Mudslide affects Mangaluru - Madikeri traffic as heavy rains batter coastal, malnad districts

Mangaluru, May 28: The customs officers seized 306.21 carat diamonds of different sizes from a passenger at Mangaluru International Airport. The value of the seized diamond is Rs 1.69 crore. 

Customs official said that during the pre-embarkation security check of passengers at the Mangaluru International Airport, the CISF personnel intercepted a passenger bound to Dubai and found two pouches concealed in his underpants on the suspicion that they contained precious stones.

The passenger hailing from Kasaragod was offloaded and handed over by CISF to the customs officers at the airport for further investigation. 

The two pouches contained 13 smaller packets with diamonds of different sizes. 

The passenger was arrested and produced before the Magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody. Further investigations are in progress.
 

Bengaluru, June 10: The government of Karnataka will henceforth give paternity leave to single male parents including the ones who are abandoned or ditched by their wives. 

While until now, childcare leave in the form of maternity leave was applicable only to women, from now on single male parents will be eligible for this leave too. 

According to an order issued on Friday, government employees who are single male parents include unmarried, divorcees and widowers.

There were several requests to allow leave for single men who were raising children. The government felt it was a justified demand, the order said. 

Accordingly, single men will be eligible for six months' paternity leave. 

However, if during this leave they get married, their leave will automatically end from that day, the order stated.

Earlier, the government had recognised adopted parents on par with biological parents for leave, by allowing such parents to avail maternity leave as well. 

Chamarajanagar, June 1: A Kiran trainer aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed near Sappayyanapalya village, some 9km from the Chamarajanagar district headquarters in Karnataka on Thursday noon.

Two pilots ejected out of the plane safely before the crash. 

The training aircraft, which took off from the air force station in Bengaluru, crashed at around 12 noon. 

It was good fortune that aircraft hit the ground on barren land and not in the nearby village, a villager said, adding it would have been catastrophic if the plane had crashed into the village.

According to the IAF, the pilots were on a routine training sortie when the incident occurred. A court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of accident.

"A Kiran trainer aircraft of the IAF crashed near Chamrajnagar, Karnataka today, while on a routine training sortie. Both air crew ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident," the IAF tweeted.

Senior district officials and an IAF team reached the spot along with the fire and emergency services personnel.

As soon as the plane crashed with a loud noise, villagers rushed to the spot and found the mangled aircraft engulfed in flames and billowing smoke. Besides alerting the local police and the fire brigade, they also rushed to the spot where the two pilots were seen ejecting and coming down with the help of parachute. Villagers noticed the two pilots lying on the ground. Quickly, they created a temporary shed for them.

Police officials rushed to the spot, cordoned off the area and put up a makeshift tent for the injured pilots. The district officials in turn informed the IAF authorities in Bengaluru who then rushed to the spot in a special helicopter and airlifted the two injured pilots.

According to the Additional Deputy Commissioner of the District Katyayani Devi, one of the pilots sustained injuries in the spine while the other injured her mouth. "The IAF helicopter has airlifted the two pilots to Bengaluru," she added.

Panchayat Development Officer Rame Gowda said he was in the office when he heard a blast. "After hearing the sound, I came out and enquired. I got to know that an IAF aircraft had crashed. I rushed to the spot and saw the crashed aircraft in flames. I informed the police and the fire and emergency services department about the incident," Gowda told reporters.

According to the Chief Fire Officer of Mysuru P S Jayaramaiah, a senior fire brigade officer, a man by the name Mahesh Prithvi informed them about the crash at about 12.05 pm and soon various teams were rushed to the spot.

An eyewitness said when they offered assistance to the pilots, they said they have informed the IAF station along with sharing the GPS location of the crash site to them.

Two days ago a Redbird Training Aircraft made an emergency landing in an agriculture field soon after taking off from Sambra airport in Belagavi. The pilots escaped with minor injuries.