Tag: Fatalities

Driver may have fallen ill before fatal Venice bus crash

Italian authorities were investigating on Wednesday the cause of the horrific crash of a bus carrying foreign tourists on the outskirts of Venice which killed 21 people including several children and injured 15 others.

The electric bus crashed through the guardrail and off an overpass late on Tuesday in the Mestre district, slamming into the ground more than 10 metres (33 ft) below and catching fire.

The nationality of all those killed has now been verified, Venice’s prefect Michele Di Bari, the local representative of the interior ministry, said late on Wednesday.

They include nine Ukrainian citizens, four Romanians, three Germans, two Portuguese, one Croatian, one South African and the Italian bus driver, he told Italy’s public broadcaster Rai News.

The bus had been ferrying the tourists back to a campsite in nearby Marghera after a day out in Venice.

The accident happened shortly before 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) on a straight and normally very busy road that connects Mestre to the historic centre of Venice and runs alongside a railway.

“We presume the driver may have fallen ill,” Veneto regional president Luca Zaia told Rtl 102.5 radio. Witnesses’ accounts and CCTV footage might give additional clues, he said.

However, “footage (of the accident) that appeared also in the national media suggests that a 360-degree investigation is needed,” said Di Bari, adding that authorities were working to retrieve the vehicle’s black box.

Those hurt in the crash included four Ukrainians, two Spaniards, two Austrians, a German, a Croatian and a French person, Di Bari said earlier on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke on Italian television on Wednesday to express his condolences to the families of all the victims.

image of a sunflower on railing of a road near railway tracks
Flowers are seen at the site where a coach crashed off an overpass in Mestre, Italy, October 4, 2023. REUTERS/Claudia Greco

‘GET MY DAUGHTER’
People living nearby said they had heard a loud bang and had rushed to the scene to try and help.

“There was a woman speaking English and crying. While I was pulling her out, she said “get my daughter, get my daughter,” Godstime Erheneden, originally from Nigeria, told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

“It was a small child, I think she was two years old. She was unconscious and I think she was dead. I am very upset, she is the same age as my son,” he added.

Number plate checks indicated that the bus was an electric vehicle made by a Chinese manufacturer. Its wreckage was still being monitored for fire risks from its batteries, firefighters said on Wednesday.

The head of the company that operated the bus, Massimo Fiorese, told Corriere della Sera he had seen video footage of the moments before the accident.

It showed the single-decker bus slowing down and appearing “almost stationary” when it crashed through the guardrail and fell, he said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-authorities-probe-venice-bus-crash-that-killed-21-people-2023-10-04/

Swades actor Gayatri Joshi and husband Vikas Oberoi meet with car accident that leaves an elderly Swiss couple dead

Swades actor Gayatri Joshi and husband Vikas Oberoi’s car was part of a multiple-vehicle collision which left an elderly couple dead.

Gayatri Joshi and husband Vikas Oberoi were part of a car accident in Italy.

Gayatri Joshi of Swades fame is in Italy with husband Vikas Oberoi and the two reportedly were involved in a car accident which left a senior couple dead. Gayatri confirmed to Free Press Journal that she and her husband were doing “absolutely fine” after the tragic accident. It was reportedly a multiple-car collision in Sardinia and a Swiss couple travelling in a Ferrari died when the high-end vehicle caught fire.

What reportedly happened in Italy
The portal reported Gayatri as saying, “Vikas and I are in Italy. We met with an accident here.. With gods grace, we both are absolutely fine.”

The portal also reports that the collision took place when a Lamborghini and the couple’s Ferrari tried to overtake a camper van at the same time, resulting in the Ferrari catching fire and overturning of the van. The incident is said to have taken place during the Sardinia Supercar Tour as part of which luxury cars parade from Teulada to Olbia. The accident is believed to have been recorded in a video that surfaced online soon after.

More about Gayatri Joshi’s film debut
Gayatri won the Femina Miss India International in 2000 and made her acting debut with 2004 film Swades. She starred opposite Shah Rukh Khan as Geeta in the critically-acclaimed Ashutosh Gowariker film. Despite winning quite a few awards for her debut, she left the industry soon after. She tied the knot with businessman Vikas Oberoi in 2005 and the couple have two kids.

Gayatri is sometimes spotted in Mumbai. She and her husband were seen on a get-together with Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan last year. In 2019, Gayatri had made headlines for losing 40000 in a credit card fraud. “Prima facie, it seems to be a case of card cloning. The complainant has claimed that someone stole her card details and duplicated it later to withdraw money,” a police officer had told Hindustan Times.

