Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, killing 25 on board: Officials
Kabul, Oct 31 : An Afghan official says an army helicopter carrying senior officials has crashed in bad weather in the western Farah province, killing all 25 on board.
Naser Mehdi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, says the helicopter crashed around 9:10 a.m. (0440 GMT), shortly after taking off from the mountainous Anar Dara district heading toward nearby Herat province.
He says the passengers included the deputy corps commander of Afghanistan's western zone and the head of the Farah provincial council.
An Interior Ministry official says a suicide bomber has struck outside the country's largest prison on the eastern edge of the capital Kabul, killing seven people, including prison workers and security personnel.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish says the attacker early Wednesday targeted a bus carrying prison workers. The sprawling Pul-e-Charkhi prison houses hundreds of inmates, including scores of Taliban.
According to Abadullah Karimi, a prison official, the attack occurred near the prison gate where a number of visitors were waiting to pass a rigorous security check before entering.
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Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link now fully operational
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link was opened to vehicular traffic on Saturday noon after a delay caused by the dismantling of inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work, a day after the Pune section became operational.
The 13.3 km-long "missing link", which bypasses a section of the Bhor Ghat stretch of the expressway and cuts travel time between Mumbai and Pune by 25 to 30 minutes, was inaugurated a day earlier by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar.
The Pune-bound carriageway of the corridor was opened to traffic immediately; however, the Mumbai-bound section remained closed to traffic for several hours after the inauguration.
An official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation told PTI on Saturday that the opening of the Mumbai-bound carriageway was delayed mainly due to the dismantling of the inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work.
The removal of the stage and other decorations was completed in the morning. The work to load and transport the material slightly delayed the opening of the carriageway.
Vehicular movement on the carriageway began after all the remaining material was cleared and road cleaning was completed, the official added.
The expressway control room said that despite significant vehicular movement, the access-controlled highway has not witnessed any major traffic snarls since Friday evening, after the Pune-bound carriageway of the missing link was opened to traffic.
The Missing Link project connects Khopoli (in Raigad) on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala in Pune district and is expected to make the expressway fully access-controlled, easing congestion in the ghat section.
Developed by the MSRDC and dubbed an "engineering marvel", the project includes two tunnels, two viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley. It bypasses the steep, accident-prone ghat section, where frequent traffic snarls are reported during weekends and on public holidays.
