crash

A passenger bus carrying Afghan returnees from Iran struck a motorcycle and a fuel truck, triggering a huge fire.

The death toll from a bus crash in western Afghanistan has risen to 79, after two survivors died from their injuries, an interim Taliban administration official said.

The incident occurred late on Tuesday in Herat province’s Guzara district, when a passenger bus carrying Afghan returnees from Iran struck a motorcycle and a fuel truck, triggering a huge fire.

At least 19 children were among those killed, Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the interim Interior Ministry, told reporters in Kabul on Wednesday.

Mohammad Janan Moqadas, chief physician at the military hospital, said many bodies were too badly burned to be identified.

A journalist with the AFP news agency reported that cleanup crews were working on Wednesday to remove the burned-out bus and the twisted wreckage of the other vehicles.

“There was a lot of fire… There was a lot of screaming, but we couldn’t even get within 50 metres to rescue anyone,” witness Akbar Tawakoli, 34, told AFP. “Only three people were saved from the bus. They were also on fire and their clothes were burned.”

Abdullah, 25, another witness, told AFP, “I was very saddened that most of the passengers on the bus were children and women.”

The bus was transporting Afghans recently expelled from Iran to the capital, Kabul, provincial spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi said. The central government has ordered an investigation.

“It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the loss of numerous Afghan lives and the injuries sustained in a tragic bus collision and subsequent fire in Herat province last night,” it said in a statement.

More than 1.5 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan this year alone, according to the United Nations migration agency, as both countries step up deportations after decades of hosting Afghan refugees. Many arrive with little means and face dire conditions in a country battling poverty and mass unemployment.

The state-run Bakhtar News Agency described the incident as one of Afghanistan’s deadliest accidents in recent years.

In December 2023, two separate bus crashes involving tankers killed 52 people, while in March 2024, another 20 died in a collision in Helmand province. In late 2022, a tanker overturned in the Salang Pass, igniting a fire that killed 31.

Police in western Afghanistan’s Herat province say the accident was due to the bus’s ‘excessive speed and negligence’. 

At least 71 people, including 17 children, have been killed in western Afghanistan after a passenger bus carrying refugees, recently deported from neighbouring Iran, caught fire after colliding with a truck and motorcycle, according to provincial government spokesman Ahmadullah Muttaqi and local police.

Police in Herat province said on Tuesday that the accident was due to the bus’s “excessive speed and negligence”.

The returnees are part of a massive wave of Afghans deported or forced out of Iran in recent months.

The accident took place a day after Iranian Minister of Interior Eskandar Momeni announced that a further 800,000 people would have to leave the country by next March.

The bus was carrying Afghans recently returned from Iran and en route to the capital Kabul, provincial official Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi told the AFP news agency on Tuesday. He added that all the passengers boarded the vehicle in Islam Qala, a border crossing point.

Taliban government chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to the dpa news agency that the victims had been deported from Iran, but said that further details were not available immediately.

Police in the Guzara district outside Afghanistan’s city of Herat, where the accident occurred, said a motorcycle was also involved.

The majority of those who died were on the bus, but two people travelling in the truck were also killed, as well as another two who were on the motorcycle.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of war, dangerous driving on highways and a lack of regulation.

Last December, two bus accidents, involving a fuel tanker and a truck on a highway through central Afghanistan, killed at least 52 people.

Every year, conflict, persecution, poverty and high unemployment drive large numbers of Afghans to cross the 300km (186-mile) Islam Qala border into Iran without documentation. Many work in low-wage jobs in big cities, including on construction sites, where they are valued as cheap and reliable labour.

Nearly 450,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since early June, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), after Tehran imposed a July 6 deadline for undocumented refugees to leave the country.

The surge compounds Afghanistan’s existing challenges, as the impoverished nation, back under hardline Taliban rule since 2021, struggles to integrate waves of returnees from Pakistan and Iran since 2023, amid one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises after decades of conflict.

