Page 996 - Disaster Accident
Dengue killed 226 people in India this year: NVBDCP
Dengue, a mosquito-borne tropical disease, killed more than 200 people with Tamil Nadu reporting the maximum number cases, while over 60,000 people were affected by Chikungunya in India this year, official data showed. The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) figures till December 10 showed that dengue claimed the lives of 226 people in the country. The total number of dengue cases reported in India this year was 1,53,635. Tamil Nadu registered the maximum number of dengue cases - 22,197 - while 52 people lost their lives due to the disease this year. In Kerela, the disease has affected 19,776 people while it has claimed the lives of 37. In 2016, dengue affected 1,29,166 people while it had claimed 245 lives. In Delhi, NVBDCP figures showed that 9,169 people were affected while four people died due to the disease this year. Chikungunya affected 60,232 people across the country with 30,606 people affected in Karnataka alone. In 2016, chikungunya ...
Back-to-back accidents disrupts traffic movement on Jammu-
Traffic movement on the Jammu- Srinagar National Highway was disrupted twice today after accidents, involving six vehicles, at the Chenani-Nashri tunnel and at Peerah in Ramban district. Vehicular movement on the nearly 300-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir to the rest of the country, came to a standstill for several hours, resulting in massive traffic jams, officials said. Traffic on the highway was restricted to one-way after it opened on Thursday. It was closed from December 11 to 13 due to heavy snowfall and landslides at several places, shooting stones and accumulation of snow at the Qazigund-Jawahar and Banihal-Jawahar tunnel sectors. Only Srinagar-bound vehicles were allowed from here today. Traffic plies alternatively from Kashmir and Jammu. In the first accident, three trucks collided with each other near Peerah in Ramban district. It took around an hour to restore traffic, officials said. Within minutes after traffic was restored in Peerah, ..
PM to visit cyclone-hit areas in Lakshadweep, Ker, TN on Dec19
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Ockhi cyclone-hit areas in Lakshadweep, Kerala and neighbouring Tamil Nadu, BJP sources said today. According to the schedule released by the BJP state unit, Modi would arrive at Kochi in the early hours of December 19 and proceed to Agatti in Lakshadweep at 7.30 am. Modi would then leave for Thiruvananthapuram. From here, he would visit Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, party sources said. Before leaving for Delhi in the evening, Modi would visit cyclone-hit areas in Thiruvananthpuram's coastal region. The cyclone, which lashed the coastal areas on November 29-30, claimed 68 lives and caused huge damage to crops and property. More than 90 fishermen, mostly from the coastal belt of Poonthura, Vizhinjam and Adimalathura on the city outskirts, are missing.
Three dead, 77,000 flee as storm pounds Philippines
At least three people were killed and tens of thousands were driven from their homes by floods as Tropical Storm Kai-Tak pounded the eastern Philippines today, cutting off power and triggering landslides, officials said. Kai-Tak, packing gusts of up to 110 kilometres an hour, hit the country's third-largest island Samar in the afternoon and tore through a region devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan four years ago, the state weather service said. Local officials reported three deaths on neighbouring Leyte island -- a two-year-old boy who drowned in the town of Mahaplag, a woman buried by a landslide and another person who fell into a flooded manhole in Ormoc city. Samar and Leyte, with a combined population of about 4.5 million, had borne the brunt of Haiyan in 2013, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing. Bus driver Felix Villaseran, his wife and four children hunkered down in their two-storey house in the Leyte city of Tacloban along with 11 relatives whose ...
Fireworks explosion kills 4, injures 5 in Mexico State
A fireworks explosion in Mexico has killed four people and sent five more to the hospital days after the country's holiday season kicked off in earnest. The State of Mexico says in a statement that the today morning blast in the town of San Lorenzo Octeyuco damaged four of six buildings on a property where fireworks were being made and stored. It did not give a cause. Fireworks are a mainstay of holidays in Mexico including Christmas, New Year's and this week's celebrations of the Virgin of Guadalupe. However explosions are relatively common amid what is widely criticised as lax safety practices and oversight of the industry. On December 20, 2016, a massive, chain-reaction blast ripped through an open-air fireworks market outside Mexico City, killing at least 36.
