Page 743 - Disaster Accident
Fire at waste disposal barn near Delhi hospital (Third Lead)
A massive blaze broke out near a hospital here on Thursday morning but there were no injuries, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said.
13 killed as heavy rains lash Sri Lanka
Three more deaths have taken the toll due to heavy monsoon rains in Sri Lanka to 13 and the number of people evacuated to over 50,000, according to the latest official figures released on Thursday.
No dearth of coal; crisis due to logistic issues: CIL
Coal India Limited (CIL) today claimed that there was no dearth of the fossil fuel in the country, but power plants are facing short supply due to logistics issues. "There is no shortage of coal in India. Today itself, there are 45 million tonnes of stocking in the country," CIL's newly appointed CMD Anil Kumar Jha told reporters. Jha, however, admitted that there was logistics problem in transporting coal to different power plants across the country. "Where there is coal, there is no rail network. So, until and unless the coal is transported to the power plant, having coal has no meaning," the CIL CMD said. "There is no dearth of coal, but there is logistics problem. We are looking at it," Jha said. Jha, who was the Chairman and Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) and later assumed charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Coal India Limited, visited Lord Jagannath temple yesterday.
Representatives of sugar mill appear before PPCB
Representatives of the Chadha Sugar Mill led by its president Rattan Singh Anmol today appeared before a panel of the Punjab Pollution Control Board which had issued it a notice in connection with the molasses leakage incident. During the two-hour long hearing, representatives of mill said they had made a temporary arrangement for the storage of molasses because of an increase in its production. Molasses is a byproduct produced during the sugarcane processing. They said that they were asked not to stall sugar production in the wake of increased production of cane and it led to a rise in the production of molasses. As the mill did not have a storage facility sufficient for the same, it had to make temporary arrangements on its premises which led to the disaster, they said. Vishal S Bhardwaj, one of the lawyers for the mill, said there was an increased production of sugarcane and the mill had to run crushing operations till April 30, following which a large amount of molasses was ...
Fire breaks out near Delhi hospital
The fire was doused at 5.30 a.m. and no injuries were reported
Speeding car enters roadside house, two dead
Two persons were killed and three others injured when a speeding car went off the road and rammed into a house near Penchi in Guna district this morning, police said. The car was coming from Ujjain and heading towards Shivpuri, said Chachoda police station in-charge Praveen Chouhan. Kalpana (30) and Naman Agrawal (30), who were travelling in the car, died during treatment at a hospital in Guna, he said. Three others, including the driver, were being treated. A case was registered against the driver under IPC sections 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rash driving), the officer added.
Two cows, calf die in Ghaziabad fire
Two cows and a calf were killed in a fire in the Uttar Pradesh Power Corp Ltd colony here.
Vaishno Devi yatra resumes as choppers brought in to douse forest fire
The pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine resumed today after a brief halt following a raging fire in the Trikuta hills that was brought under control by Air Force helicopters equipped with specialised buckets carrying approximately 2,500 litres of water at a time, officials said. The pilgrimage was suspended yesterday as the fire spread in the hills, the abode of Mata Vaishno Devi, in Katra town of Reasi district in Jammu. "The fire broke out in Trikuta hills and spread in a large forest area... resulting in suspension of the yatra last evening", a senior official of the Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board said. Though the fire was controlled, it continues to smoulder in some parts of the forest, he said. As the fire was close to the path used by pilgrims and battery cars to reach the holy shrine, around 25,000 devotees were stopped at Katra base camp, he said. They have been permitted to continue their journey towards the shrine. To extinguish the inferno, the Indian Air Force (IAF) .
Families from 8 countries sue EU over climate change: lawyers
Ten families from Europe, Kenya, and Fiji have filed suit against the European Union over global warming threats to their homes and livelihoods, their lawyers said today. The 30-odd plaintiffs before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg insist the bloc must do more to limit climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and point to drought, glacier melt, sea level rise and flooding that will worsen as temperatures rise.
Cyclone Mekunu pummels Yemeni island, 17 missing
Seventeen people were missing and hundreds of others evacuated from their homes today after Cyclone Mekunu hit the Yemeni island of Socotra, causing severe flooding and damage, officials said. Neighbouring Oman is preparing for landfall tomorrow, with national weather experts expecting Mekunu to intensify to a category two cyclone from category one, after it hit Socotra last night. The missing people had been in two boats that sunk and three vehicles swept away by floods, said Ramzy Mahrous, governor of Socotra, an island paradise 350 kilometres (220 miles) off Yemen in the Arabian Sea. Yemen's internationally recognised central government early today declared Socotra a "disaster province" and Mahrous said it could not handle relief efforts on its own, with the number of missing expected to rise. "The coastal areas were submerged by floods causing heavy damage to homes," with more than 10 villages in Socotra's south and east cut off, Mahrous told AFP. Four people on one of the sunken .
