GUWAHATI, India: An avalanche killed at least seven tourists in India’s Himalayan state of Sikkim near a mountain pass to the Chinese region of Tibet, with several more people feared trapped, the Indian army said.
The army said five to six vehicles carrying up to 30 tourists to the strategically located Nathu La pass between Sikkim and Tibet were feared to have been stuck under the snow when the avalanche hit.
“We are yet to ascertain how many people are still trapped. 17 people have been rescued, out of which 8 are very critical and have been moved to a hospital,” senior police official Tenzing Loden Lepcha told Reuters on phone.
The incident took place at 11:30 a.m. (0600 GMT), the army statement said. Rescue officials earlier said they feared at least 70 people were under the snow at the site, some 40 km (25 miles) from the state capital Gangtok.
Rescue operations were ongoing, Loden Lepcha said, adding that when the avalanche hit, people were taking photographs near a stream. Rescue workers dug with shovels near a waterfall, images released by India’s ministry of defense showed.
Yellow heavy machinery worked to clear the churned up snow left by the avalanche, the images showed.
An additional 350 stranded tourists and 80 vehicles were rescued after the snow was cleared from the road, the army statement said.
Thousands of tourists flock to Sikkim every year, also known as the “Land of Mystic Splendour,” located below Mount Khangchendzonga, also known as Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.
Nathu La serves as a route for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in China, considered one of the holiest pilgrimages in Hinduism.
The 3,500 km (2,100 miles) Himalayan border between India and China has been disputed since the 1950s. Both countries have raced to improve roads and railways in remote regions in recent years.
Avalanches and flash flooding in the Himalayas are common during summer and monsoon months, as snow melt and heavy rains combine.
In June 2013, record monsoon rains in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods that claimed close to 6,000 lives, one of the worst natural disasters to strike in the country.
Sikkim avalanche kills seven near India’s border with China, others trapped
https://arab.news/zk6kj
Sikkim avalanche kills seven near India’s border with China, others trapped
- Rescue officials earlier said they feared at least 70 people were under the snow at the site
- Rescue operations were ongoing, Loden Lepcha said, adding that when the avalanche hit, people were taking photographs near a stream
Russian drone strike on bus kills 9 in Ukrainian city of Marhanets, Kyiv says
“An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target,” Zelensky said
KYIV: A Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring close to 50, Kyiv officials said, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a “deliberate war crime.”
Zelensky said the Russian strike hit a bus that was transporting workers of a mining and processing plant.
“An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target,” Zelensky said on X.
“It was an egregiously brutal attack – and an absolutely deliberate war crime,” he added, calling for “an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire.”
Russia fired a total of 134 attack drones at targets in Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Ukrainian officials arrived in London on Wednesday, even as most other big power foreign ministers pulled out, to hold talks about ways to achieve a ceasefire as a first step toward peace.
Marhanets, in south-central Ukraine, lies on the Ukrainian-controlled north bank of the Dnipro river’s dried-up reservoir that separates the warring sides.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said nine people were killed in the attack and 49 were injured.
Zelensky shared photographs of the aftermath of the attack on X, showing bodies lying in and next to the bus and being carried away by emergency workers.
Zelensky added most of the injured were women.
Elsewhere, an energy plant that provides electricity to the city of Kherson near southern front lines was destroyed in an artillery and drone attack, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Ukraine’s emergency service also reported a drone strike on the Synelnykivskyi district in the Dnipropetrovsk region that injured two people and sparked a fire at an agricultural enterprise.
Russia further fired drones into the central region of Poltava, injuring at least six people, its governor said.
A drone attack on civilian infrastructure in the suburbs of the Black Sea port city of Odesa injured two people and sparked several fires, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Russian drone salvoes also set off large-scale fires in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, in the northeast, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.
Seven private houses, a storage building and an outbuilding were also damaged by drones hitting the Kyiv capital region, where a fire also broke out in a restaurant complex, its regional governor said.
Both Russia and Ukraine are under pressure from the United States to demonstrate progress toward ending the war that began with Russia’s 2022 full-blown invasion amid warnings that US President Donald Trump could walk away from peacemaking.
Following Kashmir attack, Modi cuts short Saudi trip after talks on energy, defense
- Saudi Arabia is one of the top exporters of petroleum to India
- Modi met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before cutting short his visit
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia and India agreed to boost cooperation in supplies of crude and liquefied petroleum gas, according to a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency on Wednesday following a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was cut short by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Saudi Arabia is one of the top exporters of petroleum to India.
Modi met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before cutting short his visit and returning to New Delhi after an attack on India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory which killed 26 people, the worst attack in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings.
The two countries also agreed to deepen their defense ties and improve their cooperation in defense manufacturing, along with agreements in agriculture and food security.
“The two countries welcomed the excellent cooperation between the two sides in counter-terrorism and terror financing,” the joint statement said.
Staunchly Catholic Philippines begins period of mourning for Pope Francis
- “Pope Francis holds a special place in the hearts of the Filipino people,” Marcos said
- Francis drew a record crowd of up to seven million people at a historic Mass in Manila during a visit in 2015
MANILA: The Philippines began a period of national mourning for Pope Francis on Wednesday, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordering flags on all state buildings across the staunchly Roman Catholic country to fly at half-mast to honor the pontiff.
Francis died on Monday aged 88 after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, the Vatican said, ending an often turbulent reign in which he repeatedly clashed with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalized.
“Pope Francis holds a special place in the hearts of the Filipino people,” Marcos said in a presidential proclamation, adding that the period of mourning would continue until Francis’ funeral at the Vatican on Saturday.
“The passing of Pope Francis is a moment of profound sorrow for the Catholic Church and for the Filipino people, who recognize him as global leader of compassion and tireless advocate of peace, justice and human dignity,” the proclamation said.
The Philippines is home to more than 80 million Catholics, or nearly 80 percent of the population, making it one of only two majority Christian nations in Asia along with tiny East Timor.
Francis drew a record crowd of up to seven million people at a historic Mass in Manila during a visit in 2015.
Since his death on Monday, the Catholic Church has held Masses across the Philippines for Francis.
At the Baclaran Church in Manila, some worshippers on Wednesday wore shirts bearing Pope Francis’ image — leftover merchandise from his 2015 visit.
Emma Avancena, 76, who was a volunteer during the pope’s visit, said she felt sad about his death but added: “I feel blessed because we were blessed face to face, eye to eye (during the visit).”
First Indonesian Hajj pilgrims to reach Saudi Arabia next week
- Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative will facilitate pilgrims in Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo
- Thousands of Indonesian Hajj officers will be stationed in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah
JAKARTA: The first group of more than 1,500 Indonesian pilgrims will depart for Saudi Arabia under the Makkah Route initiative next week, as 221,000 are expected to take part in this year’s Hajj.
In 2025, the Hajj is expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9.
Though the pilgrimage itself can be performed over five or six days, many pilgrims arrive early to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their religious duty.
“Indonesian pilgrims will start departing on May 2, and this will be our first batch,” Hilman Latief, director general of Hajj and Umrah management at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.
“Some of them are still in the visa processing stage, but we are optimistic that their visas will be issued before their departure … we hope that the Hajj journey this year can go smoothly, and that our pilgrims will have a comfortable and safe trip.”
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, sends the largest Hajj contingent of pilgrims every year to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Its first Hajj flights are scheduled to depart from the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo, where Indonesian pilgrims will be facilitated under Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative.
Launched in Muslim-majority countries in 2019, the program allows Hajj pilgrims to fulfill all visa, customs and health requirements in one place, at the airport of origin, and save long hours of waiting before and upon reaching the Kingdom.
When they arrive in Saudi Arabia, Indonesians will be assisted by more than 4,000 Hajj officers who are stationed in Jeddah, Madinah and Makkah.
Each batch will have four officers, including medics, helping them at all times, said Nasrullah Jasam, who heads the Indonesian Hajj Organization Committee in Saudi Arabia.
“On the ground, the officers are also divided into various sectors. They are tasked to serve the pilgrims with things related to accommodation, transportation and food,” Jasam told Arab News.
“Our Hajj officers have undergone the technical guidance in Jakarta and are now preparing for the same in Saudi Arabia … we are ready.”
Thailand to test disaster alerts after quake criticism
- The DDPM aimed to get alerts out within 10 minutes of an earthquake.
- The system will use three mobile networks to send warning messages
Bangkok: Thailand will conduct tests of a cellphone disaster alert system, senior officials said on Wednesday, after criticism that no alarm was sent after last month’s deadly Myanmar earthquake caused damage in Bangkok.
Director General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Phasakorn Boonyalak said the Cell Broadcast System (CBS) will undergo a test run next month in localized areas including the sprawling capital, which was badly shaken by the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighboring Myanmar.
The system will use three mobile networks to send warning messages “quickly and with wide coverage, both on natural disaster and security threats,” he told a news conference.
Starting on May 2 with the smallest target area — four city hall buildings — there will be three test runs, with the third and largest drill covering the whole of Bangkok and Chiang Mai provinces on May 13.
Residents’ cellphones will get a pop-up message on their screens in Thai and English, accompanied by a siren, Phasakorn said.
The message will read: “This is a test message from Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, no action required.”
Phasakorn said it was CBS’s first public test run and that tourists on roaming networks would also receive the alert.
The DDPM aimed to get alerts out within 10 minutes of an earthquake, he said.
The March 28 quake killed more than 3,700 people in Myanmar and at least 53 in a tower block under construction in Bangkok that collapsed dramatically.
While Thailand rarely experiences such strong tremors, Bangkok often experiences heavy flooding in the rainy season.
