Flash floods
Roads are flooded after heavy rains in Lahore, Pakistan on September 5. At least 73 people were killed across Pakistan after heavy rains brought flash floods in the Punjab and Kashmir regions, government officials said on September 5. — Reuters
Crash carnage
No survivors found
Bogota — Colombian authorities said there was little chance of finding survivors after a small plane with 10 people on board crashed in the Amazon jungle.
The aircraft took off from Araracuara Airport in the country’s south at around 3 pm on September 7. It lost contact with air traffic control as it went over the town of Florencia.
“The aircraft wreckage was located 10 kilometres from the town of Puerto Santander, but it is possible that no passengers will be found,” a Civil Aviation Authority official said. — AFP
Fatal accident
Ladies’ Code members die
Seoul — A second member of the South Korean band Ladies’ Code has died from injuries sustained from a motor accident. Kwon Ri-sae, 23, died on September 7 at a hospital in Suwon, the band’s management agency said.
She had been unconscious since undergoing emergency brain surgery immediately following the accident on September 3.
Fellow band member Go Eun-bi died shortly after the van carrying the group crashed into a guard rail on a rain-drenched highway near Seoul. — AP
Danger zone
A local man puts out the fire at his burning house after shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine on September 7. Strong explosions were heard on September 7 on the outskirts of the main rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine near the airport. — AP
Road kill
Truck hits roadside butchers
South Africa — Eight South Africans were killed when a pickup truck crashed into a crowd of people butchering a dead hippopotamus for meat, police said on September 7.
The hippo had been hit and killed by a truck on the evening of September 6 in the northern province of Limpopo, attracting people from nearby villages intent on getting meat from the dead animal. They were then hit by a pickup truck whose driver failed to spot them in the dark, police said. — DPA
Dogs culled
Action taken against rabies
Beijing — Chinese authorities culled 5,000 dogs in one city to contain a rabies outbreak in the southwestern Yunnan province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on September 7.
Five human deaths linked to the disease have been reported in the city of Baoshan, where 100,000 dogs have also been vaccinated. The government urged local authorities to cull stray dogs. Animal rights activists oppose the practice and call for sterilising and vaccinating dogs instead of killing them. — DPA
Capital punishment
Rapists sentenced to death
Kabul — An Afghan judge on September 7 sentenced seven men to death for the gang-rape of four women in a case that sparked nationwide outrage.
The seven men were found guilty of kidnapping and attacking the female members of a group that was driving into Kabul from a wedding on August 23. In a trial that lasted only a few hours, the death sentences were handed down for the crime of armed robbery. President Hamid Karzai had earlier called for the men to be hanged. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Highway horror
Three killed in crash
Manila — A bus fell into a ravine in the Philippines. It happened on September 7. Police said that three people were killed and 40 were injured. The accident happened in Quezon province, 100 kilometres south of Manila. — DPA
Exercises
1. Why were 5,000 dogs culled in China?
a. Because the dogs were vaccinated.
b. To sterilise the streets.
c. To contain a rabies outbreak.
2. What animal were the South Africans butchering when they were hit by a truck?
3. What illness did the 24-year-old Guinean woman have?
a. Ebola.
b. Malaria.
c. Influenza.
Vocabulary
- rebel (n): a person who fights against the government of their country
wreckage (n): the parts of a vehicle, building, etc. that remain after it has been badly damaged
ravine (n): a deep, narrow valley with steep sides
butcher (v): to kill animals and cut them up for meat
cull (v): to kill a particular number of animals of a group in order to prevent the group from getting too large
rabies (n): a disease of dogs and other animals that causes madness and death
vaccinate (v): to give a person or an animal a vaccine on order to protect them against a disease
sterilise (v): to make a person or an animal unable to have babies
