Page 880 - Disaster Accident
Gadkari promises speedier process for driving licenses
In future, Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) will have to issue driving licenses within a stipulated time after a person passes a computerised driving test, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said today. He was speaking at an event organised by a news channel here. "To check the menace of bogus driving licences, we are opening 2,000 motor training centres across the country ...where licence seekers would go for the test. Their driving performance will be checked by computers," Gadkari said. "After (the applicant) passing the test, the result will be shared with the concerned RTO, which will issue the driving license within three days. If they do not issue the licence within three days, they will be held accountable and will be fined," the senior minister said. It is very easy to get a driving license in India, and 30 per cent of driving licences in the country are fake, the minister said. His ministry was taking several initiatives to curb road accidents, Gadkari ...
Ajanta Soya resumes operations at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan
From 23 February 2018
Heavy firing between Indian, Pakistani armies on LoC
Indian and Pakistan soldiers on Friday traded heavy fire on the line of control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
Minor fire in Dhamara Port
A minor fire broke out at one of the conveyor belts at Dhamra Port in Odisha's Bhadrak district today, police said. Immediate action was taken and fire was put out without injury or loss of any property, the port authorities said adding that the cause of the fire is under investigation. The incident has not affected normal functioning of the Adani Group's port at Dhamra, a company official said and claimed that highest standards of occupational health and safety are being maintained.
Iran grounds airline's ATR planes after crash
Iran's civil aviation organisation has grounded ATR planes belonging to Aseman Airlines after one of them crashed this week with 66 people on board, state television reported today. The measure is temporary as authorities investigate the cause of Sunday's accident, which saw an ATR-72 twin-engine plane, in service since 1993, crash in Iran's Zagros mountains. Aseman, which is banned from flying in the European Union, operates five ATR-72s, according to the company's website. Flight EP3704 disappeared from radar around 45 minutes after taking off from Tehran on a domestic flight. No survivors have been found. The wreckage of the ATR, which is part-owned by Europe's Airbus, was discovered at a height of around 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in the Dena range but bad weather has hampered recovery efforts. Helicopters have been unable to access the site and an operation to bring bodies down the mountain on foot has been suspended until Monday. The plane's "black box" flight recorders have ...
No survivors after Wisconsin-bound plane crashes in Indiana
Indiana State Police say there are no survivors after a small, Wisconsin-bound plane carrying at least three people crashed in central Indiana. Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby says the plane crashed Thursday night just north of Rossville. The rural area is about 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) northwest of Indianapolis. State Police say the plane was a Cessna 441 Conquest Turboprop. It had taken off from the Eagle Creek Airport in Indianapolis and was headed to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Investigators say everyone on board was killed, though they have not yet determined the exact number of victims. Such a plane can hold up to 10 people. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to investigate today. No further information was immediately available.
Eight workers injured in major fire at pharma unit
A massive fire swept through a pharmaceutical factory here today, injuring eight workers, three of them critically, police said. The blaze erupted in Jeedimetla area of the city around 6.30 am likely due to a reactor blast, and quickly spread to an adjacent chemical factory, fire brigade officials said. Nobody was injured at the chemical factory. Plumes of thick, black smoke shot up into the sky from the two premises. "Eight workers suffered injuries in the incident and were shifted to a private hospital. Three of the injured have suffered around 80 per cent burn injuries," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Balanagar Zone) Y Sai Sekhar told PTI. According to Regional Fire Officer (Central Region) V Papaiah, the fire department received a call at around 6.50 am, after which eight fire engines and four water tankers were rushed to the scene of the blaze, which was extinguished in about 90 minutes. When asked about the cause of the blaze, the senior fire official said a preliminary probe ...
ADB to lend $84 mn to improve water supply in Bihar
Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday signed an agreement with the Indian government to lend $84 million to improve water supply in two cities of Bihar.