 

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/swades-actor-gayatri-joshi-and-husband-vikas-oberoi-meet-with-car-accident-in-italy-101696380520607.html

At least 20 killed as Italian bus falls off Venice bridge

“It’s an apocalyptic scene. I am speechless,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A gondola is pictured on Grand Canal in front of Rialto bridge in Venice, Italy, October 20, 2021
(photo credit: REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH)

At least 20 people died on Tuesday after a coach crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy, the city’s mayor was quoted as saying by the Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

The coach veered off the road and fell close to railway lines in the district of Mestre, which is connected to Venice by a bridge, Italian news agencies and television reported, but the cause of the accident was still unclear.

“It’s an apocalyptic scene. I am speechless,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-761566

Bus carrying high school band rolls off highway in New York, killing two

A bus carrying members of a high school marching band on a trip to a music camp ran off a highway and tumbled down a steep ravine in New York state on Thursday, killing two people and injuring dozens of others, several of them severely.

Reuters Graphics

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, speaking at a news conference hours later, said it appeared likely “a faulty front tire contributed to the accident,” though the cause of the wreck remained under investigation.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mazzone of the New York State Police said the wreck killed two adult women who were among 44 passengers, 40 students and four adults, headed from Farmington High School on Long Island to Pennsylvania.

Hochul said five or six other people were critically injured. One of the dead was a faculty adviser for the school’s band program.

Dozens of students suffered minor bumps and bruises and were seen walking around the scene after the crash. The injured were taken to a half-dozen area hospitals.

“Imagine the fear, the screams in the aftermath. These high school students, many of them freshmen were surrounded by this chaos,” Hochul said.

The two dead were identified as Beatrice Ferarri, 77, of Farmingdale, and Gina Pellettiere, 43, of the nearby Long Island town of Massapequa. Pellettiere was one of three advisers to the marching band, as well as the lone adviser to both the school’s jazz and “pep” bands, the Farmingdale High School website shows.

In a Facebook posting, an individual named Ray Eugenio wrote that his grandson was among those injured in the wreck and asked for prayers.

“He was involved in a very serious accident and we do not know the extent of his injuries,” the post said. The account could not be independently verified.

The crash occurred in the early afternoon along Interstate 84 near the town of Wawayanda, about 75 miles (120 km) northwest of New York City near the border with New Jersey. The New York State Police said in a posting on social media the westbound lanes of the highway were closed at that point.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bus-crashes-highway-new-york-state-officials-report-mass-casualty-event-2023-09-21/

South Africa building fire: At least 74 killed in blaze in Johannesburg

The building in the central business district has been described as an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation.

At least 74 people have been killed in a fire in a multi-storey building in South Africa’s biggest city, authorities have said.

Officials said 55 more were injured in the blaze in Johannesburg, which broke out in the middle of the night.

Robert Mulaudzi, a spokesman for the emergency services, has warned the number of fatalities may rise further – as more people could be trapped inside.

There were “obstructions” everywhere, and this would have made it difficult to escape.

Firefighters work at the scene of a deadly blaze

Firefighters have been currently going from floor to floor – working slowly through the building’s five storeys.

“Over 20 years in the service, I’ve never come across something like this,” Mr Mulaudzi added.

Witnesses saw people throwing babies from the burning building in an attempt to save them – and at least one man jumped to his death.

Seven of the victims were children – and the youngest was a year old.

One woman who escaped the flames with her grown son and a two-year-old said she didn’t know what had happened to two other children in her family.

The building in the central business district has been described as an “informal settlement” where homeless people had moved in looking for accommodation. Some of the victims may have been renting rooms from criminal gangs.

According to witnesses, at least 200 people may have been living there – maybe more – and many of them were foreign nationals.

People looking for their loved ones have been warned that chances of finding them alive are “very slim”.

One woman looking for her daughter tearfully told reporters: “This is not a place where somebody can live. I was trying to get her to come back home so she could get back to the life she was living before.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/south-africa-building-fire-at-least-47-killed-in-blaze-in-johannesburg-12951202

A US Marine Osprey crashes during drills in Australia, killing 3 and injuring 20, some critically

A United States Marine Corps aircraft with 23 Marines aboard crashed on a north Australian island Sunday, killing at least three and critically injuring at least five during a multinational training exercise, officials said.

