Page 993 - Disaster Accident

Ker seeks central assistance of Rs 7340 crore

Kerala today sought a special central assistance of Rs 7340 crore for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the Ockhi cyclone affected coastal villages here. The special package was sought by Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here this evening. Modi, who arrived after visiting Kavaratti in Lakshadweep, Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Poonthura near Thiruvanathapuram, held a meeting with Vijayan, state ministers and officials. This package is besides the Rs 422 crore sought by the state under the National Disaster Relief Fund. The prime minister assured the chief minister and others that the package would be considered sympathetically, a government release said. The state also wanted the Centre to declare the devastation as a National disaster. The prime minister said the centre would seriously examine Kerala's report that the state had not received any prior cyclone alert, according to the release. At the meeting, the chief ...

PM announces relief measures for Cyclone Ockhi affected states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced relief measures for Cyclone Ockhi affected states.After visiting cyclone hit Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep, the Prime Minister said that the Union Government will support the cyclone-affected States through a package of relief measures.The Centre will dispatch immediate financial assistance worth Rs. 325 crore to cater to the requirements of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep. The financial assistance announced by the Prime Minister today, is over and above the assistance of Rs. 280 crore to Tamil Nadu, and Rs. 76 crore to Kerala, disbursed earlier this month, after Cyclone Ockhi hit the two States/UTs (Union Territories).The Government of India will also support the reconstruction of approximately 1400 houses fully damaged due to Cyclone Ockhi, on priority, under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Under this programme, each beneficiary will get up to Rs. 1.5 lakh as support for building a new house.Insurance companies have ...

Cyclone Ockhi: TN seeks central relief package of Rs 9,300 cr

Tamil Nadu today sought a central relief package of Rs 9,300 crore for rehabilitation efforts in the state, which faced the monsoon fury, including this coastal town that was battered by cyclone Ockhi. Chief Minister K Palaniswami presented a memorandum for Rs 9,302 crore to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited this district to take stock of the situation post Ockhi. Palaniswami said Tamil Nadu wanted the Centre to declare Ockhi as a "national disaster" on account of the "severity" of the cyclone. He said his government sought Rs 5,255 crore assistance towards implementing permanent rehabilitation measures in Kanyakumari and another Rs 4,047 crore to cater to other parts of the state, including capital Chennai, affected by the north east monsoon. Permanent measures would be taken to prevent recurrence of damage due to floods in Chennai and other coastal districts, Palaniswami said, without elaborating. The coastal districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallore, ...

Doctor, driver killed in accident in Punjab

A 50-year-old senior lady doctor and her driver were today killed when their car crashed into a truck near Burj village here, police said. Senior Medical Officer (SMO) of Morinda Civil Hospital, Dr Rashmi Bedi, and her driver Balwinder Singh (34), died on the spot after the collision on Khanna-Sanghol road here, the police said. Police have handed over the bodies to their family members, they said, adding a case has been registered against the truck driver, who is absconding.

4 persons mowed down by truck

Four persons, including two brothers, were today mowed down by a truck near village Bass, about 40 km from here, police said. The victims were identified as Ram Mehar (40), his brother Dashrath (26), both residents of Surpura village; Sanjay (23) and Sanjay Mistri (35), both from Jhojhu Khurd village in Dadri district. According to police, Ram Mehar, Dashrath and Sanjay were going in a vehicle laden with fodder toSurpura village. Their vehicle stopped due to some technical fault and they called Mistri for repairing. As they waited near the vehicle, a truck came, crushing all the four, they said. The truck drivermanaged to escape after the accident, police said, adding that a case was registered against the unidentified truck driver.

Khairani road fire: Accused sent to police custody till Dec 24

The man, arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the fire that broke out at a shop on Khairani road on Monday morning, has been sent under police custody till December 24 by Andheri Court.At least 12 people were killed and four others were critically injured in the incident.The blaze erupted in the 'Bhanu' farsan (snack) shop in Makaria Compound on the Khairani Road at around 4.25 am following which the structure collapsed, the official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s Disaster Management Cell said.Twelve people working inside the shop were trapped due to intense heat and smoke.The fire spread quickly due to the presence of electric wiring and electrical goods, huge stock of eatables and furniture inside the shop. It led to the collapse of the loft, trapping the workers under the debris, the civic official said.Three fire engines, four jumbo water tankers, rescuers and ambulances reached the spot and launched a rescue operation, he said.All the 12 workers were .

Four dead in train accident in DR Congo

Four people were killed and five injured when a freight train derailed in central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), officials said. The accident happened at the village of Bena-Kadiebue, 65 kilometres north of Kananga, the capital of Central Kasai province. "The toll is still provisional, because the freight cars are lying on their side," Francois Mutambue, a senior official with the national railway company at Kananga, told AFP today. "Sand deposits" on the track were to blame for the accident, he said. Railways accidents in DRC are frequent and often deadly. Decrepit track and ageing locomotives are the most-cited causes. On November 12, 35 people, many of them clandestine passengers, were killed when a freight train carrying 13 oil tankers plunged into a ravine in Lualaba province. Yesterday's accident was the third in Central Kasai this month.

Two women charred to death after car catches fire

Two women were today charred to death and the driver was injured when the car they were travelling in caught fire in Chitalwana police station area of Rajasthan's Jalore district, police said. The car engulfed in flames when the occupants were on their way home in Sisawa village after attending a marriage function, Chitalwana SHO Teju Singh said. The deceased were identified as Daria Devi (25) and Mali Devi (27), he said. The driver, Deepa Ram, could save himself only after breaking the car's window. He, however, sustained burn injuries and was admitted to a hospital. While the immediate cause of the fire could not be ascertained, police suspect it might have been triggered by the gas kit fitted with the car. The bodies of the deceased have been kept in mortuary for post mortem, they said.

