Page 798 - Disaster Accident
At least 18 dead in China karaoke lounge fire: Xinhua
A fire tore through a karaoke lounge in southern China today, killing 18 people and injuring another five, according to state media. The blaze took place in Qingyuan City, Guangdong province, the official Xinhua news agency said in a brief report, citing local police. Deadly fires are common in China, where safety regulations are widely flouted and enforcement is often lax. A blaze that killed 38 people at a nursing home in 2015 sparked soul-searching about safety standards in China. Courts jailed 21 people, including firefighters and government staff, over the fire last year.
N Korean leader's 'bitter sorrow' after fatal China tourist crash
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un visited China's embassy in Pyongyang to express his "bitter sorrow" after a bus crash killed dozens of Chinese tourists, state media reported today. Thirty-two Chinese tourists and four North Koreans were killed when a bus plunged from a bridge in North Korea late Sunday, according to Chinese officials. In a rare admission of negative news from North Korea's tightly controlled propaganda network, the state-run KCNA news agency ran a report saying Kim met the Chinese ambassador early yesterday and later visited crash survivors in hospital. "He said that the unexpected accident brought bitter sorrow to his heart and that he couldn't control his grief at the thought of the bereaved families who lost their blood relatives," KCNA reported. The agency quoted the North Korean leader as saying his people "take the tragic accident as their own misfortune." The report said the crash was caused by "an unexpected traffic accident that claimed heavy causalities ...
Canada police say driver that hit pedestrians in custody
A van apparently jumped a curb today in a busy intersection in Toronto and struck eight to 10 people and fled the scene before it was found and the driver was taken into custody, Canadian police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the van to strike the pedestrians in a busy intersection in the north-central part of the city. Police did not immediately identify the driver. "At this point it's too early to tell what if any motive there was. We are also unable right now to tell the extent or the number of persons injured," Toronto police spokeswoman Meaghan Gray said. Toronto paramedic spokeswoman Kim McKinnon said first responders were on scene treating multiple patients, but wouldn't confirm the number or severity of injuries. Police shut down the Yonge and Finch intersection following the Monday afternoon incident and Toronto's transit agency said it has suspended service on the subway line running through the area. The incident occurred as Cabinet ministers from the major .
Charred body of minor girl found after fire breaks out in Shahdara
The charred body of a six-year-old girl was found in the slums in the Mansarovar Park area of Shahdara where a fire broke out this afternoon, an official from the Delhi Fire Service said. As many as 300 shanties were gutted in the blaze that broke out at 1 pm. Fifteen firetenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was doused by 3.45 pm, he said. The girl's body was found after the fire was doused, the official said, that the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. In another incident around 12 am, a fire broke out in a clothes factory in the Gandhi Nagar area of Shahdara in which two workers were killed.
Steel girder falls in metro station in Gzb, 8 hurt
Eight people were today injured, after a steel girder of an under-construction foot overbridge (FOB) fell at the Mohan Nagar metro station site even as metro services at three stations were suspended for over an hour due to a fire in east Delhi's Mansarovar Park. In the first incident, the DMRC removed a project in-charge of the main contractor and terminated a sub-contractor's services. It also suspended its assistant engineer and junior engineer who were in-charge of the site. The incident took place around 10 am when the steel girder, which was erected for the construction of FOB, fell on passing vehicles at the under-construction Mohan Nagar Metro station in Ghaziabad. Police said that the condition of Seema (27) and Atul Gaur (30) was "serious" and they were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Mohan Nagar hospital. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DCP) Rakesh Mishra said the steel girder fell on a passing autorickshaw in which three passengers, Seema, Gaur and Raje, were
Suresh Kumar assumes additional charge of CIL chief
Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Monday said Coal Ministry's Additional Secretary Suresh Kumar has assumed the additional charge as its Chairman and Managing Director.
