Rescuers work at the scene where a high-speed TGV train coach and engine carriage lie in a canal in Eckwersheim near Strasbourg, northeastern France, after derailing on November 14, 2015.
The train ended up under a bridge in the water of a roughly 40-metre (130-foot) wide canal. killing at least 10 people.
37 people were injured, 12 of them in critical condition while 5 others are missing.
This is the first fatal accident since 1981 when the TGV (“train grande vitesse” or high-speed train) went into service in France.
AFP reported that, the train was running at around 350 kph (217 mph) on a high-speed line as part of testing for the next generation of TGV due to go into service in spring 2016, a source close to the inquiry said.
AFP also reported that Dominique-Nicolas Jane, a senior official in the Alsace region said that the accident happened “because of excessive speed” at Eckwersheim in eastern France as technicians were on board for testing.
However, police said the cause of the crash had not been determined.
Please click the photos for larger images:
Rescuers work at a canal in Eckwersheim where a high-speed train has derailed on November 14, 2015 during a test run.
A high-speed train lies in a canal after derailing in Eckwersheim near Strasbourg, northeastern France, on November 14, 2015.
Rescuers work at the scene where a high-speed TGV train coach and engine carriage lie in a canal in Eckwersheim near Strasbourg, northeastern France, after derailing on November 14, 2015.
Distraught family members of passengers onboard the missing AirAsia flight. Source: AFP
(news,com.au) – DEBRIS and moer than 40 bodies from the missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 have been found, authorities have confirmed.
Indonesian officials said that debris spotted earlier today is from the missing plane. The debris is about 10 kilometres from when it was last seen on radar.
Indonesia’s director general of civil aviation, Djoko Murjatmodjo, told AFP: “For the time being it can be confirmed that it’s the AirAsia plane and the transport minister will depart soon to Pangkalan Bun.”
Objects that have been found include an emergency door and a life jacket while a plane ‘shadow’ was spotted on the seabed.
An Indonesian warship has recovered more than 40 bodies from the sea in the search for the AirAsia jet, a navy spokesman told AFP.
Indonesia’s national search and rescue director SB Supriyadi told reporters that bodies had been brought to an Indonesian navy ship. He said they did not have life jackets on.
As relatives of the passengers were assembled in a room in Surabaya, they watched images of a floating body that had been broadcast on local TV.
Many screamed and wailed uncontrollably, breaking down into tears while they squeezed each other. One middle-aged man collapsed and was rushed from the room on a stretcher.
Saksi mata mengatakan longsor seperti ‘dinding lumpur’
A landslide triggered by torrential rain has killed at least 18 people and left 90 others missing in Dusun Jemblung, Desa Sampang, Kabupaten Banjarnegara, in central Java (Jawa Tengah), Indonesia.
AFP reported that the landslide swept down a hillside in the village, sparing only two houses.
The ground was still unstable and most rescue work was being carried out manually.
Only two houses remain standing while the others were swept away by the disaster.
Jalan yang longsor di Banjarnegara yang membuat 5 desa terisolasi (Liputan6.com/Idhad Zakaria)
A rescue team searches for survivors and remove bodies after a landslide at Jemblung village in Banjarnegara, central Java province, on December 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Dida Nuswantara)
A rescue team carry away a cow after a landslide at Jemblung village in Banjarnegara, central Java province, on December 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Dida Nuswantara)
Below is the video of the handling over of the two MH17 black boxes from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to Malaysian team in Ukraine.
A Malaysian investigator, left, takes a black box from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it is handed over by a Donetsk People’s Republic official in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Tuesday, July 22, 2014. Bowing to international pressure Monday, pro-Moscow separatists released a train packed with bodies and handed over the black boxes from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane, four days after it plunged into rebel-held eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Five days after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was allegedly shot out of the sky, Malaysian government had succeeded to establish contact with those in charge of the MH17 crash site.
On July 22, 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister spoke to Alexander Borodai who is in command of the region where the tragedy occurred and established an agreement for Malaysia to recover the remains of the victims and the MH17 black boxes.
Malaysian officials received the two MH17 black boxes from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in Ukraine.
Members of the media take pictures as a pro-Russian separatist places black boxes belonging to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on a desk, before their handover to Malaysian representatives, in Donetsk July 22, 2014. The remains of some of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as senior Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai handed over the plane’s black boxes to Malaysian experts. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev
The black boxes, which record cockpit activity and flight data, were handed to Malaysian officials by the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, in front of journalists at the DPR government headquarters in Donetsk.
AFP reported Alexander Borodai as saying, “We will order a ceasefire in an area of 10 kilometres around” the site of the disaster, which killed all 298 people on board the plane.
The DPR leader Alexander Borodai thanked Malaysia and the Netherlands for sending teams here on Monday to resolve the MH17 matter:
“(Our) thanks to Malaysia and Netherlands for coming here without protection or help from Kiev (the Ukrainian government),” he said, according to a rough translation by a local – The Star.
The DPR and Malaysian officials later signed various documents at the handover ceremony .
