10 killed as bus falls into Maharashtra ravine
Raigad (Maharashtra), July 28 : At least 10 passengers were killed when a private bus carrying nearly three dozen university staff plunged into a ravine in Raigad district of Maharashtra on Saturday morning, an official said.
Raigad Police Control official P.D. Patil said that around 35 staff of Konkan Agriculture University in Ratnagiri, including some women, were on way for a weekend picnic to popular tourist destinations of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani when the bus fell 500 feet down into the ravine around 9 a.m. near Poladpur.
Rescue efforts were severely hampered by heavy rains lashing the Western Ghats, besides poor connectivity in the remote hills in the area.
"As per preliminary information, at least 10 bodies have been recovered and efforts are underway to rescue others or retrieve more bodies," Patil told IANS.
The accident came to notice after one of the injured passengers managed to climb up and alerted the authorities.
National Disaster Relief Fund teams from Pune were en route to help villagers and others involved in search and rescue operation.
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Fire breaks out in residential building in east Delhi, nine killed
New Delhi (PTI): At least nine people were killed after a fire broke out in a residential building in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar early Sunday, officials said.
The incident was reported around 3.48 am at a four-storey building in Vivek Vihar Phase-I, following which police, fire and disaster management teams rushed to the spot.
According to the police, the blaze engulfed flats on the second, third and fourth floors of the building, prompting a large-scale rescue operation.
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
"Around 10 to 15 people were rescued from the premises during the firefighting operation. Two of them, who sustained minor injuries, were shifted to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital," a senior police officer said.
A total of 12 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, while teams from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), traffic police and local police assisted in the rescue and evacuation efforts.
Police said the fire was brought under control after several hours.
The identities of the deceased are yet to be ascertained, and efforts are underway to determine the cause of the fire, police said.
Further investigation and proceedings are underway.