An empty coach (AC 3 Tier) of a train in Pune yard caught fire
A fire broke out in an empty coach of Pune-New Delhi Duronto Express parked at the yard here earlier today.The coach caught fire at about 2:30 pm, which was later brought under control by the fire brigade at about 3:15 pm, according to the PRO, Pune Division.No casualties have been reported.The reason for the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
Road crash that killed 8 Indians was entirely avoidable,
One of Britain's worst road accidents that claimed the lives of eight Indians last year was an "entirely avoidable" collision with the most "catastrophic" and tragic consequences, a UK court has been told. At the opening of a trial at Reading Crown Court, the prosecution yesterday laid out the case against two truck drivers charged with dangerous driving. They are accused of causing the death to Nottingham-based Keralite minibus driver Cyriac Joseph and seven of his Indian passengers. The 52-year-old had been hired to drive his passengers from Nottingham to London to join a European holiday tour group when they met with the fatal accident near Newport Pagnell in southern England on August 26. Ryszard Masierak, a 31-year-old Polish national, and David Wagstaff, a 53-year-old British citizen, both deny eight counts of death by dangerous driving. Masierak, who was twice the drink-drive limit behind the wheel of his truck, stopped for 12 minutes in the slow lane of the ...
ADB to give USD 84 mn for improving Bihar water supply
The Finance Ministry will get a loan of USD 84 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve water supply in the Bhagalpur and Gaya districts of Bihar.The Tranche 2 loan is part of the USD 200 million Multi-Tranche Financing Facility (MFF) for Bihar Urban Development Investment Program that was approved by ADB in 2012, to provide sustainable urban infrastructure and services in four towns - Bhagalpur, Gaya, Darbhanga, and Muzaffarpur.Project 2 will improve access to better quality and sustainable water supply, for people of Bhagalpur and Gaya. It will also promote better water management practices that will result in city-wide coverage with 24-hour uninterrupted supply of treated water in both cities.Further, loan finances will support civil works sub-projects and would benefit 1.1 million people in two project towns with increased coverage of treated water supply by 2021.It will also support train 400 urban local body (ULB) staff in the management and operation and ...
Japan confirms oil from wrecked tanker hitting its beaches
Oil that has washed ashore on several southern Japanese islands is likely from an Iranian tanker that sank in the East China Sea last month, Japan's coastguard said today. Analysis of samples of heavy fuel that began washing up on remote Okinoerabu and Yoron islands this month found similar components to the fuel used by the Sanchi tanker, coastguard spokesman Takuya Matsumoto said. "We are not aware of any other maritime accident in the region that resulted in oil leaks," he told AFP. "So we have concluded that it is highly likely that the oil that reached (the two islands) is connected with Sanchi," he said. The sunken ship -- carrying 111,000 tonnes of light crude oil -- went down in a ball of flames on January 14 in Japan's economic waters in the East China Sea, sparking concerns it could lead to a massive environmental catastrophe. Late January, greasy sludge began to wash up on remote Japanese islands, known for seafood and pristine shores that lure holidaymakers. The oil ...
World Bank interested in expanding satellite-based flood insurance scheme: IWMI
After the success of the pilot project on Index-Based Flood Insurance (IBFI) for farmers in Bihar, the World Bank has shown interest in helping to scale up the plan across eastern India, officials said.
IMD withdraws hailstorm warning in Maha
Two days after it forecast hailstorms in north Maharashtra, the IMD today withdrew the warning saying the trough over the Himalayan region has weakened. On Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted thunderstorms accompanied by hailstorms in northern parts of Maharashtra and western region of Madhya Pradesh on February 23 and 24. "The IMD had issued a warning two days back, which had predicted hailstorms, gusty winds and lightening over north Maharashtra. However, since the trough prevailing over the Himalayan region has weakened the department has now removed the warning," an IMD official said. On February 11, hailstorm had ravaged several villages in central Maharashtra and Vidarbha and damaged crops on over 11 lakh hectares. Due to the large-scale devastation of crops in the hailstorms, the IMD warning issued two days back had left the government machinery as well as farmers worried. "The weather pattern is changing over the region now. The ...
