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At least 18 dead as Air India repatriation flight crashes on landing
At least 18 people were killed and dozens injured after an Air India Express passenger plane repatriating Indians stranded by the COVID-19 pandemic overshot the runway in heavy rain near the southern city of Kozhikode, officials said.
The Boeing-737 flight from Dubai to Calicut airport was carrying 190 passengers and crew, the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. Among them were 10 infants.
Television footage showed rescue workers moving around the wreckage in pouring rain. The aircraft lay split into at least two chunks after the plane’s fuselage sheared apart as it fell into a valley 30 feet below, authorities said.
“Unfortunately, 16 people have lost their lives. I offer my condolences to their next of kin and pray for speedy recovery of the injured,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet.
Friday’s crash is the worst passenger aircraft accident in the country since 2010, when an Air India Express flight, also from Dubai, overshot the runway and slid down a hill while landing in the southern Indian city of Mangalore, killing 158 people.
Both Mangalore and Calicut have table-top runways that are located at an altitude and have steep drops at one or both ends of the runway.
Media reports suggested the plane skidded off the runway of Calicut international airport, crashing nose-first into the ground. Calicut is in the southern state of Kerala, home to a large number of Indians working in the Middle East.
Puri said rescue operations had been completed and all passengers had been removed from the aircraft. Police said earlier four people were stuck in the wreckage.
The civil aviation ministry said in a statement there was no fire on board.
India, which shut down all air travel in late March to try to contain the novel coronavirus, has restarted limited international air travel.
Air India Express AXB1344, was a government-operated repatriation flight for Indians previously unable to return home because of the travel restrictions.
TV visuals showed the aircraft’s nose smashed into a brick wall, with much of the middle of the plane pulverised.
Local TV news channels showed passengers, some of them lying motionless on stretchers, brought into a hospital surrounded by health workers wearing masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Pained by the plane accident in Kozhikode” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. “My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest,” he said.
Source: Rueters
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Defense Minister stresses importance of religious and modern education in Afghanistan
Mohammad Yaqub Mujahid, Minister of Defense of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has emphasized the importance of acquiring both religious and contemporary knowledge.
Speaking at a madrasa graduation ceremony in Kandahar province, he urged communities to support schools and education, stating: “Do not let your children remain uneducated. Pursue all forms of knowledge, both modern and religious.”
He added that the Islamic Emirate is committed to serving the people, with some forces protecting the borders and others safeguarding lives and property.
Separately, in a voice message to a separate ceremony in Khost, Mullah Tajmir Jawad, First Deputy of the General Directorate of Intelligence, highlighted Afghanistan’s historical role as a center of religious and scholarly learning, influenced by the Transoxiana and Deoband schools of thought.
He noted that today, Afghanistan has tens of thousands of active madrassas, educating a large number of youth, and that the Islamic Emirate gives special attention to both religious and modern sciences.
He said that the Islamic Emirate is also focused on reforming madrasa curricula, improving teaching methods, maintaining discipline, and raising the overall quality of education.
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US delivers second batch of Afghan Black Hawk helicopters to Peru
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Continued aid to Afghanistan vital for regional security: Kazakh president
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has emphasized the continuation of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, stating that the ongoing provision of such aid plays an important role in ensuring regional security.
Speaking at the international conference “Peace and Trust” in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, Tokayev described addressing complex humanitarian challenges and the reconstruction of Afghanistan as a necessity.
“To ensure regional security, we consider it essential to continue providing assistance to Afghanistan, including by strengthening international efforts to address complex humanitarian issues and the reconstruction of this country. Kazakhstan remains committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan through humanitarian aid, educational projects, trade development, and food security initiatives,” he said.
Meanwhile, experts believe that sustainable improvement of the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan requires broad cooperation from the international community and support for the country’s economic development.
“Investment can be defined as one of the fundamental drivers of the economic cycle, and whenever Afghan traders do not take their money out of the country and instead invest domestically, it naturally leads to greater growth and dynamism in Afghanistan’s economy,” said Abdul Zahoor Modabber, an economic analyst.
As the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan continues, reports by international relief organizations indicate that millions of citizens of the country are in urgent need of food, health, and livelihood assistance.
The reduction in funding for aid organizations, the impacts of climate change, and the return of migrants have increased concerns about a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the country.
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