North Korea resumes flights to Chinese city
Seoul, Sep 15 : North Korea has resumed flights between Pyongyang and the Chinese city of Dalian amid signs of improving ties between the allies, the media reported on Saturday.
According to local tourism agencies, a passenger plane of Air Koryo, the North's flag carrier, landed in the airport in Dalian on Thursday and returned to Pyongyang with nearly 70 people on board, Yonhap News Agency reported.
This marked the first North Korean airplane that had flown between the two cities since November 2006. There will be such flights every Thursday and Sunday.
The resumption of the Pyongyang-Dalian flights may reflect improving bilateral ties between North Korea and China after chilled relations over the North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently sent Li Zhanshu, Beijing's third-ranked official, as his special envoy to Pyongyang on the occasion of the North's 70th founding anniversary.
Li was seated next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a military parade staged last week, and the North also hosted an art performance and banquet exclusively for Li and his delegation in an apparent bid to emphasize friendly ties between the two countries.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
