Thursday, November 26, 2009 JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's civil defence said Thursday that 77 people were killed in intense flooding in Jeddah and nearby areas, and that scores could still be missing. Jeddah civil defence spokesman Abduallah al-Omary said most of the deaths occurred in vulnerable areas in the city's eastern and southern districts after a downpour on Wednesday. Many of the dead were in automobiles and buses caught up in the rising waters, according to witnesses. Based on calls from worried locals, 351 people were missing, Omary said. In some areas roads were still under more than one metre (three feet) of water on Thursday. "The water has gone down and things are getting better today compared to yesterday. We are doing our best to make things easier for the people still stuck," he said. A 90-millimetre (3.5-inch) downpour hit the Red Sea city and its surroundings, flooding roads and tunnels and collapsing some older buildings and homes. At least four of the dead were in the neighbouring province of Mecca, where some 2.5 million pilgrims are undertaking the annual hajj. However, no hajj participants were killed in the floods, a health ministry official said.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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