getting under the train - escape without a scratch ... cellphone speaking !!

Volumes are being written on the ‘cell phone speaking’ madness of people – while on road, walking, driving and unconcerned of whatever is happening around them.  The other day, the vehicle driver halted hurriedly as a man with ears plugged crossed the road unmindful of the passing vehicles. More than couple yelled and shouted expletives in anger – yet, the man crossed unhurriedly virtually not knowing that he was the centre of distraction ! – such things are not rare and are becoming daily routine in many places. Worse is the railway crossings at suburbs – people cross the track not caring to look before you cross, engrossed in talking  or listening to music.  There have been accidents, some have lost their lives too….yet, nobody listens.

The other day, when a biker almost rammed on to a girl crossing the road speaking on a telephone – she replied – ‘it was an important call, and I had to take’ !!  In July 2011 I had posted the luck of a young software professional who went under a suburban train – despite six compartment rakes passing over her at Saidapet, she escaped without bruises.   It was reported that in noon, at the the platform, her bag fell on the floor and in bending to pick up with one hand (with the other she was till talking on mobile), she slipped and fell on the track – Tambaram bound EMU ran over her – but she could lie flatly on the track and escaped unhurt.  Seemingly unbelievable but true story…..

Now a very similar one – this time off an Italian teen ager as reported in mail online on 14^th Oct 2014.   If you've ever wondered whether you can lie beneath a train and let it rumble over you, here is your answer. An Italian teenager filmed himself lying down between the rails of tracks in Perugia, Umbria, as a diesel train hurtled over him at high speed. He then stood up and, clearly in the throes of an adrenaline rush, raised both arms in triumph and punched the air.

 The teenager's name is not known, and it is not known if he faced any consequences for his plainly illegal stunt. His brazen attitude towards the potential lethal situation is remarkable. It was not even an accident as it is reported that he laid down on the  track mere seconds before the train hurtled past, flicking his hands in a 'come on' gesture.  What do you say of such people ? – misplaced adventurism !!

In another incident an incredible moment was captured at the Grand National Cross Country event in Ohio – when a man who was about to be struck by crashing motocross rider jumped over bike and carried on talking on his cellphone like nothing happened.  Footage of the event posted on Facebook showed the driver making a jump and then landing on the other side of a creek bank, where they begin to slide on the wet mud. The busy man was shown stumbling  after the jump but quickly putting  himself together and continuing to talk on the phone without so much as a 'phew'.

Strange are the ways of people

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

Calamitous air tragedy - mourning the death

 

The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words.  

 

A London-bound Boeing Dreamliner operated by Air India,AI 171 carrying 242 people, crashed shortly after taking off near the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday in potentially one of the deadliest air disasters in the country in nearly three decades.  The Air India aircraft crashed into residential quarters of BJ Medical College doctors in Ahmedabad's Meghaninagar area. According to reports, there's only one survivor from the incident. 

The aircraft departed from Ahmedabad at 1:39 pm from runway 23. It crashed in just five minutes after take off, according to details shared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The Air India flight, a Boeing Dreamliner, was bound for London and the incident took place shortly after takeoff at the Ahmedabad airport.  According to X post of Air India -  the plane Boeing 787-8 aircraft was carrying  242 passengers and crew members on board - 169 were Indian nationals and was  under the command of Capt Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kunder. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to investigate the Air India plane crash incident. 

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi grieved the loss, spoke to Home Minister and CM and other officials instructing them  to ensure all possible assistance to those affected.  It is reported that Ex CM of Gujarat Sri Vijaybhai Rupani was among those on board who lost their lives.  The lone survivor identified as Ramesh Vishwaskumar Bucharvada, reportedly jumped from the aircraft at the last moment. In one of the many videos of the Ahmedabad plane crash doing the rounds on social media, the injured surviving passenger was seen walking after rescuing himself from the mishap. 

It is indeed tragic and the pain is calamitous and heartrending. 

There are hundreds of flights taking off and landing at every major airport these days.  The first aircraft accident in which 200 or more people died occurred on March 3, 1974, when 346 died in the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981. As of July 2025, there have been a total of 34 aviation incidents in which 200 or more people have died.  The most fatalities on board a single aircraft are the 520 fatalities of the 1985 Japan Air Lines Flight 123 accident. The largest loss of life in a single aviation accident are the 583 fatalities of the 1977 Tenerife airport disaster, in which two Boeing 747s collided.   

Back in June 23, 1985 - Air India Flight 182 en route from Toronto and Montreal to London and Delhi, crashed off the southwest coast of Ireland when a bomb exploded in the cargo hold. All 307 passengers and 22 crew members died. 

 

Air India is the flag carrier of India   owned by the Tata Group (74.9%) and Singapore Airlines (25.1%). As of November 2024, the airline serves 102 domestic and international destinations operating a variety of Airbus and Boeing aircraft and is the second-largest airline in India in terms of passengers carried.    Founded in 1932 as Tata Airlines by J. R. D. Tata, Tata himself flew its first single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth, carrying air mail from Karachi to Bombay's Juhu aerodrome and later continuing to Madras (currently Chennai).   

