At least 17 people were killed and up to 25 were injured Sunday in Bangladesh after a bus smashed through a highway fence and plunged into a roadside ditch, according to police. People gather after a bus met with an accident in Madaripur on March 19, 2023. Police said they suspected the driver lost control at 8:00 am (0200 GMT) and hit the railing of a recently built major expressway, sending the bus tumbling 30 feet (10 metres) into the ditch. "Seventeen people have died in the accident. The injured were sent to hospitals in the region," local police chief Masud Alam told AFP after the crash in the southern district of Shibchar. Road accidents are frequent in Bangladesh due to old and badly maintained vehicles and roads, as well as poorly trained drivers. A highway accident monitor said a record 9,951 people were killed in road accidents in Bangladesh last year. … [Read more...] about 17 killed in Bangladesh bus crash
Syria 76 killed
Truck-bikes crash kills two, causes massive blackout in southern Vietnam
A crane truck crashed into two motorbikes and broke a power pole, killing two people and leaving more than 6,400 households without power in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on Tuesday. The traffic accident occurred at around 10:40 am on the day when the crane truck suddenly lost control and slammed into two motorbikes on Ly Thuong Kiet Street in Nhon Trach District. The truck only stopped after bumping into a power pole on the sidewalk, knocking it down. The collision killed a motorcyclist at the site while another died en route to hospital. The truck and motorbikes were seriously damaged. The collapse of the power pole also resulted in a widespread outage affecting 6,450 households in three communes of Nhon Trach until 4:00 pm on the same day, according to Nhon Trach Power Corporation. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A crane truck crashed into two motorbikes and broke a power pole, killing two people and … [Read more...] about Truck-bikes crash kills two, causes massive blackout in southern Vietnam
Car explosion kills driver in southern Vietnam
A man was killed after his car exploded in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Phuoc on Friday morning. The victim was identified as Dang Ngoc Phuong, 50, residing in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Preliminary information indicated that some local residents living along Nguyen Thi Dinh Street in Tan Phu Ward, Dong Xoai City heard a loud explosion on the street at around 0:10 am They rushed outside and discovered a car was on fire while the driver was found lying immobile in the vehicle. They immediately put out the blaze and attempted to evacuate the driver but failed. Firefighters and rescuers were dispatched to the scene and managed to extinguish the fire in around 10 minutes. The interior of the car was completely destroyed while the driver was found dead inside. Some witnesses said that they saw his car traveling slowly with lowered windows prior to the explosion. The police are investigating the cause of the fatal accident. Like us on Facebook or … [Read more...] about Car explosion kills driver in southern Vietnam
Schoolboy killed in homemade firecracker explosion in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
An explosion linked to a self-made firecracker has left one schoolboy dead and another severely injured in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region. Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City confirmed on Saturday morning that it had received N.D.N., a 14-year-old patient with multiple injuries caused by a firecracker explosion from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. His eyes were badly injured, along with many wounds on his neck, face, and limbs. The doctors said the cornea in his left eye was completely injured while the eyelids in the right eye were torn off. The doctors performed an emergency operation to save the boy, after giving him first aid. According to N. and his relatives, he and his two friends earlier bought materials to make a firecracker at home following instructions they found on the internet. The firecracker then exploded and killed one of them at the site, while N. was rushed to a local hospital and then transferred to Cho Ray Hospital for emergency … [Read more...] about Schoolboy killed in homemade firecracker explosion in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
Warhead explosion kills 2, injures 3 in Vietnam’s Kon Tum
Two people were killed and three others were seriously injured in a warhead explosion in Kon Tum Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Doctor Vo Van Thien, director of the Kon Tum General Hospital, said on Sunday that the hospital had saved three patients, with one of them suffering brain injury, one with a perforated bowel, and the other with a flesh wound. As soon as the three patients were admitted, the hospital immediately mobilized forces to give them first aid and treatment. The three are in stable condition now. At about 4:00 pm on Saturday, A.N., a 24-year-old resident in Kon Dao Yop Village, Dak Long Commune, Dak Ha District, transported a warhead from his cassava field to the house of his father-in-law A Tu, 56, residing in the same village, according to police in Dak Ha District, Kon Tum Province. N. later used a brush hook to hit the warhead, causing the explosion. The blast killed N. on the spot. His four-year-old son, A.P., died after being taken … [Read more...] about Warhead explosion kills 2, injures 3 in Vietnam’s Kon Tum
