Saudi woman held at Bangkok airport pleads for asylum

Chennai, Feb 20: Three people, including an assistant director were killed and 9 others injured when a crane used for the shooting of “actor Kamal Haasan starrer “Indian 2” film crashed down at Nazarathpet near Poonamallee here late on Wednesday night.

Police said the accident occurred when a group of workers were engaged in erecting a set for a scene at EVP film city, private studio. As the crane crashed down, a heavy-duty light stand that was mounted on it also fell on the workers.

Mr Haasan and the film director S.Shankar escaped unhurt in the accident.

The deceased were identified as Krishna (34), an assistant director of the film, Madhu (29) and Chandran (60), who was part of the catering team.

Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services personnel, along with a fire tender from Irungattukottai rushed to the spot and retrieved the bodies from the spot.

Mr Haasan, who was at the accident spot, also helped to transport the injured people to a private hospital near Poonamallee.

The bodies were sent to the Government General Hospital for post-mortem.

The Nazarathpet police have filed a case and are investigating the cause of the accident.

Meanwhile, Mr.Haasan condoled the death of three people during the film shoot. “The accident is the most horrific I have seen in my film career. I have lost three colleagues, but my pain pales in comparison to the grief of those who have lost their loved ones.

My deepest sympathies to them, he tweeted.

The Lyca productions also expressed condolences over the tragic accident. “We are extremely saddened with the unfortunate accident happened at the sets of Indian 2. We have lost three of our most hardworking technicians, it tweeted.

Riyadh, Apr 27: The government of Saudi Arabia has signed a SR995 million (approx. Dh972m) contract with China to provide Covid-19 tests for nine million people in the Kingdom.

The Saudi Press Agency, SPA, reported that the decision came "as a result of a phone call made today (Sunday) between the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Chinese President Xi Jinping."

The contract includes providing necessary equipment and supplies, making available of 500 Chinese specialists and technicians who are specialised in performing tests, establishing six large regional laboratories throughout the Kingdom; including a mobile laboratory with a capacity of performing 10,000 tests per day. Saudi cadres will also be trained to conduct daily tests and comprehensive field tests, under the new agreement

The contract was co-signed by the National Unified Procurement Company and Chinese company Huo-yan Laboratories by Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, Advisor at the Royal Court, on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia, and Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom Chen Weiqing, as a representative of the Chinese Government.

The contract is one of the largest contracts that will provide diagnostic tests for the novel Coronavirus.

Tests were also purchased from several other companies from the United States, Switzerland and South Korea, bringing the number of available tests to 14.5 million, covering around 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's population, SPA added.

Mar 4: Twenty-one Italian tourists and three Indian tour operators have been sent to an ITBP quarantine facility in Delhi on Tuesday for suspected coronavirus exposure, official sources said.

Health Ministry sources said these foreigners, 13 women and eight men, were in the same group of which an Italian and his wife have tested positive in Rajasthan capital Jaipur.

“His (Italian in Jaipur) condition is stable,” a source said.

Three Indians, who were accompanying this Italian group as tour operators, have also been sent to the ITBP facility in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi, they said.

All these people, staying at a five-star hotel in south Delhi, have been put in “preventive isolation” at the ITBP camp and their samples will be taken on Wednesday, sources said.

The centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an IAF plane from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.