Madras HC seeks status of missing fishermen

The Madras High Court today directed the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government to inform it about the fate of 551 fishermen from Kanyakumari region who are reported missing in the aftermath of cyclone Ochki. Issuing notices on a petition filed by a resident of Kanyakumari district, which bore the brunt of the cyclone fury, justices R Subbiah and A D Jagadish Chandra ordered the two governments to submit their replies by December 22. Petitioner Anto Lenin submitted that thousands of fishermen had ventured into the sea on November 29-30 from Kanyakumari district when the cyclone hit southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala coast. He contended that both the central and state governments failed to issue cyclone warning to the fishermen. Those involved in deep sea fishing were not aware of the cyclone and got trapped. He also alleged the governments did not take steps to trace them using helicopter immediately after the cyclone. Had they pressed in the helicopters on the next day of the

Accident due to dense fog kills 3 in UP

Three persons were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Basti district early on Tuesday when their car rammed into a parked gas tanker in dense fog and poor visibility.

Truck-Tempo collision: One Jawan dies, several injured

A jawan of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was killed when the tempo he was travelling in collided with a truck here in Karkala area of the district, police said today. According to the police, nearly half-a-dozen people sustained serious injuries in the accident. The deceased, identified as Amit Kumar, was sitting on the front row of the ill-fated tempo when the accident took place yesterday, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Chandraprakash said today. "The injured PAC jawan was taken to the district hospital, where doctors declared him dead," the SSP said, adding the injured too have been hospitalised. Amit, who hailed from Gautam Buddh Nagar district of the state, was posted in the 27th battalion of PAC, he informed.

At least 3 dead as train derails over Washington state highway

An Amtrak passenger train traveling on a new route for the first time derailed in Washington state, killing at least three people as cars plunged off a bridge onto a busy highway at the height of morning rush hour, officials said. The train, which was carrying 77 passengers and seven crew, derailed in DuPont about halfway between Tacoma and the state capital Olympia on a curve that passes over busy Interstate 5 at about 7:40 am. Pictures from the scene showed one Amtrak train car overturned and crushed on the interstate highway and others dangling from the overpass. Several other carriages of the 14-car train also ended up on the highway, shutting down a key section of the busy artery that connects the greater Seattle metropolitan area to Olympia. All but one car jumped the tracks. A spokeswoman for Washington State police, Brooke Bova, confirmed the death toll, adding that all train cars had been searched by emergency personnel. But she cautioned that several of the ...

Lucknow-Agra Expressway: Over 10 cars pile up in dense fog, dozen injured

Around a dozen people have sustained injuries in the accident

Brazilian DJ dies after stage collapse

Brazilian DJ Kaleb Freitas passed away in an accident here after part of a stage collapsed during the Atmosphere dance music festival.

Philippine storm toll rises to 43 as hopes fade for dozens

The death toll from a tropical storm that pummelled the central Philippines rose to 43 with hopes fading for dozens of others still missing after massive landslides, authorities said today. Slow-moving Kai-Tak finally swept out to the South China Sea on Monday after inducing days of heavy rain that led to deadly floods and landslides as it sliced across the central islands last weekend. The government's disaster monitoring agency listed 43 dead in an updated tally and said 45 other people were still missing, many of them feared buried by mud avalanches that struck the small island of Biliran. "The retrieval operations are still ongoing but we are not finding anyone alive. We only find dead bodies," Sofronio Dacillo, a disaster monitoring officer, told AFP by telephone from Biliran. "We still have not given up hope of finding someone alive but the chances are slim." Bulldozers continued to dig for survivors in houses buried by landslides on Biliran, located about 500 ...

Train derailments not just an India-specific problem

The Amtrak train derailment in the United States has highlighted the fact that train derailment is not an India-specific problem and that all over the world, railway systems suffer accidents, according to safety experts who have commented on the train disaster.This issue was also raised in Parliament when Members of the House asked Railway Minister Piyush Goyal about the progress Indian Railways had made since he got appointed, to which he replied that the progress was remarkable and noticeable. He said the incidents of derailments have come down as there was no major accident or mishap reported in the recent past.To bring his point home, Goyal even pointed out that the derailments didn't just happen in India and were not rare in developed countries too, where one could boast of the infrastructural facilities.Goyal's comments were substantiated the same day when at least six people were killed after an Amtrak train derailed and fell off a bridge in southwest of United States' Seattle,

Bodies of 3 soldiers missing in J&K avalanche recovered

The Army on Tuesday said it has recovered bodies of three missing soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora and Kupwara districts.

Biggest California wildfire half contained

The biggest wildfire raging since the last two weeks in Southern California has been contained by 50 per cent, authorities said.

Amtrak train on new route hurtles onto highway, kills 3

An Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass south of Seattle and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing at least three people, injuring dozens and crushing two vehicles, authorities said. Attention quickly turned to the train's speed. A website that maps location and speed using data from Amtrak's train tracker app showed the train was going 81.1 mph (129 kph) about a quarter of a mile from the point where it derailed, where the speed limit is significantly lower. There were 80 passengers and five on duty crew when the train derailed and pulled 13 cars off the tracks. Authorities said there were three confirmed deaths. More than 70 people were taken for medical care including 10 with serious injuries. About two hours after the accident, a US official who was briefed on the investigation said he was told at least six people were killed. The official said he had no new information to explain the discrepancy .

Fire breaks out in BJP MP's house, doused

A fire broke out at the residence of BJP MP B Sriramulu in the early hours today, said an officer from the Delhi Fire Services. No injuries were reported in the incident, he said. A sofa kept in the bedroom of the MP caught fire around 5.50 am, said the officer, adding that two fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire has been extinguished, he informed.