Death toll in Japan earthquake climbs to 18
Tokyo, Sep 7 : The number of people killed in the powerful earthquake that struck the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan climbed to 18 while 24 people remain missing, the government said on Friday.
In a press conference after an emergency Cabinet meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that rescue efforts were underway in the affected areas as he urged people to exercise caution amid warnings of more rains and landslides.
Around 40,000 members of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, police, firefighters and Coast Guard were tirelessly working to locate the 24 missing people in Atsuma, the epicentre of the quake, chief government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga was cited as saying by Efe news.
Many were feared buried under rubble after the magnitude 6.7 quake triggered landslides on Thursday. "We've heard there are people still stuck under the mud, so we've been working around the clock but it's been difficult to rescue them," a rescue worker in Atsuma told public broadcaster NHK.
Japanese authorities said that close to 50 per cent of the electricity supply on the island had been restored and power returned to 1.5 million homes and buildings.
Production restarted in several power plants affected by the quake on Hokkaido, which was receiving electricity from the main island of Honshu after the central government sought support from other power companies of the country to resolve the outages.
The earthquake had triggered an immediate shutdown of the main Tomato thermal power plant in Atsuma, which accounted for half of the electricity production on the island, and other power plants, leaving 2.95 million houses and buildings without electricity.
The island's main airport resumed flights on Friday and train services were also scheduled to restart before the weekend.
The earthquake came on the heels of a deadly typhoon lashing the west of Japan over the past few days. Jebi, the strongest typhoon to hit the country in 25 years, killed at least 10 people and caused widespread damage and disruption.
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Two Delhi men held for BMTC bus phone thefts in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Whitefield police have arrested two men from Delhi for allegedly stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses and solved 14 theft cases, officials said on Tuesday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Jai Chand (25), who worked at a hotel in Delhi, and Tarun (34), an autorickshaw driver in Delhi.
Officials said on January 24, a Mahadevapura resident lodged a complaint that his iPhone 15 Plus was stolen while he was travelling on a BMTC bus towards Whitefield.
Based on the complaint, police registered a case and arrested two suspects within an hour near a lodge on Hosa Road. During the arrest, the police found a bag containing several stolen mobile phones.
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“During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were stealing mobile phones from passengers travelling in BMTC buses. They had also committed thefts during a concert held under the Channarayapatna police station limits on January 23,” the police said.
Investigations revealed that the accused had travelled from Delhi for the concert and stolen mobile phones from the audience. A third suspect is at large and is likely hiding in the Shahdara area of Delhi.
One of the victims, a YouTuber, raised the theft issue in February in a post on X.
“Here is my (FIR No 0013/2026 is registered in Channarayapatana PS. Your GSC No. is PO1814260100013) request @DelhiPolice @BlrCityPolice to plz look into this & get my device back since it's my work phone & I am a youtuber, all my data is there! someone plz help. @dcpwhitefield,” Anirban Sarkar posted on X on February 6.
Police have recovered 14 mobile phones of various brands, collectively valued at about Rs 9 lakh, from the accused. The two were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
In total, one case from Whitefield and 13 from Channarayapatna police stations were detected. Further investigation is underway.