Money value does not count when hundreds of human lives have been lost yet this would impact Insurance in a big way too… .. there will be Aviation policy covering the Hull, passengers, liability and more.  However, it is most likely to be a program aka consortium and not a single Insurer with heavy reinsurance protection of likely 95% of the risk.  The Hull being declared a total loss could end up anywhere between 700 to 1000 crore depending on age-adjusted insurable value. 

Every Air Carrier owe liability to their passengers.   Under the Montreal Convention - Article 17 — Death and Injury of Passengers —  The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.   T is 100000 SDR (Special Drawing rights)    - value being derived from a basket of five international currencies—the US dollar, the euro, the Chinese renminbi, the Japanese yen, and the British pound sterling. One SDR is valued at Rs 120 approx and hence liability per passenger could be around 1.8 crores approx.  

Leaving all that aside, in this hour of mass tragedy, let us pray for those who lost their lives.  

 
A sad day indeed
 
-      S. Sampathkumar
-      12.6.2025

Aircraft identification No. - clairvoyance - and Airlines changes No..

TAM Airlines operates in Brazil. The company is currently the largest Brazilian airline by market share and fleet size.  Just as the Transport corporation buses have Nos.. eg., 21H runs on OMR passing Karapakkam …. it originates at Broadway and winds its way  through Kamarajar Salai; LB Road; OMR for Kelambakkam with scheduled time of 85 minutes for the 21 stops in between  … akin to route No. in MTC and IMO in Ships,  there is IATA codes.  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines. It represents some 240 airlines or more than 84% of total air traffic.  IATA airline designators are used to identify an airline for commercial purposes in reservations, timetables, tickets, tariffs, air waybills and in telecommunications.

The term clairvoyance (from French clair meaning "clear" and voyance meaning "vision")  refers  to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known senses, i.e., a form of extrasensory perception.  Premonition is the  feeling or belief that something is going to happen when there is no definite reason to believe it will.. then there is ESP (Extrasensory perception)  that involves reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. Foretelling the future is a complicated subject !

Nooravathu Naal (Hundredth Day) directed by Manivannan starring Mohan, Vijayakant, Nalini and Sathyaraj was released in 1984 ….the suspense thriller was of a psychopath who abducts young women and kills them.  In the film, they will see a weekly magazine with a cover photo of horse (much before the release of the magazine) and sooner the same will hit the stands ….more  such premonitions would follow ……… including killings..  In the 1990s, Malayalam films of Mammootty, Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi had good run in Chennai, especially in Saffire theatre… ‘Iyer the Great; was one such psychological thriller directed by Bhadran, starring Mammootty & Geetha.  The storyline was on ‘ESP’…..it was about Vaikundam Surya Narayana Iyer (Mammootty), a normal business executive who on a day climbing a tall tree in order to capture an escaped pet parrot, undergoes acrophobia (fear of heights) and suddenly acquires  the power of clairvoyance. A couple of days later, he foresees a train accident with exact train number, and time of incident and warns the railway authorities. A couple of days later, Iyer foresees a terrible airplane accident and informs the authorities about a future bombing at a flight in Delhi.

Ever wondered what will happen in real life, if somebody claims to have such power and forewarns about an accident, providing details including the area and the flight number – simple change the flight number ! – stumped by the answer – read this report that appeared on MailOnline on 24th Nov 2014.

TAM airlines left nothing to chance for a Sao Paulo flight to Brasilia following the warning from renowned psychic Jucelino Nobrega da Luz. The man who claims he predicted the deaths of both Princess Diana and Brazilian racing hero Ayrton Senna, claimed TAM flight JJ3720 would develop engine trouble and crash on Sao Paulo’s main Paulista Avenue.  He claimed he also correctly predicted the death of presidential candidate Eduardo Campos. However, his predictions that a cure for AIDS would be discovered in 2008 and the outcome of Brazil's 2006 elections did not come true.

Superstition over flight numbers is nothing new. Airlines don't ever schedule a flight 13 and many airlines opt not to have a row 13 on board their planes. Other numbers avoided include flight 911 and 666. Airlines also retire the flight numbers of jets that have crashed, with US Airways ditching flight 1549 following the 2009 crash which saw hero pilot safely land the plane in the Hudson River, as did Malaysian Airlines MH 370.

Brazilian authorities were concerned over the prediction. In light of the 'indispensable information', TAM changed the flight code to JJ4732, stating that passengers security was paramount at all times. Jucelino Nóbrega da Luz, 51, is considered the clairvoyant with greater credibility in Brazil. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25th Nov. 2014.

