Kerala floods: Adventure Tour operators join rescue operations
Kochi, Aug 19: A 90-member team of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India on Sunday began rescue operations in the flood-ravaged Kerala using 17 wide-body rafts brought in from Rishikesh, its team leader said.
Speaking to IANS, Sam T.Samuel, who runs the Kalypso Adventures here, said that it was with the help of the Indian Air Force that they were able to get these rafts from Rishikesh making it possible to begin the rescue operations in Paravur, Ernakulam district.
"Each raft can carry eight people. These rafts are paddle ones and hence no fuel is required. Our group of volunteers are expert rafters," said Samuel, a retired naval pilot.
Paravur remains one of the worst affected in the rains that started on August 9, causing destruction across Kerala, rendering lakhs of people homeless and claiming 370 lives so far.
While many from this area are in relief camps, thousands still await rescue. On Saturday, six people died after a wall of a Church collapsed.
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Trump confronts South African president over killing of white farmers
Washington, May 21 (AP): President Donald Trump used a White House meeting to confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing his country of failing to address the killing of white farmers.
“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety," said Trump, who at one point dimmed the lights in the Oval Office to play a video of a communist politician playing a controversial anti-apartheid song that includes lyrics about killing a farmer. "Their land is being confiscated and in many cases they're being killed."
Ramaphosa pushed back against Trump's accusation. The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country's relationship with the United States. The bilateral relationship is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.
“We are completely opposed to that,” Ramaphosa said of the behaviour alleged by Trump in their exchange.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
