Mass cremation of 21 people killed in Bundi bus accident
Kota: A mass cremation of 21 bodies out of the total 24 people killed in Wednesday morning's bus accident in Bundi took place in the Kishorepura ground here in a heart-wrenching sight.
While the 21 bodies were brought to the Kishorepura cremation ground in a funeral procession in the evening, two were sent to Palaytha village of Baran district and the Srinathpuram area of Kota city. The body of a 4-year-old child was buried.
A private bus carrying a wedding party fell into a river on the Kota-Dausa highway in Bundi district in the morning. Besides those killed, five people were injured.
The wedding party was headed for Sawai Madhopur from Kota. The bus plunged into the Mej river from a bridge that had no wall or railing. Thirteen people died on the spot, including the driver, while the others succumbed to injuries en route to a hospital.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla landed in Kota in a helicopter from New Delhi to attend the cremation. State Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Kota district Minister In-charge Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Kota District Collector Om Kasera and other district officials were also present.
Former minister Babulal Verma, who reached the area to take stock of the situation and speak to the bereaved families, faced the ire of the public which forced him to flee.
Stones were pelted at his car by an angry mob that alleged that he had done no work during his tenure as a former minister representing the area.
Locals claimed the accident could have been avoided had the highway been built properly and the bridge had safety railings.
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
