IN BRIEF (Page 8)

India

43 dead, 35 injured as bus falls into gorge

The death toll has risen to 43 as a bus fell into a gorge in India's Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, while 35 others were injured, official said. The accident took place at around 4 pm local time in the mountainous Banjar area of Kullu district, about 168 kilometers north of Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. Kullu Police Superintendent Shalini Agnihotri said all the bodies have been retrieved from the 500-meter gorge and rescue work was completed. According to him, the private bus on an inter-district route was carrying local passengers from Banjar to Gadagushani area in Kullu. "Since it was a bus on a local route, all the victims might be locals," he said.

Indonesia

At least 30 killed in match factory fire

At least 30 people, including children, were killed in a fire that swept through a house that doubled as a match factory in Indonesia's North Sumatra Province, a disaster official said on Friday. Irwan Syahri, from the local disaster mitigation agency in Langkat district, said the dead included three children. He said many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. TV footage showed the burned-out structure, its floor littered with twisted metal, blackened corrugated iron roofing and other debris.

Mexico

$1 flights offered to return migrants

A Mexican airline is offering $1 flights to undocumented migrants wishing to return to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Guatemala as the country struggles to curb arrivals from Central America. The Reuniting Families program, announced by Volaris on Thursday, aims to "assist in the repatriation of migrants", the airline said on its social media account. The offer will run until June 30 and is open to Central Americans in an "irregular migration situation" who wish to depart from airports in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarezboth close to the US border - or Guadalajara and Mexico City. Passengers must be willing to board "the next available seat" in order to take advantage of the ultracheap fare, which does not include taxes.

United States

Fire rips through Philadelphia refinery

Firefighters were battling a massive fire on Friday at Philadelphia Energy Solutions' refinery in Philadelphia, a blaze that has resulted in no significant injuries, the company said. The fire broke out at the Girard Point section of the 335,000-barrels-per-day refinery early in the day, the company said. News of the explosive caused gasoline futures traded on the NYMEX to spike 3.4 percent. The plant is the largest and oldest oil refinery on the US East Coast, where there has been a plant on site since 1870. Energy intelligence provider Genscape reported the fire had shut the crude section at Girard Point. A major explosion occurred at an alkylation unit in the refinery, a source familiar with plant operations said. A refinery worker who was at the plant when the fire broke out said: "It was the worst I've ever experienced. It looked like a nuclear bomb went off. I thought we were all going to die."

Xinhua - AP - Reuters

(China Daily 06/22/2019 page8)