Jamtara, Jharkhand: In a tragic incident at Kalajharia railway station, at least two individuals lost their lives as they attempted to escape from an alleged "fire" on board the Anga Express traveling from Bhagalpur to Bengaluru.

Panic ensued among passengers when rumors of a fire circulated on the express train. In an attempt to flee the perceived danger, passengers disembarked and ran across the tracks. Unfortunately, another train on the same route struck them as they crossed, resulting in the fatalities.

Rescue operations are currently in progress, with medical teams, four ambulances, and three buses dispatched to the site to transport the injured to Jamtara. The Deputy Commissioner of Jamtara reported that the incident occurred approximately 15 km from the district headquarters.

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Bengaluru: Three young tech enthusiasts from Bengaluru have devised an innovative method to bypass geographical restrictions on Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, enabling a hearing aid feature unavailable in India.

The feature, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September and available in over 100 countries, remains blocked in India. When 24-year-old Rithwik Jayasimha purchased AirPods Pro 2 for his grandmother, he discovered the restriction. Determined to find a workaround, he joined forces with his school friends, Arnav Bansal and Rithwik Ribhu, both of whom also had grandmothers dependent on hearing aids.

At a lab in Koramangala, the trio developed a solution using a Faraday Cage made of aluminium foil, copper mesh, a microwave, and an ESP32 chip. The cage blocked Wi-Fi signals, while the chip allowed them to spoof the AirPods' location to San Francisco using an open-source Wi-Fi location database. This geo-spoofing tricked Apple’s operating system into activating the hearing aid feature.

According to Jayasimha, the feature is significantly more user-friendly and advanced compared to traditional hearing aids. "With these AirPods, I could adjust settings like sound loudness and brightness easily, eliminating the need for audiologist visits," he said.

The self-taught innovators have already helped over 30 people enable the feature, sharing their methods online and assisting others at their home-based lab, 'Lagrange Point.'

The trio has previously worked on solutions like water-cooled suits for delivery personnel during heatwaves and adaptive clothing for Parkinson’s patients. Their next project involves developing devices to detect microplastics in food and water.

While Apple has not commented on their initiative, the tech enthusiasts hope the hearing aid feature will soon receive regulatory approval in India.

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