The UNHCR reports that more than 1.4 million people have “returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan” this year alone. Iran’s late May directive potentially affects 4 million undocumented Afghans among the approximately 6 million Afghan residents claimed by Tehran.

Border crossings increased dramatically from mid-June, with some days seeing approximately 40,000 people entering Afghanistan. Between June 1 and July 5, 449,218 Afghans returned from Iran, bringing the 2024 total to 906,326, according to an International Organization for Migration spokesman.

TWO Brits have died after a family flipped their car in a horror highway crash in Turkey.

The family were visiting their hometown of Aksaray in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey when the tragedy unfolded.

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Two members of the family died in the horror smash and three others were rushed to hospital.

The car was travelling on the Aksaray-Ankara highway when the driver lost control of the vehicle.

The motor smashed into the central median before rolling over.

Four members of the same family, the driver, his wife and their two children were rushed to hospital.

An elderly man, also in the car at the time of the horror smash, lost his life.

The drivers wife tragically passed away in hospital some time later despite the best efforts of doctors.

Police, gendarmerie and medical crews raced to the scene after receiving reports of the smash.

The four injured individuals were raced to Aksaray Training and Research Hospital in ambulances.

Doctors battled to save the lives of the young children and their parents.

Turkish authorities said an investigation into the accident is ongoing.

The family were reportedly from England and were in Turkey to visit family.

Turkish authorities said the driver lost control of the vehicle before the tragedy.

Local media claimed the family were on their way to visit the drivers father in law.

The Sun has contacted the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.

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Eight 375ft-tall cooling towers crashed to the ground yesterday in the largest simultaneous demolition of its kind.

Hundreds of people watched the structures’ tumble at Cottam Power Station in Retford, Notts, one of the last coal-fired stations in Britain.

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The towers were flattened in 10 seconds, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

The power station shut in 2019.

The historic moment marked the largest simultaneous demolition of cooling towers ever carried out.

The coal-fired complex, which opened in 1968, was capable of generating enough electricity for 3.7 million homes.

Originally designed for just 30 years of use, it remained operational until 2019 when it was decommissioned by EDF Energy.

The demolition, the ninth at the EDF-owned site, is part of a phased clearance.

Other parts of the site, including its chimney stack, have already been destroyed.

The project is expected to be complete by early 2026.

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Craig Bloomer, 54, died in a horror freak crash while on holiday with his family in Greece – his heartbroken daughter paid tribute to the ‘much-loved’ dad

A “beloved” British grandad tragically died on holiday in Greece following a freak accident.

Craig Bloomer, 54, had travelled to the idyllic island of Corfu, for a family holiday with his two daughters, their partners and kids, but sadly died after a moped incident on July 26. The “much-loved” grandad, from Wolverhampton, on this holiday was the “happiest” he had been since his wife Jane, 53, died two years ago from cancer, according to Craig’s daughter.

The 54-year-old tragically died after he lost control of the moped he was riding and crashed near the village of Agios Mattheos. It comes just days after another British tourist was found dead in a Greece hotel swimming pool.

READ MORE: ‘Nicest ever’ mum left work ‘abruptly’ then was found dead in a hotel roomREAD MORE: Dad’s desperate phone call moments before explosion kills him and his daughters

Craig was rushed to hospital after the horror crash but was pronounced dead by doctors, according to BirminghamLive. His eldest daughter Rebecca, 32, said: “Our dad’s loss has left a massive hole in our lives.”

The grandad had also travelled with his youngest daughter Danni Perks, 27, but his tragic passing meant the family had to cut their holiday short, returning several days earlier than planned on Tuesday, on July 29.

Craig’s body was flown back to England on Wednesday, August 6, which has allowed the family to begin the ordeal of organising his funeral.

Since his passing, tributes have flooded in for Craig who ran The Cafe in the Low Hill area of Wolverhampton, alongside his two daughters.