A representative (seated L) from pro-Russian separatists and Colonel Mohamed Sakri (seated R) of the Malaysian National Security Council sign documents after the handing over of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17’s black boxes, in Donetsk July 22, 2014. The remains of some of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as Senior Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai (back L, in blue blazer) handed over the plane’s black boxes to Malaysian experts. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev
The Star reported that DPR produced a white sack containing the black boxes which were then inspected and accepted by the Malaysian officials.
A Malaysian expert (C) examines a black box belonging to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during its handover from pro-Russian separatists, in Donetsk July 22, 2014. The remains of some of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as Senior Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai handed over the plane’s black boxes to Malaysian experts. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev
Malaysian National Security Council’s Kol Mohd Shukri then thanked Alexander Borodai for handing the boxes back to Malaysia, saying:
“I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Borodai for giving us the opportunity and entertaining our special request to hand over the two black boxes to Malaysia.” – The Star.
DPR had released the remains of the victims which had been taken by train to the city of Kharkiv accompanied by six Malaysian members of the recovery team.
The train is expected to arrive in Kharkiv on Tuesday where the remains will be handed over to representatives from the Netherlands and later to be flown to Amsterdam on board a Dutch C130 Hercules, together with the Malaysian team.
Following any necessary forensic work, the remains of Malaysian citizens will then be flown home to Malaysia.
Please click the photos for larger images:
A pro-Russian fighter places a black box from the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on a table while handing it over from Donetsk People’s Republic officials to Malaysian representatives in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Tuesday, July 22, 2014. Bowing to international pressure Monday, pro-Moscow separatists released a train packed with bodies and handed over the black boxes from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane, four days after it plunged into rebel-held eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Senior Ukrainian separatist leader Aleksander Borodai (C) speaks during a handover of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17′s black boxes to Colonel Mohamed Sakri (centre R, in red) of the Malaysian National Security Council, in Donetsk July 22, 2014. The remains of some of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine were making their way to the Netherlands on Tuesday as Borodai handed over the plane’s black boxes to Malaysian experts.
The blobfish, a denizen of the Pacific has been voted as the unofficial world’s ugliest animal.
The winner was announced at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.
The grumpy-looking, gelatinous blobfish has won a public vote which was organised by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
As the winner, the blobfish is now the official mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
Biologist and TV presenter Simon Watt, president of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, said he hoped the campaign would draw attention to the threats facing these weird and wonderful creatures.
It is part of the campaign to raise awareness of unsightly species that play an important role in the ecological web.
A Swiss tourist stands on highway one, just outside the ash fallout zone in Kirkjubaejarklaustur May 22, 2011. REUTERS/Ingolfur Juliusson
Ash from an Icelandic volcano, the Grimsvotn volcano under the Vatnajokull glacier forced the cancellation of dozens of flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday.
Last year, ash from another Icelandic volcano caused 100,000 flights to be canceled, stranding 10 million passengers and costing the industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenue.
Norway’s airport operator said the ash cloud would cause some flight restrictions on its west coast on Tuesday and Denmark said a small area of its airspace would be closed.
Below are some of the flights affected as reported by REUTERS:
1. Ryanair cancelled 36 flights between Scotland and cities across Europe, was told by the Irish Aviation Authority not to operate flights to Scottish airports until at least 1 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT).
2. British Airways said it would not operate any flights between London and Scotland on Tuesday that arrived in Scotland before 8 a.m. EDT or departed from Scotland before that time.
3. Flybe, EasyJet and Aer Lingus all said they were cancelling some of their flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday.
4. KLM, part of Air France-KLM canceled 16 flights to and from four British cities scheduled for Tuesday. Fights to and from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle would be canceled on Tuesday morning, it said.
Europe’s air traffic control organization said that if the volcanic emissions continued at the same rate, the cloud could reach western French and northern Spanish airspace on Thursday.
Map locates Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland that has started erupting.
A plane flies past smoke plume from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Olafur Sigurjonsson
A cloud of smoke and ash is seen over the Grimsvoetn volcano on Iceland on May 21. (AFP/File)
Smoke plume rises from the eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland May 21, 2011. Airlines began cancelling flights to Britain late on Monday because of an ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano reaching its airspace, although experts expected no repeat of travel chaos from an eruption a year ago. Picture taken May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Olafur Sigurjonsson
Picture shows the growing ash plume from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, as its eruption begins May 21, 2011. REUTERS/Ingolfur Bruun
Sequence pictures of the volcano eruption
Sequence pictures of the volcano eruption
A cloud of smoke and ash is seen over the Grimsvoetn volcano on Iceland on May 21. A plume of ash from the erupting volcano is being blown south towards Britain and could reach the airspace over mainland Europe later in the week, meteorological experts said. (AFP)
At least 45 people were killed in the deadly storms and tornadoes in North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
A lot of people were injured during the 3 days disaster.
I am very sad and sorry for all the victims, their families and friends.
