Cadets among 22 dead in Ukraine military plane crash
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Kiev, Ukraine (AFP): At least 22 people including military cadets were killed and two others were seriously injured on Friday when a Ukrainian air force plane crashed near Kharkiv in the east of the country, the interior ministry said.
Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko confirmed the death toll to AFP, describing the incident as a "shock", and saying that the cause of the crash was being investigated.
Footage of the crash released by officials on social media showed the smouldering remains of the Antonov-26 transport plane.
"Most of [the dead] were students" of the Kharkiv National Air Force University, the air force said in a statement.
There were 27 people on board, 20 cadets and seven crew, it added. Twenty-two have been confirmed dead, two are injured and "the search for three more people continues", the emergency services said.
The injured are in a "critical" condition, regional governor Oleksiy Kucher said on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the crash as a "terrible tragedy" and said he would travel to the Kharkiv region on Saturday.
"We are urgently creating a commission to investigate all the circumstances and causes of the tragedy," he wrote on Facebook.
The plane crashed at around 8:50 pm local time (17:50 GMT), two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Chuhuiv military air base, the emergency services said.
In photos released by the emergency services, firefighters in helmets and reflective clothing sprayed aircraft debris with jets of water.
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PUC student killed in elephant attack in Kodagu’s Madikeri taluk
Madikeri: A 17-year-old Pre-University College student was killed in a wild elephant attack at Bettathuru village in Madikeri taluk of Kodagu district on Saturday evening.
The deceased has been identified as Pooja, daughter of Girish. She was a student of St Michael’s College in Madikeri.
According to local residents, Pooja was returning to her village by bus and had alighted near her stop. The incident occurred when she was walking towards her house, which is located about 100 metres from the forest fringe. A wild elephant is said to have suddenly emerged and attacked her, inflicting severe injuries.
She was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital. However, she succumbed to her injuries on the way, sources cited by The Hindu said.
Residents of Bettathuru alleged that they had repeatedly informed the Forest Department about the frequent movement of wild elephants in the area. They claimed that despite prior representations, adequate preventive measures had not been taken to ensure the safety of villagers.