Paying tribute to her dad, Rebecca said: “We lost our mum two years ago to cancer. Since then, he has been a bit down in the dumps.

“On holiday, it was the happiest I’d ever seen him, he had a new girlfriend. He was lovely and a proper family man. He liked motorbikes, old cars, going to the pub, snooker, drawing, he was really good at art.”

The heartbroken daughter added: “We own a cafe business which my dad started running after my mum died. The amount of tributes we’ve had off people for dad, saying how lovely he was and what a character he was.

“He was like marmite, you either loved him or hated him – and most people loved him.” Craig’s family has created a GoFundMe page to help with costs following his unexpected death – which has raised over £3,000 so far.

This comes after a mum was tragically killed by a stingray at sea in a horror “freak accident” while on holiday. Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, had been on a boat trip in the Florida Keys but the adventure ended in tragedy.

The mum was killed by a huge spotted eagle ray that jumped out of the water and struck her in the face.

Birmingham Airport’s runway was shut down for about six hours on Wednesday afternoon and evening, delaying thousands of passengers and leading many planes to divert

Birmingham Airport is still dealing with the knock‑on impact of an emergency landing that closed its runway on Wednesday afternoon.

At 1.40 pm a Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, with three people on board, began to experience issues with its landing gear. The pilot aborted the journey to Belfast and turned back to Birmingham for a bumpy landing, which saw it collapse onto its undercarriage on the tarmac.

Emergency services rushed to the scene, whisking the two crew members and one passenger away from the wreckage. Thankfully, they were not injured. The runway was immediately closed following the crash landing, leading to dozens of flights both to and from the airport being cancelled and delayed. Thousands of passengers in Birmingham, across the UK and internationally were disrupted. The incident at Birmingham came after a union in Spain announced its Ryanair workers would strike at 12 airports in the coming weeks.

READ MORE: Family’s holiday Greece nightmare as ‘icky tummy’ becomes sepsisREAD MORE: Spanish town installs ‘detectors’ to track Brits while they are on holiday

Newly emerged footage from the scene shows the white light aircraft collapsed on the runway, its nose tilted down towards the tarmac. It is surrounded by emergency service vehicles and personnel. The incident is now being investigated by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

Live departure and arrival boards highlight the knock‑on impact of the runway closure, which was only lifted at 8 pm last night, meaning six hours of the flight schedule were missed.

Delays this morning include a four‑hour wait for a TUI flight to Keffalinia, a three‑hour wait for Lanzarote and a three‑hour wait to Zakynthos. A handful of arrivals have also been bumped down the schedule. The 6am KLM flight to Amsterdam this morning was cancelled because the aircraft and crew could not reach Birmingham on Wednesday.

Diversions yesterday meant that several planes were in the wrong place, causing a headache for airline schedulers. Planes were diverted as far away as Liverpool, Cardiff, and Gatwick.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch says it is investigating the incident at Birmingham Airport. It said in a statement: “Following an incident involving a light aircraft at Birmingham Airport, the AAIB has deployed a team to the site to begin an investigation. A multi‑disciplinary team including inspectors with expertise in aircraft operations, engineering and recorded data have been deployed to the airport.”

The latest statement from Birmingham Airport came just before 8 pm last night. It read: “Following the aircraft incident today, the runway has reopened and operations have resumed. All passengers must check flight details with their airlines and follow advice issued by them. We understand the frustration and apologise for the disruption this has caused. Our teams have worked as quickly as possible, in line with strict protocols, which must be followed to ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure.”

A small silver lining for delayed passengers came in the form of a chilled pint. Organisers of a beer festival held next door to the airport offered those caught up in the chaos a free bev if they showed their boarding pass. “We hope everyone is ok at Birmingham International Airport. If you are stuck at the airport, come to the Great British Beer Festival next door at the NEC for a pint while you wait,” the organisers tweeted.

