Gunmen torch 19 NATO oil tankers in Mastung

MASTUNG: Suspected militants attacked a convoy of tankers carrying fuel supplies for coalition forces in Afghanistan, torching 19 vehicles.

The attack took place on Sibi-Quetta Highway in Mastung District of Balochistan.

Fire brigade teams were brought to Mastung from Quetta to extinguish the blaze that could be seen several kilometers away.

Security forces reached the scene and cordoned off the area.

No loss of life was reported in the attack. TrendPK

Lahore Building Catches fire

LAHORE, News Trends: A shopping plaza caught fire in Gulbarg area of Lahore on Thursday.

The blaze rapidly spread to Hafeez Centre in Gulbarg.

Fire tenders have reached at the place and firemen were trying to extinguish the blaze.

The rescuers were taking the people out of the building.

10 NATO oil tankers torched in Peshawar

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: Unidentified assailants set ablaze 10 NATO oil tankers parked at a mechanical workshop in Peshawar on Saturday.

According to police, six unknown miscreants stormed a workshop located on Ring Road and torched 10 NATO oil tankers, completely gutting them.

Police reached the scene and called fire brigade teams, which managed to control the blaze after half an hour.

The police also disabled a 2.5 kilograms of explosives recovered from the site of the attack.

A case has been registered against unknown attackers. Trend Pk

Fire erupts at Mayo Hospital in Lahore

Staff Report

LAHORE: A fire erupted at intensive care unit (ICU) of the Lahore’s Mayo Hospital on Friday.

According to the hospital’s administration, the fire broke out due to a short circuit.

Efforts are being made to control the blaze, which is still raging.

There are no immediate reports of casualties or injuries. Trend Pk

At least 18 killed in shopping centre fire

BEIJING: A fire in a shopping centre in the northern Chinese city of Jilin left 18 people dead, officials said on Saturday.

The State Administration of Work Safety said the fire broke out on Friday morning in the complex located in the city’s downtown Yunchun Road shopping area.

The official news agency Xinhua said another 24 people were injured in the blaze and a total of 91 people were rescued.

It said an investigation into the cause of the blaze was underway.

Calls to the city government, police, and emergency services rang unanswered on Saturday.

Most of the casualties were staff as the fire broke out shortly after shops opened when few customers were inside, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

Firefighters doused the charred store front with water canons as black smoke billowed from the building.

Fire chief Lin Hong

China gold mine fire kills 16 workers

BEIJING: Sixteen workers were killed in a fire in a gold mine in eastern China that also left another seven trapped underground, state media reported Saturday.

The accident happened on Friday in Shandong province”s Zhaoyuan city, a local news agency said — the latest in a series of accidents in China”s notoriously dangerous mining industry.

Rescuers initially put the number of people trapped at 50 but revised the figure several times as they managed to lift workers to safety. Most of the victims died of toxic smoke inhalation, some of them in hospital, the news agency said.

The work safety bureaus in Zhaoyuan and Shandong refused to comment on the accident when contacted a French news agency.

According to an initial investigation, the blaze broke out in a shaft at the gold mine when an electric cable caught fire. The mine was fully licensed but police have taken the director in for questioning, the news agency said.

Around 329 miners had been working underground when the blaze started and 279 were initially lifted to ground level safely, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters was quoted as saying.

Other workers were subsequently pulled out and dozens of injured miners were sent to two nearby hospitals.

China”s mining industry is plagued by lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency.

Earlier this week, 32 people were killed in two coal mine accidents.

An explosion rocked a colliery Tuesday in the southwestern province of Guizhou, killing 16, state media reported.

Sixty miners were working underground when the accident happened in Renhuai city, but many managed to escape or were saved.

Late Monday, 16 workers were killed when deadly gas leaked into a pit at the Sanyuandong coal mine in Dengfeng city in central Henan province.

Last weekend, 24 miners were trapped in a flooded pit in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, while 17 others were killed in an explosion at a mine in the northern province of Shanxi.

The government regularly pledges to clean up safety problems in its mines but deadly accidents are still routine.

Only last month, Premier Wen Jiabao lamented the nation”s “serious” work safety situation, ordering mining bosses to work side-by-side with workers in the pits to ensure that companies more closely observe safety rules.

Last year 2,631 miners were killed in China, according to official figures, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher as many accidents are covered up to avoid costly shutdowns.

29 people killed in Iraq hotel fire

SULAIMANIYAH: Twenty-nine people, including children, women and foreigners, were killed in a late night fire at a hotel in northern Iraq”s Sulaimaniyah city, health and government officials said Friday.

“We have received 29 bodies and 22 people are injured,” said Rikot Hama Rasheed, the director of Sulaimaniyah hospital, following the blaze.

A city council official confirmed the death toll and said initial investigations indicated that the blaze, which took seven hours to be brought under control, had been caused by an electrical fault.

“Women and children are among the victims of the incident which happened in the Soma Hotel in the centre of the city,” said the official, Razgar Ahmed.

Sulaimaniyah, 270 kilometers (170 miles) north of Baghdad, is capital of one of the three provinces that make up Iraq”s autonomous Kurdish region in the north of the country.

Dhaka blaze kills 114

DHAKA: Bangladeshi rescue workers pulled more bodies Friday from the smoldering debris of buildings gutted by a fire that tore through a densely populated area of Dhaka, killing more than 110 people.

“At least 114 people have died and rescue workers are still finding bodies,” the city”s district administrator Muhibul Haque said.

Dhaka fire department chief Abu Nayeem said the fire had been caused by an electrical fault. Hundreds of people were trapped in burning buildings as rescue workers struggled to contain the blaze, their work hampered by the narrow lanes of the crowded residential area in Old Dhaka, the historic heart of the city.

At least seven buildings were engulfed, including a bakery with several large gas burners and a string of small shops selling chemicals, as well as cheap, plastic goods.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was scheduled to visit the injured Friday, announced a full investigation into the blaze.

15 firefighters faint battling Margala Hills blaze

ISLAMABAD: Fifteen firefighters fell unconscious due to smoke while trying to bring under control the blaze that suddenly erupted on Margala Hills on Wednesday.

DG Environment CDA, Dr. Suleman talking to Geo News here said difficulties are being experienced in putting out the fire in the absence of helicopters while fire tenders too cannot reach up on the hills due to tough terrain.

He said two helicopters remain at the disposal of CDA but they are, at the moment, engaged in carrying out relief and rescue activities in Hunza.

According to CDA sources, the blaze has spread across an area of 3 kilometers on the hills where 300 men are presently engaged in fire extinguishing exercise. During the struggle 15 of the men fell unconscious and were shifted to different hospitals of Islamabad.

China to provide $180 mln aid to Pakistan: Malik

ISLAMABAD: China will grant US$180 million aid to Pakistan for enhancing the capacity of its law enforcement agency.

Interior Minister Rehman A. Malik Friday held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Meng Chiang in Chinese capital, said a message from Beijing.

The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere in which matters of mutual interest came under discussion.

In addition, Beijing also offered training facilities for Pakistani LEAs personnel and RMB (Chinese currency) 2 million for police equipments.

Malik signed donation confirmation with his Chinese counterpart.

Chinese Minister for Public Safety Meng Chiang appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in the war against terrorism.

Earlier addressing the Pakistani community at Pakistan embassy, Rehman Malik said that when PPP-led government came to power two years back, it was confronted with a number of challenges including terrorism but with the support of masses and wise decisions of the political leadership, most of the challenges were either solved or reduced to some degree.

In this regard, he especially referred to the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award which remained dormant for many years,but the government with consensus of all political forces got it implemented.

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