UN rescue helicopter crashes in Manchar Lake

Staff Report

DADU: During flood rescue services, a United Nations (UN) helicopter crashed into Manchar Lake on Friday.

According to details, the helicopter was performing rescue services for Dadu flood victims at the time of the crash.

According to sources, seven crew members on board sustained injuries.

Local fishermen rushed to the scene and rescued the injured crew members from the lake.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. SAMAA

Obama security doctrine poised for unveiling

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama”s new national security doctrine on Thursday is expected to enshrine his break with the go-it-alone Bush era, instead promising more diplomacy abroad and economic discipline at home to bolster America”s standing in the world.

The White House is poised to roll out Obama”s first official declaration of national security priorities, a list all but certain to pointedly omit predecessor George W. Bush”s policy of pre-emptive war that alienated some U.S. allies.

Laying out a vision for keeping America safe as it fights wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the document is meant to formalize Obama”s intent to rely as much on diplomatic engagement as military power to shape the world order.

But it is not clear whether Obama”s strategists will go as far as admitting what has become an emerging consensus in foreign policy circles that heavy U.S. indebtedness to countries like China now poses a national security problem.

2 Pakistanis among 22 killed in Saudi road accident

RIYADH: Twenty-two people including two Pakistanis died and 17 were injured when a bus collided with a parked truck at about 5:30 Wednesday morning at Wadi Dawasir, about 400 km away from the capital.

Police at Wadi Dawasir had no details regarding the accident on Wednesday night.

The SAPTCO said the bus, traveling from Riyadh to the southwestern city of Khamis Mushayt, was carrying 15 Indians, eight Saudis, seven Pakistanis, four Bangladeshis, two Yemenis, two Syrians and one Egyptian. The bus caught fire, trapping many passengers inside.

Balakrishnan Jayachandran, a 47-year-old Keralite survivor of the accident, said that he escaped the burning bus by being pushed by the passengers behind him who were also escaping through the same door.

“I woke up to the scream of other passengers and managed to get out of the burning bus,” he said, adding that he saw several charred bodies being removed from the bus after the fire was extinguished by the Civil Defense crew.

The bodies were taken to local hospitals in Sulay, Aflaj and Wadi Dawasir. Injured passengers were taken to hospital in Sulay. Officials identified the 17 survivors as eight Indians, three Saudis, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis and a Syrian.

The Saudis who were on board during the accident were identified as Alia Hussein, Absi Zabrel, Abdullah Zafeer Al-Asmari, Hassan Al-Hussein Al-Zabar Al-Eid, Hassan Al Eisa, Saeed Misfer Al Hamad, Mohamed Ibrahim and Mohammed Abdullah.

“All 17 patients in the hospital are in stable condition,” said an official from the hospital.

Two of the survivors are still in intensive care, but their condition is stable. The Indian and Bangladeshi missions in Riyadh confirmed on Wednesday evening that they had dispatched representatives to look after the interests of their countrymen.

“The team will look after the interests of the survivors as well those who were killed in the tragedy,” said Rajiv Shahare, deputy chief of the Indian Embassy.

The Bangladesh Embassy’s Labor Counselor Harun Ar-Rashid said his team would assist the survivors and help government officials process the formalities of the dead for burial.

The bus had left the terminus in Riyadh’s Aziziyah district at 11 p.m. on Tuesday.

Seven dead in Russian city blast

MOSCOW: The death toll in a bomb blast in Russia”s southwestern city of Stavropol rose to seven Thursday with dozens of people still hospitalized, many in critical condition, officials said.

The blast struck near a cultural centre late Wednesday as locals were gathering for a Chechen dance concert.

“Seven people are dead,” a duty officer with Stavropol”s Rescue Services said. “Thirty three remain hospitalized.” The previous death toll stood at five.

Yekaterina Danilova, an official with the regional investigative committee, said 41 people were injured in the blast. Officials said that many of those were in critical condition.

Blast in Karachi, Several Hurt

KARACHI, Pakistan News: Blast in Karachi, Several Hurt, Several people have been wounded in a car blast at Khilafat Chowk in Paposh Nagar Karachi.

The blast took place at a time when Muharram procession was passing through Paposh Nagar.

The injured are being shifted to hospitals.

Police and rangers have reached the blast site where rescue services have been kick started.

MS Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said that 8 injured have been brought to the facility.