Footage from a forest in Ghana’s Ashanti region showed smouldering wreckage from a helicopter crash that killed the country’s defence and environment ministers. Three other officials and three air force crew members were also killed.

A helicopter crash has killed 8 people including the nation’s defence and environment ministers, according to Ghana’s government.

Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were among the victims of the crash in the southern Ashanti region of the country, said Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff to President John Mahama, on Wednesday.

“The president and the government extend their condolences and solidarity to the families of our comrades and soldiers who fell in their service to the nation,” said Debrah.

Also among the victims were Alhaji Muniru Muhammad, Deputy National Security Coordinator and former Minister of Agriculture, and Samuel Sarpong, Vice Chairman of President Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

The Ghanaian Air Force had reported earlier Wednesday that a military helicopter had disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Accra at around 09:00 (local time and GMT), bound for Obuasi, north-west of the capital.

Debrah announced that flags would be flown at half-mast.

The Presidency said that Mahama had suspended all his official activities for the day.

More to come…

A veteran high-speed driver has died after losing control of his vehicle while driving at nearly 300 miles per hour Sunday during the 2025 Bonneville Speed Week event in northwestern Utah.

Chris Raschke, 60, was treated by medical professionals, but died at the scene of the accident at the Bonneville Salt Flats, near Wendover, Utah, according to a press release by event organizer Southern California Timing Assn.

“When you lose anybody in the community, it’s always tough,” race director and SCTA board president Keith Pedersen told The Times on Tuesday. “And somebody as well-liked and known as Chris, that makes it even tougher.”

In addition to being a “very accomplished race car driver,” Pedersen said, Raschke was also “very, very friendly, very competitive. But he’s also the type of person that if you needed a part or something, he would give it to you and say, ‘Yeah, just bring it back when you’re done.’”

According to Raschke’s Speed Demon bio page, he was “the first official employee at Ventura Raceway in the early 80’s” and over the years became involved in practically all aspects of motor sports.

Also an employee of ARP Auto Parts, which makes fasteners and other products for race cars, Raschke worked as part of the Speed Demon crew for more than a decade before becoming a driver for the team.

At last year’s Speed Week, Raschke topped out at 446 mph, which Pedersen said was the fastest measured mile at the event. This year, he was driving the latest iteration of his team’s vehicle, the Speed Demon 3. Pederson confirmed that Raschke’s last recorded speed during Sunday’s race was 283 mph.

A Facebook post from the Speed Demon team account stated: “At this time, we ask everyone to please respect Chris’s family, friends, and the Speed Demon team. We are deeply devastated.”

The Tooele County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Raschke’s death, with assistance from the SCTA. Sgt. Dan Lerdahl told The Times that the crash is being viewed as an accident, although it is unclear at this point whether the cause was “a roadway issue, a mechanical issue or just a freak thing.”

Racing was suspended following Rashke’s crash but resumed Monday. Pedersen said canceling the event, which runs through Friday at the at the Bonneville Salt Flats, was never really a consideration.

“We’ve been doing Speed Week for 77 years, and over those years, there have been other fatalities out here. And it’s always a tragedy,” Pedersen said. “But we typically regroup. … We grieve and we race. Chris would have wanted us to race, and we’re continuing to do that.”

SOME of the world’s best snooker players return to the table for the highly anticipated 2025 Shanghai Masters – and the seven-day competition promises to be nothing short of thrilling.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s dreams of clinching the title for an unprecedented fifth year in a row got shattered by Judd Trump during the 2024 competition.

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The world No 1 dismantled The Rocket in a dominant semi-final, before going on to lift the trophy with an 11-5 win in the showpiece match against Shaun Murphy.

But it was a final that began with an emotional minute’s silence for snooker legend Ray Reardon who sadly passed away after having cancer.

Fast forward a year later, O’Sullivan has been dumped out once again but by Kyren Wilson this time.

And there will certainly be a new winner as reigning champion Judd Trump has also suffered an early exit.