Costa Concordia : Liability : Italy seeks staggering £177m (€220m) in damages

Costa Concordia is a Concordia-class cruise ship owned and operated by Costa Cruises. She was built at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy. The name Concordia was intended to express the wish for continuing harmony, unity and peace between European nations.  Costa Concordia entered service in July 2006 and was the largest ship to be built in Italy, at 114,500 tons.  Costa Concordia was indeed a huge ship described in its website as a 'real floating temple of fun that will amaze you’.

On 13^th Jan 2012, in calm seas and overcast weather, under command of Captain Francesco Schettino, Costa Concordia struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western coast of Italy about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Rome.  This tore a 50 m (160 ft) gash on the port side of her hull, which soon flooded parts of the engine room resulting in power loss to her propulsion and electrical systems.  The vessel was abandoned and people evacuated.  32 people reportedly died in the accident.   The sinking of the cruise ship was cause of International concern and Insurance industry feared that this could well be one of the biggest losses underwritten in Marine portfolio as the estimates ranged  from  $600m-$800m.   Besides the Hull loss and passenger claims, there would be liability claims as well.  There were some reports that the vessel had a high deductible. 

We generally deal with Marine Cargo – insurance ship is known as Marine Hull – the insuring terms would usually be ITC Hulls 1.10.83 or the later version of 1.11.95.  The Policy would cover – Actual Total loss / CTL of the vessel;  vessel’s proportion of General average or Salvage; Sue and labour charges;  collision damage to other vessels or their cargoes together with any legal costs.  Hull policies do cover liability too but are generally restricted to 3/4^th of liability while the balance 1/4^th could be recovered from a P&I club depending upon terms of coverage. If the collision is with a ship which is also owned by the same assured, this will not affect a claim by virtue of ‘sistership’ clause. 

Costa Concordia no longer rests in the same place of accident but has been salvaged and taken for scrapping ……. Here is interesting news from Daily mail that Tuscany and Giglio seek £177m in damages over claims that Costa Concordia disaster tarnished their image and scared off tourists. 

Isola del Giglio  is an Italian island and comune situated in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, and is part of the Province of Grosseto. Giglio means "lily" in Italian. The island is separated by a 16-kilometre (10 mi) stretch of sea from the nearest point of the mainland. Giglio Porto  is located on the eastern coastal side and hosts the port.  Reports now state that Officials for Italy’s Tuscany region and the island of Giglio are seeking  €220m (£175m) in damages from Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, for the 2012 Concordia cruise liner disaster. The ship remained partially submerged near the port of the holiday island for more than two years before being raised and towed away this year in one of the largest and most complex maritime salvages ever completed.

“We will ask Costa for €30min damages to Tuscany’s image,” the region’s president, Enrico Rossi, told a court in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, according to a statement.  Rossi said the region had registered a decline in tourism, and that Giglio had lost 45,000 visitors due to the disaster. A consultant to Giglio’s local government, Carlo Scarpa, asked the same court for €190m in damages, most of it for tarnishing the island’s image. The two officials spoke during an ongoing trial against Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, who is being tried for multiple charges, including manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. “To reconstruct the image of Tuscany as a top tourist destination will require years of work, substantial investments and costly national and international advertising campaigns,” Rossi said.

Though the lovely Italian island of Giglio they have been dealing with shipwrecks for quite some time, Costa Concordia was dramatically different as there have been fears of this monster could ruin one of Italy’s lesser-known paradises.  Giglio a small island with a 27km coastline, is inhabited by about 2,000 residents. Before the Concordia it was visited by about 24,000 tourists a year, many of them attracted by the island’s natural delights, be they fauna or fowl, scuba diving or hilltop striding. In short, today’s Giglio is an environmentalist’s paradise where almost the only economic activity is tourism. When Costa Concordia ran aground, with its 500,000 gallons of fuel, not to mention five restaurants’ worth of food and 1,300 gallons of olive oil, as well as paints, cleaning fuels and other substances, an environmental disaster of monumental proportions was on the cards – not only for Giglio and the Tuscan archipelago but also for the nearby French island of Corsica. So far that disaster has been avoided by the good action of salvors…….. yet after the towage, there are Qs on  whether there could some  lasting environmental or economic damage has been inflicted on the island?  - by another yardstick, when the media first stomped out here, in January 2012,  there were only few rundown bars and restaurants; now  the port has elegant and chic bars.  

…. The liability claims of a different order are threatening big.  Italian officials are seeking a staggering £177m (€220m) in damages. Tuscany's government wants £25m (€30m) in compensation from Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp., arguing that its image has been tarnished and tourism has declined significantly.  A separate claim by the island of Giglio, where the 950-ft-long cruiser ran aground in January 2012, has been put in for £152m (€190m).  The mission to upright and salvage the ship had already  cost hundreds of millions of pounds

The 3/4^th Collision liability clause would read : The Underwriters agree to indemnify the Assured for three-fourths of any sum or sums paid by the Assured to any other  person or persons by reason of the Assured becoming legally liable by way of damages for

