Dubai-Mangaluru AIE passenger held for misbehaving with crew, threatening to jump off flight

An uneasy silence hung over the import cargo terminal of the Kochi airport on Friday morning as authorities made arrangements to receive the bodies Indians who lost their lives in a tragic building fire in Kuwait two days ago. Ambulances were stationed at the terminal to carry the victims' bodies to their homes.

The special flight carrying the bodies of 23 Keralites, seven Tamil Nadu natives, and one Karnataka resident is expected to reach the Cochin International Airport around 10.30 am, Deputy Inspector General, Ernakulam Range, Putta Vimaladitya told the media.

The mortal remains will be received in Kochi by their respective state governments and taken to their homes. The flight will then leave for Delhi with the bodies of the victims from other states.

The blaze in the seven-storey building that housed 196 migrant workers in Mangaf, south of Kuwait City, on Wednesday killed 49 people and injured around 50 others. A preliminary probe has indicated glaring lapses – there were around two dozen gas cylinders on the ground floor of the building; inflammable materials were used as partitions to separate the workers in the cramped rooms; the doors to the rooftop were locked, etc.

24 of the Indian victims are from Kerala, 7 from Tamil Nadu, 4 from Uttar Pradesh, 3 from Andhra Pradesh and 2 each from Bihar and Odisha. The victims also include 1 person each from Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal.

The Karnataka man who died in mishap has been identified as Vijaykumar Prasanna from Alanda in Kalaburgi district.

Out of 24 Keralites who lost their lives, 23 have been identified. Of these, five are from Pathanamthitta district, four from Kollam, three each from Kottayam and Kannur, two each from Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod and Malappuram and one each from Alappuzha and Thrissur districts.

Some of the bodies that are yet to be identified will be subjected to DNA test and the process will take two weeks to complete, said NORKA Principal Secretary Dr K Vasuki.

She said the immediate priority is to bring back the bodies, for which the Union government has arranged a special aircraft.

In a remarkable event, the 130-year-old Algerian woman received a warm reception as Saudi officials welcomed her upon her arrival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A woman named Sarhouda Setit made the journey to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to participate in the annual Hajj 2024 (1445 AH). Before embarking on her journey, Setit underwent the necessary preparations to assume the state of Ihram.

Saudi Airlines celebrated her arrival as she was the oldest pilgrim to the Kingdom. The Saudi group published on its official handle on X about the arrival of the oldest pilgrim from Algeria.

Her determination to the Haj despite her age garnered significant attention from people around the world.

This year, many groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from all over the world have arrived in KSA to perform one of the five pillars of Islam.

Saudi authorities are preparing to host more than 1.5 million pilgrims who will undertake their Hajj pilgrimage this week. It is expected that the numbers will increase during the coming period.

For Muslims across the globe, Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Makkah holy city where scared Kabba is located.

Once in life, Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims, and it is considered one of the five pillars of Islam. The necessity of Hajj for Muslims is rooted in several key aspects.

A Palestinian official in the Gaza Strip says the Israeli occupation forces have destroyed a total of 50,000 housing units during their nearly-eight-month war of aggression in the northern part of the territory.

The figure was given by the chairman of the Emergency Committee for Northern Gaza Municipalities, during a press conference on Sunday.

“Some 50,000 housing units have been destroyed, and sewage networks and roads have been bulldozed in most municipalities of northern Gaza,” the official, whose name was not given by Palestinian media outlets, said.

The official noted that “35 water wells, schools, and UNRWA facilities have been destroyed, and an imminent famine is threatening northern Gaza.”

The official also declared “Jabalia [refugee camp] and Beit Hanoun [both in northern Gaza] as disaster areas due to the indescribable destruction” caused by Israel’s genocidal war.

The Palestinian official’s warning came a day after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said in a post on X social media platform that as a result of the Israeli aggression, “Gaza has been reduced to rubble and Palestinian families have to survive in inhumane conditions with scarce water, food and supplies.”

UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini has also described the destruction caused by Israeli forces in Jabalia refugee camp as “horrific,” adding that “thousands of displaced people have no choice but to live amid the rubble and in destroyed UNRWA facilities.”

It was about a month ago that a UN official said the destruction caused by Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip is unseen since the Second World War, estimating that the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory could take 80 years and cost up to $40 billion.

Abdallah al-Dardari, UN assistant secretary-general and director of the UN Development Program's regional office for the Arab states, added that the Israeli aggression has completely or partially destroyed 72 percent of all residential buildings in Gaza.

According to Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, the regime’s genocide has so far claimed the lives of 36,439 civilians, mostly women and children, while leaving 82,627 others injured.