SunSport brings you the full schedule for this year’s Shanghai Masters which has a staggering prize pot awaiting the winner.

When is the Shanghai Masters snooker 2025?

• The 2025 Shanghai Masters got underway on Monday, July 28
• It will run for seven days and conclude on Sunday, August 3.
• Sessions will start at 2:30am BST, 7am BST and 12:30pm BST.
• Luwan Gymnasium in Shanghai, China, is the chosen venue for this sensational spectacle.
• Judd Trump is the reigning champion after beating Shaun Murphy in last year’s final.

What TV channel is the Shanghai Masters snooker 2025 on and can it be live streamed?

• The Shanghai Masters will be broadcast LIVE on TNT Sports
• Fans can also stream the action on Discovery+
• Alternatively, SunSport will cover the entire action through our live blog.

What is the format?

All matches up to and including the quarter-finals will be played as the best of 11 frames.

The semi-finals will be played as the best of 19 frames.

And the final will be the best of 21 frames.

Shanghai Masters snooker 2025 schedule and results

All times BST

Last-32

• Barry Hawkins 6-4 Wu Yize
• Si Jiahui 6-4 Wang Xinbo
• Zhang Anda 6-5 Yuan Sijun
• Chris Wakelin 6-3 Jinhao Zhou
• Neil Robertson 6-2 Pang Junxu
• Shaun Murphy 6-0 Han Fuyuan

Tuesday July 29

Last-16

• Ali Carter 6-1 Lei Qiu
• Xiao Guodong 6-3 Lei Peifan

Last-16

• Kyren Wilson 6-5 Si Jiahui
• Mark Selby 6-0 Shaun Murphy
• Ding Junhui 6-5 Zhang Anda
• Judd Trump 6-2 Neil Robertson

Wednesday July 30

Last-16

• Mark Williams 5-6 Ali Carter
• John Higgins 4-6 Xiao Guodong
• Zhao Xintong 6-2 Chris Wakelin
• Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-5 Barry Hawkins

Thursday July 31

Quarter-finals

• Judd Trump 4-6 Mark Selby
• Xiao Guodong 5-6 Ali Carter
• Ding Junhui 1-6 Zhao Xintong
• Kyren Wilson 6-3 Ronnie O’Sullivan

Friday August 1

• Mark Selby 4-5 Ali Carter – first session
• Mark Selby 8-10 Ali Carter – second session

Saturday August 2

• Kyren Wilson 4-5 Xiao Guodong – first session
• Kyren Wilson vs Xiao Guodong – second session

Sunday August 3

A passenger train derailed in southern Germany, causing a crash that killed three people and injured at least 50 others. Investigators say a landslide caused the accident. The train’s driver died and 25 passengers were taken to hospital in a serious condition.

A Bangladesh air force training jet has crashed into a school campus, killing at least 19 people.

Here’s the latest we know:

What happened during the Bangladesh plane crash?

“Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 13:06 [07:06 GMT],” the Bangladesh military’s public relations team said.

Local media reported that the plane crashed at about 1:30pm.

Videos emerged of the aftermath of the crash, showing a fire, as well as plumes of thick smoke rising into the sky as people watched from a distance.

The crash marks the deadliest aviation incident in Bangladesh since the 1984 crash of a plane travelling from Chattogram to Dhaka killed all 49 people on board.

Last month, an Air India passenger plane crashed into a medical college hostel in India’s Ahmedabad city, killing 241 of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground. This incident marked the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.

Where did the plane crash?

The plane crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College, a private school in the northern Dhaka neighbourhood of Uttara.

Footage shared online after the crash showed the point where the aircraft had crashed into the side of a building, leaving a gaping hole.

At the time of the crash, students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

How big is this school?

According to the information available on the school’s website, there are 6,000 enrolled students at Milestones.

What kind of plane was it?

The F-7 BGI is a light, “multi-role” fighter aircraft manufactured by the Chinese Chengdu Corporation.