UP: Man killed in stampede at Harauni railway station
A 23-year-old man killed today in a stampede that occurred due to a last minute change of platform when a Kanpur-Lucknow short distance train was arriving at the Harauni railway station in Banthara area here, according to officials. Angry passengers created ruckus at the railway station affecting traffic on the route. Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Northern Railway, Satish Kumar said the incident took place at 6.10 am affecting railway traffic on the Kanpur-Lucknow route. The movement of two dozen trains was affected, he said. Traffic was later restored and is normal now, he added. In the incident Pradeep, a resident of Banthara area, was killed trying to catch the train which instead of platform number 3 arrived at platform number 4, according to an official.
8 injured as Delhi Metro steel girder falls in Ghaziabad, DMRC removes project manager
Eight people were today injured, two of them seriously, after a steel girder of an under-construction foot overbridge (FOB) at the Mohan Nagar metro station site fell, prompting the DMRC to remove a project in-charge of the main contractor and terminate a sub-contractor's services. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has also suspended its assistant engineer and junior engineer who were in-charge of the site. The DMRC in a statement said five people were injured in the accident. The police said that three other people were injured but they did not lodge a complaint and continued on their journey after receiving first-aid. The incident took place around 10 am when the steel girder, which was erected for the construction of FOB, fell on passing vehicles at the under-construction Mohan Nagar Metro station in Ghaziabad. The police said that the condition of Seema (27) and Atul Gaur (30) was "serious" and they were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Mohan Nagar ...
'Encounter with death' motivates Gadkari to say 'Have a Safe Journey'
A "close encounter with death" in a road accident nearly two decades ago is what drives Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to keep telling people to have a safe journey on the roads. The memories from September 2001 when his vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a truck that left him bed-ridden for nearly a year and grievously injured his family members are still "dreadful" for the minister. Gadkari, who keeps flagging concerns about rising road accidents which claim many lives, has recalled his experience in a foreword to a collection of short stories on road safety. 'Have A Safe Journey', released today, features short stories selected through a 'Safe Journey Contest' that was incidentally inspired by Gadkari. "The accident, that moment is still etched fresh in my memory... It sends shudders down my spine and at the same time inspires to work relentlessly towards road safety, a grossly neglected subject that pains me," Gadkari told PTI after releasing the book here. In
Woman alleges harassment on busy road
A young woman, claiming to be a model, took to twitter to say that two persons made obscene comments and allegedly tried to pull her skirt when she was driving her scooter on a busy road yesterday. Taking cognisance of the tweet, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed the incident "shameful" and ordered the state Director General of Police (DGP) and Indore district collector to take necessary action. Narrating her ordeal in a series of tweets, the woman wrote, "Two guys tried to pull my skirt while I was on my Activa and said, 'dikhao iske niche kya hai?' (Show us, what is underneath). I tried to stop them and lost control and met with an accident". According to the woman, the incident occurred when she was driving on a busy street. "It happened on one of the busiest roads of indore, and nobody tried to stop them. They ran away, and I couldn't even see their number. I've never felt so helpless. I'm not the kind of girl who will just sit and watch. ...
Heavy smoke disrupts services on Delhi Metro's Red Line
Services on the Delhi Metro's Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) were suspended for more than one hour on Monday after heavy smoke from a nearby blaze made it difficult for the trains to run, the DMRC said.
Senior bureaucrat Suresh Kumar assumes additional charge as Coal India CMD
Senior bureaucrat Suresh Kumar today assumed the additional charge as chairman and managing director of state-owned Coal India Ltd. Kumar, additional secretary with the coal ministry, has taken over from Central Coalfields Ltd CMD Gopal Singh, who was appointed as interim chairman of the world's largest coal miner in September last year. "Ministry of Coal...has entrusted the additional charge of CMD, CIL to Suresh Kumar, Additional Secretary, MoC (Ministry of Coal). He has assumed the additional charge as CMD, CIL with effect from April 23, 2018," Coal India said in a filing to the BSE. Singh had succeeded Sutirtha Bhattacharya who retired from the post of Coal India CMD on August 31, 2017. Responding to a question on appointment of full-time CIL chairman, coal secretary Susheel Kumar had recently told PTI, "The process of approval (of full-time chairman) is on...I am not aware of the timelines." The government had last year began the hunt for a full-time Coal India CMD and invited ...