'Significant' drop in rail accidents in WR, only 3 in 9 months
The Western Railway (WR) said today that enhanced safety measures, including work site inspections and training sessions for the staff on key issues, has led to a "significant" drop in train accidents across its six divisions. The WR said that while eight rail-related accidents had been registered in its network in the last fiscal, only three accidents were reported in the last nine months. "Last fiscal, only eight rail-related incidents were reported across all the zones. Considering the safety measures that we have taken up, we are confident that this number will go down further in the current year. In the past nine months of current financial year, only three accidents have been registered," WR chief spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar said. A statement issued by WR said that owing to the enhanced safety measures, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot divisions have achieved the record of zero accidents during the 2016-17 fiscal. "The number of rail-related accidents in Mumbai ...
Deadly California wildfire continues to grow
Calming winds gave firefighters a chance to gain ground against a huge wildfire in coastal mountains northwest of Los Angeles but the blaze continued to surge west, endangering thousands of homes, as forecasts called for a renewal of gusty winds. The so-called Thomas Fire, the fourth-largest in California history, was 35 per cent contained last night after sweeping about 1,036 square kilometers of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties since it erupted December 4. Between Thursday night and yesterday, the blaze claimed another 3,000 acres as it fed on brush and timber killed by California's long drought or a week of hot, dry weather. Santa Barbara has had only a tiny amount of rain since Oct. 1, the start of the new water year, and is more than 3 inches below normal to date. Firefighters continued to carve firebreaks above the communities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito and state fire officials said evacuations would be called as needed as flames ...
Three missing, thousands flee as storm heads for Philippines
Tens of thousands were driven from their homes by floods and three fishermen were missing Saturday as Tropical Storm Kai-Tak barrelled towards the eastern Philippines, officials said. Kai-Tak, packing gusts of up to 100 km an hour, was poised to smash into the north of the country's third-largest island Samar overnight today before slicing across the central Philippines, the state weather service said. More than 38,000 people have moved to evacuation camps, local officials said, after days of heavy rain unleashed by the approaching cyclone caused floods and landslides on Samar and nearby Leyte island. These islands, with a combined population of about 4.5 million, had borne the brunt of Super Typhoon Haiyan four years ago, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing. Ferry services on the two islands remain suspended due to rough seas, with three fishermen also missing despite government warnings against sailing, the region's civil defence office said. A baby girl .
6.5 magnitude quake strikes Indonesia's Java island
A strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia's main island of Java, leaving at least one person dead and rattling nerves in the capital Jakarta. There was no immediate indication of a tsunami, but authorities said they had issued a warning following the tremor, which struck a coastal region some 300 kilometres from the capital late yesterday. National disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said a 62-year-old had died in the Ciamis region in West Java after becoming trapped in a collapsed house. At least five other people were reported injured across the island as authorities continued to assess the damage from the quake, which hit just before midnight local time (1700 GMT). The 6.5-magnitude tremor was measured at a depth of 91 kilometres and struck less than a kilometre (mile) east- southeast of the coastal town of Cipatujah, the US Geological Survey said. The earthquake was felt across the island. Jakarta resident Web Warouw was on the 18th ...
3 dead, one missing in south Mumbai building-collapse
Three people were killed when the slab of a building they were repairing collapsed this afternoon in south Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar area, police said. Officials said that four persons were trapped in the debris after the slab collapsed and brought down with it the common passage of the first, second, third and the fourth floors of the building. "Three workers who were brought out from the debris were declared dead by hospital authorities. One person is still missing," Dyaneshwar Chavan, Deputy Police Commissioner of Zone 2 told PTI this evening. A search and rescue operation for another worker is on, said an official from the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The incident happened at around 2.30 pm in Sam Seth Street in the area, officials said. Fire brigade officials said the labourers were working on the first and fourth floor. The building was undergoing repair when the collapse occurred, they said. Fire Brigade chief PS Rahangdale .
