Category Archives: International

International, National

40 Indians Killed, 50 Injured In South Kuwait Building Fire

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PTI, New Delhi, Jun 12, 2024 : Around 40 Indians were killed and over 50 injured in a devastating fire that broke out at dawn in a building housing around 195 migrant workers in southern Kuwait’s Mangaf area, officials said on Wednesday.

     
The total number of people killed in the Al-Mangaf building is 49 and 42 of them are learnt to be Indians; the remaining ones are Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian and Nepali nationals, they said.
     
“In an unfortunate and tragic fire incident earlier today in a Labour housing facility in Mangaf area of Kuwait, around 40 Indians are understood to have died and over 50 injured,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement late on Wednesday night.
     
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the incident as “saddening”, reviewed the situation at a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Principal Secretary to PM PK Mishra among others.

Following the meeting, the prime minister announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased Indian nationals from the PM Relief Fund and directed that the government should extend all possible assistance.
     
External Affairs Minister spoke to his Kuwaiti counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on phone and urged him for the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those killed.
     
“Spoke to Kuwaiti FM Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya on the fire tragedy in Kuwait. Apprised of the efforts made by Kuwaiti authorities in that regard. Was assured that the incident would be fully investigated and that responsibility will be fixed,” Jaishankar said on ‘X’.
     
“Urged the early repatriation of the mortal remains of those who lost their lives. He emphasized that those injured were getting the requisite medical attention,” he said.
     
Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh is urgently travelling to Kuwait following a direction from PM Modi to oversee assistance to Indians injured in the fire and to ensure early repatriation of mortal remains of those killed.
     
The officials cited above said most of the Indian victims are from Kerala.
     
“The fire mishap in Kuwait City is saddening. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their near and dear ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. The Indian Embassy in Kuwait is closely monitoring the situation and working with the authorities there to assist the affected,” Modi said on ‘X’.
     
In its statement, the MEA said the Indian embassy in the Gulf nation is ascertaining the full details from the Kuwaiti authorities.
     
“Those injured are presently admitted in five government hospitals (Adan, Jaber, Farwaniya, Mubarak Al Kabeer and Jahra) in Kuwait and receiving proper medical care and attention,” it said.
     
“According to hospital authorities, most of the admitted patients are stable,” it said.
     
Following the incident, Ambassador of India in Kuwait Adarsh Swaika immediately visited the incident site and also the hospitals to ascertain the welfare of the Indian nationals.
     
“The embassy continues to coordinate with local authorities to assist Indian nationals who have been injured in this unfortunate incident and extend all possible support. The embassy is receiving full cooperation from the Kuwaiti authorities,” the MEA said.
     
“Our Embassy in Kuwait continues to remain in touch with local authorities to provide relief to those affected. The Embassy has established a helpline +965-65505246 (WhatsApp and regular call) for family members to get in touch,” it said.
     
The fire in Al-Mangaf building was reported to authorities in Al-Ahmadi governorate at 4.30 am and most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation, Kuwaiti media reported, adding the fire started in a kitchen.
     
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry in a statement confirmed that the death toll reached 49.
     
Construction firm NBTC group rented the building for the stay of more than 195 workers, most of them Indians from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and northern states, the Kuwaiti media said.
     
The NBTC group is partly owned by an Indian, officials said.
     
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said criminal evidence department personnel are currently working on identifying the victims and revealing the cause of the fire.
     
It said strict measures will be taken against building owners who violate laid down norms.
     
“Unfortunately, we received a report of a fire at… exactly 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in the Mangaf area,” Major General Eid Al-Owaihan, head of the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence said.
     
Kuwait’s health ministry said the injured were admitted to several hospitals, with 21 of them sent to Al-Adan Hospital, six to Farwaniya Hospital, one to Al-Amiri and 11 to Mubarak Hospital.
     
“Amb @AdarshSwaika visited the Al-Adan hospital where over 30 Indian workers injured in today’s fire incident have been admitted. He met a number of patients and assured them of full assistance from the Embassy,” the Indian embassy said on ‘X’.
     
“Almost all are reported to be stable by hospital authorities,” it said.
     
The Indian embassy said it is in touch with Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities, fire service and health department for necessary action.
     
Interior Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousuf Al-Sabah ordered an investigation into the fire incident and issued directions to apprehend the owner and janitor of Al-Mangaf building.
     
“What happened today is a result of the greed of the company and building owners,” Al-Sabah was quoted as saying by Kuwait Times.
International, Sikkim

Buddha Air Conducts Feasibility Study for Kathmandu to Pakyong Flights

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SUJAL PRADHAN, EOI, GANGTOK, JUNE 11, 2024 : A team from Buddha Air visited Pakyong Airport on Tuesday to conduct a feasibility study for launching flight operations between Kathmandu and Pakyong. 

The visit included a presentation by the Air Traffic Controller and an airport tour led by Airport Director S.K. Singh. 
The three-member team from Buddha Air included Uday Krishna Shrestha, Om Pradhananga, and Jiwan Basnett. Buddha Air plans to operate two daily flights: one from Kathmandu to Pakyong and another from Kathmandu to Pakyong via Guwahati. 
The flight from Kathmandu to Pakyong will take about one hour, while the flight from Pakyong to Guwahati will take around 35minutes.
As per reports, the proposed fare for Kathmandu to Pakyong is expected to be between Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 7,000, but Singh has requested Buddha Air to reduce it to Rs. 5,000 to Rs 6,000.
The airline is confident there will be enough passengers on these routes. Buddha Air is already operating flights from Kathmandu to Varanasi and is seeking permission for a new route from Janakpur to Ayodhya. 
The tentative timing for the new flights is between noon and1.30 pm. The flights will use ATR 500aircraft which can accommodate 85 to 90 passenger
International

Nepal Army removes remains of 5 humans 11 tonnes of garbage from Everest region

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PTI, KATHMANDU, JUNE 6, 2024 : Nepali Army has removed the remains of five climbers and 11,000 kgs of waste from the high-altitude Everest region as part of their almost two-month-long ‘Mountain Cleaning Campaign 2024,’ the fourth such expedition since its launch in 2019.

