Fifth Boy Rescued From Thai Cave
CHIANG RAI, THAILAND: Rescue workers in Thailand brought out on Monday the fifth boy from a group of 12 and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks in a flooded cave complex, a navy official said, hours after the rescue mission resumed.
A Reuters witness near the Tham Luang cave in the northern province of Chiang Rai saw medical personnel carrying a person, wrapped in green sheets and lying flat, into an ambulance close to the mouth of the cave.
"Yes, one has come out already," a navy official told Reuters. He declined to give any details.
The "Wild Boars" soccer team and their coach got trapped on June 23 when they set out to explore the vast cave complex after soccer practice, when a rainy season downpour drenched the area and flooded the tunnels.
British divers found the 13, huddled on a muddy bank in a partly flooded chamber several kilometres inside the complex, on Monday last week.
The first four boys were brought out on Sunday and were in good condition in hospital, officials said. There was no immediate word on the condition of the fifth boy.
The dangerous bid to rescue the boys - aged between 11 and 16 - got going again hours earlier on Monday after a break to replenish oxygen supplies and make other preparations deep inside the cave complex in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province.
Authorities have said the mission could take three or four days to complete. It is a race against the clock with heavy rain expected in coming days, which would again dangerously flood the tunnels.
The chief of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osottanakorn, earlier told a news conference a team had gone into the cave to rescue the remaining boys at 11 a.m. (0400 GMT), and he expected good news soon.
Thirteen foreign divers and five members of Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit make up the main team guiding the boys to safety through narrow, submerged passageways that claimed the life of a former Thai navy diver on Friday.
Narongsak said that the "same multinational team" that went into the cave on Sunday to retrieve the first four boys was deployed on Monday.
He did not say how many boys the team hoped to bring out on Monday.
On Sunday, divers held the first four boys close to bring them out, and each had to wear an oxygen mask to enable normal breathing, authorities said.
Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda told reporters the four rescued boys rescued on Sunday were in good health in hospital but did not give details.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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Sambhal violence: Prohibitory orders issued, outsiders barred from entry till Nov 30
Sambhal (UP) (PTI): The district administration has imposed prohibitory orders and barred the entry of outsiders till November 30 after three men were killed and scores of others, including security and administration personnel, injured in a violence by protesters opposing a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque.
The order has been issued under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), said District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya late on Sunday.
"No outsiders, other social organisations or public representatives will enter the district border without the permission of the competent officer," said the order, which came into force with immediate effect.
Violation of the order will be punishable under Section 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the BNS.
Violence broke out in the district on Sunday as protesters opposing the survey of the Jama Masjid clashed with security personnel. The protesters torched vehicles and pelted the police with stones while the security personnel used tear gas and batons to disperse the mob.
Divisional Commissioner (Moradabad) Aunjaneya Kumar Singh said on Sunday, "Shots were fired by miscreants... the PRO of the superintendent of police suffered a gunshot to the leg, the circle officer was hit by pellets and 15 to 20 security personnel were injured in the violence."
A constable also suffered a serious head injury while the deputy collector fractured his leg.
"Three people, identified as Naeem, Bilal and Nauman, have been killed," Singh said.
Twenty-one people, including two women, have been detained and a probe has been launched, the official had said, adding that those accused in the violence would be booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
District Magistrate Rajender Pensiya said, "The casualty count stands at three. The reason for the deaths of two is clear -- bullet wounds from countrymade pistols. The reason for the death of the third person is not clear but it will be after post-mortem."
Internet services were soon suspended in Sambhal tehsil for 24 hours and the district administration declared a holiday in all schools for Monday.
Tension had been brewing in Sambhal since November 19 when the Jama Masjid was first surveyed on the court's orders following a petition claiming that a Harihar temple had stood at the site.
Trouble started early on Sunday when a large group of people gathered near the mosque and started shouting slogans as the survey team began its work.
District officials said the survey could not be completed on Tuesday and was planned for Sunday to avoid interference with afternoon prayers.
Supreme Court lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is a petitioner in the case, had earlier said the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) ordered the constitution of an "advocate commission" to survey the mosque.
The court has said a report should be filed after conducting a videography and photography survey through the commission, he had said.
On Sunday, Jain urged the Archaeological Survey of India to take control of the "temple".
Gopal Sharma, a local lawyer for the Hindu side, had earlier claimed the temple that once stood at the site was demolished by Mughal Emperor Babur in 1529.
