Page 871 - Disaster Accident
At least 5 dead as storm brings wind, floods and snow to US Northeast
At least five people were killed after a major winter storm pounded the US East Coast, with strong winds, heavy rain and snow disrupting thousands of flights and forcing the closure of federal government offices in Washington. Coastal flooding alerts were issued from New Jersey to Massachusetts with winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings and high wind warnings in effect from the Northeast to the Mid-Atlantic, the National Weather Service said. Winter Storm Riley dropped more than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of snow in the western and northern parts of New York state, as heavy rain lashed coastal areas. The storm is expected to taper off overnight or by early Saturday. Police in James City County, southern Virginia, confirmed a 44-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on the truck he was traveling in -- while in Chesterfield County, south of Richmond, authorities said a six-year-old boy was killed when a fallen tree struck him as he slept in his home. Outside Baltimore, an ..
Five killed in US windstorm
At least five people, including two children, have been killed in the ongoing windstorm plaguing the US East Coast.
2 hurt as avalanche hits California ski resort
Officials at a California ski resort say an avalanche that caught five people has injured 2 people, one of them seriously. Dozens of rescuers rushed to the scene Friday afternoon at Squaw Valley Ski Resort east of Sacramento. Local television stations posted dramatic video of people digging out a man buried under snow. The resort says a man was hospitalized with a serious lower body injury, another person was treated and released and three people weren't hurt. The resort has been closed. The avalanche occurred a day after a snowboarder died at the resort. The man's body was found under feet of snow Friday, the day after a blizzard packing 150-mph winds hit the Sierra Nevada. An avalanche has prompted the closure of the Squaw Valley ski resort in Northern California The Placer County Sheriff's Department tweeted Friday that it appears that all skiers and snowboarders had been accounted for, Sheriff's officials say the avalanche occurred at about 3 pm. Squaw Valley is about 110 ..
Earthquake of magnitude 3.7 hits Manipur
An earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale hit Churachandpur region of Manipur.As per the meteorological department, the earthquake occurred at around 7: 01 am in the morning.As of now, no casualties or damages have been reported.Earlier in January, an earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale hit the Myanmar-India Border Region (Manipur).
Hyderabad Court sends 10 parents behind bars
A special magistrate court sent 10 parents behind bars for a day for allowing their minors to drive motorcycles in Telangana's Hyderabad city.According to media reports, a penalty of Rs. 500 was also slapped on the parents, under Section 180 of the Motor Vehicle Act.Amid a massive crackdown against underage driving, a 14-year-old was also sentenced to remand for one day in a juvenile home, media reports added.In all these cases, vehicles have been seized, and the minor driver and parents are being summoned to attend counselling at the Traffic Training institute and later prosecuted.The campaign to curb underage driving follows close on the heels of another campaign to curb drunken driving in the city.Last year, police recorded 130 accidents involving minors and many of them turned out to be near-fatal and in some cases caused death.
1 killed in collision of train and truck at Hapur in UP
A train driver lost his life in a collision between diesel-electric multiple unit trains and a truck at Pilkhuwa in Hapur on Saturday.The conductor of the train received injuries during the incident and was admitted to a nearby hospital.Due to the negligence of the authorities, the train barrier was left unhooked due to which the truck while moving across the railway track got hit by the speeding train and was reduced to rubbles.The driver and the conductor of the train got buried under the debris of the damaged train and were rescued after few hours of the rescue operation. A crane and gas cutter had to be brought in to rescue the victims.Post the incident, a team comprising of Railway authorities and police personnel was dispatched to the location of the accident to conduct a preliminary inspection.The senior superintendent of Police Rammohan Singh told ANI, "The train barrier was left open which has often been noted in the area. The truck got hit by a fast-moving train. The driver .