8.1.1 loss of or damage to any other vessel or property on any other vessel

8.1.2 delay to or loss of use of any such other vessel or property thereon

8.1.3 general average of, salvage of, or salvage under contract of, any such other vessel or property thereon, where such payment by the Assured is in consequence of the Vessel hereby insured coming into collision with any other vessel,

The indemnity provided by this Clause 8 shall be in addition to the indemnity provided by the other terms and conditions of this  insurance. The exclusions to this are :

8.4.1 removal or disposal of obstructions, wrecks, cargoes or any other thing whatsoever

8.4.2 any real or personal property or thing whatsoever except other vessels or property on other vessels

8.4.3 the cargo or other property on, or the engagements of, the insured Vessel

8.4.4 loss of life, personal injury or illness

8.4.5 pollution or contamination, or threat thereof, of any real or personal property or thing whatsoever (except other vessels  with which the insured Vessel is in collision or property on such other vessels) or damage to the environment, or threat  thereof, save that this exclusion shall not extend to any sum which the Assured shall pay for or in respect of salvage  remuneration in which the skill and efforts of the salvors.

The Protection and Indemnity clubs would generally cover : Loss of life, injury and illness of crew, passengers and other persons;          Cargo loss, shortage or damage; Collision; Damage to docks, buoys and other fixed and floating objects - Wreck removal;     Pollution;     Fines and penalties….. vessel diversion expenses and more including unrecoverable GA contributions.

Though there could be still specifically designed covers, the type of liability damages that Costa Concordia is facing now, appears not to be covered under any situation.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

21^st Nov. 2014.

the sad tale of Ahe, the hippo at Taiwan (on road)

In Oct 14, 8 year old Pragathi was in news – she rarely left the water and most visitors missed out on the sight of her coming out for her meal.  She is the eight-year-old female hippopotamus in Vandalur zoo who delivered a healthy calf.  The delivery took place in the water, soon after which the calf started swimming.  Vamboori, the male hippo, which came through an animal exchange programme from Basel zoo in Switzerland, is the father of the calf.

Hippopotamuses love water, which is why the Greeks named them the "river horse." Hippos spend up to 16 hours a day submerged in rivers and lakes to keep their massive bodies cool under the hot African sun. Hippos are graceful in water, good swimmers, and can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes.  These big animals are not exactly attractive and liked by many !   Some are minomers ~ the not so good looking  hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" is a large herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa.  After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal.   The hippopotamus is recognizable by its barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. One aspect that we may not know is that hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth.

Few zoos in India have hippo and you could have seen them over there. Ever imagined seeing them on a road ? – sadly, not the right way as male hippo Ahe is in news of being on the road, having jumped out of a truck transporting him to a new zoo. 

Newsreports state that the hippo cried in pain after falling from back of truck ferrying it to a Taiwan zoo, only to die later when bungling staff dropped it  again after they rescued it.  Upon jumping out the hippo was pictured with a broken tooth and tears streaming down his face. The Zoo staff then hitched the 1.8 tonne animal into a harness which failed - Ahe crashed two metres to the ground and later died of his injuries.

Mail Online reports that Ahe, a 32-year-old male hippopotamus, was hurt with a damaged leg and teeth but still alive after falling from the moving lorry which was ferrying him to a zoo in Taiwan. That was not to last long as zoo staff hitched the 1.8 tonne animal into a harness that could not carry his weight - and he was dropped him for a second time. Medics said that the hippo died from injuries sustained as a result of being dropped the second time while being moved to a temporary shelter in the botched rescue attempt in Taichung city, a special municipality located in western Taiwan.

Television footage showed the enormous animal lying on the road -- where it remained for several hours -- with white fluid oozing from its eyes. Then, when the hippo was being taken back to the farm for treatment of its injuries, the cable on a hoist broke and its container crashed to the ground from a height of two metres (6.5 feet). An autopsy showed that the internal damage caused a massive supply of toxins to be released into his blood resulting in death. Local police who had calls from locals about the animal said several people have reported a dinosaur on the road causing some confusion and suspicion that it was a hoax.  The  deputy head of the Department of Animal Industry in Taiwan's Council of Agriculture is quoted as saying that the hippo's owner could face fines for animal abuse and be charged anywhere between £2,025 and £10,127 for losing the hippo in the first place and failing to secure him properly in the vehicle.

It is stated that Ahe was a star attraction at its ranch and even appeared in a popular television soap opera several years ago.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Jan 2015.

Safety on road !!!

 

Safety is nobody' concern. 

Truck with sticks protruding reversing , vehicles still coming along and two-wheeler boys crossing from wrong side... 

Fortunately nothing happened... All happy !! ~ what an idea !

when 262ft tall wind mill came crushing down (at low wind speeds) !!!

Sounds of grinding metal and the large structure collapsing  were reportedly  heard as far as seven miles away  ~ collapse is for sure and tell-tale evidences available – most likely that there was insurance coverage and more certain that there would be a claim as well ! but !! …..