Billions to rebuild post-quake Nepal being misdirected
Billions of dollars poured into Nepal after a powerful earthquake devastated the country three years ago is being misdirected towards building unnecessary new homes where old ones could have been salvaged, experts warn. Survivors of the 7.8-magnitude quake that killed nearly 9,000 people in April 2015 are being pushed to construct new buildings they do not need, casting doubt on the efficacy of the government's USD 9 billion reconstruction effort. "It is proposing the wrong solution for a lot of people," said Noll Tufani, Nepal country director for Build Change, a charity specialising in disaster-proofing. Building quake-proof homes was a condition of the USD 4.1 billion pledged to Nepal by international donors under the tagline "build back better". The government identified 708,000 families whose homes had been damaged and set up a USD 3,000 cash subsidy programme to encourage them to construct homes that would withstand future seismic shocks. Three years later, just 15 percent have .
Fire breaks out in building in Kerala, no casualties
: A major fire, which broke out in a three-storeyed building here in the wee hours today,"was brought under control after nearly two hours, police said. No one was injured, they said. Short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire, police said. The building housing a supermarket, a textile shop and a lodge, is situated near the Kottayam Collectorate. The supermarket was gutted in the mishap, police said. There were many people in the lodge, who ran out after being alerted about the blaze, they added. Fire tenders from at least seven places rushed to put out the blaze.
36 killed in N.Korea accident
At least 36 people, including 32 Chinese tourists, were killed in a bus accident in North Korea, China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Stampede kills one in UP railway station
One person was killed and three others were injured on Monday at the Harauni railway station here following a stampede caused by a last-minute change in platform for a train, officials said.
India Exploring Signing of MoU with South Korea for Road Information System
He said that he has fixed a target of bringing down the number of road fatalities to half from the around 1.5 lakh accidental deaths reported when he took over. Shri Gadkari said, though progress has been achieved in this respect, he is still not satisfied and aspires to keep working in this direction.
Two cars catch fire after collision in MP; four killed
Four people were charred to death after two cars went up in flames following a collision near here in Madhya Pradesh, police said today. The mishap, in which four others were injured, took part last night near Bagrod on Vidisha-Sagar road, about 95km from state capital Bhopal, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vinod Kumar Singh Chouhan said. Both the cars collided and caught fire, leaving four people dead, he said. The four were travelling in one of the cars and could not unlock the doors and come out of the vehicle, Chouhan said. The deceased were identified as Praveen Prajapati (30), Maya Bai (60), Munni Bhai (60), all residents of Bhopal, and Laxmi Chakravarty (50), a native of Vidisha, he said. Four people travelling in the other car suffered injuries, but they managed to come out of the vehicle, Chouhan said, adding they went home after initial treatment.
4 British pilgrims killed in Saudi Arabia bus crash
Four British pilgrims were killed and 12 injured in Saudi Arabia when their bus collided with a fuel tanker, officials said.
TCS keen to join hands with govt for emergency services to accident victims, organ harvesting: Gadkari
Tata Group arm TCS is keen to join hands with the government in an initiative to harvest organs from road crash victims as well as facilitate emergency services for the injured using helicopters, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. Battling high incidence of road crashes in India, the government is going to join hands with South Korea for traffic management system besides planning to introduce an effective highways patrol, the road transport minister said here. "TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) has come up with a proposal... The proposal is that that they are ready to cooperate in organ donation (programme). Helicopter services will be available for accident victims," Gadkari said. TCS is the country's largest software services company, which crossed market valuation of USD 100 billion (Rs 6,80,912.10 crore) this morning -- the first Indian firm to cross the mark. Gadkari said the government is coming up with an initiative to lift road crash victims to hospitals through ...