Mid-air medical emergencies forces Air India to divert 2 international flights

Udupli, Jun 10: A promising Kabaddi player and young businessman allegedly committed suicide inside his father’s boat today at Malpe fishing port as he had suffered heavy loss in business due to covid lockdown. 

The deceased has been identified as Bhagyaraj (27), a resident of Pavanjigudde in Badanidiyoor, Bailakere. He was working as writer for two boats owned by his father. He was a well-known Kabaddi player in Udupi district. 

It is said that he had raised a huge loan to build a house and also acquired a fishing boat. However, he suffered heavy losses in business due to lockdown. Fish famine added to his woes. 

Upset by these developments, Bhagyaraj hanged himself inside his boat that was anchored at the port. A case was registered at Malpe police station. Investigations are on.

Bengaluru, June 21: An assistant sub-inspector of police who was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 infection in city-based Victoria hospital passed away on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday as he did not respond to the treatment for coronavirus.

The 59-year-old ASI was attached to the Wilson Garden traffic police station in Bengaluru. He tested positive for coronavirus on June 18 and was rushed to the COVID ward in Victoria hospital on June 19. He had fever for the last four days. His wife and two children have been quarantined. According to the police, the station has not yet been sealed down and no policemen have been quarantined.

The Wilson Garden ASI is the third Bengaluru police personnel to die of COVID-19 in the last one week. Earlier, an ASI from the VV Puram traffic police station had died undergoing treatment. On Saturday morning, a head constable from the Kalasipalya police station who was admitted at Victoria hospital passed away. The series of deaths in the police department has created fear among other policemen across the city.

One the other hand, dozens of policemen were tested positive in different parts of Karnataka today including 21 from two police stations of Bengaluru. 

Around 15 policemen from the Kalasipalya police station and five policemen from the Ashok Nagar traffic police station tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday.

In Kalasipalya, three ASIs, head constables and police constables have tested positive. In Ashok Nagar traffic police station, a probationary sub-inspector, an ASI, two police constables and a lady constable tested positive for the virus.

One more police constable working in Bandepalya police station also tested positive. Seven policemen who were in his primary contacts have been quarantined. BBMP officials have begun the process of fumigating the station premises and its surroundings.

Mangaluru: The Karnataka-Kerala border closure at Talapady amidst nationwide Covid-19 lockdown has not only prevented the movement of vehicles and people from Kasaragod to Mangaluru but also stopped the supply of life-saving drugs from Karnataka’s medical hub to its bordering district.

Hundreds of people from Kasaragod and Kannur districts who were treated in hospitals of Mangaluru for past several years are still dependent on some of the medicines that are available only in Mangaluru. Such medicines have become inaccessible for Keralites following the border closure. Every day, a number of people from Kerala call their acquaintances in Mangaluru to see if there is a way to get medicine.

In fact, Karnataka government has blocked all 23 roads that connect the state with Kerala. The reason given was, Kasaragod is the hotbed of coronavirus and allowing traffic even in emergency cases might lead to spread of Covid-19 in border districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Mysuru. The attitude has resulted in the death of around a dozen people in Kasaragod district in last couple of weeks.

Even after the intervention of the Supreme Court a few days ago, the authorities in Karnataka are facing the allegation of being hostile either by blocking the way ahead or turning a deaf ear to the patients reaching their border. 

At this juncture, three Good Samaritans – P K G Anoop Kumar of Canara Engineering College, Mangaluru, Satheesh Shetty of Kasaragod Patla and P Jayaprakash of Ponnangala – have come to the aid of the Malayalee patients who are dependent on medicines from Mangaluru. 

The three activists who are currently staying (in fact stranded amidst lockdown) in Mangaluru, are delivering life-saving medicines to patients in Kerala through Kerala fire servicemen and policemen posted at the Talapady border. 

Anoop Kumar says that took the initiative after a woman, Maria Augustine from Chemberi (Taliparamba) Nellikkutty, contacted him for a medicine. He managed to buy it from a medical store in the port city and handed it over to a Kerala fire serviceman at Talapady border. 

All three are activists of Communist Party of India (Marxist). After moving to Mangaluru, they set up ‘We Donate Charitable Society’ to donate blood. The activists say that they are ready to dispatch medicines from Mangaluru to any person in Kerala. Those Keralites who are in need of medicines from may contact: 888471344 - Anoop, 9895135881 - Jayaprakash