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Nepal plane crash: Over 50 killed, PM Modi, US offer condolences

Agencies
March 13, 2018

Kathmandu/Dhaka, Mar 13: A Bangladeshi passenger aircraft crashed and burst into flames while landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here, killing at least 50 people, in Nepal’s worst aviation disaster in more than 25 years. The Dhaka to Kathmandu US-Bangla Airlines flight, with 67 passengers and four crew members on board, caught fire after it careened off the runway and ploughed into a football ground near the airport, TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur said. Nepal army spokesman Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari said 50 people had died in the crash. There were 33 Nepalese nationals on board flight UBG 211, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Others include 32 Bangladeshis, one Chinese and one Maldivian.

Bombardier is a twin-engine, medium-range and turboprop aircraft. “We are carrying out rescue work. We are collecting details,” TIA General Manager Raj Kumar Chhetri said. The black box of the aircraft was recovered from the spot, Chhetri said. The condition of over two dozen people who were admitted to the hospital in Kathmandu is said to be serious.

According to SSP Bishwaraj Pokharel, spokesperson at Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range Office, 49 were confirmed dead in the crash. Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football ground where the plane crashed. Several bodies that lay on the tarmac, covered with yellow cloth, were charred. The aircraft took off from Dhaka and landed at the airport at 2:20 pm (local time). “The plane shoot off the runway while it was about to crash into the hanger and immediately caught fire,” an airport official was quoted as saying by the Himalayan Times.

The officials, however, have said a technical glitch could be the cause of the accident. “The aircraft was permitted to land from the Southern side of the runway over Koteshwor but it landed from the Northern side,” Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) Sanjiv Gautam was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. He said the plane was “out of control” when it attempted to land on the runway. “We are yet to ascertain the reason behind the unusual landing,” he said suspecting the aircraft might have sustained some technical glitches.

In Dhaka, US-Bangla Airlines CEO Imran Asif said a conversation between the pilot, Abid Sultan, and the air traffic control or ATC of the airport indicated that the ATC sent “wrong signals’ to the pilot. “We are not accusing anyone now. We suspect it might have led to the crash,” he was quoted as saying by the bdnewss24. Basanta Bohora, a Nepalese and one of the few passengers to escape with injuries in the deadly plane crash, said he is lucky to be alive. “All of a sudden the plane shook violently and there was a loud bang afterwards,” he said. “I was seated near the window and was able to break out of the window,” he said. “I have received injuries to my head and legs but I am fortunate that I survived the ordeal.” All the flights to and from TIA have been halted after the crash.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel visited the airport to oversee the rescue operation. The Dhaka-based US-Bangla Airlines is a private carrier that launched in July 2014 with the motto “Fly Fast Fly Safe”. The airlines is a unit of the US-Bangla Group, a US Bangladeshi joint venture company.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the Theni forest fire in Tamil Nadu and expressed anguished over loss of lives in a plane crash in Kathmandu and prayed for early recovery of the injured. Ten people, who were part of a trekking expedition, have been killed in a forest fire in the Western Ghats, the Tamil Nadu government said today. “My condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the Theni forest fire. I hope that those who are injured recover soon,” Modi said in a tweet. A 36-member team – 24 people from Chennai and 12 from Tiruppur and Erode districts – on a trekking expedition reached Kurangani hills on March 10. The team included 25 women and three children. The prime minister also expressed anguish over loss of lives in Kathmandu plane crash. “Deeply anguished by the loss of lives due to the plane crash in Kathmandu. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased and I pray that those injured recover at the earliest,” he said in another tweet.

The Bangladeshi passenger aircraft crashed and burst into flames today while landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here, killing at least 50 people, in Nepal’s worst aviation disaster in more than 25 years. The Dhaka to Kathmandu US-Bangla Airlines flight, with 67 passengers and four crew members on board, caught fire after it careened off the runway and ploughed into a football ground near the airport, TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur said. Nepal army spokesman Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari said 50 people had died in the crash. More than 20 injured were reportedly taken to Kathmandu Medical College for treatment of which seven were brought dead at the hospital. The remaining were undergoing treatment for serious burn injuries.

The US offered its sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims who were killed in a plane crash at the Tribhuvan International Airport. A Bangladeshi passenger aircraft crashed and burst into flames today while landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) here, killing at least 50 people, in Nepal’s worst aviation disaster in more than 25 years. The Dhaka to Kathmandu US-Bangla Airlines flight, with 67 passengers and four crew members on board, caught fire after it careened off the runway and ploughed into a football ground near the airport, TIA spokesperson Prem Nath Thakur said. “We offer our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims,” a State Department Spokesperson said. “We are not aware of any request for US assistance at this time,” the spokesperson said. Nepal army spokesman Brigadier General Gokul Bhandari said 50 people had died in the crash. There were 33 Nepalese nationals on board flight UBG 211, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Others include 32 Bangladeshis, one Chinese and one Maldivian.