'The powerful nor'easter is becoming a bomb cyclone'
The powerful nor'easter, which is intensifying rapidly, is becoming a 'bomb cyclone', as it hammered the East Coast on Friday, with howling winds, drenching rain, some snow and surging waves.The storm that is being termed as 'bombogenesis' by the American media was clocking wind gusts over 50 mph (80 kmh).The Boston branch of the National Weather Service (NWS) issued warming, saying, this is a life and death situation."Take this storm seriously!" the National Weather Service's Boston office warned via Twitter. "This is a LIFE & DEATH situation for those living along the coast, especially those ocean-exposed shorelines."Several American airlines have cancelled more than 2000 flights due to the situation.The majority of cancellations were tracked down to Logan International in Boston, Philadelphia International, and the three major New York-area airports-LaGuardia, Newark and JFK."A powerful winter storm could bring winds in excess of 50mph in the Northeast, including the NYC area. .
2 dead after falling into borewell in Mathura
Two labourers died after falling into an open borewell in Mathura on Friday.Reportedly, the labourers were working near the spot.Locals came to the rescue but to no avail."The two labourers were brought dead. They had fallen inside a 25-feet deep borewell in Mathura's Govind Nagar area," said Dr Mukul Bansal, District Hospital.
Fire breaks out at chemical factory in Mumbai
A massive fire broke out inside a chemical factory in Mumbai's Asalfa Village on Saturday.At least eight fire tenders are currently present at the spot and working to douse the flame."The fire broke out late night around 11:45 pm to 12:00 and eight fire tenders are at the spot. One of our fire tender has received small injuries and has been taken for medical treatment," Deputy Fire Officer, Abhay Kale told ANI.No casualties have been reported yet.Further details are awaited.
Coast Guard rescues Sri Lankan fisherman
A severely injured fisherman on-board a Sri Lankan fishing vessel was rescued by the Indian Coast Guard from high seas, the maritime agency said in a statement here. The Coast Guard received a request from the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC), Colombo, to help the injured fisherman on-board the fishing vessel which was fishing at 100 nautical miles west of Suheli Par Island, a coral atoll in the Lakshadweep archipelago. The vessel had left the island nation on February 14 with five crew members. One of the crew members Malwatta Pathirannehalage Sunil Shantha, aged about 47 years, had suffered a deep cut injury on his neck, the statement said. MRCC Colombo had initially intimated that the patient was stable and the fishing boat was heading towards Colombo, and that the evacuation of the patient was being planned by Sri Lankan Naval ship on February 28, it said. However, on March 1, the Director General Operations of Sri Lanka Navy stated that the condition of the injured ...
Four dead in French Alps avalanche: police
At least four skiers were killed today in an avalanche in the French Alps, police said. Another person has been injured and one more is missing after the avalanche in the area around Entraunes, near Italy in the southern Alps, national police said on Twitter. Georges-Francois Leclerc, chief of the Alpes-Maritimes region, said the avalanche had struck people who were skiing off-piste near the Mercantour national park. A rescue operation was under way.
Five killed in collision between two jeeps in Gujarat's Dahod
Five persons, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed when two speeding jeeps carrying over 20 passengers collided at Katwara in Dahod district of Gujarat late last night, police said. The deceased included drivers of both vehicles and three passengers from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh. Eighteen others were rushed to Dahod civil hospital, said an official of Katwara police station. The accident took place on Ahmedabad-Indore highway late last night when a Toofan jeep carrying nine passengers rammed into another jeep carrying 14 persons. The deceased were identified as Priya Gondiya (8), a resident of Jhabua; Deepak Sharma (35) and Abhay Padaliya (55), both from Dhar district; Jitu Damor(25) and Nahatiya Bhuria (30), both from Dahod. All five died on the spot, police said.
25 dead in Azerbaijan drug rehab centre fire
Twenty-five people perished in a fire which tore through a drug rehabilitation clinic in the Azerbaijani capital Baku early today, with activists saying safety standards had not been met. Video footage broadcast on local television showed huge flames leaping through barred windows of a one-storey wooden hospital ward. It took some three hours for 10 squads of firefighters and rescuers from the emergencies ministry to extinguish the blaze, the APA news agency reported. President Ilham Aliyev, who went to the scene, has set up a governmental commission to probe the cause of the blaze and ordered financial aid to be allocated for the families of the victims, his office said. "At 06:10 am a fire broke out at the Republican Narcological Centre in Baku," the General prosecutor's Office, the health, interior and emergencies ministries said in a joint statement. "According to the latest data, 25 people died in the fire," said the updated statement, which initially put the death toll at ...