Multi-role fighter aircraft are built to perform several “roles” in combat, including air-to-air combat, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, and suppression of air defences.

The BGI was billed as the most advanced F-7 when Bangladesh bought 36 of them in 2022.

It had been upgraded according to Bangladesh’s specifications.

What do we know about the victims?

At least 19 people have died and more than 100 have been injured, based on data from multiple hospitals.

Authorities have not released details about those who have died or are injured.

“A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital,” Bidhan Sarker, head of the burn unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, told the Reuters news agency.

What do the rescue efforts look like?

More than 50 people, including children, were admitted to the hospital with burn injuries following the crash, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery told reporters.

An emergency hotline has been set up at the institute, Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, wrote in a post on X.

Local media reported that several of the injured were transported to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) through air force helicopters.

The army, air force, police and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), a paramilitary border security force, are working together on rescue efforts, local media reported.

Eight units of the fire service are working to contain the fire, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

What is the latest situation on the ground?

Yunus said the government is taking all “necessary measures” in the aftermath of the crash.

He posted on his X account that the bodies of those who can be identified will be returned to their families as soon as possible.

Those whose identities cannot be immediately confirmed will undergo DNA testing, after which their remains will also be released to their families.

In another post, Yunus shared the emergency contacts of different rescue departments regarding missing school students.

Rescue operations are ongoing south of Shiraz, in Fars province.

At least 21 people have been killed after a bus overturned in the south of Iran, state media has reported.

Masoud Abed, the head of Fars province’s emergency organisation, said 34 other people were injured in the accident on Saturday south of Shiraz, the province’s capital.

Abed said rescue operations are ongoing, and additional information and final figures will be released to the public after the operation is complete and detailed investigations have been carried out.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.

With nearly 17,000 casualties annually, Iran is among the countries most affected by road and street accidents. The high toll is attributed to lax application of safety measures, the widespread use of old vehicles and depleted emergency services.

Felix Baumgartner’s fatal paragliding crash was preceded by large boom as it spun to the ground, according to witnesses.

Beachgoers knew something was wrong when they heard a loud boom ring out as a paraglider spun out of control, before killing its only occupant, extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, when it crashed next to a swimming pool near the Adriatic Sea.

A 30-year-old mother watched the deadly descent unfold Thursday afternoon from nearby with her two young children, who were entranced by the constant traffic of paragliders above the beach town of Porto Sant’Elipido in central Italy’s Marche region.

“Everything was normal, then it started to spin like a top,’’ Mirella Ivanov said on Friday. “It went down and we heard a roar. In fact, I turned around because I thought it crashed on the rocks. Then I saw two lifeguards running, people who were running toward” the crash site.

When she saw people trying to revive the occupant, she hustled her two children away.

The city’s mayor confirmed the death of 56-year-old Baumgartner, who was renowned as the first skydiver to fall faster than the speed of sound. The cause of the paragliding accident was under investigation. Police did not return calls asking for comment.

“It is a destiny that is very hard to comprehend for a man who has broken all kinds of records, who has been an icon of flight, and who travelled through space,” Mayor Massimiliano Ciarpella told The Associated Press.

Ciarpella said that Baumgartner had been in the area on vacation, and that investigators believed he may have fallen ill during the fatal flight.

Baumgartner’s social media feed features videos of him in recent days flying on a motorised paraglider – known as paramotoring – above seaside towns, and taking off from a nearby airfield surrounded by cornfields.

The Clube de Sole Le Mimose beachside resort where the crash occurred said in a statement that an employee who was “slightly injured” in the accident was in good condition. No guests were injured, and the pool has been reopened.

In 2012, Baumgartner, known as “Fearless Felix,” became the first human to break the sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurised suit and jumped from a capsule hoisted more than 24 miles (39 kilometres) above Earth by a giant helium balloon over New Mexico.

