Page 748 - Disaster Accident
Volcanic eruption in Indonesia forces evacuation
Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia, spewed a column of ash 3,500 metres into the air early on Tuesday, triggering an evacuation, a disaster agency official said.
One of Cuba's three air crash survivors dies
One of the three women who survived Cuba's worst air crash in decades has died from her injuries, the health ministry said today, raising the toll to 111. The 23-year-old, Gretell Landrove, was admitted to hospital with life-threatening injuries and she did not make medical progress, the ministry said in a statement read out on state television. The other two women survivors were still in critical condition. Earlier, doctors had indicated that two of the Cuban survivors of Friday's crash were fighting for their lives at Havana's Calixto Garcia hospital. A Boeing 737 leased to national carrier Cubana de Aviacion crashed shortly after taking off from Havana's Jose Marti airport on Friday with 113 passengers and crew aboard. The Cuban government is investigating the cause of the crash and has so far identified 33 of the dead, some of whom have already been buried. Transport Minister Adel Yzquierdo has said one of the plane's two black boxes had been recovered in "good condition," and the
Cuba plane crash survivor dies, toll rises to 111
The toll from last Friday's plane crash in Cuba has risen to 111 as one of the survivors succumbed to her injuries here, officials said.
At least 18 dead after cyclone hits Horn of Africa
Flooding and strong winds caused by a tropical cyclone left at least 18 people dead and thousands homeless across two countries in the Horn of Africa, an aid agency said today. Cyclone Sagar formed last week in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen's coast and made landfall on Saturday in Djibouti and Somaliland, a breakaway state in northern Somalia where the bulk of the deaths occurred. "1,780 families fled their homes due to the storm, 16 people were reported killed, and at least 80 homes were destroyed," Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a statement, citing the UN's humanitarian coordinator OCHA. The aid group added that the storm left two people dead in Djibouti's capital and flooded several neighbourhoods, affecting between 20,000 and 30,000 people. "This is the biggest storm to hit the region in years," NRC regional director Nigel Tricks said. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the full extent of the damage in Somaliland remained ...
Air India flight makes emergency landing in Mumbai Airport
An Air India Goa-Mumbai flight made an emergency landing at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport due to a snag in the hydraulic on Monday night.According to initial information, full emergency was declared in the aircraft at 8:36 pm.All passengers onboard are safe and no injuries have been reported.The aircraft landed safely in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 9:18 pm and was handed over for operations at 9:40 pm.Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport spokesperson said that the aircraft has been parked safely.
CISF rescues individual stranded in Satluj River
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Monday rescued a person stranded in the middle of Sutlej River in Himachal Pradesh.A message was received by the CISF Unit Commander on Sunday that an individual was stranded on a rock in the middle of Sutlej River.Immediately, a rescue team under the supervision of Assistant Commandant Dilip Namboodiri and Fire Inspector SK Singh of the CISF rushed to the spot to rescue him.Despite the strong flow of water, the rescue team was able to save the stranded individual with all safety precautions in place.
Air India Goa flight makes emergency landing in Mumbai
An Air India flight from Goa made an emergency landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here on Monday following a hydraulic failure, official sources said.
Flood waters receding in Tripura
Flood waters have started receding in West Tripura, Gomati, Khowai and Sipahijala districts of the state, officials said today. The two major rivers of Tripura, Gomati and Haora, are also flowing below the danger level, they said. However, around 17,480 people are still housed in relief camps in the four districts, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) officer Sarat Das said. "There was no report of any fresh flood from any part of the state and river Haora is flowing at 9.48 metre, well below its danger level of 10.50 metre. River Gomati is flowing at 19.80 metre, while its danger level is 21.50 metre," Das said. Two persons were killed yesterday in landslides triggered by incessant rains, with flash floods inundating several areas in the districts, the officials said. "Many people have returned to their homes. But, flood waters have not receded entirely from their houses and living conditions are yet to be restored," District Magistrate of West Tripura, Sandeep ...
Two train bogeys catch fire, no one hurt
Two bogeys of a train, going from Delhi to Visakhapatnam, caught fire on Monday in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, following which alert passengers pulled the chain to stop the train and evacuate it, police said.
ND-Vizag AP Express fire: Blaze may have started in AC unit, says
Two coaches of the New Delhi-Visakhapatnam AP Express today caught fire near Birlanagar station here after the air-conditioning unit of a coach threw up a problem, officials said. All the passengers in the train, including 150 in the B-6 and B-7 coaches that got gutted, escaped unhurt, they said. "The fire appears to have started from the Roof Mounted Packaged Unit (RMPU- the railway terminology for an air-conditioning unit in a coach) above the toilet of the B-7 coach," a top railway official said on the condition of anonymity. The official was quoting the prima facie investigation report. Officials said that the passengers escaped unhurt as some of them saw smoke emanating and pulled the emergency alarm chain. Two coaches -- B-6 and B-7 -- of train No. 22416 (New Delhi - Visakhapatnam), a fully air-conditioned express, caught fire around 11.45 am, North Central Railway (NCR), Chief Public Relations Officer, Gaurav Krishna Bansal said. Thirty-seven deputy collectors were on board ...
Agra water tragedy: 25 years on, solution a dream
A quarter century after 25 people died from drinking contaminated water supplied by the civic body, the Taj city continues to face an acute shortage of safe drinking water for its urban population of two million.
Narrow escape for passengers as plane overshoots Shirdi runway
A disaster was averted when an Alliance Air plane with around 70 passengers overshot the runway while landing at the Shirdi airport here on Monday evening but the pilots managed to bring it to a halt, official sources said.
