48 killed as Indonesian volcano erupts again

Fri, Nov 5 09:48 AM Jakarta, Nov 5 (DPA) At least 48 people were killed and 66 seriously injured Friday by clouds of searing ash and lava from the latest eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano, hospital staff said. In the nearby city of Yogyakarta, Sardjito General Hospital spokesman Trisno Heru Nugroho said at least 48 bodies and 66 injured people had been brought in from the disaster zone. The latest casualties brought to 92 the number of people to have been killed in Merapi's series of eruptions since Oct 26. Furqon Setiawan, an official at the National Disaster Management Agency, said at least 160 had been injured since Thursday. The number of people displaced by the eruptions climbed from more than 70,000 to around 100,000. Metro TV showed residents and rescue workers scrambling to escape the volcanic ash. Soldiers, police and other rescue workers were seen removing bodies and the injured from villages within Merapi's danger zone. Most of the dead were found in the Cangkringan area in Sleman district, about 15 km from Merapi's peak, officials said, adding that many of the injured suffered serious burns. Deputy police chief in Yogyakarta, Senior Commissioner Tjiptono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said that burned bodies had been found in a village near Gendol river in Sleman district. 'The victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition,' he told broadcaster TVOne. The volcano had continuously erupted since early Thursday. The head of the Centre for Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, Surono, described the new eruption as more powerful than the volcano's first eruption Oct 26. 'This is Merapi's worst eruption in the last 100 years,' R. Sukhyar, chief geologist at the energy and mineral resources ministry, was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post. He said the volcano was in a critical condition, with explosive outbursts sending hot clouds of ash up to 11 km down Merapi's slopes.

Vulcanologists expanded the evacuation zone around Merapi from 15 to 20 km. On Wednesday, the evacuation zone had been expanded from 10 to 15 km. The 2,968-metre peak is about 500 km southeast of Jakarta. Its deadliest eruption on record occurred in 1930, when 1,370 people were killed. At least 66 people were killed in a 1994 eruption, and two people were killed in 2006. Vulcanologists warned that several other volcanoes across Indonesia were showing increased activity. Indonesia has the highest density of volcanoes in the world, with about 500 in the 5,000-km-long archipelago nation. Nearly 130 are active volcanoes and 68 are classified as dangerous.

Charter plane crashes in Pakistan, no survivors

Fri, Nov 5 10:14 AM

Enlarge Photo Still image from video shows the remains of a small charter plane after it crashed...

A small plane with at least 21 people on board chartered to international oil company ENI crashed after taking off from Pakistan's Karachi airport on Friday, killing all on board, an aviation official said. Pervez George, a spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, said the aircraft crashed near a military ordnance depot at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport due to a technical fault soon after taking off. He added it was en route to an oil field near Bhit Shah in Sindh province, some 190 km (118 miles) northeast of Karachi. "When it took off, just after one minute, the pilot contacted the control tower saying that there was a fault in one of the engines. He was asked to return, but as it was turning back, it crashed," George told Reuters. He said there were 19 passengers and two crew on board. At least 12 bodies have been recovered so far. Aviation officials said there was at least one foreigner on board.

"The plane has been destroyed," said Lt. Colonel Noor Agha, an army official supervising recovery operations. "The dead bodies are burned beyond recognition. It could not be recognised whether they are men or women. We don't know nationalities." Civil aviation officials said the small aircraft was chartered by oil company ENI, which is based in Italy. No one from the company was responding to phone calls and the nationalities of those killed were not immediately available. (Additional reporting by Mian Khursheed and Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Miral Fahmy)

Qantas flight makes emergency landing in Singapore after alleged explosion

ANIThu, Nov 4 11:35 AM Singapore, Nov.4 (ANI): A Qantas plane made an emergency landing at Singapore's Changi Airport today. The news.com.au web site quoted Indonesian media reports, as saying there had been some sort of explosion over the Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, at about 9.15 a.m. local time. Tatang Kurnia, head of Indonesia's Transportation Safety Board, said the explosion came from a Qantas plane that had just lifted off from Singapore. "We've been informed from Singapore that a Qantas plane overflying the area defuelled and then made an emergency landing back in Singapore," he told MetroTV. Qantas says the plane, flying from Singapore to Sydney, experienced engine problems. "Qantas flight QF32 was enroute from Singapore to Sydney, the number two engine has shut down, so as a precautionary measure we are taking it back to Singapore," A Qantas spokeswoman said. (ANI) .