Author: admin

Posted on

Passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania, 19 dead, prime minister says

At least 19 people died when a passenger plane crashed into Lake Victoria in Tanzania on Sunday morning while trying to land at a nearby airport, the prime minister said, APA reports citing Reuters.

 

Flight PW494, operated by Precision Air, hit the water during storms and heavy rain, the state Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) reported.

 

Rescuers in boats rushed to the wreckage, which was almost fully submerged, to pull out trapped passengers, local authorities said.

 

“All Tanzanians join you in mourning these 19 people … who have lost their lives,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told reporters in the lakeside city of Bukoba, close to the scene of the crash.

 

Investigators were still looking into what happened, he added.

 

The plane left the commercial capital Dar es Salaam and “crash-landed” at 8:53 a.m. (0553 GMT) as it was approaching Bukoba airport, Precision Air – Tanzania’s largest privately owned airline – said in a statement.

 

The plane was carrying 39 passengers, including an infant, as well as four crew members, the airline added. It said 26 of the 43 people on board had been rescued.

 

Airline officials did not answer calls seeking further details, and the discrepancy in the figures could not immediately be reconciled.

 

A witness told TBC he saw the plane flying unsteadily as it approached the airport in poor visibility conditions, saying it took a turn for the airport but missed and went into the lake.

 

Video and pictures on social media showed the plane almost fully submerged, with only its green and brown-coloured tail visible above the waterline of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake.

 

Footage from the broadcaster and onlookers showed scores of residents standing along the shoreline and others wading into the shallow waters to try to help pull the aircraft closer to the shore with ropes.

 

Rescue workers were initially in touch with the pilots in the cockpit, Albert Chalamila, chief administrator of Tanzania’s Kagera region, told reporters. The prime minister later said the pilots may have died.

 

Precision Air identified the aircraft as an ATR42-500. The Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

First introduced almost 40 years ago, the ATR42 is the smaller of two series of short-haul turboprops made by ATR, a joint-venture of Airbus (AIR.PA) and Leonardo (LDOF.MI). The last fatal accident was in 2017, according to aviation-safety.net, a safety database.

 

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan called for calm as the rescue operation continued.

 

“I have received with sadness the news of the accident involving Precision Air’s plane,” she tweeted. “Let’s be calm at this moment when rescuers are continuing with the rescue mission while praying to God to help us.”

 

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

Posted on

Settlements of Kherson left without power

Three power lines in the Kherson region were damaged in enemy shelling leaving its residents temporarily without electricity and water, the Russian-installed administration told the media on Sunday, APA reports citing Teletrader.

 

“The emergency services team is working to eliminate the consequences of the terrorist attack,” the officials said on Telegram, attributing the loss of power to an attack on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway.

 

According to the state-owned TASS news agency, the regional capital of Kherson is one of the areas left without electricity.

 

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

Posted on

Kiev getting ready for winter with no heat, water, electricity – Klitschko

The residents of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv have been told their city is preparing for winter months with no electricity, heat or water supply, APA reports citing Teletrader.

 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko took to his Telegram channel to say that the local government continues to purchase generators and secure critical infrastructure to make sure the capital city is not left in a complete blackout. “We are doing everything we can to ensure the life of the capital in these difficult conditions. But the enemy is insidious and cynical,” Klitschko said, accusing Russia of trying to collapse the energy sector of Ukraine.

 

His comments came after some residents of the Kherson region were left with no power on Sunday.

 

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

Posted on

British PM to raise hunger striker Abd el-Fattah’s case during COP27

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he will raise the case of Egyptian-British hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah with Egypt’s leadership during the COP27 climate summit that opened on Sunday, the same day Abd el-Fattah said he would stop drinking water, APA reports citing Reuters.

 

Abd al-Fattah rose to prominence with Egypt’s 2011 uprising but has been detained for most of the period since. Sentenced most recently in December 2021 to five years on charges of spreading false news, he has been on hunger strike for 219 days against his detention and prison conditions.

 

In a letter dated Nov. 5 to Abd el-Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif, and posted by his family on social media, Sunak wrote that the case remained a priority for the British government and had been raised with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi several times.

 

“I will continue to stress to President Sisi the importance that we attach to the swift resolution of Alaa’s case and an end to his unacceptable treatment,” Sunak wrote.

 

“The UK’s attendance at COP27 is another opportunity to raise your brother’s case with the Egyptian leadership.”

 

Sunak’s office confirmed the letter.

 

Egyptian officials have not responded to Reuters’ phone calls for comment on Abd el-Fattah’s case, but have said previously that he was receiving meals and was moved to a prison with better conditions earlier this year.

 

Abd el-Fattah’s family said he was only consuming minimal calories and some fibre to sustain himself earlier in the year. After family visits in October his sister, Sanaa Seif said: “He looks very weak, he’s fading away slowly, he looks like a skeleton.”

 

Abd el-Fattah’s family said he had told them he would stop consuming honey, tea and milk on Nov. 1 and planned to cease drinking water from Sunday.

 

“I consider lights on around 10am as a signal of a new day,” he wrote in his most recent letter to his family. “With the turning on of the lights on Sunday Nov. 6, I’ll drink my last cup of water … anything after that is unknown.”

 

Egyptian authorities had to act within three days to save Abd el-Fattah, the head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard, told a press conference in Cairo.

 

“Let’s be very clear, we’re running out of time,” she said.

 

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

Posted on

Azerbaijani court halts proceedings against 11 persons accused on ‘Tartar case’

BAKU, Azerbaijan,Azerbaijan’s Ganja Military Court held a trial on the criminal case of 11 persons accused in the ‘Tartar case’, Trend reports on November 5.

 

By the decision of the court at the trial chaired by Judge Vugar Mammadov, the proceedings were terminated, and the criminal case was sent to the prosecutor’s office.

 

Earlier, at a meeting of the Plenum of the Supreme Court, a case regarding 18 persons was considered within the ‘Tartar case’.

 

At the plenum, the application of the Prosecutor General was satisfied, and in connection with the newly found circumstances, it was decided to re-consider the criminal cases against Rauf Orujov, Nijat Rzayev and others under article 274 (high treason) and other articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code in a court of appeal.

 

By the decision of the Ganja Court of Appeal, the sentences against each of the 19 people were canceled. Of these, the cases of 12 people were returned to the Ganja Military Court and seven – to the Tartar Military Court.

 

The convict Emil Aliyev’s case, covering 12 persons, was allocated in a separate proceeding.

 

Source: TREND News Agency

Posted on

Azerbaijan reveals amount of financial sanctions applied for unfair competition

BAKU, Azerbaijan,Financial sanctions worth over 2.6 million manat ($1.5 million) have been applied on the facts of unfair competition, Head of Department of unfair competition and advertising law control of the State Service for Antimonopoly Control and Supervision of the Consumer Market under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan Shahin Nagiyev said, Trend reports.

 

According to him, 26 cases were filed on such cases and 18 of them are already solved.

 

Nagiyev said that the identified violations include illegal use of trademarks of other market entities, use of unfair advertising methods, information that could mislead consumers, and the conclusion of contracts that restrict competition.

 

Source: TREND News Agency