Moderate intensity quake jolts Himachal
A moderate intensity earthquake of 4.2 magnitude jolted parts of Himachal Pradesh this evening. No loss of life or property was reported. Tremors lasted a few seconds in the tribal Kinnaur district and adjoining areas, an official of the local Met department said. The epicentre of the quake was traced to the district, about 114 km from state capital Shimla.
NHRC notice to UP govt over hooch tragedy
The NHRC has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the death of several persons from consumption of spurious liquor, reportedly, purchased from licensed shops in the state's Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat districts. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today observed that it was necessary for the state authorities to take "immediate effective measures" to stop the selling of spurious liquor from licensed shops and to take up investigation to reveal the exact reason of selling contaminated liquor. The notice has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, seeking a detailed report in four weeks. Meanwhile, the toll in the hooch tragedy in the two districts, today, climbed to 13 with three more persons dying in hospitals since last night, police said. As many as eight persons, including two grandsons of a former Samajwadi Party MLA, have been arrested in this connection. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to ...
Narrow shave for passengers as plane overshoots Shirdi runway
A major disaster was averted when an Alliance Air plane, with around 70 passengers, overshot the runway while landing at the Shirdi Airport here on Monday evening but the pilots managed to bring it to a halt, official sources said.
Lava from Kilauea volcano enters ocean, creates toxic cloud
White plumes of acid and extremely fine shards of glass billowed into the sky over Hawaii as molten rock from Kilauea volcano poured into the ocean, creating yet another hazard from an eruption that began more than two weeks ago. Authorities yesterday warned the public to stay away from the toxic steam cloud, which is formed by a chemical reaction when lava touches seawater. Further upslope, lava continued to gush out of large cracks in the ground that formed in residential neighborhoods in a rural part of the Big Island. The molten rock formed rivers that bisected forests and farms as it meandered toward the coast. The rate of sulfur dioxide gas shooting from the ground fissures tripled, leading Hawaii County to repeat warnings about air quality. At the volcano's summit, two explosive eruptions unleashed clouds of ash. Winds carried much of the ash toward the southwest. Joseph Kekedi, an orchid grower who lives and works about 5 kilometers from where lava dropped into the sea, said ..
Alliance Air overshoots runway at Shirdi, all passengers safe
As many as 70 passengers on board an Alliance Air flight had a narrow escape after the ATR aircraft carrying them from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport today. All the passengers are safe and there is no damage to aircraft too, an Air India official said. Alliance Air is the regional arm of the national carrier Air India. "At round 5.29pm, the Alliance Air flight arriving from Mumbai overshot the runway by 50 meters during landing at the Shirdi airport," the official said. There were 70 passengers on board the ATR aircraft," he said adding, "airline will probe the causes of the incident." Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will also investigate the incident of the aircraft overshooting the runway separately, he added. In May 2010, 152 people were killed when the pilot of the Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway during landing at Mangaluru. Constructed at an investment of around Rs ..
Successful heart transplantation done on a Jharkhand patient
The city today witnessed a successful lifesaving heart transplantation surgery conducted on a 39-year-old male from Jharkhand after the organ of a brain dead was harvested and airlifted from Bengaluru to Kolkata early this morning. The entire process was initiated after a 21-year-old youth was declared brain dead at a Bengaluru hospital this morning following a tragic road accident on May 19, a senior official of the private hospital here, where the heart transplantation was done, said. The youth's family gave their consent to donate his heart after counselled on organ donation at the Bengaluru-unit of the same hospital following which a cardiac transplant team harvested the donor's heart at around 7 AM today, he said. After that, the live heart was transported through a green corridor from the hospital to Bengaluru airport and then airlifted to Kolkata. As soon as it reached the city at around 10:45 AM this morning, the live heart was taken via a green corridor from ...
Restaurants most common source of food-borne illness: Survey
Restaurants are the most common source of contaminated food that causes children to fall sick, say scientists who found that very few parents use simple preventive strategies to protect kids from food poisoning outside the home. One in 10 parents said in a survey that their child got sick from eating spoilt food, according researchers from the University of Michigan in the US. Among parents of children who had gotten sick from spoiled or contaminated food, just a third said that their child had gotten sick from food eaten at their own home. "In most cases children recover quickly from food poisoning, but in certain cases it can be debilitating," said Gary L Freed, co-director of C S Mott Children's Hospital National Poll. "It's impossible to completely protect children from food-borne illness. However, there are strategies to try to reduce the risk of getting sick from eating spoiled or contaminated food," said Freed. "We found that while parents paid closer attention to food safety ..
7 killed, thousands affected by torrential rains in Sri Lanka
Heavy monsoon rains and strong winds across Sri Lanka have killed at least seven persons and displaced more than 1,000, prompting authorities to deploy the military for rescue and relief operations. The Disaster Management Center (DMC) said that 1024 people have been displaced so far and have been sheltered at temporary locations. Seven people have been killed so far and hundreds have been affected by the adverse weather experienced in most parts of the country, Colombo Gazette reported. The most number of displaced have been reported from Badulla, Kegalle and Kalutara, the DMC said. Over 170 houses have been damaged as a result of the adverse weather affecting the country over the past few days. Landslide warnings were issued for several areas while people living along major rivers were cautioned over the possibility of floods, the report said. The Army, Navy and Air Force were deployed to the most affected areas to provide relief and join the rescue operations. President Maithripala