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News Network
July 22,2020

New Delhi, Jul 22: With a spike of 37,724 cases and 648 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stands at 11,92,915, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of cases includes 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 cured/discharged/migrated and 28,732 deaths, the Health Ministry informed.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3,27,031 cases and 12,276 deaths.
The second worst-hit state, Tamil Nadu has reported 1,80,643 COVID-19 cases so far while Delhi has reported 1,25,096 cases, according to the Ministry.

Other states that have witnessed a higher number of COVID-19 positive cases include, Andhra Pradesh with 58,668 cases, Karnataka with 71,069 while Telangana has reported 47,705 COVID-19 positive cases.

Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of samples tested up to July 21 is 1,47,24, 546 including 3,43,243 samples tested yesterday.

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News Network
May 20,2020

Kensington (United States), May 20: The world cut its daily carbon dioxide emissions by 17% at the peak of the pandemic shutdown last month, a new study found.

But with life and heat-trapping gas levels inching back toward normal, the brief pollution break will likely be “a drop in the ocean" when it comes to climate change, scientists said.

In their study of carbon dioxide emissions during the coronavirus pandemic, an international team of scientists calculated that pollution levels are heading back up — and for the year will end up between 4% and 7% lower than 2019 levels.

That's still the biggest annual drop in carbon emissions since World War II.

It'll be 7% if the strictest lockdown rules remain all year long across much of the globe, 4% if they are lifted soon.

For a week in April, the United States cut its carbon dioxide levels by about one-third.

China, the world's biggest emitter of heat-trapping gases, sliced its carbon pollution by nearly a quarter in February, according to a study Tuesday in the journal Nature Climate Change. India and Europe cut emissions by 26% and 27% respectively.

The biggest global drop was from April 4 through 9 when the world was spewing 18.7 million tons (17 million metric tons) of carbon pollution a day less than it was doing on New Year's Day.

Such low global emission levels haven't been recorded since 2006. But if the world returns to its slowly increasing pollution levels next year, the temporary reduction amounts to ''a drop in the ocean," said study lead author Corinne LeQuere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia.

“It's like you have a bath filled with water and you're turning off the tap for 10 seconds," she said.

By April 30, the world carbon pollution levels had grown by 3.3 million tons (3 million metric tons) a day from its low point earlier in the month. Carbon dioxide stays in the air for about a century.

Outside experts praised the study as the most comprehensive yet, saying it shows how much effort is needed to prevent dangerous levels of further global warming.

“That underscores a simple truth: Individual behavior alone ... won't get us there,” Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn't part of the study, said in an email.

“We need fundamental structural change.”

If the world could keep up annual emission cuts like this without a pandemic for a couple decades, there's a decent chance Earth can avoid warming another 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) of warming from now, study authors said. But getting the type of yearly cuts to reach that international goal is unlikely, they said.

If next year returns to 2019 pollution levels, it means the world has only bought about a year's delay in hitting the extra 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) of warming that leaders are trying to avoid, LeQuere said. That level could still occur anywhere from 2050 to 2070, the authors said.

The study was carried out by Global Carbon Project, a consortium of international scientists that produces the authoritative annual estimate of carbon dioxide emissions. They looked at 450 databases showing daily energy use and introduced a measurement scale for pandemic-related societal “confinement” in its estimates.

Nearly half the emission reductions came from less transportation pollution, mostly involving cars and trucks, the authors said. By contrast, the study found that drastic reductions in air travel only accounted for 10% of the overall pollution drop.

In the US, the biggest pollution declines were seen in California and Washington with plunges of more than 40%.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Paris, Mar 2: A global agency says the spreading new virus could make the world economy shrink this quarter, for the first time since the international financial crisis more than a decade ago.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says Monday in a special report on the impact of the virus that the world economy is still expected to grow overall this year and rebound next year.

But it lowered its forecasts for global growth in 2020 by half a percentage point, to 2.4 per cent, and said the figure could go as low as 1.5 per cent if the virus lasts long and spreads widely.

The last time world GDP shrank on a quarter-on-quarter basis was at the end of 2008, during the depths of the financial crisis. On a full-year basis, it last shrank in 2009.

The OECD said China's reduced production is hitting Asia particularly hard but also companies around the world that depend on its goods.

It urged governments to act fast to prevent contagion and restore consumer confidence.

The Paris-based OECD, which advises developed economies on policy, said the impact of this virus is much higher than past outbreaks because "the global economy has become substantially more interconnected, and China plays a far greater role in global output, trade, tourism and commodity markets."

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