Three had been confirmed dead on Melville Island and five were flown in serious condition 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the mainland city of Darwin for hospital treatment after the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey aircraft crashed around 9:30 a.m., a statement from the Marines said.

“Recovery efforts are ongoing,” the statement said, adding the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Aircraft had been sent from Darwin to retrieve more survivors from the remote location but no further details on the fate of the other 15 Marines on board had been released hours later.

A U.S. military official reported to Australian air traffic controllers a “significant fire in the vicinity of the crash site,” according to an audio recording of the conversation broadcast by Nine News television.

Melville resident Shane Murphy was fishing from a beach when the Osprey crashed and told Australian Broadcasting Corp. he saw a “big mushroom of black smoke” rise from the wreckage.

Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said no one on board had escaped injury.

One of the injured was undergoing surgery at the Royal Darwin Hospital, Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said around six hours after the crash.

“We acknowledge that this is a terrible incident,” Fyles said. “The Northern Territory government stands by to offer whatever assistance is required.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said only Americans were injured in the crash during Exercise Predators Run, which involves the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the three U.S. service personnel who lost their lives, those who have been injured, the rest of the crew and indeed the entire United States armed forces,” Albanese said in a statement.

“Australia will continue to provide assistance to our friends for as long as is required,” he added.

Around 150 U.S. Marines are currently based in Darwin and up to 2,500 rotate through the city every year. They’re part of a realignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific that’s broadly meant to face an increasingly assertive China.

The 12-day exercise is scheduled to end Sept. 7. It involves troops on land, in the sea and in the air. The exercise has been paused since the crash.

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, but during flight can rotate its propellers forward and cruise much faster like an airplane. Versions of the aircraft are flown by the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

Before Sunday, there had been five fatal crashes of Marine Ospreys since 2012, causing a total of 16 deaths.

The latest was in June 2022, when five Marines died in a fiery crash in a remote part of California east of San Diego. A crash investigation report last month found that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure related to a clutch.

 

Source: https://apnews.com/article/us-military-aircraft-crash-australia-e85fcd46cd3c85933d724a8cf4f253b3

Kuber Group Director Gets A Call From Cops After Rolls-Royce Crash Kills 2

Rolls-Royce Crash: Industrialist Vikas Malu was among the three occupants of the Rolls-Royce that smashed into a petrol tanker at a high speed earlier this week in Haryana’s Nuh.

Rolls-Royce: Vikas malu has been asked to join investigation

Kuber Group Director, Vikas Malu, has been called by the Haryana police for questioning, after a road crash involving a Rolls-Royce killed two people earlier this week.

Industrialist Vikas Malu was among the three occupants of the Rolls-Royce that smashed into a petrol tanker at a high speed on the New Delhi-Mumbai expressway in Haryana’s Nuh.

Two of the three people in the tanker – the driver and his assistant – were killed in the crash.

Visuals from the site had shown little left of the Phantom, which costs over ₹ 10 crore. The front of the car had been mangled, the engine was ablaze and the doors were open. The truck’s condition was even worse, with just a heap of metal left after the blaze enveloped it.

Mr Malu was admitted to a private hospital in Gurugram after the crash.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Nuh Superintendent of Police, Narendra Bijaraniya, had said that the entire stretch of the expressway is lined with CCTV cameras. The truck, he said, took a U-turn on the highway and the Phantom was travelling at a very high speed when the two collided.

Police said the other occupant of the car will also be asked to do so once he is discharged from the hospital.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kuber-group-director-vikas-malu-called-by-haryana-cops-for-questioning-after-rolls-royce-accident-kills-2-4333079

9 dead in train fire near Madurai station, passengers sneaked in gas cylinders

A fire broke out in a tourist coach of a train that was en route from Lucknow to Rameshwaram near Madurai railway station, leaving nine people dead and 20 others injured.

Four dead in train fire accident near Madurai railway station.

At least nine people died and 20 others sustained injuries after a major fire erupted on a train at Tamil Nadu’s Madurai railway station on Saturday. The Railways has announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the families of deceased. The blaze was reported at nearly 5:15 am inside a private party coach, while the train was parked at the Madurai yard.

The adjacent coaches of the train did not suffer any damage as the fire tenders were immediately called in and the flames were doused by nearly 7 am.

According to the details, as many as 65 passengers from Lucknow were onboard the coach, which was engulfed in flames.

