Jet Airways suspends services to 13 international routes till end-April
Mumbai: Jet Airways, on the verge of going belly-up, has suspended operations on as many as 13 more international routes till end-April even as it grounded seven more planes due to non-payment of rentals, taking the number of such aircraft to 54.
Besides, the airline has also reduced frequencies on seven other overseas routes, mostly from Delhi and Mumbai, according to airline sources.
"... an additional seven aircraft including two planes of JetLite, have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements," the airline said in a filing to the stock exchanges late evening Friday.
The company said that as mentioned earlier, it is actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors and is regularly providing them with updates on the efforts taken to improve the liquidity.
Earlier, sources said routes where services have been temporarily withdrawn include Pune-Singapore (seven a week), which was launched with much fanfare late last December, and Pune-Abu Dhabi (seven flights a week).
Jet Airways has already suspended services on the Mumbai-Manchester route.
Gasping for funds and no bailout on the horizon, the Naresh Goyal-controlled airline has now reduced its operations to one-fourth from over 600 daily flights earlier, with just one-third of its 119 fleet being operational.
The airline has discontinued services from Delhi to Abu Dhabi (nine a week), Dammam (14 weekly), Dhaka (11), Hong Kong and Riyadh (seven each a week) up to April 30, said the airline source.
Besides, the airline has also suspended services on the Bangalore-Singapore route, where it flies twice daily, till April 30.
The flights which have been suspended from Mumbai for this period include services to Abu Dhabi (12 weekly), Bahrain (4-7 weekly), and Dammam (14 weekly). These services will remain suspended till April 30, as per the source.
Similarly, flights on the Mumbai-Hong Kong (7 weekly) route will also not be operated between March 23 and April 30, while the Kolkata-Dhaka services have also been suspended till April 30.
In addition to this, services from Delhi and Mumbai to Kathmandu, Bangkok, Doha, Kuwait and Singapore have been also reduced significantly.
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Nine dead as massive fire breaks out in residential building in east Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): A fire ripped through a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, leaving nine people from two families dead, including a toddler, officials said.
The incident was reported at 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.
The blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting frantic rescue efforts.
With the terrace door locked, the building occupants found it difficult to escape the leaping flames.
Twelve fire tenders were pressed into service, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in evacuation and rescue efforts.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
According to the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), nine charred bodies were recovered from different parts of the building. "One body was recovered from the first floor, five from the second floor and three from the staircase which was found locked," a DFS officer said.
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Those killed on the second floor were identified as Arvind Jain (60), his wife Anita Jain (58), their son Nishant Jain (35), daughter-in-law Anchal Jain (33) and grandchild Akash Jain.
On the third floor, three members of another family -- Nitin Jain (50), his wife Shailey Jain (48) and their son Samyak Jain (25) -- were found dead.
On the first floor, a woman identified as Shikha Jain (45) was found dead, while her husband Naveen Jain (48) sustained injuries.
A senior police officer said around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the building during the operation. Two persons with minor injuries were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital.
Flames had engulfed large portions of the structure, with thick plumes of smoke spreading across the locality and reducing visibility.
Fire fighters said screams could be heard from those trapped inside the building as they battled for hours to bring the blaze under control.
A firefighter involved in the operation said the intensity of the blaze was significantly higher in the rear portion of the building.
"The fire intensity was higher in the four flats at the rear as compared to the front portion. So far, we have recovered nine bodies and handed them over to Delhi Police. It is difficult to provide details at this stage. The cause of the fire is still under investigation," he said.
He said access constraints worsened the situation.
"Three bodies were found near the terrace level. The access to the roof was locked, and because of this, they could not save their lives. If it had not been locked, they might have survived," he said.
"There is a central staircase which serves as both entry and exit. The rear side gate was covered with a grille, due to which we had to cut it using tools to carry out rescue operations. We deployed five ladders from different sides and also used a turntable ladder vehicle to rescue around 15 people," the firefighter added.
Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta condoled the loss of lives in the fire tragedy, and said immediate medical assistance and relief are being provided to the affected people.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva along with Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra, local MLA Sanjay Goel, Councillor Pankaj Luthra and BJP Shahdara district president Deepak Gaba, met the bereaved families around 10 am and extended condolences to them on behalf of the ruling party.
The BJP leader said Goel reached the spot within minutes of receiving the information and helped save 18 to 20 people while monitoring the rescue operations.
While talking to reporters, Malhotra described the incident as extremely tragic.
Lauding the prompt response of the fire brigade and police personnel, Malhotra said due to their timely action, around 20 people were rescued.