ADB to give $84 mn loan for water projects in Bihar
Multi-lateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed a USD 84 million loan agreement to finance water supply projects in two cities of Bihar. The loan will finance water supply improvements and expansion in Bhagalpur and Gaya towns in Bihar, ADB said in a statement. This is the second tranche of ADB's USD 200 million multi-tranche financing facility for Bihar Urban Development Investment Programme, which was approved in 2012. The Manila-headquartered funding facility is aimed at providing sustainable urban infrastructure and services in Bhagalpur, Gaya, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. "The Project 2 will improve access to better quality and sustainable water supply for the people of Bhagalpur and Gaya towns. It will also promote better water management practices that will result in a citywide coverage with 24-hour uninterrupted supply of treated water of 135 liters per capita per day in both cities, said Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (Multilateral ...
Peshawar blast leaves three injured
At least three people were injured in a roadside bomb blast on Peshawar's Ring Road in Pakistan on Friday.A motorcycle containing the explosive material was completely destroyed after the explosion occurred near a state-owned vehicle carrying Deputy Director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP) Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Muhammad Shakeel, reported Geo News.According to the report, rescue services and law enforcement agencies, including the army, have reached the site of the incident.The victims have been shifted to the hospital and an investigation is underway.More details are awaited.
Poor visibility hits flight operations at Goa airport
Poor visibility caused by fog severely affected operations at the Goa airport this morning with two international and three domestic flights diverted to various cities, senior officials said. Visibility was extremely low from 6 am onwards at the airport in Dabolim, around 30km from here, said the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Airport authorities said two international flights were diverted to other cities. One of them - a chartered aircraft from Russia - was diverted to Bengaluru, while the other flight - from Manchester, UK - was asked to land at the Mumbai airport. An IndiGo flight from Chennai to Goa was diverted to Bengaluru, while a GoAir aircraft from Mumbai was asked to return to the metropolis. A SpiceJet flight from Chennai to Goa was diverted to Bengaluru, the officials said. Flights began landing from 8.30 am onwards when the visibility improved, they added.
Japan welcomes WTO ruling on South Korea Fukushima food row
Japan today welcomed a World Trade Organization ruling that called for South Korea to lift an import ban on Japanese seafood, imposed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, the issue is expected to continue after South Korea said it would appeal the WTO's decision and had no plans to repeal the restrictions. The WTO ruled yesterday on Tokyo's complaint against Seoul filed in 2015, concluding that South Korea's restrictions were inconsistent with the rules of the global trade watchdog. "Japan welcomes the WTO's panel report, which reflected our position," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters. "We request South Korea to correct swiftly and with sincerity its import restriction measures that were recognised as violating the WTO rules," Suga said. He added that the government would work to reverse similar restrictions put in place by other countries on the import of Japanese food after the nuclear disaster. Japan took its food row with Seoul to the WTO in May ...
Fire breaks out at chemical factory in Hyderabad, rescue ops on
A massive fire broke out in a chemical factory in Hyderabad's Jeedimetla industrial area, early on Friday morning.According to Assistant District Fire Officer GV Prasad, five workers have been rescued so far."We expect that the fire will be controlled in some time, as of now five workers who were stuck inside in the chemical company have been rescued," he added.The workers have received burn injuries and have been shifted to a private hospital for treatment.At least ten fire tenders are working to douse the flame.More details are awaited.
Fire in chemical factorycompound; no injuries
A fire broke in a chemical factorycompound in suburban Jogeshwari last night but no casualties were reported, the local civic body said. The blaze started at the chemical mill compound in suburban Jogeshwari at around 9.20 pm, said the Disaster Control Room of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Four fire engines were pressed into service to douse the flames, an official said. No casualties were reported in the incident, he said, adding the cause of the fire was not yet known. This is the latest in a spate of fire incidents reported in the metropolis in the last two months.