Geneva airport reopens after latest snow closure
Geneva's busy airport has reopened after suspending all flights for a second consecutive day today, as snowstorms continued to lash the Swiss city. "GeneveAeroport is now open to air traffic! Delays and cancellations are expected," the airport said on Twitter, roughly two hours after announcing the closure. Following days of blizzards, fresh snowfall began in Geneva today morning and was expected to continue until around 3pm (local time), the weather service said. Geneva yesterday was covered in a thick 15-20 centimetre (six-eight inch) blanket of snow, forcing the airport to cancel all flights for several hours. Zurich airport was less badly affected, with only a handful of flights cancelled. Switzerland has seen the mercury plummet to records of up to minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the ongoing blizzard, which has also impacted air, road and train transport around Europe.
Three workers die, two injured in TN wall collapse
: Three construction workers, including a woman, were crushed to death today when a wall of an old building under demolition fell on them in this district, police said. Two others who were trapped under the debris were rescued and had been admitted to hospital with injuries, they said. The workers were demolishing the structure at Tiruvoodal village when the mishap occurred. Preliminary investigation showed that adequate precautionary measures had not been taken before starting the demolition work, police said. Further investigations are on.
Avalanche: J-K govt announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to kin of deceased
Jammu and Kashmir government has announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of three persons, who lost their lives in a snow avalanche in Lashkote forests of Lolab in North Kashmir, an official spokesman said. Minister for Disaster Management, Relief Rehabilitation Reconstruction and Floriculture Javaid Mustafa Mir announced the compensation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for the victims' families, he said. The bodies of Bashir Ahmed, Ghulam Mohd Lone, Mohammed Altaf -- all residents of Warnow village, Lolab -- were retrieved from the avalanche area after strenuous efforts by the joint rescue team of Army, Police, Revenue along with the locals. The minister appreciated the rescue teams and the local volunteers for successfully accomplishing the challenging task of search operation despite the harsh terrain and inclement weather, the official said. He also expressed his deepest condolences with the bereaved families and directed the health ...
Snowfall closes Geneva airport again
Geneva's busy airport said it had to suspend all flights for a second consecutive day today, as snowstorms continued to lash the Swiss city. "Owing to weather conditions, Geneva airport is currently closed to air traffic, and will remain so until further notice," the airport said on its website, urging passengers to contact airlines for information about their flights.
SDMA issues avalanche warning in J-K, asks people not to venture out
The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) today issued a medium danger avalanche warning for various districts in Jammu and Kashmir and highway and appealed to people not to venture in these areas and take precautionary measures. On the basis of information received from the Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) today issued Medium danger avalanche warning for Baramulla, Gulmarg, Furkian-Z Gali, Kupwara-Chowkibal-Tangdhar, Bandipora and Kargil areas, an official spokesman said. The SDMA also issued low danger warning for Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar Udhampur, Anantnag, Kulgam, Badgam, Leh Districts and Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, he said. The people living in these avalanche prone areas have been advised by the authority to take precautionary measures, he said. Director, Disaster Management, Aamir Ali appealed the people living in avalanche prone areas and higher reaches, to adhere to avalanche ...
State of emergency declared in PNG after major quake
A state of emergency has been declared in Papua New Guinea's remote highlands after a major earthquake shook the region in what Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said was an "unprecedented disaster" for local communities. O'Neill said his government was working to restore services and provide aid to the affected Hela, Southern Highlands, Western and Enga provinces in the Pacific nation's mountainous interior. "This is an unprecedented disaster in the Highlands region and the appropriate response is underway by the national government," O'Neill said in a statement late Thursday. "A state of emergency has been declared to expedite the restoration of essential public services including health-care services, schools, road access, airports, power and communications facilities." The PNG leader added that 450 million kina (USD140 million) had been allocated by the government for disaster relief. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said yesterday that it was
Indian Coast Guard rescues severely injured Lankan fisherman
An Indian Coast Guard team has rescued a Sri Lankan fisherman who had suffered a life threatening deep cut on his neck while fishing onboard a vessel.