Wuhan exodus sparks virus hope despite mounting death toll

People wearing face masks sit outside Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan as people arrive in the hope of taking one of the first trains leaving the city in China's central Hubei province early on April 8, 2020. (File/AFP)
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Updated 08 April 2020
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Wuhan exodus sparks virus hope despite mounting death toll

  • China has come under fire for its handling of the coronavirus crisis that originated there late last year
  • Its march across the planet has affected every level of society, with Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson fighting the illness in intensive care

WUHAN, China: Thousands of relieved citizens streamed out of China’s Wuhan on Wednesday after authorities lifted months of lockdown at the coronavirus epicenter, offering some hope to the world despite record deaths in Europe and the United States.

China has come under fire for its handling of the coronavirus crisis that originated there late last year and President Donald Trump threatened to cut US funding to the World Health Organization over perceived bias toward Beijing.

From Wuhan, the coronavirus spread rapidly to infect nearly every country on Earth, killing more than 80,000, battering the global economy and forcing around half of humanity into some form of lockdown.

Its march across the planet has affected every level of society from workers to royals, with Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson fighting the illness in intensive care.

But the joy of people finally free to leave — many of them queuing up to depart in hazmat suits — provided some cheer to a gloomy world, offering proof the virus would not last forever.

“You have no idea! I was already up around 4am. I felt so good. My kids are so excited. Mum is finally coming home,” said Hao Mei, a 39-year-old single mother rushing to nearby Enshi to see her young children for the first time in two months.

“I’ve been stuck for 77 days! I’ve been stuck for 77 days!” shouted one man, who arrived at the railway station for a train back to his home province of Hunan.

A robot whizzed through crowds of passengers at the station, spraying their feet with disinfectant and playing a recorded message reminding them to wear face masks.

While China celebrated its first day without coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the relentless disease chalked up fresh milestones in hard-hit areas of Europe and the US.

A total of 1,939 people died in the US over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, as the country approaches tolls in worst-hit Italy and Spain.

Virus deaths hit a new daily high in Britain, where 55-year-old leader Boris Johnson was said to be “stable” and in “good spirits” despite receiving oxygen treatment in intensive care.

And Paris toughened its lockdown measures, banning daytime jogging to keep people from bending the rules as France breached 10,000 deaths.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state appeared be nearing the peak of its pandemic but urged citizens to continue staying indoors.

Trump, under fire for his own response to the virus, lashed out at the WHO and said there would be a “hold on money” provided to the UN body, which he accused of being “very China-centric.”

Exhausted medical staff around the world are battling with a stream of patients as makeshift hospitals spring up on ships, at hotels and even in a New York cathedral.

In Barcelona, Antonio Alvarez, a 33-year-old nurse working in intensive care, said his experience of the pandemic was akin to bereavement.

“I’ve had my phases of anger, of denial, you go through all of them.

“Now we are still a little overwhelmed but it is better. Fewer patients are dying,” he told AFP.

The global economy is also on life support as governments pour in unprecedented sums to stem the worst crisis many countries have seen in a century.

While Japan agreed a stimulus package worth around $1 trillion, a divided eurozone is battling over whether to pool debt for “coronabonds” to prop up the economy.

Individuals have also stepped in, with Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey committing $1 billion of his personal fortune to the coronavirus fight.

And the stock market continued its rollercoaster ride, the Dow Jones index soaring around 1,000 points on Tuesday before ending up slightly lower.

The UN’s International Labour Organization said 81 percent of the world’s 3.3 billion-strong workforce is now affected by “the worst global crisis since the Second World War.”

“We don’t know how to feed our kids... and if, God forbid, something happens to any of them, I won’t be able to foot a hospital bill,” he said.
Others have been using their skills to try to lift the gloom.

In Copenhagen, a troupe of circus performers juggle and do tricks from a courtyard for those stuck at home and watching from their windows.


Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims

Updated 15 June 2025
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Families hold funerals for Air India crash victims

  • Funerals were held in India for some of the at least 279 people killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades
  • Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: Mourners covered white coffins with flowers in India on Sunday as funerals were held for some of the at least 279 people killed in one of the world’s worst plane crashes in decades.
Health officials have begun handing over the first passenger bodies identified through DNA testing, delivering them to grieving relatives in the western city of Ahmedabad, but the wait went on for most families.
“They said it would take 48 hours. But it’s been four days and we haven’t received any response,” said Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner.
There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound Air India jet when it crashed Thursday into a residential area of Ahmedabad, killing at least 38 people on the ground as well.
“My brother was the sole breadwinner of the family,” Christian told AFP. “So what happens next?“
At a crematorium in the city, around 20 to 30 mourners chanted prayers in a funeral ceremony for Megha Mehta, a passenger who had been working in London.
As of Sunday evening, 47 crash victims have been identified, according to Rajnish Patel, a doctor at Ahmedabad’s civil hospital.
“This is a meticulous and slow process, so it has to be done meticulously only,” Patel said.
One victim’s relative who did not want to be named told AFP they had been instructed not to open the coffin when they receive it.
Witnesses reported seeing badly burnt bodies and scattered remains.
Workers went on clearing debris from the site on Sunday, while police inspected the area.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner erupted into a fireball when it went down moments after takeoff, smashing into buildings used by medical staff.
The majority of those injured on the ground have been discharged, Patel said, with one or two remaining in critical care.
Cause of the disaster
Indian authorities have yet to identify the cause of the disaster and have ordered inspections of Air India’s Dreamliners.
Authorities announced Sunday that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, had been recovered. This may offer investigators more clues about what went wrong.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday he hoped decoding the first black box, the flight data recorder, would “give an in-depth insight” into the circumstances of the crash.
Imtiyaz Ali, who was still waiting for a DNA match to find his brother, said the airline should have supported families faster.
“I’m disappointed in them. It is their duty,” said Ali, who was contacted by the airline on Saturday.
“Next step is to find out the reason for this accident. We need to know,” he told AFP.
One person escaped alive from the wreckage, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, whose brother was also on the flight.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Among the passengers was a father of two young girls, Arjun Patoliya, who had traveled to India to scatter his wife’s ashes following her death weeks earlier.
“I really hope that those girls will be looked after by all of us,” said Anjana Patel, the mayor of London’s Harrow borough where some of the victims lived.
“We don’t have any words to describe how the families and friends must be feeling,” she added.
While communities were in mourning, one woman recounted how she survived by arriving late at the airport.
“The airline staff had already closed the check-in,” said 28-year-old Bhoomi Chauhan.
“At that moment, I kept thinking that if only we had left a little earlier, we wouldn’t have missed our flight,” she told the Press Trust of India news agency.


Russia pulls citizens from Iran, halts Tehran consulate

Russia’s embassy in Tehran. (@RusEmbIran)
Updated 15 June 2025
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Russia pulls citizens from Iran, halts Tehran consulate

  • Russia’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to suspend flights to Iran and Israel and avoid their airspace — along with that of Jordan and Iraq — until at least June 26

MOSCOW: Russia said Sunday it had evacuated several of its citizens from Iran and halted activity at its Tehran consulate after Israeli attacks on the country sparked retaliatory missile fire toward Israel.
“Due to the current situation, the consular service of the embassy is temporarily suspending its activities. The resumption of consular services will be announced later,” the Russian embassy in Tehran said on Telegram.
Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said musicians from the Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra were evacuated from Iran.
“The musicians crossed the Azerbaijani border. Yesterday (Saturday), Fyodor Bondarchuk’s film crew left Iran via the same route,” she said on Telegram, referring to the Russian director and actor.
Russia’s civil aviation authority ordered airlines to suspend flights to Iran and Israel and avoid their airspace — along with that of Jordan and Iraq — until at least June 26, following official travel warnings issued Friday.
Israel launched unprecedented strikes on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities early Friday, saying it aimed to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran has responded with multiple missile salvos targeting Israel.
President Vladimir Putin, who maintains ties with both Iran and Israel, condemned Israel’s strikes and warned of a “dangerous escalation” in the Middle East.


Trump says can broker Iran‑Israel peace using trade as he did with India‑Pakistan

Updated 15 June 2025
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Trump says can broker Iran‑Israel peace using trade as he did with India‑Pakistan

  • Trump’s reference to India and Pakistan pertains to military confrontation which ended with US-facilitated ceasefire on May 10
  • Iranian officials report at least 138 people have been killed in Israel’s military onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he could use American trade leverage to broker a peace deal between Iran and Israel, drawing a parallel to his administration’s role in facilitating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan last month.

The renewed conflict saw Iran and Israel exchanging missile and drone strikes over the past three days.

Iranian officials report at least 138 people have been killed in Israel’s onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday, half of them children, when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran. Israel has reported at least 13 deaths.

“Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!”

Trump’s reference to India and Pakistan pertains to a brief military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in May, which ended with a US-facilitated ceasefire on May 10. Washington said trade and security assurances were key to the de-escalation.

He also cited other conflicts, between Serbia and Kosovo, and disputes over the Nile dam involving Egypt and Ethiopia, saying his interventions helped maintain peace “at least for now.”

“Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!” Trump added. “Many calls and meetings now taking place.”

Since Friday, Pakistan’s government has repeatedly pledged solidarity with Iran but urged its citizens to postpone travel to Iran and Iraq until the security situation improves. 

On Saturday, Islamabad issued a formal travel advisory asking Pakistanis to avoid travel to Iran “for a limited period” due to the Israeli attacks.

Pakistan has also condemned the Israeli strikes, calling them an unjustified violation of Iranian sovereignty, and has urged the international community to help de-escalate tensions through dialogue.


Air India crash death toll climbs to 270 as victim identification continues

Updated 15 June 2025
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Air India crash death toll climbs to 270 as victim identification continues

  • Only one of 242 people on London-bound flight survived
  • Doctors have identified 32 individuals through DNA matching

NEW DELHI: The death toll from the crash of an Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London has risen to 270, as bodies, including those of people killed on the ground, continue to be identified.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Gujarat state on Thursday.

It was carrying 242 people — 230 passengers, two pilots and 10 crew members. Only one person, a British national sitting in an emergency exit seat, survived the crash.

It remains unclear how many people were killed on the ground as the aircraft fell on B.J. Medical College and a hostel for students and resident doctors of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.

Dr. Dhaval Gameti, president of the Junior Doctors’ Association at the college, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the hospital had received the bodies of 270 victims.

The process of matching DNA samples to confirm their identities is underway.

Dr. Rajnish Patel, additional superintendent at the hospital, told the media on Sunday that only 14 bodies had been handed over to their next of kin.

“In the Ahmedabad plane tragedy, the DNA samples of 32 deceased individuals have been matched,” the hospital said in a statement.

“The mortal remains of the deceased whose DNA samples have been matched are being respectfully handed over to their families.”

Dr. Sarbari Dutta, secretary general of the Indian Medical Association, told Arab News that at least four medical students were confirmed to have been killed when the plane crashed into the college compound.

“More than 20 students are admitted in the hospital, some of them with very severe injuries,” she said, adding that the actual number of casualties would “definitely” be higher.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is leading the inquiry into the cause of the crash.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said on Saturday, after the aircraft’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, had been found at the site of the crash, that an investigation report would be issued within three months.

“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also given an order to do extended surveillance for the (Boeing) 787 planes,” he said.

“There are 34 in our Indian aircraft fleet today. I believe that eight have already been inspected and with immediate urgency. All of them are going to be done.”


Two killed, 32 injured after bridge collapses at tourist destination in India’s Maharashtra

Updated 15 June 2025
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Two killed, 32 injured after bridge collapses at tourist destination in India’s Maharashtra

  • Incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days
  • It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, PTI news agency reported

NEW DELHI: At least two people died and 32 others were injured after an iron bridge over a river collapsed at a popular tourist destination in India’s western Maharashtra state, the state’s top elected official said Sunday.

At least six people were rescued and hospitalized in critical condition, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote on social media platform X.

The incident occurred in Kundamala area in Pune district, which has witnessed heavy rains over the past few days, giving the river a steady flow, Press Trust of India reported.

It was not raining when the bridge collapsed in an area frequented by picnickers, the news agency reported.

Police said teams of the National Disaster Response Force and other search and recovery units have undertaken rescue operations, Press Trust reported.

Rescue work at the scene has been accelerated, Fadnavis said.