Man with Palestinian flag climbs London's Big Ben, is surrounded by emergency services
LONDON (AP): Roads around the Palace of Westminster in London were closed on Saturday as emergency services tried to reach a man who climbed the Big Ben tower holding a Palestinian flag.
Photos show the barefoot man, who appeared to be staging a protest, standing on a ledge several meters (yards) up Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben.
Officials said tours of the Houses of Parliament were canceled because of the incident.
Westminster Bridge and a nearby street were closed for much of Saturday and several emergency services vehicles were at the scene as crowds looked on from behind a police cordon.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were “working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion,” alongside firefighters and ambulance services. Police said it received reports about the man around 7 a.m. Saturday. The intruder was still high up the tower Saturday afternoon.
Three emergency workers were lifted up on a fire brigade ladder platform and were seen using a megaphone to speak to the man on the ledge.
No other details were immediately available.
#WATCH: #UK police closes the area around #BigBen in #London after a man holding a #Palestinian flag climbed up the tower housing the famous clock and bell https://t.co/wRNA7hP9v7 pic.twitter.com/L8KvhouWVS
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Missing Kerala class 10 student found dead near Chandradrona hills
Chikkamagaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): Three days after a class 10 student from Kerala went missing during a family trip to Manikyadhara Falls in the Chandradrona hill range, she was found dead on Friday, police said.
The deceased, identified as Kumari Shrinanda, had been missing since Tuesday evening after she went trekking in the Chandradrona hills, they said.
"The body has been traced, and the clothes she was wearing are intact. The body will be sent for a post-mortem, and further procedures are underway," Chikkamagaluru Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Dayama told PTI.
The girl was part of a group of around 40 relatives who had travelled from Palakkad, police added.
According to police, she went missing at around 5.30 pm on Tuesday while at the falls with her family. The family searched for her until about 8 pm before informing the authorities.
After receiving the report, police and forest department personnel launched a search operation in the area. Thermal drones were deployed to locate the girl.
Disaster management teams also joined the operation.
In a separate incident in Kodagu district recently, a 36-year-old woman from Kerala went missing while trekking in the Tadiandamol hills and was later traced and reunited with her family.
