B’desh mishap kills 14

BOGRA:

A speeding bus skidded off a road and plunged into a river on Saturday in northern Bangladesh, killing at least 14 passengers and injuring two others, police said. Rescue divers recovered 14 bodies from the wreckage submerged in nearly three meters of water in the Kichak River in Bogra district, 190 km northwest of Dhaka, police officer Wahidud Zaman said over the telephone. The bus was carrying about 50 passengers, but most of them managed to swim ashore. Two were hospitalized with injuries. More bodies were feared trapped inside the vehicle, which salvage crews were trying to lift, Zaman said. — AP

LeT ultra gets death

AHMEDABAD:

A fast track sessions court in Bhuj has awarded capital punishment to a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant, holding him guilty of waging war against the nation. The court on Friday evening sentenced Shahnawaz Abdul Gafur to death. He was held with two AK-57 rifles, 29 cartridges and Rs 20,000 from Nara village in Lakhapat sub-division of Kutch May 27, 2001. The court acquitted six local people for lack of evidence against them. — HNS

Fire in south Mumbai

MUMBAI:

A fire broke out early on Saturday morning in a south Mumbai locality close to the residences of Lata Mangeshkar and some top businessmen. However, no casualties were reported. Fifteen fire tenders doused the blaze, which broke out at around 2 am in the sixth floor of the Carmichael House, fire brigade officials said. “Initial investigations suggest that a blast due to a suspected short circuit caused the fire,” an official said. — HNS

Rains kill 20 in AP

HYDERABAD:

Torrential rains and flooding killed at least 20 people in the past three days in a southern Indian state and forced authorities in a coastal city to shut down its airport, officials said on Saturday. Most deaths were caused by drowning and house collapses, said Shashank Goyal, the relief commissioner of Andhra Pradesh state. Four female farm workers were washed away by an overflowing river in the Krishna district on Friday, Goyal said. Four other labourers died in the same area on Thursday. Three deaths were reported from Guntur. — AP

Strike in seaport

DHAKA:

An indefinite strike by hundreds of port workers and cargo vessel owners crippled operations at Bangledesl’s main seaport of Chittagong for a second straight day on Saturday, officials and unions said. The strikers were protesting a delay of more than eight months in unloading 26,500 tonnes of wheat imported from India, said the port chairman AMM Shahadat Hossain. Some 24 small cargo vessels have been prevented since February from unloading their cargo at the dock by customs authorities who said the wheat had spoiled, he said. — AP

Smuggled birds seized

TAIPEI:

Taiwan’s coast guard found dozens of cages of birds and other animals smuggled from China on a ship as the island’s government stepped up checks due to rising fears of a bird flu pandemic, officials said on Saturday. Investigators found 36 cages containing about 1,500 birds, turtles and rodents during the inspection of a Panamanian-registered vessel in the central Taiwanese harbour of Taichung late on Friday. — AP

Nod to tsunami-hit

COLOMBO:

Sri Lanka on Saturday said it would allow tsunami victims to rebuild their homes closer to the sea in areas previously considered off limit after last year’s powerful waves, as land was becoming scarce. The Government Information Department said it would allow construction of homes in southern coastal areas 25 meters from the sea. The previous limit was 100 meters. — AP