At least 37 killed and 18 hurt in Cameroon bus crash
Nemale: At least 37 people have died and 18 others were seriously injured after a bus crash in Cameroon.
A 70-seater bus was on its way to the capital, Yaounde, from the western town of Foumban when it crashed into a truck while trying to avoid a crowd of people on the road at around 2am on Sunday, a senior government official said.
“Most of the travellers were either going to spend New Year’s Day with their families, returning from Christmas Day festivities or were business people supplying gifts for New Year’s feasts,” he said.
Residents of the village of Nemale ran to the road to help the 60 passengers who were on the bus.
The death toll is likely to rise as rescue workers comb through the wreckage, the official said.
Tehran: A series of avalanches in Iran have killed 10 people in a mountainous area north of the capital.
State TV said rescue teams were searching for a number of missing people after the avalanches struck in four different areas. TV broadcast footage of emergency crews using a helicopter to search for those missing and injured.
The incidents happened after strong winds and snowfall. The Alborz mountain range where the avalanches struck is popular on weekends for its hiking and climbing.
Deadly avalanches are a rare phenomenon in Iran. In 2017, two avalanches killed 11 hikers.
Kaiyuan: At least seven people have been killed and another seven injured in a knife attack in China.
It happened in the city of Kaiyuan in Liaoning province outside a sauna and bathhouse. The suspect, identified by the media by his surname Yang, was arrested. The motive for the attack was not known.
Chinese law restricts the sale and possession of firearms, and mass attacks are generally carried out with knives or homemade explosives.
In earlier attacks, a school security guard wielding a knife injured at least 39 people at a nursery in the southern region of Guangxi in June this year.
The culprit was sentenced to death.
In 2018, a man killed one and injured 12 in a knife attack at a shopping centre in Beijing.
Tokyo: Japan is barring entry of all non-resident foreign nationals as a precaution against the new coronavirus variant that has spread across the UK.
The Foreign Ministry says the entry ban will start today and last until the end of January.
Last week, Japan banned non-resident foreigners coming from Britain and South Africa after confirming the new variant in seven people over the last two days - five from Britain who tested positive at airports and two others in Tokyo.
Japan is also suspending the exemption of a 14-day quarantine for Japanese nationals and resident foreigners in a short-track program that began in November.
The entrants now must carry proof of a negative test 72 hours prior to departure for Japan and self-isolate for two weeks after arrival.
Japan is struggling with surging cases since last month.
It has confirmed a total of 217,312 cases including 3,213 deaths, up 3,700 from the previous 24-hour period. Tokyo alone reported 949 cases, setting a new record.