The Austrian, who was part of the Red Bull Stratos team, topped out at 843.6 mph (1,357.6km/h) – the equivalent of 1.25 times the speed of sound – during a nine-minute descent. At one point, he went into a potentially dangerous flat spin while still supersonic, spinning for 13 seconds, his crew later said.

In 2012, millions watched YouTube’s livestream as Baumgartner coolly flashed a thumbs-up when he came out of the capsule high above Earth and then activated his parachute as he neared the ground, lifting his arms in victory after he landed.

Baumgartner’s altitude record stood for two years until Google executive Alan Eustace set new marks for the highest free-fall jump and greatest free-fall distance.

Baumgartner, a former Austrian military parachutist, made thousands of jumps from planes, bridges, skyscrapers and famed landmarks, including the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil.

In 2003, he flew across the English Channel in a carbon fibre wing after being dropped from a plane.

In recent years, he performed with The Flying Bulls, an aviation team owned and operated by Red Bull, as a helicopter stunt pilot in shows across Europe.

Red Bull paid Baumgartner tribute in a post Friday, calling him “precise, demanding and critical. With others, but above all toward yourself.”

The statement underlined the research and courage with which Baumgartner confronted “the greatest challenges.”

“No detail was too small, no risk too great, because you were capable of calculating it,’’ Red Bull said.

The driver of the car that killed two 8-year-old girls at a school in south-west London has been interviewed following her re-arrest over the girls’ deaths.

Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau died after a Land Rover driven by Claire Freemantle crashed into an end-of-term tea party at The Study Preparatory School in Wimbledon, on 6 July 2023.

Ms Freemantle, 48, was arrested at the scene but was later told she would not face charges. However, she was re-arrested in January after police reviewed their investigation.

The Metropolitan Police said she was interviewed on Thursday 17 July on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and was bailed until October for further inquiries.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Ms Freemantle may have experienced an epileptic seizure as she was driving, which caused her to lose control of the vehicle that then crashed into the school.

But it also said there was no evidence she had ever suffered a similar seizure before and she had not been diagnosed with such a medical condition.

Families of the schoolgirls recently told the BBC they felt they still had no answers for what happened.

Speaking about the continuing police investigation, Nuria’s father, Sajjad Butt, said: “While we welcome this renewed focus on the case, we will continue to champion the pursuit of complete clarity on the events of that devastating day.

“The truth must come to light.”

July 18 (UPI) — At least four people were killed and 18 injured, including children and seniors, after a high-speed multi-vehicle collision in San Antonio on Interstate 35, the city’s Police Department said.

The Thursday afternoon incident occurred when a stolen Chevy Camaro being driven at high speed reportedly crashed into a small passenger bus towing a trailer.

Police said they were looking for four suspects, one of whom was armed, who left the scene and asked people to avoid the Leon Creek section of southbound I-35.

“We had a stolen white Camaro south on 35 speeding wrecked into a small transport bus carrying a trailer. As a result of that crash, two individuals are dead. 18 have been transported to hospitals,” said San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus.

“There are four individuals who fled from the vehicle. One was armed with an AK rifle,” he added.

Bus operator, Fort Worth-based Transport Guerra, asked relatives of passengers who were on the Mexico-bound service to call their office.

The bus was scheduled to stop in Eagle Pass on the border, before crossing into Mexico with stops in the Carbonifera coal mining region and “5 manantiales.”

The legendary daredevil, best known for his record-breaking jump from the stratosphere, lost control of his paraglider and crashed into a hotel pool.

Renowned extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner, most famous for jumping from a record 39 kilometres (24 miles) at the edge of space in the 2012 Red Bull Stratos project, has died in a paragliding accident in Italy on Thursday.

The 56-year-old Austrian crashed his paraglider in Porto Sant’Elpidio, situated on the Italian Adriatic coast, after losing control and plunged into a wooden structure next to a swimming pool of the Le Mimose Family Camping Village, according to Italian media reports.

