Page 750 - Disaster Accident
2 killed in landslides in Tripura
Two persons today were killed in landslides triggered by incessant rains in Tripura with flash floods inundating several areas in four districts, officials said. On Friday, four persons were killed in landslides in West Tripura district. The police said an 18-year-old woman was killed at Palku village in Gomati district and a 60-year-old man died at Belbari block in West Tripura, 25 km from state capital Agartala, owing to landslides. Nearly 14,000 have taken shelter in 59 relief camps in the four flood-affected districts, officials said. Gomati, Khowai, Sipahijala and West Tripura districts were hit by the flash floods, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) officer Sarat Das said. Jirania and Mohanpur in West Tripura district were the worst affected, he said. Haora river, which flows through Agartala, is close to the danger mark, the officials said. A red alert has been sounded in Gomati district and adjacent Sonamura sub-division of Sipahijala district. The government has ...
280 people take ill after drinking contaminated water in MP
Around 280 people have taken ill after drinking contaminated water in some parts of Sarni city in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district, a local health official said today. "Between yesterday night and today afternoon, around 280 people have come here complaining of vomiting and loose motion after drinking contaminated water," said Patakheda Community Health Centre Officer Dr Shailendra Sahu. He added that no one among them was critically ill. He informed that water was supplied to the affected areas by the Sarni municipality while storage tanks in some of the areas was maintained by Western Coalfields Limited. He said that medical personnel from WCL as well the district hospital were camping in the area to treat the victims. Former BSP MLA Kishore Samrite called for a thorough investigation into the issue and said that his party would organise a demonstration if the state government failed to provide clean drinking water to the people of Sobhapur colony.
Mumbai-bound flight diverted to city due to air traffic
: An Oman Air Muscat-Mumbai flight was diverted to this city today due to air traffic congestion over Mumbai airport, an airport official here said. "Oman Air WY 203 flight from Muscat to Mumbai was diverted to Hyderabad and it landed at the international airport here at 2.30 PM," the official said. The flight was diverted to Hyderabad due to air traffic congestion over Mumbai airport, the official, on condition of anonymity, said. The flight took off for its onward destination at 3.40 pm, he said. There have been flight delays at Mumbai as the airport has upgraded its Instrument Landing System (ILS). The ILS operates as a ground-based instrument that guides an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals.
Testing of canal-based drinking water supply ordered
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today ordered testing and monitoring of canal-based drinking water supply in the southern parts of the state to prevent the spread of contamination triggered by the spill of molasses into the Beas river. The chief minister issued directions to the Punjab Pollution Control Board and other departments concerned to undertake detailed testing of the water supplied to towns and villages in southern Punjab. He has asked the departments to constitute special teams for water quality testing and to take necessary steps to prevent drinking water contamination, said an official spokesperson. The chief minister also directed the deputy commissioners of the districts concerned to closely monitor the water supply in towns and villages. The deputy commissioners have been asked to coordinate with the water resources department to ensure cleaning of the water channels in their jurisdictions, the spokesperson said. The pollution control board had directed ..
At least 11 killed in Indonesia truck accident
At least 11 people died in Indonesia when a truck carrying sugar smashed into several motorcycles and houses today, an official said. The truck was heading downhill in the district of Brebes in Central Java province on its way to the capital Jakarta when it failed to brake, according to the local disaster agency. It tried to stop by swerving left but instead hit a car, 13 motorbikes and seven houses. "So far eleven people died and 11 others are wounded," said agency official Sarwa Permana, adding that the injured have been taken to hospital. The fate of the driver is unclear. Transport accidents are not uncommon in the archipelago nation, where buses, trains and even planes are often old and badly maintained. In February, at least 27 people died and 16 others were injured when a bus carrying domestic tourists crashed in West Java province. In July last year 10 people including an Austrian tourist and a 12-year-old child died when a bus travelling from resort island Bali to the town ..