While the coach was parked at the yard, some passengers reportedly used illegally smuggled cooking gas cylinders to prepare tea and snacks, thus, giving way to the fire.

Commenting on the incident, Madurai District Collector MS Sangeetha said, “Around 5.30 am today, there was a fire in a coach halted here at Madurai railway station. There were pilgrims travelling from Uttar Pradesh in it. When they lit the gas stove to make coffee, the gas cylinder blasted. As of now, we have retrieved nine bodies.”

The private party coach had begun its journey from Lucknow on August 17 and was scheduled to reach Chennai by Sunday.

Helpline numbers (9360552608, 8015681915) were provided to share information related to the fire incident and causalities.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/4-dead-in-train-fire-near-madurai-station-passengers-sneaked-in-gas-cylinders-2426843-2023-08-26

Tamil Nadu: 8 Dead, 20 Injured After Parked Tourist Train Catches Fire In Madurai; Horrific Visuals Surface

As per reports, around eight people have lost their lives and around 20 people are reported injured in the incident.

Train Catches Fire In Madurai | Twitter

In a shocking incident, a massive fire broke out in a tourist train that was parked near the station in Madurai on Saturday. As per reports, around eight people have lost their lives and around 20 people are reported injured in the incident. The injured have been taken to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. A firefighting and rescue operation was carried out after the blaze erupted. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning when the Bharat Gaurav tourist train from Lucknow was halted a few kilometres before the Madurai Railway Station. An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh has been announced to the next to kin of the deceased.

The fire has been doused and rescue operation underway

The horrific videos of the train engulfed by a massive blaze are doing rounds on social media. As per reports, the train stopped a few kilometres before the railway station in Madurai and was parked at the spot when the fire broke out in one of the coaches of the train which further spread to another coach of the train. The fire has been doused by the fire fighting department. It can be seen in the video that the rescue operators are trying to enter the train compartment after dousing the blaze.

Gas cylinders smuggled inside train

The reason of the cause of the fire is not known yet. However, the authorities claim after conducting initial investigations that few passengers in the train were using gas cylinder to cook food inside the train. The fire then spread from one coach to the other. Most of the passengers managed to flee the compartments that caught fire. However, the passengers who were elderly could not escape the train on time and died after being burnt inside the coach.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/tamil-nadu-8-dead-20-injured-after-parked-tourist-train-catches-fire-in-madurai-horrific-visual-surfaces

4 dead in landslide in Uttarakhand, schools shut; heavy rain in Himachal today

Heavy to very heavy rain is likely in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from August 22-24, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Meanwhile, four people died in a fresh landslide in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district.

SDRF carries out rescue work following a landslide in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district. (India Today)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an ‘orange alert’ for heavy to very heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from August 22-24.

The weather body also warned of a moderate risk of flash floods in catchment areas of the Chamba and Mandi districts, predicting a wet spell till August 26.

Heavy rain can result in landslides, flash floods and increased water levels in rivers and drains, besides causing damage to standing crops, fruit plants and young seedlings, the weather office said.

The hill states have seen extensive devastation and deaths in the last few months due to incessant rainfall.

4 KILLED IN UTTARAKHAND LANDSLIDE, ROAD BLOCKED

Four people, including two women and a 4-month-old baby, were killed after being hit by a landslide in Chamba in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district on Monday, police said.

Four bodies have been recovered so far and a search is underway for another missing person, senior police official Navneet Singh Bhullaraid said.

Some more vehicles could also be trapped as the landslide hit a taxi stand near the Chamba police station, he added.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/monsoon-himachal-rain-alert-schools-shut-imd-weather-forecast-uttarakhand-landslide-2424593-2023-08-22

At least 27 die in inferno at petrol station in Dagestan southern Russia

At least 27 people have been killed in an explosion and fire at a petrol station in Dagestan in southern Russia.

The blast occurred in the regional capital Makhachkala, which sits on the coast of the Caspian Sea, at 21:40 local time (18:40 GMT).

Dozens of other people were injured in the incident, the cause of which is not yet clear.

Pictures showed a large fire lighting up the night sky and a number of fire engines at the scene.

Some 260 emergency workers have been deployed, as has an aircraft to evacuate the seriously injured to Moscow, the ministry said.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted doctors as saying three children were among the dead.

It added that the fire had spread over an area of 600 sq m (6,460 sq ft) and that there was a danger of further explosions.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66505961

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