Indian mission sets up camp office in Madina after bus tragedy; Consul General meets lone survivor
Dubai (PTI): The Consulate General of India in Jeddah has set up a camp office in Madina to assist the families of Indians who died in a bus accident involving Haj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, the mission said on Tuesday.
Forty-four Indian Umrah pilgrims, including 42 from Telangana, were killed in a collision involving their bus and a fuel tanker near Madina in the wee hours of Monday.
The local authorities had confirmed that there is one Indian survivor, and he is undergoing medical treatment.
In a social media post, the Consulate said it has set up the camp office in the Indian Haj Pilgrims Office in Madina to assist the families of Indians who died in the accident.
In a separate post, the mission said Consul General Fahad Ahmed Khan Suri met Abdul Shoeb Mohammed, the lone survivor of the accident, who is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Madina.
"Concerned hospital authorities have informed that the best possible medical care is being provided to him. Consulate wishes him a speedy recovery," it said.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
