KATMANDU: A powerful earthquake struck Nepal and sent tremors through northern India on Saturday, killing over 1,450 people, touching off a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest and toppling a 19th-century tower in the capital Katmandu.
There were reports of devastation in outlying, isolated areas after the midday quake of magnitude 7.9, centered 80 km east of Pokhara.
An overwhelmed government appealed for foreign help. India was first to respond by sending in military aircraft with medical equipment.
Katmandu confirmed that the latest death toll had reached 1,457 and will continue to rise.
A further 36 fatalities were reported in northern India, 12 in Chinese Tibet and four in Bangladesh.
The quake was more destructive for being shallow, toppling buildings, opening gaping cracks in roads and sending people scurrying into the open as aftershocks rattled homes.
An Indian Army mountaineering team found 18 bodies on Mount Everest, where an avalanche unleashed by the earthquake swept through the base camp.
Among the Katmandu landmarks destroyed by the quake was the 60-meter-high Dharahara Tower, built in 1832 for the queen of Nepal.
A jagged stump just 10 meters high was all that was left of the lighthouse-like structure. As bodies were pulled out of the ruins, a policeman said up to 200 people had been trapped inside.
Rescuers scrabbled through the rubble of destroyed buildings, among them ancient, wooden Hindu temples.
The tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi and other cities in northern India, with reports that they had lasted up to a minute.
As night fell, thousands of scared residents continued to camp out in parks and compounds. Meteorologists forecast rain and thunderstorms for Saturday night and Sunday.
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1,450 dead ... and counting
1,450 dead ... and counting
More than 150 Palestinians were held on a plane for around 12 hours in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG: South African authorities faced heavy criticism Friday after they held more than 150 Palestinians, including a woman who is nine months pregnant, on a plane for around 12 hours due to complications with their travel documents.
A pastor who was allowed to meet with the passengers while they were still stuck on the plane said it was very extremely and that children were screaming and crying.
The Palestinians landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, South Africa’s Border Management Authority said in a statement.
The Palestinian passengers did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and had not given local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry, the statement said.
The 153 passengers including families and children were allowed to leave the plane on Thursday night after South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs intervened and a local non-governmental organization called Gift of the Givers offered to accommodate them. The Border Management Authority said 23 passengers had since traveled on to other countries, leaving 130 in South Africa.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks and that the passengers themselves did not know where they were going. He said both planes were believed to be carrying people from war-torn Gaza.
It was not immediately clear who organized the charter plane.
A South African pastor who was given access to the plane while it was on the tarmac told national broadcaster SABC that many of the Palestinians now intended to claim asylum in South Africa.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and the treatment of the travelers has sparked anger.
“It’s dire,” Nigel Branken, the pastor, said in an interview with SABC on Thursday from the plane as he described the conditions. “When I came onto the plane it was excruciatingly hot. There were lots of children just sweating and screaming and crying.”
“I do not believe this is what South Africa is about. South Africa should be letting these people into the airport at the very least and letting them apply for asylum. This is their basic fundamental right guaranteed in our constitution.”
A pastor who was allowed to meet with the passengers while they were still stuck on the plane said it was very extremely and that children were screaming and crying.
The Palestinians landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, South Africa’s Border Management Authority said in a statement.
The Palestinian passengers did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and had not given local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry, the statement said.
The 153 passengers including families and children were allowed to leave the plane on Thursday night after South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs intervened and a local non-governmental organization called Gift of the Givers offered to accommodate them. The Border Management Authority said 23 passengers had since traveled on to other countries, leaving 130 in South Africa.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks and that the passengers themselves did not know where they were going. He said both planes were believed to be carrying people from war-torn Gaza.
It was not immediately clear who organized the charter plane.
A South African pastor who was given access to the plane while it was on the tarmac told national broadcaster SABC that many of the Palestinians now intended to claim asylum in South Africa.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and the treatment of the travelers has sparked anger.
“It’s dire,” Nigel Branken, the pastor, said in an interview with SABC on Thursday from the plane as he described the conditions. “When I came onto the plane it was excruciatingly hot. There were lots of children just sweating and screaming and crying.”
“I do not believe this is what South Africa is about. South Africa should be letting these people into the airport at the very least and letting them apply for asylum. This is their basic fundamental right guaranteed in our constitution.”
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