A tornado flattened most of this home in the LaGrange subdivision in Fayetteville near Fort Bragg Saturday April 16, 2011.A tornado flattened most of this home in the LaGrange subdivision, Saturday, April 16, 2011 in Fayetteville, N.C. Homes and businesses were badly damaged Saturday by a severe storm system that whipped across North Carolina, bringing flash floods, hail and reports of tornadoes from the western hills to the streets of Raleigh. (AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, James Robinson) .A Lowes employee takes a picture outside a storm-damaged Lowes Home Improvement store after a tornado in Sanford, North Carolina, April 17, 2011. REUTERS/Chris Keane Family and friends sort through debris from a tornado that swept through the area Saturday night in Gloucester, Va., Sunday, April 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)FILE - Only stairs and flowers remain Saturday, April 16, 2011 after severe winds tore a mobile home off its lot late Friday night in Boones Chapel, Ala., in Autauga County. Vicious storms and howling winds smacked the Deep South, killing at least seven people in Alabama including three family members whose homes were tossed into nearby woods. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Amanda Sowards)Part of a mobile home is turned over in a field of debris after a possible tornado in Autauga County hit late Friday night, April 15, 2011. Three people were killed and several homes destroyed. (Montgomery Advertiser, Amanda Sowards)Two mobile homes in Autauga County are destroyed and three are dead after a tornado hit late Friday night, April 15, 2011. (Montgomery Advertiser, Amanda Sowards)Emergency personnel enters Lowes Home Improvement after it was hit by a tornado in Sanford, N.C., Saturday, April 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)A destroyed desk sits among the rubble at Page Middle School in Gloucester, Virginia. The trail of destruction began on Thursday evening in Oklahoma, where a giant twister almost wiped out the small town of Tushka -- population 350 -- tearing up most of its homes and businesses and killing two elderly residents. (AFP//Getty Images/Jay Paul)
A boat lies in a street after being washed inshore by the recent tsunami in Ishonomaki, Japan in the wake of the Macrh 11 earthquake and tsunami. (AFP/Philippe Lopez) Police officers carry the body of a victim at Friday's earthquake and tsunami devastated area Wednesday March 16, 2011, in Rikuzentakata, Miyagi, northern Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCEDestroyed cars are seen at a factory area devastated by earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northern Japan, March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Smoke rises from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in this still image from video footage March 14, 2011. REUTERS/NTV via Reuters TV
A Japanese rescue team member walks through the completely leveled village of Saito, in northeastern Japan, Monday March 14, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
A women walks past a tsunami collapsed building in Ishonomaki, Miyagi prefecture. Explosions and a fire at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant unleashed dangerous levels of radiation on Tuesday, sparking a collapse on the stock market and panic-buying in supermarkets.« Read less (AFP/Philippe Lopez) Soldiers and a rescue worker carry the body of a resident through Kesennuma City on March 15, 2011, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.« Read less REUTERS/Adrees Latif (JAPAN - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT IMAGES OF THE DAY) An aerial picture shows the devastated city of Minamisanriku, in Miyagi Prefecture, northeast Japan. (AFP/Noboru Hashimoto) Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members search for the victims of Friday's tsunami in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011, three days after a massive earthquake and the ensuing tsunami hit the country's east coast. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCEDebris littering Onagawa town in Miyagi prefecture at dawn. A new explosion at a stricken nuclear power plant hit Japan Monday as it raced to avert a reactor meltdown after a quake-tsunami disaster that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.« Read less (AFP/JIJI PRESS) This aerial shot shows a pleasure boat sitting on top of a building amid a sea of debris in Otsuchi, in Iwate prefecture. (AFP/Yomiuri Shimbun)
Cairo's historic Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai mosques are engulfed with smoke from a nearby fire at a police station which was set ablaze during massive protests by Egyptians demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The United States said Friday that the political unrest in Egypt "is of deep concern. (AFP Marco Longari) CAIRO, Jan. 29, 2011 (Xinhua) — Demonstrators climb up to armed vehicles after clashes calmed down at Square Tahrir in Cairo, capital of Egypt, early on Jan. 29, 2011. Dozens of tanks entered the Square, while protestors welcomed the army and waved to the soldiers standing on tanks. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)
Smoke is seen above the city of Cairo after wide-spread protests early January 29, 2011. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused on Saturday to bow to demands that he resign after ordering troops and tanks into cities in an attempt to quell an explosion of street protests against his 30-year rule. REUTERS/Amr Dalsh A protester looks at a burnt Egyptian Army armoured vehicle in downtown Cairo January 28, 2011. (REUTERS Goran Tomasevic) An Egyptian Army armored personnel carrier is surrounded by anti-government protesters near Tahrir square in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)Egyptians gather around the burning headquarters of the ruling National Democratic party (NDP) in central Cairo. Egypt's embattled President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday addressed the nation for the first time since deadly protests erupted against his regime, vowing reform but showing no sign of relaxing his decades-old grip on power. (AFP Khaled Desouki) Egyptians demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, march in Cairo. US President Barack Obama on Friday called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to take concrete steps towards political reform, and to refrain from using violence against protesters. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)
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