News – Page 155 – The Column NG

Wema Bank Teams Up with Federal Ministry to Empower 500,000 Women through MOWA-SARA Accelerator

Through its women-focused proposition, SARA by Wema, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has partnered with the...

International News2 years ago

Tax Hikes On The Wealthy Will Be Temporary – France

French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand leaves after the weekly cabinet meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on October 1,...

International News2 years ago

Toll In Rwanda Marburg Outbreak Rises To 11

Five more people in Rwanda have died of the deadly Ebola-like Marburg disease, bringing the number of fatalities to 11, the health ministry said late...

International News2 years ago

Taiwan Shuts Down As Typhoon Krathon Approaches

A man looks out to sea at Sizihwan beach in Kaohsiung as super typhoon Krathon moved towards Taiwan on October 1, 2024. (Photo by WALID BERRAZEG...

Featured2 years ago

Group Wants EL Rufai, Mamora, Shehu Sanni, Kunle Ojo, others In Tinubu’s Reshuffled Cabinet

As President Bola Tinubu has made his intention known on his plan to reshuffle his cabinet for service delivery and success, a group, the Mandate Protection...

News2 years ago

60 Bodies Found, Many Missing After Boat Capsizes with 300 Passengers in Niger

A map showing Niger State. At least 60 dead bodies have been recovered in a boat accident in Niger State. According to a release by...

International News2 years ago

Iran Fires Missiles At Israel In New Escalation

This picture shows a projectile flying above the Jordanian capital Amman towards Israel, on October 1, 2024. (Photo by Khalil MAZRAAWI / AFP) Iran launched...

International News2 years ago

Former US President Jimmy Carter Turns 100

In this file photo taken on November 29, 2023 former US president Jimmy Carter departs after the funeral service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter at...

International News2 years ago

US Imposes Sanctions On ‘Extremist’ Israeli Settler Group

US Flag The United States unveiled further sanctions Tuesday against Israeli settlers over attacks on Palestinians and destruction of property in the West Bank. The...

International News2 years ago

Updated October 1, 2024 Rescue workers and firefighters surround a burnt-out bus that was carrying students and teachers on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 1, 2024. (Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP) Rescuers worked to recover children’s bodies from the charred wreckage of a Thai school bus Tuesday after an accident turned the vehicle into an inferno, with more than 20 feared dead. Advertisement A devastating blaze tore through the coach on a highway in a northern Bangkok suburb as it carried 38 children — ranging from kindergarten age to young teenagers — and six teachers on a school trip. The victims’ bodies were so badly burned that officials are unable to give a precise death toll yet, while identifying remains could take days. Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said 21 people escaped from the blaze but 23 are still unaccounted for and likely to be dead. Rescue workers put up screens around the wreckage to shield firefighters and investigators as they began recovering bodies. Advertisement “Some of the bodies we rescued were very, very small. They must have been very young in age,” Piyalak Thinkaew, who is leading the search, told reporters at the scene, adding that the fire started at the front of the bus. “The kids’ instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there,” he said. The bodies are so badly charred that it is hard to identify them, he said. Some of the children who survived suffered horrific burns to their faces, mouths and eyes, doctors treating them told local media. Advertisement The bus was one of three carrying children from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam school in the northern province of Uthai Thani on a field trip to a science museum in northern Bangkok. A video posted on the school’s Facebook page just hours before the tragedy shows the group of youngsters in orange uniform shirts stopping off at the ancient Thai capital of Ayyuthaya. The disaster began when one of the bus tyres burst on the highway around 12:30 pm (0530 GMT), sending it crashing into a barrier and triggering the inferno, rescuers said. Video footage from the scene showed flames engulfing the bus as it burned under an overpass, huge clouds of dense black smoke billowing into the sky. Advertisement – Poor road safety – Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said the government would pay for the survivors’ medical treatment and compensate the victims’ families. “As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Meechai Sa-ard, a motorbike taxi driver, heard the noise of the incident from a kilometre (0.6 miles) away. “There was smoke everywhere. Poor children, I heard they were very little,” he told AFP. “I was hoping that god would be kind so that the rain could put the fire out and the kids would survive.” Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to the high annual death toll. Around 20,000 people are killed every year on the kingdom’s roads, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) — more than 50 a day on average. The economic losses caused by traffic deaths and injuries amounted to around $15.5 billion in 2022 — more than three percent of GDP — the WHO says. AFP

FILE: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Adem ALTAN / AFP Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned Israel’s ground operation in Lebanon and urged...