to the scene. He would not be drawn on whether the rescuers could see the people who had not been pulled to safety. "There were high winds this evening," he said, adding a further 10 pleasure boats were stranded at sea. "Yesterday we issued a warning of strong winds and storms." But an official at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, which is based in Bangkok, said only around 20 people were still in the sea. "Around 70 of the ...
Around 20 missing in boat capsize off Thailand's Phuket
Around 20 people are missing after a diving boat capsized in rough seas off the Thai tourist island of Phuket, an official at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said late today. The boat was carrying 90 passengers when it capsized "half of them were rescued, the operation is still ongoing," an official at the department, which is based in Bangkok told AFP, requesting not to be named. The boat was returning to Phuket from Koh Racha. Footage shared on Facebook showed officials at a pier gathering information as the rescue operation unfolded in darkness behind them. It was not immediately clear if the passengers were tourists, but the area is a magnet for overseas visitors. In a separate incident in the same area this evening a yacht called the Senerita carrying 39 people also capsized, the official added. An initial report said all of the passengers were pulled from the sea alive but the official who spoke to AFP could not provide any further information. Thailand is ..
Dozens missing in boat capsize off Thai tourist island: disaster office
Dozens of people are missing after a diving boat carrying 90 people capsized in rough seas off the Thai tourist island of Phuket, the Phuket office of Disaster, Prevention and Mitgation said today. The boat was carrying 90 passengers when it capsized "half of them were rescued, the operation is still ongoing," it said.
Norwegian probe: Gearbox failure cause fatal 2016 crash
"A fatigue fracture" in the main rotor gearbox caused an Airbus helicopter to crash off western Norway in 2016, killing all 13 people on board, Norway's Accident Investigation Board said today. The Airbus EC-225 helicopter was carrying workers from an offshore rig in the North Sea before it went down on Turoey, a tiny island outside Bergen, Norway's second-largest city. Eleven Norwegians, one Briton and one Italian were killed. The helicopter's rotor blade spiraled down minutes before the aircraft crashed, and the rotor was found on land, a hundred metres (yards) from the fuselage that crashed into the sea. The board's final report excluded human error and maintenance actions by the helicopter operator. The probe "has shown that the combination of material properties, surface treatment, design, operational loading environment and debris gave rise to a failure mode which was not previously anticipated or assessed," it said in its conclusion. Agency spokesman Kaare Halvorsen urged ...
Over 4,000 NDRF personnel deployed for flood rescue ops countrywide
Eighty-nine NDRF teams, comprising over 4,000 rescuers, have been deployed across flood-prone states in the country for relief and rescue operations, a senior official said today. Of these, he said, 45 teams have been "pre-positioned" in the states where rains and floods usually occur during the monsoon season. Twelve National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed across Assam, seven in Bihar, four each in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir, three each in Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal, two each in Delhi and Punjab, and one each in Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The rest of the teams are prepared and have been placed on alert. They can be air-lifted or dispatched by land in case of an emergency, the official said. Each NDRF team has about 45 personnel. "These teams are self-contained and equipped with disaster response equipment to deal with an emergency. The teams are also equipped with modern communication gadgets," the official ...
Hundreds of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims stranded at high-altitude places in Nepal evacuated: MEA
Hundreds of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra pilgrims from India stranded at high-altitude areas in Nepal due to inclement weather have been evacuated, with 53 flights and 142 chopper sorties taking people to places of safety, the External Affairs Ministry said today. The Indian mission in Nepal has undertaken a "massive exercise" to evacuate the pilgrims both from Hilsa and Simikot, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. He said evacuation efforts were still ongoing and if the weather holds, those Indians still stranded would also be taken to places of safety. "In the last three days, 883 pilgrims were evacuated from Simikot to Surkhet and also from Simikhot to Nepalganj. 675 pilgrims were evacuated from Hilsa to Simikhot. 53 civilian flights were operated to get the pilgrims out and 142 chopper sorties were carried out," Kumar said. He said the situation was "fast returning to normal" and about 50 pilgrims were in Surkhet, while 560 were in Simikot. Kumar asserted ...
Nearly 300 stranded Indian Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims evacuated from Nepal's Hilsa
Nearly 300 Indian pilgrims were evacuated from Nepal's mountainous Hilsa region today, as helicopter sorties continued for those stranded there while returning from the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage in Tibet amidst inclement weather. Today, 275 pilgrims were evacuated from Hilsa, taking the number of people who have been moved to safety in the last three days to 675, the Indian Embassy here said. While Hilsa is extremely infrastructure lean, Simikot has decent boarding, communication and medical facilities. "In the last three days, around 675 were evacuated from Hilsa to Simikot... During this period 53 flights were operated and 142 sorties were made by choppers including army as well MI16 Helicopters," the embassy said. "The mission operated 55 sorties between Hilsa and Simikot and evacuated 275 pilgrims in Hilsa. The sorties between Hilsa and Simikot continues," it said in a statement. "The mission has pressed in a private MI-16 Helicopter on charter to pull out additional 20-25 ...
1 killed, 4 injured in wall collapse in Rajasthan
A 22-year-old labourer was killed and four others, including two women, were injured after they got trapped under the debris of a nine-feet wall that collapsed while they were cleaning a nullah here, police said today. ACP (west) Ramavtar Soni said the rescue operations are underway as one child is suspected to be trapped under the debris. All the victims were rushed to the SMS hospital, where Pakka Ram succumbed to injuries during treatment, said Giridhar Goyal, an official of the hospital.
ISRO successfully carries out flight tests for Crew Escape System
The Indian Space Research Organisation today successfully carried out a flight test for a newly-designed Crew Escape System, meant for saving lives of astronauts in an exigency. The space agency said it was the first in a series of tests to ascertain the trustworthiness and efficiency of the Crew Escape System. The system is an emergency measure designed to quickly pull away the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle if the mission gets aborted. The first 'Pad Abort Test' demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad, the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a release. After a smooth five-hour countdown, the Crew Escape System along with the simulated crew module lifted off at 7.00 AM from its pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota today, it said. The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the Escape System and the module soared skyward, before arching out over the Bay ..