Monday, November 02, 2009 SYDNEY: A boat carrying 40 people has sunk off the Cocos Islands, west of Australia, a report said on Monday. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received a distress call on Sunday saying the boat was taking on water about 700 nautical miles northwest of the Cocos Islands, media reported. A merchant ship from the Bahamas responded to a broadcast for help but found the stricken vessel had sunk when it arrived 12 hours later, and its passengers were in the water.The merchant ship's crew were trying to rescue passengers and an Australian Defence Force plane was heading to join a search for survivors, it said. The report did not say how many passengers had been accounted for but added that authorities have yet to confirm whether the boat was carrying asylum seekers.
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
Comments