Saturday, December 26, 2009 KOTA: The number of people presumed killed when a bridge collapsed in western India rose to at least 45 on Saturday, an official said, as rescue divers struggled to recover bodies pinned under water. "At least 45 people are presumed to have died in the bridge collapse," senior police official Rajeev Dasot told foreign news agency, raising the estimated death toll from 17. Dozens of labourers plunged into the water late Thursday when the bridge on which they were working gave way over the Chambal River on the outskirts of the city of Kota in Rajasthan state. The bridge was being jointly built by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Gammon India. Two senior project managers, including a South Korean national, have been arrested on accusations of culpable homicide, Dasot said.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
Comments