Tianjin Children’s Hospital has been operating around the clock, dealing with more than 13,000 paediatric patients daily in the outpatient and emergency departments, a record high, according to Tianjin Television and Radio Station. A maternal and child health hospital in the northern province of Hebei had merged the gynaecology andContinue Reading
SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the resignation of the head of the intelligence agency and his two deputies on Sunday (Nov 26), his office said. Yoon’s office did not specify any reasons for the resignations. But local media have reported there were troubles during previous personnel reshuffles atContinue Reading
When Chaudhary realised his son Manjit was one of the 41 construction workers trapped in the collapsed tunnel, he travelled almost 600km (372 miles) from his village in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, to be closer to him.
Chaudhary, 50, has been at the tunnel site for the past 11 days. He is staying with men who know his son and is sleeping in barracks made for the labourers.
Two years ago, he lost his eldest son in a construction accident in Mumbai. He says he cannot face the grief of losing another son.
“I pray to God… please don’t take this son away from me. All I want is that my son should be out. This is my prayer. This is my last wish.”
A landslide near Silkyara, a remote village at the foothills of the Himalayas, collapsed a portion of the tunnel two weeks ago, trapping the workers. The rescue has been delayed by a drilling machine breaking down.
Chaudhary, who goes by only one name, is one of several family members who have travelled here.
Chanchal Singh Bisht is from a neighbouring village. His cousin, Pushkar Singh, 24, is also stuck in the collapsed tunnel.
Nervous when he first arrived at the site, Chanchal had no idea what to expect. When he was finally able to speak with Pushkar via walkie-talkie, he felt relieved.
“He said, ‘I am ok, you can go home. I will come home, I am safe in here, I have what I need in here.'”
For some families, the opportunity to speak with their loved ones inside is a lifeline.
One woman was walking down the road leading away from the tunnel, having just spoken with her husband. She did not give her name.
“He is worried,” she said, “asking how long he will be there and whether anything was happening [to get them out]. He’s not even eaten today.”
The men are getting regular food deliveries – daal, roti, vegetables and fresh fruit – through a small pipe, and officials say the group is in good health.
In the first days after the accident, on 12 November, Chanchal did not have much faith in authorities, saying he didn’t think they knew what they were doing. But seeing the progress earlier this week, he became more hopeful.
“I thought their initial plans were weak. Now they are working on [a] war footing and they should be out soon.”
But that was before the latest setback, on Saturday.
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The machine being used to drill a hole wide enough to allow the men to crawl through kept getting stuck and breaking on pieces of debris.
The machine has now broken down completely and cannot be repaired.
Rescue efforts are on hold until emergency crews can remove it from the tunnel, and then, instead of replacing the device, they will manually remove the remaining debris.
This is a major disappointment for authorities, who on Wednesday believed that the rescue was imminent. In anticipation, four ambulances were parked at the mouth of the tunnel, with dozens more lining the narrow roadway leading to the construction site.
Removing the debris manually will take more time than if they were using a machine. The chief minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, was pressed by the media for some kind of timeline for when the men might get out. He instead reiterated that the government’s focus was getting them out safely.
As plans continue to evolve, family members like Chanchal and Chaudhary have no choice but to wait. Both are already thinking of what will happen when their loved ones are out.
“When we take him home, we will then celebrate Diwali,” said Chanchal. “Because he was in the tunnel for Diwali. So we will do it again.”
Chaudhary however, just wants to take his son into his arms.
“I’ll hug him, God has fulfilled my prayers, everyone’s prayers have been answered. But I can only say this when he is out. But I will be happy, everyone will be happy. He should just come home.”
