3 blasts at Tata Steelworks plant in UK
London: At least three blasts were reported at the UK's largest Tata Steelworks plant in Port Talbot, injuring two persons, according to a media report.
The blast at the plant in Port Talbot, Wales occurred around 3.35 am (local time), BBC reported. South Wales Police department said they are aware of an incident in the Tata Steelworks plant.
"Emergency services are in attendance and further information will be released shortly," the department tweeted.
The police said they received calls at 3:35 AM (local time) reporting an explosion at the plant. "At this time we there are just two casualties with minor injuries."
A Tata Steel spokesman said the company was working with emergency services and the fires at the plant are "under control"
"We can confirm there has been an incident at our Port Talbot site," he said, adding that "the emergency services have attended and are working with our on-site services."
"The fires has been extinguished, and that a full investigation launched into the incident, which it said started after a "spillage of liquid iron as it was travelling to the steel plant," Tata Steel said in a statement.
Early indications suggested the explosion came from a train used to carry molten metal, police was quoted as saying by the report. "The explosion caused some small fires which are all under control and damage to some buildings on the site," the spokesman said.
Locals reported their houses shook with the force of a blast at the Tata Steel site in Port Talbot in the early hours of Friday.
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