Italy: Rail derailment kills 2
Two people were killed and 18 got injured after a train crashed into a truck carrying heavy goods in the northern Italian region of Piedmont.Both the truck and train drivers were killed in the accident that took place on May 23.According to media reports, three of the train's carriages came off the rails.Rescuers made sure no passengers were trapped in the wreckage.Injured are being treated in the hospitals.
Sri Lanka: Death toll from adverse weather rises to 11
According to the National Disaster Management Center (DMC), around 11 people have died and over 100,000 were affected from the floods and landslides caused due to heavy rains in Sri Lanka.The adverse weather conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka have battered 18 districts since May 19. People died of incidents like drowning in floodwaters, tree falls and earth-slips. Five people have died from lightning strikes, Colombo Page reported.The Department of Meteorology said that in the next few days, thundershowers could be expected in many parts of the country.The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has extended the landslide warning to another four districts.Low lying areas like Ranbima, Welihinda, and Yakadagalla were submerged.The DMC said 557 military and police officials were mobilized for search and rescue operations. Around 5,826 military and police personnel are for immediate deployment.To address the needs of the affected people, the National Disaster Relief Services ...
People scared of self-driving cars post fatal crashes: Survey
We all want self-driving cars. But are we confident about them? May be not, and a latest survey reiterates just that.Autonomous driving technology is already built, but it is not perfect. That's the reason why we have seen some high-profile accidents, with two fatal crashes, in the recent past.Now, according to a new survey of over 1,000 drivers by the American Automobile Association, 73 percent of American drivers are scared to ride in an autonomous vehicle, up by 10 percent from the end of last year, Mashable reported.The millennials have lost more confidence than other age groups. 64 percent said they were too afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle, up from 49 percent.A separate survey by CarGurus reveals that car owners are not quite ready to trade their traditional vehicles for a self-driving model. 84 percent of respondents said they were unlikely to own a self-driving car in the next five years, even as researchers predict them to be up and running on roads.What is interesting
2 killed as train derails in Italy
Two people were killed and 18 others were injured when a passenger train derailed near Turin in northern Italy, the Italian media reported on Thursday.
Cabinet approves provision of mobile connectivity in Left Wing Extremism Areas
This network would be used by the security personnel deployed in LWE affected areas. Project will also provide the mobile services to help the residents in unconnected inhabited villages which would improve the economic activities in the region. It will give impetus to the e-Governance activities in the backward and LWE affected area with the availability of digital mobile connectivity.
Indonesia warns airlines over active volcano
The Indonesian Transport Ministry has issued a warning to airliners alerting them about volcanic ash from the country's most active Merapi volcano in Java island, ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said on Thursday.
Cyclone Mekunu pounds Yemen island on its path to Oman
The Yemeni island of Socotra has been pounded by Cyclone Mekunu, which is on a path to strike Oman this weekend. India's Meteorological Department said in a bulletin today that the storm was some 190 kilometers, or 118 miles, east-northeast of Socotra Island. The department said the storm, now described as "very severe," was some 475 kilometers about 295 miles off the coast of Salalah, one of Oman's biggest cities. There was no immediate word from Socotra. The island, listed by UNESCO as a world natural heritage site, has been the focus of a dispute between the United Arab Emirates and Yemen's internationally recognized government amid that country's war. Saudi troops recently deployed there. Meteorologists anticipate the storm making landfall near Salalah and neighboring Yemen on Saturday morning.
Hawaii volcano produces methane and "eerie" blue flames
Scientists in Hawaii have captured rare images of blue methane flames burning from cracks in the pavement as Kilauea volcano gushes lava in the background. The photos and video offer a look at a new dimension in the volcano's weeks-long eruption. The volcano produces methane when hot lava buries and burns plants and trees. The gas flows through the ground and up through existing cracks. US Geological Survey scientist Jim Kauahikaua (COW-ah-hee-COW-ah) told reporters it's just the second time he's ever seen blue flames during an eruption. He says it was dramatic and eerie. The methane can seep through cracks several feet away from the lava. Geological Survey scientist Wendy Stovall says the methane can cause explosions when it's ignited while trapped underground. Blasts can toss rlocks several feet.
Two dead, more injured after train hits truck in Italy
Two people were killed and many others injured after a train hit a large truck that was stuck on a railway crossing, causing multiple carriages to derail, local media reported. The accident, in which the train driver was killed, occured late Wednesday in northern Italy close to Turin, with three of the train's carriages coming off the rails, according to television footage. "The regional train 10027 Turin-Ivrea hit a heavy goods vehicle that had stopped on a functioning railway crossing after crashing through the barriers," RFI, which manages Italy's rail network, said in a statement. "According to early information, the driver of the train was killed and many other passengers have been injured," the statement added. According to the AGI news agency, the second victim was taken to a Turin hospital by helicopter with severe injuries but he did not survive. At the time of the accident he was in a van accompanying the heavy goods vehicle, other media reported. "Everything happened so ...
Vaishno Devi yatra remains suspended due to forest fire
The annual pilgrimage to the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine remained suspended for a second consecutive day on Thursday following a forest fire, police said.