Dharamshala facing acute water shortage as tourist season begins
Dharamshala, a hill city surrounded by dense cedar forests on the edge of the Himalayas, is facing acute drinking water shortage as the tourist season is about to begin this summer. A district headquarter since 1845, Dharamshala is one of the major tourist destinations for people wanting to escape the intense heat-waves that sweep northern India, including the national capital Delhi, during the peak summer months. The drinking water shortage prompted Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to say yesterday that irrigation and water supply projects and schemes have been given priority by his government. He said Rs 2,572 crore was earmarked in the state budget for early completion of these programmes. During the British rule, the Bhagsunath fresh water spring supplied water to Dharamshala and the hill city used to get uninterrupted water supply until the 1960s. Later, the government arranged drinking water from Gaj Khad river, which is a source of glacial waters of the Dhauladhar
Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel likely to open next year: NHAI official
Excavation work inside the 8.5-km-long Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was completed today with its twin tubes likely to be made operational by next year, a senior NHAI official said. "The double tube excavation work inside the Banihal-Qazigund four-lane tunnel was completed after seven years The breakthrough was made today," NHAI Project Director Ghulam Qadir told PTI. The existing Jawahar tunnel, under the Banihal pass, is at an elevation of 2,194 metres (7,198 feet) making it prone to avalanches, which have lead to closure and bottlenecks on the 265-km all-weather highway linking Kashmir to the rest of the country. The new Banihal-Qazigund tunnel's elevation is 1,790 metres (5,870 feet), 400 metres below the Jawahar tunnel. This makes it less prone to avalanches, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said. The work on the Rs 2,100-crore project started in June 2011 and on completion, the tunnel would reduce the distance between ...
3 killed, thousands affected by torrential rains in Sri Lanka
At least three people were killed and thousands of others have been affected in Sri Lanka as heavy rains and strong winds wreaked havoc in the country. The Met Department today said that heavy showers will continue for the next few days due to the South Western Monsoon and the formation of a low-pressure zone over Sri Lanka. The Disaster Management Centre said that a woman died in the Badalkumbura area in Moneragala as a tree fell on her yesterday. Meanwhile, two people were struck by lightning at a paddy field in Welikanda. The victims were aged 17 and 33. Power supply has been disrupted in several areas due to trees falling on power lines as a result of incessant rains. The Department of Meteorology has warned of lightning and urged the public to take precautions. Several people have been evacuated to safer locations since last week while hundreds of houses were damaged due to the severe weather. Sri Lanka, which has been heavily deforested for cash crops, often witnesses landslides
Five pilgrims killed in mishap near Tirupati
Five pilgrims, including two women and an infant were killed and five injured after a collision between a SUV and a mini-lorry at Mamanduru, 20 km from here today, police said. The mishap occurred when the vehicle in which a 10-member family was on its way to the Lord Venkateswara temple at nearby Tirumala, collided with a mini-lorry, they said. The injured were admitted to a government hospital here and the condition of one of them is stated to be serious, police said. All the pilgrims were from Koratamaddi in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, they said.
3 killed, over 8,000 hit by severe weather in Sri Lanka
Three people were killed and over 8,000 affected as heavy rains and strong winds lashed across Sri Lanka, prompting disaster management officials to be on alert for possible evacuations, the Disaster Management Centre said on Sunday.
Two killed in Jammu road accident
Two people were killed on Sunday when their car plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, police said.
Over 50 people fall sick after having 'paani puri' in Rajasthan
Over 50 people fell sick after consuming contaminated 'pani puri' in Sirohi district of Rajasthan, officials said today. The victims had consumed it from a roadside vendor last evening and complained of vomiting and abdominal pain, Chief Medical and Health Officer (Sirohi) Sushil Parmar said. Of the 52 people who fell sick, 39 were admitted to the community health centre in Revdar, 12 to Abu road hospital and one patient was being treated at the district hospital, he said. The officer said the patients were out of danger and the samples of the 'pani puri' had been collected for testing.
Ebola deaths rise to 26, says Congo health ministry
Congo's health ministry says there is one new death from Ebola, bringing to 26 the number of deaths from the deadly outbreak in Equateur province in the country's northwest. Four new cases have been confirmed as Ebola, said the health ministry in a statement released early Sunday. A total of 46 cases of hemorrhagic fever have been reported in the current outbreak, including 21 confirmed cases of Ebola, 21 probable and four suspected. Congo President Joseph Kabila and his Cabinet agreed yesterday to increase funds for the Ebola emergency response which now amounts to more than USD 4 million. The Cabinet endorsed the decision to provide free health care in the affected areas and to provide special care to all Ebola victims and their relatives. The spread of Ebola from a rural area to Mbandaka, a city of more than 1 million people, has raised alarm as the deadly disease can spread more quickly in densely populated urban centers. The World Health Organization on Friday decided not to ...
Mumbai man becomes first to be on 'No-fly list'
A senior official of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has confirmed that a Mumbai-based jeweller, Birju Kishore Salla, who created a hijack scare onboard a Jet Airways flight last year, has become the first person to be put on the 'National No Fly List.'Salla, 37, was arrested in October last year by the crime branch following the emergency landing made by the Mumbai-Delhi Jet Airways plane at the Ahmedabad airport after the pilot was alerted about a note about hijackers and a bomb which was found in the plane's washroom by a cabin crew.He was also the first one to be booked under the stringent Anti-Hijacking Act.According to the DGCA, it is the responsibility of Jet Airways now to inform other airlines about the grounding of this particular passenger under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR).No-fly-list is a central database of unruly or disruptive passengers. If an airline decides to ban a passenger for unruly or disruptive behaviour, it will have to inform the ...