Police SUV runs over two; Cops, Raj Bhavan say vehicle not in
A police vehicle today rammed a two-wheeler, killing two people near here, with some reports claiming the SUV was part of the Tamil Nadu Governor's convoy, a charge denied by both police and the Raj Bhavan. The 33-year old rider and the boy (10) were thrown off their motorcycle when the SUV hit the two-wheeler on the East Coast Road (ECR) off Pudukalpakkam near Mamallapuram in neighbouring Kancheepuram District, police said. The two were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead, they said. An elderly woman was injured and has been hospitalised. Some audiovisual media reports claimed the vehicle was part of the convoy of Governor Banwarilal Purohit who was returning to Chennai from Cuddalore. However, when contacted, a top police official denied it. "It (the police vehicle) was not part of the governor's convoy. This was a separate vehicle returning after completing duty," Kancheepuram Superintendent of Police Santosh Hadimani told PTI. A Raj Bhavan ...
Pulses sowing area up 9%, wheat area down 2% in rabi season
Pulses sowing rose by 9 per cent to cover 138.19 lakh hectares of area so far in the ongoing rabi (winter-sown) season and wheat acreage is down at 245.50 lakh hectares of land, according to government data. Area under pulses was 138.19 lakh hectares so far in this rabi season as against 127.02 lakh hectares in the year- ago period, an official statement said. Wheat acreage fell to 245.50 lakh hectares from 250.48 lakh hectares during the period under review. Wheat sowing would pick up with northern states receiving good rains recently, Agriculture Secretary S K Pattanayak said. He expects bumper crop production in the rabi season, compensating decline in the kharif season. The country's pulses production will be at last year's level of around 23 million tonnes, Pattanayak said. "As per preliminary reports received from the states, total area sown under rabi crops as on December 15, 2017 stands at 514.22 lakh hectares as compared to 509.12 lakh hectares this time in ...
Delhi govt to organise check-ups of homeless people
In the wake of winters getting severe, the Delhi government has decided to organise health check-ups of all homeless people living at its night shelters. The government has asked the health department to tie up with the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to ensure that those in need of medical assistance get it on priority. The DUSIB is the agency concerned to run shelter homes across the national capital. An official said the health department has constituted 10 teams of doctors and paramedical staff to inspect the shelters twice a week. The inspection is expected to begin from Monday. According to the plan, every mobile health team will have one doctor and two paramedical staff. Every team will visit shelter homes between 7 pm and 11 pm. At present, the DUSIB is running 251 night shelters across the city. Out of this, 83 are permanent buildings, 113 are porta-cabin shelters and 55 temporary shelters have been set up in tents. Together, all of these can ...
Cyclist killed in road accident
A cyclist was killed in a road accident today near Pari Chowk as when a speeding truck hit him, police said. The accused truck driver has been arrested, they added. The cyclist was identified as Chandan (28). He worked at a private company and lived in a rented room at Tugalpur. He was returning to his accommodation when the accident took place. According to police officials, the truck driver tried to escape but people of the area nabbed him. The body has been sent for post-mortem, an official said.
Cabinet clears circle office of Metro Rlys Safety Commissioner
The Cabinet today gave its nod for setting up one circle office of the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety under the civil aviation ministry. The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) would deal with various safety aspects. The Cabinet approval is for creating one circle office of CMRS along with all supporting officers and staff. An official release said the Cabinet has also allowed assigning of additional charge of two circles to two existing Commissioners of Railway Safety (CRSs) who would exercise their powers within their existing jurisdiction. However, these circles would not be under the jurisdiction of CMRS, New Delhi. "The post of Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety will be in... the Commission of Railway Safety under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. "The estimated expenditure on salary will be around Rs 59,39,040 per annum for the (one) circle office. Apart from the initial establishment of the organisation, the likely expenses for the Circle office per .