Wind energy is the kinetic energy that is present in moving air. Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.  Besides the conventional source of electric generation, there is renewable source of energy – the Wind mills.  Tamilnadu has hundreds of windmills nearer Nagercoil and near Coimbatore.  Windmill is a machine that converts the wind energy into electric energy.    Also called wind turbine and WEG [wind electricity generator] – they convert the kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy.

Mishaps do occur – some are sudden, accidental, fortuitous.   In Marine (at sea) a vessel, howsoever big,  could still suffer a setback by so many perils, especially – the perils of the sea.  Perils of the Sea are fortuitous accidents or casualties peculiar to navigable waters in the nature of violent waves or wind (not ordinary action of winds and waves), collision, striking submerged objects, running aground and sinking.  On hard ground, in India, the coverage is under Standard Fire Policy. Fire insurance policy offers indemnity not only against fire but against certain other specified perils as well.  In what is termed as ‘STFI’ -  there are two set of perils : wind and water. Storm, cyclone, typhoon, tempest, hurricane, tornado are all variants of wind blowing at different speeds and at different regions. Flood and inundation are water perils.

Though it is not stated on the Policy, the obvious reference for determining whether the wind that caused destruction would fall within the ambit is reference to ‘beaufort scale’ which is an empirical measure for describing wind speed. Thus strong or gale winds would not be within the ambit of the policy but only damages caused by winds of speed over 89 kmph [55 mph].

At,  Murley Mountain in County Tyrone, Ireland, a 262ft tall structure at Screggagh wind farm worth around £500,000 (Rs.4.83 crores) buckled and collapsed on Friday, during a period of relatively mild winds.  Daily Mail reports of a  large wind turbine £500,000 mysteriously collapsing  on an Irish mountainside during light winds.  The 262ft tall structure was found buckled and destroyed at Screggagh wind farm on Murley Mountain in County Tyrone, Fintona.

The report states that an investigation has now been launched into what caused the huge structure to collapse amid the sound of grinding metal, which could be heard as far away as seven miles.  It remains unclear why the turbine fell on Friday, during a period of light winds which reached around 15mph - the equivalent of a breeze.  The wreckage of the turbine was a mass of twisted and buckled metal. Debris from the large mechanical structure was scattered across the mountain in northern Ireland, where it stood with eight others.

In what one termed as the scandal of UK's death-trap wind turbines, a turbine built for 115mph winds felled in 50mph gusts. Dozens more affected by cost-cutting. Why residents living in their shadow are demanding answers ?. It is understood the rotor blades spun out of control and the sound of the mechanical structure crashing to the ground was compared to an explosion.  The  director of the wind farm is quoted as saying that fortunately there wree no injuries as no personnel were on site at that time.  She added that they are  satisfied that the site's precautionary health and safety alert processes worked well with local emergency services in attendance within minutes of the incident taking place.

In January last year a 115ft tall turbine was felled by gales in Bradworthy in Devon. Months later three turbines - built to withstand winds of  up to 115mph fell when speeds barely reached 50mph in Devon.  The Health and Safety Executive found the cause of the crashing turbines was due to faults in the way they had been put together, which could have affected hundreds of others 

The reference to Fire Policy was only for the coverage in terms of wind speed, there could be Erection and other specialised coverages as well.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Jan 2015.

Hazardous jobs and 2 window cleaners dangle at One World Trade Centre

One World Trade Center  presently refers to the main building of the new World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York, also the tallest skyscraper in the United States of America. The 104-storey supertall structure shares a numeric name with the northern Twin Tower in the original World Trade Center that was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.  In 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the building would be known by its legal name "One World Trade Center" rather than the colloquial "Freedom Tower".

Many experts sitting in Office  before computers would claim that ‘they are in the firing line’ all time. Sitting for long hours could harm cardiovascular and skeletal systems and also could be very boring- but that is not considered a hazardous job as that of a stuntmen, para jumpers and others.  There are others like Postman, Courier, food and other items deliverers – who are exposed to more risks.   There are people who deal with dangerous animals on a daily basis – not necessarily those who put their head into the mouth of Lion or Crocodile but also occupations like fishermen. A friend of mine, did odd jobs of painting, tinkering and welding and once doing a welding job inside a tanker (truck)- the tanker body itself was thrown meters away due to explosion of residual gases.

There are jobs which Indian casual workers undertake without any proper safety gadgets while in advanced countries, they will be well-supported by technology.  An example is painting/ repair / plumbing  work in tall buildings ~ also window cleaning – the washing of architectural glass used for structural, lighting, or decorative purposes. Here there seems to be no regulation as one can see workers dangling on ropes and hastily made structures using lot of used items.

