[Times of India video] A bridge for a subway line, under construction in Delhi, India, has collapsed, killing five workers. A pillar supporting part of the bridge gave way. At least 16 people were injured in the accident. Al Jazeera
video, Times of India
Update 2, 21:10 Saas-Fee and Bourg-St-Pierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four people have died in Valais in climbing accidents over the weekend of 11-12 July. A 47-year-old Italian climber fell more than 300 metres to his death from a cliff at about 3,300 metres altitude shortly after leaving the Mischabels hut near Saas-Fee early Sunday afternoon 12 July. He was part of a group of four Italian climbers.
Allinges, France (Dauphiné Libéré, Fre) – Seven young students were killed and 25 injured a year ago when a TER train travelling from Evian, France to Geneva’s Eaux-Vives station smashed into a school bus at a level-crossing near Allinges, Haute-Savoie. Judicial authorities organized a reconstruction of the events today, 16 June, by driving the train out of the tunnel 125m from the crossing. Tuesday’s test confirmed that traveling at the legal 93km/hour, the train driver wouldn’t have had the time to avoid hitting the bus. Most family members were present this morning, along with police, judges and lawyers.
Updated 10:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two UN employees were killed Tuesday night 9 June in a bomb blast that killed 16 and demolished the five-star Hotel Pearl Continental in Peshawar, capital of Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan. One, a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) employee from Serbia, was on mission in Peshawar. Aleksandar Vorkapic, an information technology specialist in the UNHCR office in Belgrade was on his first emergency mission for the organization, the UNHCR office in Geneva announced Wednesday morning. He leaves a wife and three children.
The other death, a woman who is a Philippines citizen, was working for the World Food Programme, a spokesperson at the UNHCR office in Peshawar has told GenevaLunch. Several other UNHCR employees who were staying at the Pearl Continental Hotel have been evacuated to Islamabad, the spokesperson says. The Geneva office of UNHCR cites news reports as saying a Unicef staff person has died.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 16-month-old girl from Bern was hit by a car Sunday and died after being taken to hospital, Geneva police say. Her grandfather was watching the child at the time of the accident, which happened on a private drive off the Route de Thonon. The 43-year-old driver of the car, from Geneva, had stopped to talk to the grandfather and didn’t see the child in front of the car as she began to drive off.
Yvorne, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A nine-year-old died at the scene of an accident Saturday afternoon on the A9 autoroute next to the rest stop near Yvorne. The driver of a van was heading towards Lausanne and moved from the left lane into the right when she was startled by a motorcycle coming back onto the autoroute from the emergency lane, according to Vaud police.
Susan Tsvangirai, the wife of Zimbabwe’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was dead at the scene of a crash that has put her husband in hospital in “stable” condition. The pair were traveling to a rally 60km from the capital, Harare, reports Al Jazeera, when they were hit by a “haulage truck” whose driver appears to have fallen asleep at the wheel. The couple were married for 31 years and have six children, says the wire service. The BBC notes that traffic accidents are common in Zimbabwe, where vehicles are often in poor shape and speeding and drink driving are common.