Three killed as truck rams into car and autorickshaw
A truck crashed into an autorickshaw and then collided with a car killing three women occupants at Honganahatti village, about 40 km from here today, the police said. The drivers of the car and the autorickshaw, who were seriously injured, have been admitted to a nearby private hospital. The truck driver has been arrested. Police identified the deceased as Jyothi (29), Pushpa (25) and Chennamma (45). They were residents of Kamakshipalya in Bengaluru and were on the way in the car to attend an event, the police said. CCTV footage showed the speeding truck hitting the autorickshaw first and then colliding with the car before overturning.
Four trapped in south Mumbai building collapse, rescue work on
Four persons are feared trapped in the debris after the slab of a building collapsed in the Zaveri Bazar area of south Mumbai today afternoon, a fire brigade official said. The official said that the slab of the five-storeyed building collapsed and brought down with it the common passage of the first, second, third and fourth floors of the building. The incident happened at around 2:30pm in Sam Street in the area, officials said. The building was undergoing repair when the collapse occurred, said officials. PS Rahangdale, chief of the Mumbai Fire Brigade said, "Ten labourers were working on the 4th floor out of which three are missing. Six labourers were working on 1st floor and one among them is missing. A search operation is underway for them." He said that narrow lanes and congestion was hampering the work of fire brigade personnel at the site. Zaveri Bazar is the centre of the city's bullion market and sees heavy traffic and pedestrian footfalls every day.
Policeman arrested for bribe for road accident victim's
A sub-inspector of the Navi Mumbai police was arrested yesterday while accepting a bribe to issue the copy of the police panchnama of a person killed in a road accident. ACB officials said sub-inspector Kailas Mumbaikar, 54, of the Koparkhairane police station had demanded a bribe of Rs 30000 from the family of a man who was killed in a road accident in July this year. Officials said that Mumbaikar was arrested from his office as part of a trap yesterday evening where he accepted Rs 25000 from the complainant. Inspector Ashwini Kusurkar of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Navi Mumbai unit said that the advocate of the deceased's family had applied for the copy of the panchnama of the death as the family had to file the accident claim with the MACT (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal). "The accused demanded a bribe of Rs 30000 after which the complainant lodged a complaint with the NM unit of the ACB," the official said. Mumbaikar has been booked under sections 7, 12, ...
France stunned by deadly school bus crash
French authorities were investigating today how a train was able to smash into a school bus, killing six children and ripping their vehicle in half in an accident that has stunned the local community. Four teenagers died on Thursday in the collision at a level crossing in the village of Millas near the southern city of Perpignan, with the toll rising today when two 11-year-old girls succumbed to their injuries. Fourteen other children were injured when the bus was torn in two and the train pulled off its rails, in the worst accident involving a school bus in France for three decades. Investigators only finished identifying the dead teenagers overnight due to the severity of their injuries, with the mayor of the neighbouring village describing the scene as "a vision of horror". The accident site was sealed off as police examined whether a technical or human error was to blame. It has not been confirmed whether the automatic barriers were open at the time of the crash, ...
develop modern technologies to ensure food safety& security:VC
There is an urgent need to develop modern technologies to ensure food safety, security and nutrition, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, Dr K Ramasamy said here today. This was necessary considering the changing scenario in the field of agricultural marketing, he said while releasing a souvenir of the 10th National Seminar on FoodXlore'17. The seminar, with the tagline 'Bridging Agriculture with Industry Emerging role of Engineers in Food Processing," provided a platform for students across India to showcase their knowledge, technical expertise and advanced developments in the fields of food processing, food safety and quality. The Director of Erode-based Ulavan Producer Foods, D Venkateswaran, stressed the scope of food technology and its applications and the importance of e- marketing in agriculture and allied fields.