World leaders bid farewell to Kofi Annan
Accra, Sep 13: World leaders bid farewell to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at his funeral in his home country of Ghana on Thursday.
On Monday, Annan's body was transferred to the West African nation from Switzerland, where he died on August 18 at the age of 80. However, it wasn't immediately clear why the process took so long.
Among those who attended the state funeral of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the International Conference Centre in the Ghanaian capital were UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo, senior government and military officials as well as dignitaries from across the world, Efe news reported.
"Kofi Annan brought considerable renown to Ghana as UN Secretary-General and by his conduct and comportment in the global arena," Akufo-Addo posted to Twitter.
"He gave his life to making peace where there was conflict, to defending the voiceless who were powerless, to promoting virtue where there was evil."
Speaking at the funeral, Guterres said Annan was an exceptional leader who saw the UN as a force for good. "As we face the headwinds of our troubled and turbulent times, let us always be inspired by the legacy of Kofi Annan," he said.
"Our world needs it now more than ever."
There were hymns and a performance by soprano and human rights campaigner Barbara Hendricks, the BBC reported. Annan's nephew Kojo Amoo-Gottfried read a eulogy, describing how he had led a hunger strike in his secondary school to protest against the quality of food in the dining hall.
There were also a moving tribute by his wife, Swedish lawyer and artist Nane Maria Annan. She thanked Ghana for giving the world such an extraordinary man and said her husband had an irresistible aura of radiant warmth.
"His legacy would live on through his foundation and through all of us," she said.
The former queen of the Netherlands, Princess Beatrix, and her daughter-in-law Princess Mabel, who were close friends of Annan, were among the mourners.
Annan started his career at the UN in 1962 and 35 years later became the first person from sub-Saharan Africa to be appointed Secretary General.
His 1997-2006 term at the helm of the UN was marked by his programme to reform the institution and his efforts to draw support from the international community in Africa as well as leading the fight against AIDS.
In 2001, Annan and the UN were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their work for a better organised and more peaceful world".
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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.