US News agencies report the travails of two window washers rescued rom dangling scaffold in One World Centre.  A scaffold malfunction trapped the pair, identified as Juan Lizama, 41, and Juan Lopez, 33, of the Bronx, outside the 68th floor of 1 World Trade Center, with the dangling duo stuck amid the skyline until FDNY rescuers plucked them from midair. Reports state that for  90 nerve-wracking minutes, two veteran window washers shared a Lower Manhattan view both breathtaking and terrifying. An investigation is under way into a scaffold collapse that left them dangling near the 68th floor of the skyscraper.  The scaffold is reported to have been supplied by the Tractel Group, a distributor of such platforms and other industry products that has been involved in two similar incidents in recent years, one in which a worker died.  On that eventful day,  the men clung to the teetering rig, secured by four cables, for nearly two hours while rescue workers raced to bring them to safety. The workers tied the ropes to their harnesses so they would not plummet to the ground if the scaffold collapsed.

One of the men reportedly called his wife during the ordeal and begged her to “take care of the children”. “Please don’t feel bad,” Lizama’s wife recalled her husband telling her, the New York Post reported. Lizama is  father of three children, the youngest is just 10 months old.  The New York fire department used a diamond saw to cut through the thick layers of glass, the preferred rescue plan, fire commissioner said. Firefighters also lowered a second basket as a back-up plan, in case they were stymied in sawing open the glass.  Hours later, the firefighters broke through the glass and were able to pull the men safety through the roughly 4-by-8ft hole they carved in the window. Uninjured, Lizama and Lopez were taken to a local hospital where they were treated for mild hypothermia and released. Nigro said one of the cables developed slack, which caused the platform to suddenly tilt from “horizontal to nearly vertical”. The cause of the accident has yet to be determined.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the tower, said it had suspended maintenance while the investigation proceeds. Sure the firefighters did a commendable job unfaced by the 1776 feet height. One World Trade Center opened to the public for the first time in Nov 14,  when the first tenants moved in, 13 years after tragedy struck NYC. About 3,400 employees will take up office space from the 20th to 44th floors of the $3.9 billion skyscraper the coming months, while the remainder of the building’s 104 stories will be filled subsequently.   Many sites would insist on insurance coverage  [Workmen compensation policy as also personal accident policies] for workers involved in such operations.

Here is a scene nearer OMR of workers doing a similar work ....... and that speaks volumes

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

20^th Nov 2014.

Income of a home maker - interesting decisions in MACT

One could often have seen on TV shows – ‘the woman would say – I am simply a housewife; while another confident looking woman would claim that she is a ‘homemaker’ – is there any real difference or simply one of emphasis.  Homemaker appears to  be more modern – focussing on creating a home, and is a matter of style and choice.   A homemaker is a person whose main job is to take care of his or her own family home and children. Traditionally, the job of homemaker is done by women and the job of provider is done by men, but both men and women can be providers and homemakers. There has been debate on how much ‘a home maker’ earns or ‘how much one is worth’ – simply by calculating on how much one would have to spend otherwise.  If only people were to outsource most of what a homemaker does, such cost could easily hit the roof.  Though the daily chores of a homemaker are taken for granted, they contribute a lot more to the home in addition to these tasks and no amount of money can fill those needs. Of course, there can be no compensation for the love and affection. 

On road accidents do occur and victims of road accidents file claims before Motor Accident Claims Tribunals [MACT] – the amount of compensation  would include : compensation based on loss of earning, pain & suffering, medical expenses, and interest besides legal costs. Sometime back, there was a Judgment that compensation is ‘damages and is not income’ and hence there would be no incometax payable on the claim amount. 

Recently, TOI reported of a decision of TN Accident tribunal which fixed the salary of a homemaker at Rs. 1250/- per month.  That was  the monetised value of domestic responsibilities that homemakers discharge 24 X 7, according to a motor accident claims tribunal in the state. Keeping Rs.15,000/-  as the `notional income' of a housewife, a tribunal in Virudhunagar district awarded a paltry Rs.1.62 lakh as compensation for her death. In that impugned case, Selvi (31) earning Rs.5000 a month by selling clothes died in an accident in Apr 2004.  Her husband, daughter (5) and mother were the petitioners.   Disbelieving the claim of an independent income for Selvi as it was not supported by any documents, the tribunal concluded that her `notional income' as homemaker was Rs.15,000 annually .

Slamming the tribunal for its narrow-mindedness and saying that such a view could not be tolerated, the Madras high court enhanced the compensation to Rs. 6.76 lakh. Justice S Vimala, pointing out that the victim's five-year-old daughter must be missing her mother's lap, observed: “The primary responsibility of the homemaker is to ensure that the family is happy,  healthy and prosperous. To make the home as heart of the family,  giving total relaxation and complete freedom and joy to members of the family , is the critical role willingly undertaken and delightfully discharged. As it is voluntary, it is quite often neglected, forgotten and devalued.  Relying on Supreme Court rulings on the issue, Justice Vimala then considered Rs.36,000/- as annual `notional income' of the woman, and arrived at a compensation figure of  6.76 lakh and directed the authorities to deposit the sum within three weeks.

