INDONESIA
Two trains collide
Two trains collided yesterday on the main island of Java, causing cars to buckle and overturn, and killing at least four people, officials said. The incident happened about 500m from Cicalengka train station in West Java Province, said Ayep Hanapi, a spokesman for PT Kereta Api Indonesia, the national railways. A Turangga express train carrying 287 passengers was traveling from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, when it plowed into a Bandung Raya commuter train with 191 passengers heading to Padalarang from Cicalengka station at about 6:30am, he said. “All passengers of the two crashed trains have been evacuated safely,” Hanapi said, adding that 28 people were injured. He said 22 were being treated at a hospital, mostly with head injuries. West Java Police spokesperson Ibrahim Tompo said that at least four train crew members were killed — the driver and his assistant on the commuter train and a steward and a security guard on the express train. Television video showed several cars overturned or badly mangled. One car plunged into a nearby rice field. People screamed as panicked passengers tried to get out of the train. Some walked through the fields carrying suitcases and other items as ambulances evacuated injured people. Ministry of Transportation spokeswoman Adita Irawati apologized for the incident and for the disruption of railway services across Java island. The cause of the incident was being investigated, she said, adding that rescuers had evacuated all passengers and were working to remove the trains to restore service.
ZIMBABWE
Mine workers trapped
Eleven mine workers were trapped in a shaft after a collapse at Redwing Mine, 270km west of the capital, Harare, authorities said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday morning, with initial assessments pointing to tremors as the possible cause, the Ministry of Mines said in a statement. Metallon Corp, which owns Redwing Mine, confirmed the incident in a separate statement. The company has deployed a rescue team to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, it said. “The team has made several rescue attempts. However, the ground remains unstable, rendering rescue operations unsafe. Our teams are diligently assessing ground conditions to make sure the rescue operations proceed safely as soon as possible,” Metallon said. Mining operations at Redwing have been undertaken by subsistence miners carrying out unsanctioned work since the mine was placed under corporate rescue in 2020, the company said.
INDIA
Navy responds to hijacking
A navy warship was moving toward a hijacked Liberian-flagged vessel in the Arabian Sea, and aircraft were closely monitoring the situation, the navy said yesterday. At least 15 Indian crew members were on board the MV Lila Norfolk, which was hijacked near Somalia’s coast and the navy received information about it on Thursday evening, Indian news agency ANI reported earlier, citing military officials. The ship sent a message on the UK Maritime Trade Operations portal saying that five to six unknown armed personnel had boarded on Thursday evening, the navy statement said. The INS Chennai was diverted and deployed to assist the vessel, the statement said, adding that a naval aircraft yesterday overflew the hijacked vessel and had established contact with it.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS