Dubai: Major fire beaks out at Address Downtown hotel on New Year eve

December 31, 2015

Dubai, Dec 31: A huge fire ripped through a luxury Dubai hotel tonight as people gathered to watch New Year's Eve celebrations, injuring at least 16 people, authorities said.

downtown

Dubai's government media office tweeted that a "fire has been reported in the Address Downtown hotel. Authorities are currently on-site to address the incident swiftly and safely".

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

The 63-storey building, which is close to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, was engulfed in flames across several floors as sirens wailed and helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said.

Dubai's police chief said all the hotel's residents had been evacuated from the scene of the blaze, which had still not been extinguished some two hours after it broke out.

"All the residents are out," General Khamis Matar al-Mzeima said.

"Until the fire is put out, we will not have information on what caused it," he added.

"At least 14 people have been slightly injured, along with one medium injury, and a heart attack case registered due to people pushing" amid the smoke, the media office tweeted.

Witness Raphael Slama told AFP the fire started at around 9:30 pm (1730 GMT) and rapidly spread upwards across dozens of floors.

The government tweeted that the fire erupted on the 20th floor and affected only the outer facade of the building.

"Four firefighting teams have been deployed" to fight the blaze, it added.

Authorities said earlier that they had deployed thousands of security personnel to ensure visitors and residents could enjoy the New Year's festivities safely.

The emirate had promised a "spectacular" fireworks display that was set to kick-off at midnight from the Burj Khalifa before spreading to various locations across the city.

A spokeswoman for the government said the planned festivities would go ahead despite the fire."New Year's celebrations will proceed according to schedule," Mona al-Marri was quoted by Al-Arabiya as saying, before confirming on her Twitter account.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 28: Brace for hefty traffic penalties as the state government is all set to reverse a notification on revised fines which came into effect last September following pushback from road users and opposition parties.

The Karnataka government will implement traffic penalties as stipulated in the amended Motor Vehicles Act, 2019, in a phased manner following a diktat from the Centre. The government did not specify the timeline for it.

“At a recent meeting of transport ministers from various states, the Union government explained why it wanted to implement these huge fines. We found it convincing and will implement it in its original form,” said transport minister Laxman Savadi on Monday.

Savadi said India’s image globally has taken a beating due to the high number of road deaths and the Centre wants to change it at any cost. However, he said the entire set of hefty fines would not be reintroduced all at once.

BJP govt revised rates in Sept

The BJP government last September had revised fines on compoundable offences and those which are fined on the spot by traffic cops by 50%- 80%, barring drunken driving and racing.

As per the revised rates, helmetless riding attracted a penalty of Rs 500 against Rs 1,000 notified by the Centre. Driving without a licence attracted a fine of Rs 1,000 for

two- and three-wheelers and Rs 2,000 for light motor vehicles as against the earlier Rs 5,000 for all types of vehicles.

The central government recently told states and Union Territories they should enforce fines as per the amended Act and they cannot be rolled back. The road transport and highways ministry said fines cannot be reduced below the minimum amount fixed by law, unless the President gives his assent.

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News Network
March 24,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 24: A Covid-19 patient from Kasaragod, who recently came from abroad travelled to Mangaluru twice, revealed Karnataka department of health and family welfare.

The 54-year-old person is confirmed as Covid-19 positive case yesterday.

He landed at Mangalore International Airport on March 10 at 5.30pm by Air India Express flight.

From there, he had travelled in his own vehicle to Kasaragod. He had coffee near Kasaragod and reached home at 7.30pm.

On March 11, he had visited local fish market and returned home at 10pm.

He had consulted a local doctor at Kasaragod on March 18 and later visited to Kasturba Medical College, Attavar at 3pm, visited reception and consulted a doctor.

He had tea at KMC canteen and travelled in an auto to Medicity and brought medicines and returned to Kasaragod by KSRTC bus.

Again he travelled to Mangaluru on March 20 in a private vehicle and visited a doctor and returned back to Kasargod in a private vehicle.

The health department has requested all passengers who travelled in the above said flight/aircraft, and KSRTC bus can self-report by dialing 104 or other helpline numbers.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Mangalore, Jan 15: In one of the biggest seizure of gold in the new decade, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths here have seized five kg of gold valued at Rs two Crore from the Air Cargo Complex at International Airport here recently.

Acting on a tip-off the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Bangalore and Mangalore in a co-ordinated effort unraveled a unique modus of smuggling of gold through Air Cargo Complex, at old airport, Bajpe Mangalore two days back, According to release issued here on Tuesday evening.

The smuggled gold was concealed in five metal sprockets which were imported by M/s Swaroop Mineral Pvt Ltd of Udupi in the name of “mining conveyor drive chain”.

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