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Day 4: Travel chaos still reigns
China Quake |
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Poles bid farewell to their President
Krakow, April 18 Tens of thousands of grieving Poles packed Krakow today for the burial of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife alongside past kings and heroes, though Europe's air travel crisis kept many world leaders away. Bhutto Killing
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Day 4: Travel chaos still reigns
London/Moscow, April 18
About 30 countries have now closed or restricted their airspace, with the volcanic ash creating chaos over the vast swathe of the European continent, right from the Arctic circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south and from Spain into Russia. Over 40,000 flights have been cancelled since the volcano erupted throwing ash and fine particles across the European skies on safety concerns. The grounding of major airliners was costing the industry at least $200 million a day, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). The flight cancellations also affected attendance of world leaders at the funeral of late Polish President Kaczynski. US President Barack Obama was unable to fly to Krakow city for the funeral. Prince Charles and British foreign Secretary David Miliband also cancelled their journey to Poland to attend the last rites of Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash in Russia last week. In Britain, flight restrictions were extended and forecasters say the ash cloud could remain over the UK for many more days. In a bid to ease the travel chaos, the Netherlands and a few other countries have started test flights to see if jets could safely fly, either below or over the ash clouds. Dutch airline KLM and German airline Lufthansa carried out test flights in their countries’ airspace to see if it is safe for planes to fly. KLM said its aircraft had been able to fly its normal operating altitude of 13km over Dutch skies and no problems had been reported. The plane’s engines were being inspected for possible damage, with a view to getting permission from the aviation authorities to start up operations again. German carrier Lufthansa said it flew 10 planes from Frankfurt to Munich at lower altitudes. “We have found nothing unusual, neither during the flight, nor during the first inspection on the ground,” KLM chief executive Peter Hartman, who took part in his airline’s test, said in a statement. British Airways cancelled all flights in and out of London for the whole day today. Germany and most Scandinavian and central European countries kept the flight ban in place, extending the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II. With the blanket spreading, Italy and Spain said they would not allow flights into the northern parts of their countries. The cloud is now heading toward Greece and into Russia. Meanwhile, the IATA warned airlines would lose at least USD 200 million (130 million pounds) per day in revenues during the disruption. Planes were first grounded midday on Thursday amid fears that particles in the ash cloud generated by the volcanic eruption could cause engines to shut down. National Air Traffic Control Services said the ash cloud showed “continued and extensive” cover of the UK. Prof Brian Golding, head of forecasting research at the Met Office, said it looked like the ash would remain over the UK “for several days”. “We need a change of wind direction that stays changed for several days and there is no sign of that in the immediate future,” he said. A plume of ash 8.5 km high was visible in Iceland yesterday. In Russia, where the volcanic cloud is now headed, 500 flights were cancelled due to the ash and the closure of European air space with 32,000 air passengers stranded in Russian airports by noon today. According to ITAR-TASS almost 500 flights were cancelled in three Moscow international airports and Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Tyumen by noon. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today summoned an emergency meeting of the cabinet to take the stock of the situation. — PTI
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China Quake
Beijing, April 18
As the death toll neared 2,000 in the Tibetan-dominated province, as many as 256 persons still remained missing on the fifth day after the quake that razed many buildings to the ground. “There will be new schools! There will be new homes!”, Hu wrote on the blackboard while visiting a makeshift classroom being run from a tent for orphaned students in the quake hit town Yushu. Hu then led the students to read aloud the words he wrote on the blackboard. The President, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China, who cut short his tour to the BRIC summit at Brasilia in the wake of the national tragedy, was seen on the state television surrounded by heavy security personnel. While promising to rebuild the schools and homes, Hu also asked rescuers to continue searching for survivors. “Rescuing those people who are trapped is still the main task. We must treasure each life,” Hu said after meeting survivors in a village. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had visited the region on Thursday and Friday goading the relief teams to step up rescue efforts to save people buried under the rubble before ‘72-hour golden period’ ended. Rescue headquarters announced that an estimated 17,000 people have been saved from the rubble. The quake has left 12,128 persons injured, of which 1,424 are in severe condition, Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the China Earthquake Administration’s quake relief and emergency response department, told media here today. Miao said currently more than 15,000 rescuers, including over 11,000 from the People’s Liberation Army and armed police were conducting the relief operations. Considering that the quake hit province, which is located adjacent to Tibet, officials promised to take into consideration religious as well the food habits dealing with the quake affected people. As mass funerals were conducted for hundreds of bodies yesterday with the help of Buddhist monks, officials said the government has taken into consideration the diet habits and needs in practicing religious service among people from minority ethnic groups in relief work in the quake zone. — PTI
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Poles bid farewell to their President
Krakow, April 18
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived for the state funeral, but the ash plume that has caused global travel chaos prevented his US counterpart Barack Obama and dozens of other dignitaries from coming. Mourners applauded, tossed flowers and waved red and white flags as the Kaczynskis' cortege weaved slowly through the narrow streets of the historic city, after their bodies were flown by military aircraft from Warsaw. The funeral marks the climax of an outpouring of national grief over an air crash near the Russian city of Smolensk eight days ago that killed the presidential couple and 94 others, mostly top military and civilian officials. Ceremonies started with a Roman Catholic funeral mass at the Gothic Basilica of Our Lady in Krakow's central square, where huge crowds had gathered to see the service relayed live on giant screens. Kaczynski, an often divisive nationalist, and his spouse were to be laid to rest in the cathedral crypt of Krakow's hilltop Wawel castle, alongside Poland's monarchs, national heroes, saints and poets. — AFP
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Bhutto Killing Islamabad, April 18 Action was taken against the civil and police officials after they were named in the report of a UN commission that probed Bhutto’s killing in a gun-and-suicide attack on December 2007. The six high-ranking officials were made officers on special duty and barred from travelling out of the country. Rawalpindi’s regional police officer Aslam Tarin said action had been taken against former district police chief Saud Aziz, SSP (operations) Yaseen Farook, former Rawalpindi district administration chief Irfan Ilahi, superintendents of police Khurram Shahzad and Ashfaque Anwar and additional inspector general (investigation) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. All these officials were involved in investigating Bhutto’s murder. The names of these officials have been included in the Exit Control List, a list of people barred from leaving the country that is maintained by the interior ministry. Meanwhile, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said action is being taken against people held responsible for lapses in the UN commission’s report. If former President Pervez Musharraf is found responsible for the killing of Bhutto, steps will be taken to bring him back to Pakistan, he said. The top leadership of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, decided during a meeting yesterday to take “appropriate legal actions” against all persons, including Musharraf, who have been named in the UN panel’s report as being responsible for the assassination of Bhutto. — PTI
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