In another case, the State run Metropolitan Transport Corporation had argued that the death of a 23-year-old BPO employee in a road accident would not cause any loss to her parents as she would have any way got married and left her parental home.  The victim was travelling as a pillion rider on a scooter from Alandur to Anna Nagar when the vehicle an MTC bus knocked them from behind. Grievously injured, she died the next day. The victim was aged 23 years at the time of accident, and was a team leader in a  BPO in Anna Nagar, earning Rs.13000 per month + incentive.  After deducting 1/3^rd of the salary towards personal expenses of the victim, the tribunal considered Rs.8,677 as her effective income and calculated it against her age and other relevant factors to arrive at a figure of  13.52 lakh as compensation. While the family wanted enhancement of compensation, MTC’s counsel wanted it reduced saying she would have got married and left parental home anyway.

The Madras high court flayed this “gender bias“ displayed by MTC, and enhanced the compensation payable to her family from Rs.13.57 lakh to Rs.17.3 lakh.   The  Court stated that in today’s society daughters are taking as much care of their parents as sons.  There is no intelligible bias to deny compensation to the parents in respect of the death of a daughter.” The judges cited the Supreme Court judgments and said: “As she died at the age of 23 years, 50% has to be added for future prospects as per the evidence placed on record indicated that she was getting incentives periodically.

To calculate the final compensation the age of the victim, and not that of the parents, has to be taken into account, they said, adding, “The selection of multiplier is based on the age of the deceased and not on the basis of the age of dependent. There may be a number of dependents whose age may be different. Therefore, the age of dependents has no nexus with the computation of compensation. The Court directed the MTC to deposit the amount within two months. In this regard, the judges said, “the compensation awarded should not be inadequate, at the same time, it should neither be unreasonable, excessive nor deficient."

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

16^th Jan 2015

Judgments as reported in Time of India.

Iranian President dies in helicopter accident

In classical antiquity, the river was known to the Greeks as Araxes – in  Azerbaijani, the river's name is Araz. In Persian, Kurdish and Turkish its name is ارس (Aras). Varzaqan is a city in the Central District of Varzaqan County  East Azerbaijan province, Iran.  The city is famous for the Sungun copper mine.

Khoda Afarin Dam  is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Aras River straddling the international border between Iran and Azerbaijan.   Armenian de facto protectorate Republic of Artsakh occupied the area in 1993, during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, but in Oct 2020, the Azerbaijani forces retook control of the dam during 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  The purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and irrigation. It was conceived as a joint project with the Soviet Union and both sides reached an agreement in Oct 1977. Designs were finalized in 1982, revised in the early 1990s and construction began in 1999. 

The place is in news for wrong reasons  -  On 19 May 2024, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi commissioned the Khoda Afarin hydroelectric complex with its respective water reservoir holding 503 million m3 as 40% of its total capacity; in addition to inaugurating the Giz Galasi hydroelectric complex.

On that fateful day, a Bell 212 helicopter crashed near Varzaqan, Iran, while en route to Tabriz from the Khoda Afarin Dam. The helicopter was carrying the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, governor-general of East Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati, and Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, the representative of the Supreme Leader in East Azerbaijan. All nine passengers and crew were killed in the crash.  The crash took place while Raisi was travelling in Iran's East Azerbaijan, near the city of Jolfa, on the Azerbaijan–Iran border.  Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported that rescue operations encountered difficulties due to the dense forest terrain, compounded by adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, fog, and strong winds.[ A day before the crash, the Iran Meteorological Organization issued an orange weather warning for the region.

For inaugurating Giz Galasi,   a helicopter carrying Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Governor-General of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati, and the Supreme Leader's Representative in East Azerbaijan Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem as well as Sardar Seyed Mehdi Mousavi, head of Raisi’s security team, two military pilots holding the rank of colonel and a flight technician reportedly  departed with two other helicopters in a convoy to Tabriz.  At approximately 13:30 IRST (UTC+03:30), the helicopter carrying Raisi crashed  shortly after some passengers made an emergency call. Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Housing and Transportation Minister Mehrdad Bazrpash, who were travelling in the other two helicopters, subsequently arrived safely  in Tabriz.

Conflicting reports stated  that the helicopter crashed either near the city of Jolfa or in the villages of Tavil or Uzi.   The Islamic Republic News Agency, citing residents who heard sounds, said it crashed in the Dizmar Forest region, a wildlife corridor between Uzi and Pir Davood, near the northern Varzaqan area of East Azerbaijan province.

Ebrahim Raisolsadati, served as eighth president of Iran from 2021 until his death in 2024. In his early career, Raisi served in several positions in Iran's judicial system, including Deputy Prosecutor and Prosecutor of Tehran. For his role on the so-called death committee during the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, he became known as the "Butcher of Tehran".  He was later Deputy Chief Justice (2004–2014), Attorney General (2014–2016), and Chief Justice (2019–2021). He was Custodian and Chairman of Astan Quds Razavi, a bonyad, from 2016 until 2019.   He was the son-in-law of Mashhad Friday prayer leader and Grand Imam of Imam Reza shrine, Ahmad Alamolhoda.

