Plane crashes nose-down, bursts into fireball at London airport: 4 dead
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One of the victims was a flight nurse, Ms Ortiz, 31. “She was so excited for this new job,” her friend said, “She had a giving heart and was humble, and chose a profession that reflected that.” It was the first day of her new job.
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LONDON, July 14: A small aircraft crashed moments after takeoff at London Southend
airport, claiming the lives of all four people on board, on Sunday afternoon.
Witnesses saw a "huge fireball" after the plane crashed.
The victims, believed to be foreign nationals, included two Dutch pilots and
two nurses—one reportedly Chilean—who were part of a medical transport mission.
The plane had dropped off a patient at Southend, and was due to return to its
base in the Netherlands. It belonged to a medical evacuations transport firm.
The plane had dropped off a patient at Southend, and was due to return to its
base in Lelystad in the Netherlands when tragedy struck. The aircraft, a Beechcraft
B200 Super King Air operated by Dutch company Zeusch Aviation, had earlier flown
from Athens to Pula, Croatia, before arriving at Southend.
Moments after the plane took off it began banking sharply to the left. Within
seconds, it inverted mid-air and nose-dived into the ground, erupting into a
massive fireball.
John Johnson, who was at the airport with his family, said, “We all waved at
the pilots, and they waved back. Then the aircraft powered down the runway,
took off, and almost immediately banked hard left before crashing head-first.
There was a huge fireball”.
Another witness, watching from a nearby hotel, said the plane “kicked to the
left” around 50 metres into its ascent and then abruptly descended, bursting
into flames upon impact.
Emergency services responded swiftly, with fire engines, ambulances and police
rushing to the scene. The crash occurred within the airport boundary, prompting
authorities to evacuate nearby facilities including a golf club and rugby club
as a precaution.
Airport remains closed
The airport remains closed until further notice, with several flights cancelled
or diverted. Passengers were advised to contact their airlines for updates.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has deployed a multi-disciplinary
team to examine the crash site. Investigators are focusing on aircraft operations,
human factors, engineering, and recorded data.
Lisa Fitzsimons, principal investigator at the AAIB, stated, “It is too early
to speculate on what may have caused this tragic accident. Our focus is on gathering
physical evidence and interviewing witnesses”.
Essex Police are trying to identify the victims and have set up a dedicated
portal for information related to the crash. Maria Fernanda Rojaz Ortiz, 31,
a German citizen born in Chile, has been is named as one of the four victims.
She was reportedly on her first day as a flight nurse on board.
Local MP David Burton-Sampson expressed his condolences and urged the public
to avoid the area to allow emergency services to operate unhindered. Transport
Secretary Heidi Alexander also called the incident “tragic.”
Zeusch Aviation released a statement saying, “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies
are with the victims, their families, and loved ones during this incredibly
difficult time”. It specialises in medical evacuations.
Where is Southend airport: The Southend airport is 70 km east of London.
Used for short-haul flights, it is an international airport situated on the
outskirts of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. The airport straddles the boundaries
between the city of Southend-on-Sea and the Rochford District.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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