30 students await rescue in Kumrat Valley

UPPER DIR: Around 30 students await rescue while being trapped  in Kumrat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Upper Dir District due to continuous rains and flooding, as per reports received by Geo News on Friday.
The students, which include both females and males, have requested the government for safe evacuation. Speaking to Geo News, one of the female students said that they belong to different areas of Punjab  and have trouble speaking because of the cold weather. "We are sleeping on a wet floor and there is nothing here to eat or drink," she said, informing to have contacted concerned authorities. However, the students have not been approached by anyone so far. Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah said that food and tents have been provided to the students who are stranded. He added that the students will be evacuated safely as soon as the weather gets better.

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— Thumbnail image: Screengrab/Geo.tv

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Breaking News Live Updates - 20 August 2022: Cloudburst Hits Uttarakhand's Dehradun, SDRF Deployed for Rescue Ops

FOR 20th August 2022

By News18/ Updated: August 20, 2022, 05:55 IST

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France launches ambitious rescue mission for trapped beluga in Seine River

PARIS 

French authorities on Tuesday will move ahead with an ambitious rescue mission for the beluga whale that has been trapped in the Seine River for a week now, local media reported.

The animal swam upstream from the English Channel after having wandered far from its pod, Franceinfo reported.

Reports from experts suggest that the whale was alert but had not eaten for days.

Sea Shepherd France, a non-profit group working for the protection of the oceans, has been keeping watch by boat over the whale for the last week.

The group will attempt to extract the whale from the water assisted by local police, fire fighters and other officials.

The plan is to catch the beluga in a net, lift him by a crane, and place him in a truck at which point he will be transported to another seawater location for a few days to be examined and cared for, then released back into the sea.

The whale is, however, presently 130 kilometers (80.77 miles) from any coast.

Tricky operation

What makes the operation harder is that there is no vehicle accessibility on the banks of the river where the whale is.

Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, told Franceinfo the rescue operation will be “particularly sensitive and heavy in logistics.”

She acknowledged the urgent need to feed the whale and get him hydrated.

“We have two former whale keepers with us, but it’s unclear how the beluga will react. Feeding a cetacean in captivity is one thing, it’s another with a wild animal,” Essemlali added.

In a tweet on Friday, Sea Shepherd said: “The animal is extremely emaciated.”

Attempts to feed him have been made over the last week, with dead herring, then live trout, even vitamin substances tossed into the water, but the beluga has not consumed anything, the non-profit group added.

Belugas are found most near the Svalbard archipelago, a cluster of islands between Norway and the North Pole or in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada.

Health hazard

The warmer temperatures of the Seine are harmful to the beluga's health. So is swimming in freshwater.

The operation also must be carried out, authorities say, as quickly as possible to sustain the whale’s life.

Despite plans for the very risky operation and the whale’s precarious state, Gerard Mauger, vice-president of the Cotentin Cetacean Study Group (GECC), told Franceinfo the beluga “is a well-toned animal, which spends very little time on the surface and performs long apneas” a temporary suspension of breathing in which the whale is submerged.

The deep dives, Mauger said, are a sign that his lung capacity “remains good.”

Mauger added, however, that catching the whale will be tricky.

“Even trying to approach him very carefully, it’s difficult. He makes a lot of changes of direction,” he added.

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Source https://www.globalcourant.com/france-launches-ambitious-rescue-mission-for-trapped-beluga-in-seine-river/?feed_id=8781&_unique_id=62f2bffe7362f

Families fret as Mexico battles to rescue trapped miners

Scores of rescuers race against time to save 10 workers trapped in a flooded coal mine as desperate relatives watch rescue efforts at the site in the northern Coahuila state.

Soldiers, emergency workers and rescue dogs were deployed after the latest disaster to strike Mexico's main coal-producing region. (Reuters)

Families have grown increasingly anxious as they awaited word from rescue teams tasked with descending a flooded coal mine in northern Mexico to rescue 10 workers nearly 24 hours after an accident confined the crew deep underground.

The miners became trapped on Wednesday after their excavation work caused a tunnel wall to collapse, triggering flooding in three wells.

Mexico's Civil Protection agency did not immediately respond on Thursday when asked about efforts to pump out the water, and if levels were rising.

Its director, Laura Velazquez, said earlier on Thursday that time was everything, and several hundred officials were "working day and night" to assist with the rescue.

Soldiers, emergency workers and rescue dogs were deployed after the latest disaster to strike Mexico's main coal-producing region in Coahuila state, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

"What I want with all my soul is that we rescue the miners," he told reporters.

"We must not lose faith. We must not lose hope," he added.

Relatives of the miners have been waiting for news outside the facility of the coal mine where a shaft collapsed, leaving the miners trapped. (Reuters)

'I want my husband to come out all right'

Families keeping vigil remained on edge.

Erika Escobedo, the wife of one of the trapped miners, 29-year-old Hugo Tijerina, told the Reuters news agency she spent all night watching rescue efforts at the site in the northern border state of Coahuila.

"They say the water is rising," she said, describing bigger water extraction pumps she saw hauled to the site.

"I want my husband to come out all right," said Escobedo, her voice breaking in a phone interview from the site, as she watched rescuers bore another tunnel to try to reach the miners.

For now, she has told her three children not to worry about their father and that he will come home okay.

"Unfortunately, there's not much hope," Jose Luis Amaya, whose cousin and brother-in-law was among those trapped, told Milenio TV on Wednesday night.

Five other miners escaped the accident. They all received medical treatment, and two have been discharged from the hospital.

Still, Elizabeth Vielma, the mother of three men who work at the site but were not involved in Wednesday's accident, said she worried about conditions there.

"They just give them the drills and send them down," she said.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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