     
The Army team found four dead bodies and one human skeleton of the climbers from its arduous cleaning expedition that covered Mt Everest, the highest mountain at 8848.86 metres, Mt Lhotse, and Mt Nuptse areas near the Everest Base Camp.

     
The aim of the ‘Mountain Cleaning Campaign’ is to keep a check on human-made pollution in the mighty Himalayas, especially in the fragile and vulnerable high-altitude region, in the era of changing climate, the army had said while announcing the 2024 campaign on April 7.

     
That day, the start of the Spring Climbing Season for Everest, the Army had announced to bring back 10 tonnes and five bodies lying at Mt Everest by its 12-member team led by Maj Aditya Karki. The team was to be assisted by an 18-member Sherpa team.

     
The expedition was flagged off on April 11.

     
Chief of the Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma, during an event to celebrate the successful closing of the 55-day campaign here on Wednesday, the World Environment Day, said: “Despite the adverse weather and conditions, around 11,000 kgs of garbage, four human corpses, and one skeleton were collected during this campaign.”

     
On the occasion, the Army chief also honoured members of the mountain cleaning campaign, including supporting Sherpa guides, for their valuable contribution to collecting the garbage and human remains.

     
The biodegradable waste was brought to Namche Bazaar below the Everest Base Camp and handed to the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) for proper treatment.

     
The non-biodegradable waste and bodies/skeleton was brought to Kathmandu.

     
The Nepal Army collaborated with the Ministry of Forest and Environment, the Tourism Department and the Nepal Mountaineers Association for the Everest region’s cleaning campaign.

     
The cleaning team also successfully climbed Mount Everest, MyRepublica portal reported, adding that since the campaign was launched in 2019, as many as 12 dead bodies and 180 metric tonnes of garbage have been collected from these mountain areas, including the Mt Everest peak.

Health, International

Sober 50-year-old kept appearing drunk. Then doctors found her UTIs were to blame

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MiamiHerald, 3 June 2024 : For years, a Canadian mom would have an occasional glass of wine or drink around the holidays, but she maintained a mostly sober lifestyle. She eventually leaned into her religious beliefs and stopped drinking alcohol altogether. Then, she walked into an emergency room drunk. 
Beginning two years earlier, the 50-year-old woman had odd cases of sleepiness where she would get so drowsy she would fall asleep “suddenly while getting ready for work or preparing meals,” according to a June 3 case report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. 
She went to her primary care doctor and the emergency room multiple times while barely awake, her speech slurring and the smell of alcohol emanating from her breath, according to the case report. 
She was adamant that she was sober, and her family corroborated that no one had seen her consume any alcohol, doctors said. 
During her first visit to the emergency room, her alcohol level was a 39 when the normal level was below 2, according to the case report, but her liver enzymes remained completely normal. But by later visits, that value reached 62, more than 30 times normal levels. 
Nothing appeared abnormal on brain scans, and she was repeatedly referred to an addiction specialist and psychiatrists over seven doctors visits in two years, doctors said. 
Later, the patient told doctors about recurring urinary tract infections she had been experiencing for years. She was prescribed strong, wide-range antibiotics to stop the infection, and these seemingly drunk episodes would occur afterward, according to the case report. 
During her last emergency room visit, doctors confirmed she also had an urinary tract infection, and a diagnosis was proposed. 
Her body was brewing alcohol inside her gut. “Auto-brewery syndrome is a rare syndrome of endogenous alcohol fermentation. 
A 1948 report of a boy with a ruptured stomach whose contents smelled of alcohol was the first to describe gut fermentation,” according to the case report. 
“A 2020 systematic review identified 20 patients reported in the English medical literature since 1974.” 
The syndrome occurs when the microorganisms in the gut that are capable of fermenting carbohydrates into alcohol are able to outgrow the “good” bacteria in our gastrointestinal system, doctors said. 
When someone takes antibiotics for an infection, the drugs aren’t always able to target bad bacteria alone, and bacteria in the gut can also be affected, usually resulting in doctors recommending a probiotic or to eat yogurt while taking a round of antibiotics. 
In extreme cases, antibiotics kill so much of the good bacteria that keeps the gut balanced that the bad, fermenting-capable fungi and microorganisms flourish. 
“In our patient, we suspect her recurrent antibiotics for UTI and dexlansoprazole use (a prescription drug used to treat heartburn and reflux symptoms) led to gut dysbiosis with potential contribution of genetics, resulting in auto-brewery syndrome,” according to the case report. 
The condition can be hard to treat as the microorganisms, in this case a fungus, can live in the body naturally without any harmful effects, doctors said. 
“Auto-brewery syndrome carries substantial social, legal and medical consequences for patients and their loved ones,” doctors said. 
In previous cases, people have been accused of driving under the influence only later to find out they have auto-brewery syndrome. 
For this mother, a combination of antifungal medication, a lower carbohydrate diet and a change to her treatment for UTIs led to an end of the drunken spells, according to the case report.