Raisi ran for president in 2017 as the candidate of the conservative Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces, losing to moderate incumbent president Hassan Rouhani, 57% to 38.3%. Raisi successfully ran for president a second time in 2021 with 62.9% of the votes, succeeding Hassan Rouhani.  There were reports of some rigging too !!

Pictured at the start is a representational image of Bell 212 helicopter - first introduced in the late 1960s as an evolution of the Bell 205, the Bell 212 quickly established itself as a workhorse in the helicopter industry. With its twin-engine configuration, it offered increased power and reliability compared to its predecessor making it well-suited for a wide range of missions including utility transport, search and rescue, firefighting and military operations.

The president of Iran  is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran, after the Supreme Leader. The first election was held in 1980 with Abulhassan Banisadr winning the election. The current acting President is Mohammad Mokhber following the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
21.5.2024 

accident and container falling at Sea - legos washed ashore !!

In the deep Ocean getting washed to beaches are numerous things – yet this is different.  On a stormy day, out in the Ocean, thousands of  plastic yellow ducks, blue turtles and green frogs fell from a cargo ship and were lost at sea.  Ever since,  these durable plastic bath toys have been floating around the world,  landing in Japan, Alaska and Hawaii and even spending years frozen in an Arctic ice pack.  Marine Cargo in transit, packed neatly and stowed in a 40-foot shipping container, rough seas and huge waves knocked the bath toys overboard, along with several other containers that sank straight to the ocean floor.

Lego is a popular line of construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colourful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. Lego began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949. As of 2013, around 560 billion Lego parts had been produced.

In 1997, the container ship Tokio Express was hit by an incredibly strong wave that tilted the ship, knocking 62 containers into the sea, just 20 miles from Land's End in Cornwall.  One of the containers held 4.8 million pieces of Lego, bound for New York and now, decades later, tiny pieces of the plastic construction toys continue to wash up along both the north and south coasts of Cornwall, as well as Devon, Wales and Ireland. Ironically, millions were destined for toy kits depicting sea adventures. Children in Cornwall found octopuses, dragons, diver flippers and sea grass pieces washed ashore and, thanks to an inventory provided by a Dutch shipping clerk, beach walkers in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas are now looking out for the arrival of other elements, such as tiny plastic yellow rafts, swords, pistols, hats, flippers and spear guns.

Fly swatters bearing sports team logos coasted onto Kodiak island, Alaska, by the dozens -  Beachcombers at first assumed they were debris from the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, but authorities soon traced them to a cargo ship that had lost a row of containers that came loose from a cable during a Pacific crossing four months earlier.  Rogue oddities riding the waves are no surprise when you consider that the international liner shipping industry carries approximately 100 million containers of cargo each year. Each container is the size of a semi-truck trailer, and the ships' decks can be stacked seven containers high. Careful distribution of weight is essential, to say the least. Losing a few containers during big storms is nearly unstoppable.

Four months after a storm off the California coast dumped 15 containers into the ocean in 2004, scientists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium discovered one of the containers was providing an unique artificial habitat for marine life—with 1,100 steel-belted radial tires still trapped inside. "Cargo practices have since improved, but in the 1990s as many as ten thousand containers may have gone overboard each year,” Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano report in their book, Flotsametrics and the Floating World.  Ebbesmeyer earned credit  in this flotsam arena when he accurately modelled the arrival time and place of two separate shipments of Nike shoes lost in the Pacific in the 1990s. In the first incident, which was Ebbesmeyer’s inspiration to follow flotsam in the first place, eight containers jumped ship in transit from Korea during a mid-Pacific storm in 1990, sending adrift some 80,000 individual, unlaced shoes.

Though the plastic daisies dropped into the sea in Feb 1997 from Tokio Express have been found on Cornish shores; none knows exactly what happened next, or even what was in the other 61 containers.  A quirk of fate meant many of the Lego items were nautical-themed, so locals and tourists alike started finding miniature cutlasses, flippers, spear guns, seagrass, scuba gear as well as the dragons and the daisies.  There is a Facebook page that documents the Lego discoveries, and its keeper received an email from someone in Melbourne who found a flipper which they think could be from the Tokio Express spillage.  Experts say that it  takes three years for sea debris to cross the Atlantic ocean, from Land's End to Florida. Undoubtedly some Lego has crossed and it's most likely some has gone around the world.   

"The most profound lesson I've learned from the Lego story is that things that go to the bottom of the sea don't always stay there," Ebbesmeyer adds. The incident is a perfect example of how even when inside a steel container, sunken items don't stay sunken. They can be carried around the world, seemingly randomly, but subject to the planet's currents and tides. But there's also a dark side to the story, he says. If Lego is on land then it's fun. If it's on the ocean it's deadly, a poison for birds. If you lose one container with 5m pieces of Lego in it, that is a catastrophe for wildlife.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

9^th Feb 2015

News collated from various sources including Daily Mail; BBC and SMH.