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MANILA: Two Chinese fighter jets were monitored “orbiting” a Philippine aircraft participating in patrols with Australia in the South China Sea but did not cause any untoward incident, Manila said on Sunday (Nov 26). The militaries of the Philippines and Australia carried out a second day of sea and airContinue Reading
PUBLISHED : 26 Nov 2023 at 16:44
Health authorities say there’s no need to panic over the rash of respiratory illnesses and lung inflammation in China, Vietnam and Thailand, saying they result from old pathogens that lay dormant during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Public Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew said the outbreak of respiratory diseases and lung inflammation among children in China were old diseases that subsided during the three-year Covid-19 pandemic.
Lung inflammation was rare during the pandemic, when people took good care of their health and practised social distancing, he said.
Describing the situation as one of seasonal illness, Dr Cholnan said he nevertheless had ordered health officials to prepare relevant measures to control it, especially in tourist provinces.
Meanwhile, Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Center of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, wrote on Facebook that respiratory illnesses were spreading among children in Beijing and Liaoning, with most patients suffering from high fever and lung inflammation.
The cases resulted from the seasonal spread of viruses, and no novel pathogens had been found. Therefore, people need not be worried, Dr Yong wrote.
Respiratory illnesses were also spreading among children in Vietnam, he added.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, there were effective measures to control respiratory illnesses. As a result, children during that time did not develop immunity to the illnesses – along with children born in the past three years – and thus the viruses were now spreading, Dr Yong wrote.
Thailand has also seen influenza, RSV and rhinovirus parainfluenza spreading among children, he wrote.
Such illnesses will gradually return to the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, he wrote.
PUBLISHED : 26 Nov 2023 at 16:22
Thailand has been ranked 8th, or “very low”, among Asean countries and 101st worldwide in the English Proficiency Index 2023 prepared by EF, a well-known English teaching institute with a worldwide network.
Thailand lags not only Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia but also VIetnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia in English-speaking ability, the index suggests.
The English Proficiency Index 2023 is based on test results of 2.2 million adults in 113 countries and regions. Thailand scored 416 and is ranked 101st among them.
EF has five levels of English proficiency – very high, high, moderate, low and very low.
In the Asean region, eight countries – all except Brunei, Laos and Timor-Leste – were included in the test.
Singapore, with a score of 631 or very high proficiency, is ranked 1st in Asean and 2nd out of the 113 countries and regions.
The Philippines is 2nd in Asean and 20th worldwide, with a score of 578 or high proficiency.
Malaysia is 3rd in Asean and 25th worldwide, with a score of 568 or high proficiency.
Vietnam, with a score of 505 or moderate proficiency, is 4th in Asean and 58th worldwide.
Indonesia is 5th in Asean and 79th worldwife, with a score of 473 or low proficiency, while Myanmar the 6th in Asean and 90th worldwide, with a score of 450 and low proficiency.
Myanmar is 6th in Asean and 90th worldwide, with a score of 450 or low proficiency.
Cambodia is 7th in Asean and 98th worldwide, with a score of 421 or very low proficiency, while Thailand is 8th in Asean and 101st worldwide, with a score of 416 or very low proficiency.
SILKYARA TUNNEL: India’s military brought in specialised equipment on Sunday (Nov 26) as efforts to free 41 trapped workers entered a third week, with digging ongoing in three directions after repeated setbacks to the operation. The Indian air force said on Sunday that they were “responding with alacrity”, as theyContinue Reading
BANGKOK: An ethnic minority armed group in Myanmar has seized control from the country’s ruling junta of a lucrative border crossing to China, local media and a security source said on Sunday (Nov 26). Clashes have raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan state, close to the Chinese border, after an armedContinue Reading
SEOUL: The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan meet in South Korea on Sunday (Nov 26), seeking to restart cooperation among the Asian neighbours and pave the way for a trilateral summit. While China and the United States have been mending frayed ties, including a summit this monthContinue Reading
Wulumuqi is the Mandarin name for the city of Urumqi. “When I saw so many people on that street, although I was mourning, in another way I felt safe,” she said, recalling the first night of the protests. “The atmosphere was sad, but also empowering.” TAKING ON THE REGIME ProtestsContinue Reading
