Tag Archives: lifestyle
Indian train kills at least 37 crossing track, triggers protest
Indian train kills at least 37 crossing track, triggers protest (Agencies) / 19 August 2013 At least 37 pilgrims were killed and over a dozen injured on Monday when they were run over by a speeding train in Bihar’s Khagaria district. Angry locals and pilgrims set ablaze six bogies of the train, brutally assaulted its driver and took several railway officials hostage. Additional Director General of Police S.K. Bhardwaj confirmed the death of 35 pilgrims (Kanwariyas) when the Rajya Rani Express train mowed them down while they were trying to cross the rail track at the Dhamara railway station on the Saharsa-Mansi route of the East Central Railway (ECR). The death toll may increase because detailed information is yet to come from the accident site, he said. The train was travelling from Saharsa to Patna when the accident took place between 8 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. The express train does not have a scheduled stop at Dhamara station. ”The accident took place when pilgrims were trying to cross the railway track after alighting from a local train,” he said. Soon after the incident, angry pilgrims and locals set ablaze six bogies, including one AC coach, of the train and attacked railway officials. ”Some angry people attacked the train driver and seriously injured him. They beat him up mercilessly. Besides, some railway officials have been held hostage by them,” a police official said. Bhardwaj said top officials of the district administration have been asked to rush to the accident site. Chief Public Relations Officer of ECR, Amitabh Prabhakar said over telephone from Hajipur, the railway headquarters near Patna, that the situation went nearly out of control at the railway station following the incident as hundreds of angry people began agitating. ”The railway officials are not in a position to visit the accident site,” he said, adding that there was a lot of “confusion”. ”It is difficult to say any thing exact for now. It will take another one or two hours to say anything concrete after security forces are mobilised to clear the agitating people,” he added. In the month of July-August, thousands of pilgrims visit a temple in Deoghar, Jharkhand, where they offer holy water from the Ganga river to Lord Shiva at an ancient temple. After offering the holy water, they return to their native places in vehicles or trains. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief at the incident and asked railway officials to launch rescue operations and arrange proper treatment for the injured. Continue reading
Egypt’s El Sisi thanks UAE for its support
Egypt’s El Sisi thanks UAE for its support (Wam) / 19 August 2013 General Abdel Fattah El Sisi, First Deputy Prime Minister, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence and Military Production of Egypt, has hailed the support of the UAE to Egypt. He also commended Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain for their support. In a live speech on Sunday, General El Sisi reiterated that the Egyptian people would not forget the backing from those countries. He noted that the Egyptian people have a free will to elect whom they want to rule them, adding that the armed forces and police will safeguard the right of people to elect their leaders. “The higher national interest necessitates putting the interest of Egypt and its security above all”. El Sisi added, “Whether army or police, we are loyal to Egypt. We will not betray it. The procedures we have undertaken are transparent and clear because they reflect full understanding about the repercussions of events on the national security.” He added that the call he made for the Egyptian people to mandate the armed forces to deal with the terrorism, was a message to the world, which denied the freedom of millions of Egyptians and their ardent interest for change. “The size of political, economic and security challenges being experienced by Egypt may be large than the ability of Egypt as a state, but not larger compared to the ability of Egyptians as people, because Egypt is a trust for all people of Egypt. Therefore, as army and police, we will protect that trust,” General El Sisi said. Continue reading
Premature twins battling for life, await financial assistance
Premature twins battling for life, await financial assistance Lily B. Libo-on / 19 August 2013 Premature twin boys, Aadi and Arnav, born to an Indian father and a Filipina mother, are fighting for their lives in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Dubai Hospital and are in dire need of financial assistance from kind-hearted individuals. Their mother, Andrea Rivera, married to Gaurav Rawat, an Indian, was scheduled to give birth on November 26 this year but they were born prematurely on August 2, just six-and-a-half months into Andrea’s pregnancy at Mediclinic City Hospital, after she suffered from profuse bleeding. Both the parents are working here in Dubai, but their health insurance cards could only pay the Mediclinic City Hospital for 11 days of incubation at the rate of Dh10,000 per child per day, since the birth of their twin sons. They could no longer use the same health insurance cards to pay for the hospitalisation of their twin sons in Dubai Hospital, where the twins were shifted on August 11 for another two-month incubation. “We have been asked to make a down payment of Dh40,000, which I took as a cash advance from my company. Dubai Hospital is charging us Dh3,900 daily for each baby in the NICU. But, still we decided to shift our twins to this government hospital. In Mediclinic City Hospital, we were daily being charged Dh3,500 a baby for the incubator alone, in addition to Dh1,400 for the ventilator, and then every time the doctor came to check on them, we had to pay for professional fees plus prescribed medicines that totalled our bill for 11 days to be Dh220,00,” Andrea said. She said that Dr Laila Matar Al Muhairi, head of NICU at Dubai Hospital, told her that Arnav, the younger twin, still has an open pipe in his heart, which needs to be closed either by medication or if, after some time, through operating on him. “With operation, we have to raise Dh800,000 to Dh1,000,000. Of this, some Dh450,000 more or less will go for the NICU. Our health insurance card can no longer cover this payment, so we are asking kind-hearted individuals to help us save our twins,” Andrea said. “They are our first babies, and we want to do the best for them. My husband and I are both earning but even if we merge our monthly income, we may not be able to raise the said amount for their hospital bills,” she added. “We humbly beg for your generous and kind assistance to help our twin babies. This is not an easy step for both of us, but we set our pride aside for their welfare, as they are still in the Dubai Hospital. The heart pipe of my elder twin Aadi is closing, but he is still receiving medication, which started at Mediclinic City Hospital, for the same. We will appreciate your kindness and compassion. God bless you and your family,” Andrea said. lily@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
