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Pakistani passenger plane crashes
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plane crash
A plane of a Pakistani private airliner Wednesday crashed into the Margalla Hills in the Pakistani capital Islamabad and killed all the 152 people aboard.
The Airblue Flight ED-202, flying from the country's southern port city of Karachi to Islamabad, came down in the Margalla Hills at about 9:45 a.m. (local time), aviation officials said.
The Margalla Hills, the foothills of the Himalayas, are a series of small-elevation hills sprawling on the northeast part of Islamabad.
There were 146 passengers, including at least 20 women and seven children with two infants, and six crew members killed in the plane crash.
Shortly after the incident happened, a large number of rescue teams have been dispatched to the crash site.
Rescue teams have so far recovered 105 bodies from the site of the crash, said Major General Nadeem Ahmed with the National Disaster Management Authority, adding that the search operation, which was once suspended due to heavy rains, will continue into the night time. He said rescue teams faced problems due to bad weather.
A statement from the Airblue, to which the crashed plane belonged, said that the plane "crashed during poor weather and thick fog". Islamabad had been receiving heavy monsoon rains over the past two days.
"We regret the loss of lives and are investigating the exact circumstances of this tragedy. This will be presented as soon as possible," said the Airblue statement on its website.
Chief of Pakistan's International Airlines, Ijaz Haroon, said that preliminary investigation suggests that the pilot error may have caused the crash.
Most of the people killed in the plane crash are local Pakistanis. There are two Americans and one Somalian reportedly killed in the crash too. The death of the two Americans has been confirmed by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. However, the embassy failed to give further details about the two killed.
The Civil Aviation Authority has ordered an investigation into the crash. A five-member inquiry board has been set up and is headed by Abdul Majid Khawaja, the Chairman of Aviation Safety Investigation Board, Air Commodore.
Aviation officials at the Karachi airport said that the plane was declared fit for flight.
Information Minister Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira said that black box has been found which he said will help to determine real cause of the crash. He said the nation will be informed about the cause of the crash.
However, experts say that the black box will be sent to the United States for decoding and it will take at least two to three months before the report can come out.
Iran defies fresh EU sanctions
Iranian officials said Wednesday that new sanctions will bear no impact on the country following European Union's (EU) fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that the sanctions against Iran over its sensitive nuclear program will have no impact on the country, local satellite Press TV reported.
Making the remarks at the inaugural ceremony of two projects in the southern Iranian gas-rich zone of Assalouyeh in Bushehr province, Ahmadinejad said "we do not welcome sanctions but we declare that Iran has mounted its efforts" to overcome the sanctions.
He advised foreign companies to abandon the imposed sanctions against Iran, otherwise "they will soon lose markets in other countries as well as in Iran," said the report.
EU foreign ministers on Monday approved tougher sanctions against Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, including restrictions on banking and insurance, transport and investment in new oil and gas fields or technical assistance to oil and gas development.
Head of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Wednesday that EU's sanctions are a loss for Europeans and prevent their companies from cooperating with Iran, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Boroujerdi urged the Iranian government to cooperate only with countries that do not take "illegal actions against Iran," according to the report.
S Korea, U.S. wrap up joint military drills
South Korea and the United States on Wednesday wrapped up the four-day joint military drills.
The two allies continued with anti-submarine exercises in waters off the east coast of the divided Korean Peninsula on the last day of the drills, in which the two nations' troops practiced transporting logistical support for the soldiers when they face aerial, underwater and maritime threats from enemy.
Code-named "Invincible Spirit," the four-day naval and air maneuvers, starting from Sunday and involving 20 ships and submarines, 200 aircraft and 8,000 troops from the two nations, included anti-submarine drills, naval live-fire exercises, aerial training and computer-based simulation exercises.
It was the first in a series of similar joint exercises to be conducted in coming months, part of military "countermeasures" against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), who was blamed for sinking a South Korean warship with a torpedo in March, which took 46 lives of South Korean sailors. But Pyongyang denied any involvement.
Apart from the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises between Seoul and Washington, which will take place in the period from Aug. 16 to Aug. 26, the two allies will also stage joint military drills in waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula in September, and will conduct similar drills every month till the end of this year, in a bid to "prevent the warship sinking case from recurrence", local media reported, citing senior military sources.
In response, the DPRK on Tuesday said it did not fear "military threats" and "warnings" by the United States and South Korea, calling the war games, planned maneuvers for later this year and new sanctions threats against Pyongyang were "serious provocations " to the DPRK and "rude challenges" to the international community appealing for peace. Pyongyang also threatened a "retaliatory sacred war" against the show of joint military prowess.
China has also expressed its concern over the drills near the country, urging relevant parties to "remain calm and exercise restraint and not do anything to exacerbate regional tensions."
(Xinhua)
At least 37 killed as Henan bridge collapses
At least 37 people are dead - and 19 others are missing - in Henan province after the Tangying Bridge collapsed into the Yihe River in Tangying village, Luanchuan county, on Saturday.
Over 4,000 people, including soldiers from Luanchuan and nearby Songxian county, are searching the area for possible survivors and the bodies of the victims, according to Li Guangming, the deputy head of Luanchuan government office.
Six people were rescued, and are being treated at a local hospital.
Li Xianghong, from Dawangmiao village, is one of the survivors, and he says that he was one of the many people who were watching the floods from the bridge. "The southern part of the bridge fell first. We all fell into the river. The next thing I knew - I was holding onto a willow tree 200 meters away from the bridge," he says.
A villager surnamed Li said the bridge was repaired last year after it "partly collapsed".
An official with the Luanchuan transport bureau said trees which were toppled by the rainstorms caused extra pressure on the bridge, causing it to collapse.
The provincial transport bureau of Henan is investigating the cause of the accident.
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