Indonesia’s Pertamina says two crew killed after fire on tanker
The chartered vessel, MT Kristin, had 17 crew on board and was carrying 5,900 kilolitres of fuel when the fire started at 2:50 p.m. local time (0650 GMT) on Sunday. Pertamina said so far no oil spills had been detected after the fire, though a 300 metre (984.25 ft) oil boom had been set up around the ship. The vessel was being towed to the nearest safe port, Pertamina's shipping unit said on Monday. The state oil company said there were sufficient fuel stocks at the Ampenan terminal on Lombok and the Sanggaran terminal on Bali to secure supplies on the popular tourism destinations, while fuel supplies from other areas were also being diverted. … [Read more...] about Indonesia’s Pertamina says two crew killed after fire on tanker
At least 39 killed in fire at Mexico-US border migrant center
The fire broke out shortly before midnight at the National Migration Institute (INM) facility in Ciudad Juarez, prompting the mobilization of firefighters and dozens of ambulances. An AFP journalist saw forensic personnel remove a dozen bodies from the INM's parking lot, where several other bodies were laid and covered with blankets. "The National Migration Institute (INM) of the Interior Ministry regrets the deaths -- so far -- of 39 foreign migrants, caused by a fire," an INM statement said. A rescuer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said there were about 70 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, at the center. Numerous migrants have been detained in the center in recent days after local authorities rounded up street vendors, some of whom were foreigners, from the area. A Venezuelan woman who gave her name as Viangly stood outside the immigration center, desperate for information about her 27-year-old husband who had been detained … [Read more...] about At least 39 killed in fire at Mexico-US border migrant center
Drought killing Mekong Delta durian with salt
Tran Van Thu, a local in Chau Thanh District’s Tien Long Commune, measured the salinity level in the Ba Lai and Ham Luong rivers last week. Both are tributaries of the Tien River, a branch of the Mekong River in Vietnam, which runs through Ben Tre and feeds much of the delta province’s fruit, vegetable and rice crops. Tran Van Thu holds a tool that read the salinity level in a river in Chau Thanh District, Ben Tre Province at 0.34 ppt, March 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Nam According to Thu, each of the two rivers that surround his 6,000-square-meter durian farm carried salinity levels of 0.34 (ppt). This was devastating news as his durians need fresh water with salinity levels of less than 0.2 ppt. "Every day, the river water only stays within the safe levels for about an hour, so I have to take every chance I can get [to get fresh water to the farm]." Thu’s family used to cultivate rambutan for a living, but after losing the entire farm to drought and salt … [Read more...] about Drought killing Mekong Delta durian with salt
Belgians hunt ‘third man’ after Islamic State bombings
BRUSSELS, March 24 - A "third man" seen with two Islamic State suicide bombers at Brussels Airport was the focus of a Belgian manhunt on Thursday after police identified three others, including two brothers, who killed at least 31 people at the airport and on a city metro train. Turkey's president criticised Belgium for failing to track Brahim El Bakraoui, a convicted Belgian armed robber whom it deported last year and who blew himself up at the airport on Tuesday an hour before his brother Khalid, a fellow convict, killed some 20 people at Maelbeek metro station in the city centre. The third bomber, security sources told Belgian media, was Najim Laachraoui, a veteran Belgian Islamist fighter in Syria suspected of making explosive belts for November's Paris attacks and who also detonated a suitcase bomb at the airport. The "third man", captured on airport security cameras pushing a baggage trolley into the departures hall alongside Laachraoui and Brahim El Bakraoui, is now the … [Read more...] about Belgians hunt ‘third man’ after Islamic State bombings
Italy’s ‘Fourth Mafia’, little-known but extremely violent
It took a loaded pistol pointed at Lazzaro D'Auria's head for the Italian landowner to finally say yes to the country's newest and most violent mafia. The Puglia farmer had resisted their extortion attempts in the past –- the threats, the fires, the damage to his crops and property. But surprised by the early morning visit of a dozen men, including a boss with a gun, he agreed to their demand for 150,000 euros a year. Instead of paying up the next day, D'Auria went to the police, making him one of the few people to ever denounce Foggia's little-known mafia, Italy's long-ignored and today its most violent organised crime syndicate. "If more citizens pressed charges, the local mafia could be weakened," D'Auria, who has lived under police protection since 2017, told AFP. "Citizens, speak out!" implored the 57-year-old, who sees recent crackdowns by authorities as a sign the mafia can be weakened if locals overcome their fears. Its bloody clan wars were once dismissed as … [Read more...] about Italy’s ‘Fourth Mafia’, little-known but extremely violent