Fire at K.Kamaraj Road

Mock Drill at Malleswaram

from Vijay Karnataka, dated:27-08-2008

Mock drill alerts citizens

National Disaster Management Control Authority (NDMCA) organised a mock drill at the Malleswaram ground on Tuesday morning to create awareness among citizens to be ready in case of emergency. The event began at 9 am. Students of MS Ramaiah Hospital participated. Three bombs exploded. Bomb detection and disposal squad rushed to the spot. The injured were taken to the hospital.Hundreds of people, who were unaware of the mock drill, gathered near the ground after hearing the explosion. Traffic movement was affected for a while.Lieutenant General RJ Bharadwaj told media after the event that the mock drill aimed at creating awareness among the citizens as to how they should provide first aid treatment to the injured and how they should interact with the police and the government whenever a bomb explodes.The event began at 9 am.

Students of MS Ramaiah Hospital participated. Three bombs exploded. Bomb detection and disposal squad rushed to the spot. The injured were taken to the hospital.Hundreds of people, who were unaware of the mock drill, gathered near the ground after hearing the explosion.Traffic movement was affected for a while.Lieutenant General RJ Bharadwaj told media after the event that the mock drill aimed at creating awareness among the citizens as to how they should provide first aid treatment to the injured and how they should interact with the police and the government whenever a bomb explodes.

Car Fire

From Sanje Vani, dated:23-08-2008

2 killed, 3 injured in car-tanker collision

Two persons died and three others were injured when a tanker collided into a car at Periyashanthi near Nelyadi on National Highway 48, about 75 kms from Mangalore, in the wee hours of Friday. The tanker caught fire due to the impact of the collision. The deceased have been identified as Narasimha (24), the car driver and Padmavathi (75). Both were the residents of Bangalore. Padmavathi’s son-in-law Muralikrishna (55), daughter Vijayavani and tanker cleaner Periyaswamy have sustained injuries.Padmavathi’s family was bound to Vittal from Bangalore in a rented car. The car has been completely damaged. It is learnt that the tanker caught fire owing to the leakage of gas. Tanker driver Rajaraj fled the spot soon after the incident. Though five fire fighters arrived on the spot and tried to extinguish fire, their efforts went in vain till late evening. They not only failed in extinguishing fire, but were also pushed back owing to the intensity of the huge fire. Speaking to Deccan Herald, Uppinangady police said, “It took more than 10 hours to douse the fire. Traffic came to standstill within 2 km of the accident site.”

He said owing to the incident, Mangalore-Bangalore buses have been diverted to ply via Subrahmanya-Gundya route. All the gas tankers plying on the road have been stranded at Kolpe and Uppinangady. Since the mishap occurred in forest area, no major untoward incidents took place.

Two students drown

Udupi: Two students who went to bathe in the Nayarkere pond drowned here on Wednesday. According to the Udupi Town Police, a group of five students went to the pond. Two students of MGM College — Mohammad Ibadulla (19) and Shahnawaz (20) — decided to bathe in the pond. Slipped and fell While going down to the pond, they slipped and fell into it and drowned. Mohammad Ibadulla was a resident of Nayarkere area, while Shahnawaz stayed at Sampige Nagar in Udyavar. A case has been registered, the police said. Though the Fire and Emergency Services personnel reached the spot, they could not save the students. The residents of Nayarkere said that if the personnel had better equipment, they could have saved the students. The personnel, however, maintained that they had done their best.

Retaining wall collapses, two buried alive

Two construction workers died when a retaining wall beside a construction site at Monkey Stand in the City collapsed in the wee hours of Wednesday. The victims have been identified as Sharief and Ashraf, hailing from West Bengal.

In fact, the death news came to light only in the morning though the incident had taken place at around 1.30 am. Fire brigade and police had arrived in the site as soon as they were informed, but returned when the security personnel in the site told them that nobody were there beside the wall.

“However, the collapsed bricks were removed from the drainage beside the construction site in the morning as the water flow had been blocked. And everybody was shocked to see two dead bodies below the remains,” Corporator of Mangaladevi ward Premanand Shetty told Deccan Herald.Storm water had entered some houses around the construction site because of the flood and it was inevitable to clear the drainage, said one of the neighbours. The construction site belongs to one Suresh Shetty. Pandeshwar police have registered a case.

Six of a family suffer burns Crime Notes

Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: A coconut vendor and five of his family members suffered burns after the diesel stocked in his house caught fire in Vasantapura Main Road in Kumaraswamy Layout police station limits on Monday. The police said Subramani (38) had stocked about 10 litres of diesel in his house. On Monday, the diesel accidentally caught fire resulting in burns to Subramani, his wife Laxmi (28), his children Prasanna (13), Kavya (9) and Vaishavi (5), and his relative Radha (14). All the six have been admitted to the burns ward in the Victoria Hospital. Fire and Emergency personnel came to the house and put off the fire.

Cotton bales gutted in fire

Cotton bales gutted in a fire that broke out in a godown in KG Halli police limits on Friday evening. An electric short circuit is said to have caused the fire. People who spotted smoke billowing from the godown informed the police. Six fire tenders were pressed into service which doused the fire in 30 minutes. The loss is still being estimated.

32 die in Andhra Pradesh train fire

KESAMUDRAM (WARANGAL DT.): Thirty-two people were killed and five injured, one seriously, when fire engulfed five coaches of the Secunderabad-Kakinada Gautami Express at 1.10 a.m. on Friday near the Kesamudram railway station, about 70 km from Warangal in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. The fire that started from a sleeper coach – S10 – spread to S9, S11, S12 and S13 coaches and gave no chance for the passengers to escape. The fire was allegedly caused by an electric short circuit, but South Central Railway (SCR) officials were unwilling to go into the reasons till forensic experts from Hyderabad, who visited the scene of the tragedy, submitted their report. Eyewitnesses said the passengers scrambled to get out of the burning compartments. While many managed to jump out to safety as the train began slowing down, women and children could not escape and succumbed to the fury of the fire. Most of them were in deep sleep when the fire was raging. Four of the five coaches were completely destroyed, while S13 was partially damaged.

Die of suffocation
Two pregnant women, Saritha (28) and Bhagyalakshmi (39), died of suffocation while being shifted to hospital. Both were travelling to Rajahmundry and Dr. Saritha was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. All the others were burnt alive. The S10 and S9 compartments accounted for a majority of the casualties as their doors got jammed and prevented the passengers from escaping. Skulls and bones lay near the doors of these bogies. The eyewitnesses said the driver halted the train between Kesamudram and Tallapusapalli stations when someone pulled the chain. Railway and police officials shifted the injured to MGM Hospitals in Warangal. They also delinked the rest of the train and allowed it to go to Vijayawada. The damaged coaches were hauled to Kesamudram.

Minister in train
Minister for Small Scale Industries G. Surya Rao, who was in the train, said it took an ambulance nearly one hour to reach the difficult terrain where the train was stranded. Police asked other passengers not to reveal his identity as the area is a Maoist stronghold, he added. Compensation
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad announced that Rs. 5 lakh would be paid as compensation to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs. 1 lakh to the injured in addition to the ex gratia given by the South Central Railway. Minister of State for Railways Narainbhai Rathwa arrived here by a helicopter. Commissioner of Railway Safety R. P. Agarwal also visited the site of the accident.