Cuba in mourning after deadliest air crash in nearly 30 years
Cuba observed a weekend of national mourning for victims of its worst crash in nearly three decades that killed 110 passengers and crew. An investigation has been launched into Friday's crash of the nearly 40-year-old Boeing 737-200 leased to the national carrier Cubana de Aviacion by a Mexican company. Three women pulled alive from the mangled wreckage and in hospital in critical condition were the only survivors. One of them was conscious and asked for something to drink, the hospital treating them said. The Boeing crashed shortly after taking off from Havana, coming down in a field near the airport and sending a thick column of acrid smoke into the air. The circumstances echoed those of Cubana de Aviacion's worst air disaster nearly 30 years ago, in September 1989, when an Ilyushin 62 plane crashed on takeoff from Havana as it was headed to Italy. That disaster killed all 126 people on the plane, mainly Italian tourists, as well as around 45 people on the ground. In Friday's crash,
Fatal accidents increasing on Agra-Lucknow Expressway
Speed craze without discipline is proving a major killer on Uttar Pradesh's two expressways. While the Yamuna Expressway has taken nearly a thousand lives since 2012, the Agra-Lucknow Expressway has recorded over 100 deaths.
Rural Hawaii communities face various volcano threats
In the weeks since Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began erupting, dozens of homes have burned from oozing lava, people have fled their homes and plumes of steam from the summit have shot skyward, prompting officials to distribute face masks to protect against ash particles. Lava flows have grown more vigorous in recent days and there's concern more homes may burn and more evacuations may be ordered. Still, scientists can't say whether lava flows from nearly two dozen fissures will continue to advance, or stop. "We have no way of knowing whether this is really the beginning or toward the end of this eruption," said Tom Shea, a volcanologist at the University of Hawaii. "We're kind of all right now in this world of uncertainty." In addition to ash fallout from explosions and the threat of lava crossing main highways, officials warned of another hazard yesterday as a flow advanced southeast to the ocean: Laze. "Laze is when hot lava hits the ocean sending hydrochloric acid and steam with fine .
Highway building, water bodies construction can go hand in hand: Gadkari
A programme to push construction of water bodies in drought-prone areas in lieu of soil excavated to be used in highway building has come in handy to create 2,841 tmc of storage capacity in Buldana district of Maharashtra, which could have cost around Rs 43 crore to the state, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said. A pilot project in drought-prone Buldana district is underway to usges ensuring water, jobs and infrastructure to people, Gadkari reveale earth materials excavated from 202 sites, where ponds and water bodies are being dug and desilted, for 12 highway projects in the district, Gadkari, who holds multiple portfolios, including highways and water resources, told PTI. The project will benefit at least 112 villaed. Enthused by the results of the pilot project, Gadkari exuded confidence that such a model can be replicated successfully in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh which battle with acute water shortage. Around 12 highways projects are underway .
Coal imports by power plants fall 22 pc in April
Coal imports by power utilities fell by 22.23 per cent to 3.73 million tonnes in April mainly due to decline in shipments by imported coal based power projects in the country. According to latest data compiled by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), coal imports by the power utilities came down to 3.731 million tonnes (MT) in April this year from 4.798 MT in April 2017 mainly due to lower deliveries at imported coal based plants. In April 2018, however, the total coal imports by power utilities for blending with domestic coal rose to 1.427 MT from 1.078 MT in April last year. The scope of reducing coal import is always more at power plants using domestic coal as they use high gross calorific value imported fuel for blending. The data shows that the coal imports came down by imported coal based power plants in April this year. These plants imported 2.304 MT of coal in April 2018 down from 3.720 MT in the same month a year ago. Experts think that higher international coal prices may
Company in Cuba plane crash had received safety complaints
The Mexican charter company whose 39-year-old plane crashed in Havana had been the subject of two serious complaints about its crews' performance over the last decade, according to authorities in Guyana and a retired pilot for Cuba's national airline. Mexico's government said yesterday that its National Civil Aviation Authority will carry out an operational audit of Damojh airlines to see if its "current operating conditions continue meeting regulations" and to help collect information for the investigation into Friday's crash in Cuba that left 110 dead. The plane that crashed, a Boeing 737, was barred from Guyanese airspace last year after authorities discovered that its crew had been allowing dangerous overloading of luggage on flights to Cuba, Guyanese Civil Aviation Director Capt. Egbert Field told The Associated Press. The plane and crew were being rented from Mexico City-based Damojh by EasySky, a Honduras-based low-cost airline. Cuba's national carrier, Cubana de Aviacion, was .