A female hotel employee was injured by a piece of debris and taken to hospital with neck injuries.

Baumgartner died at the scene of the accident, and investigations into the circumstances of the accident are under way.

Italian media reported that Baumgartner had already lost consciousness in the air.

The city’s mayor, Massimiliano Ciarpella, confirmed Baumgartner’s death in a social media post.

“Our community is deeply affected by the tragic disappearance of Felix Baumgartner, a figure of global prominence, a symbol of courage and passion for extreme flight,” the mayor said.

Just two hours before his deadly crash, he posted on the social media platform Instagram with the foreboding caption “too much wind”.

From skydiving to the stratosphere

Born in Salzburg, Baumgartner completed his first parachute jump at the age of 16 and later became a parachutist in the Austrian military.

Baumgartner’s reputation as an extreme sports athlete grew exponentially when he turned his hand to the sport of base jumping in the 1990s.

He set a new world record for the highest base jump from a building with his leap from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1999. Later that year, he completed a base jump from the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

On July 31, 2003, Baumgartner again made global headlines for his base jumping feats when he became the first person to cross the English Channel in free fall after jumping out of a plane equipped with specially developed wings made of carbon.

But it was Baumgartner’s record-breaking free fall from space in 2012 that shot the Austrian to worldwide fame.

Over the desert of New Mexico, he jumped from a helium balloon almost 39km (24 miles) above the planet and became the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall.

Baumgartner set three world records for his jump: He reached a maximum speed of 1,357.6 kilometres per hour (834mph), or Mach 1.25; completed the highest jump at 38,969 metres; and recorded the longest free fall with a length of 36,402 metres.

His death was confirmed late on Thursday by the energy drink company Red Bull, which sponsored many of Baumgartner’s stunts.

India’s aviation agency tells airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

India has ordered its airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing models following last month’s deadly Air India crash.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday said it asked the airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

The precautionary moves by India and several other countries came despite the plane maker and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) telling airlines and regulators in recent days that the fuel switch locks on Boeing jets were safe.

The locks have come under scrutiny following the June 12 crash of an Air India jet, which killed some 260 people – the worst such disaster on Indian soil.

A preliminary report on the crash by Indian authorities did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

The report noted a 2018 advisory from the FAA, which recommended, but did not mandate, operators of several Boeing models, including the 787, to inspect the locking feature of fuel cutoff switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.

In recent days, the Air India Group started checking the locking mechanism on the fuel switches of its 787 and 737 fleets and has discovered no problems yet, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Monday.

About half the group’s 787s have been inspected and nearly all its 737s, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity since the source was not authorised to speak to the media. Inspections were set to be completed in the next day or two.

Precautionary checks

The Air India crash preliminary report said the airline had not carried out the FAA’s suggested inspections, as the FAA’s 2018 advisory was not a mandate.

But it also said maintenance records showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2019 and 2023 on the plane involved in the crash.

In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.

Some airlines around the world have been checking relevant switches since the 2018 advisory, including Australia’s Qantas Airways and Japan’s ANA.

Others said they had been making additional or new checks since the release of the preliminary report into the Air India crash.

Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that precautionary checks on the fuel switches of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, confirmed all were functioning properly.

Flag carrier Korean Air Lines also said on Tuesday it had proactively begun inspecting fuel control switches and would implement any additional requirements the Ministry of Transport may have.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed to London from Ahmedabad in western India when it crashed, killing all but one of the people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.

Two groups of commercial pilots reject initial probe into the deadly June 12 crash, calling it a ‘reckless and unfounded insinuation’.

Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected claims that human error caused an Air India plane crash that killed 260 people after a preliminary investigation found the aircraft’s engine fuel switches had been turned off.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA India) issued statements on Sunday after the release of the initial findings, which showed that fuel control switches to the engines of Flight AI171 were moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position moments before last month’s deadly impact.

The report sparked speculation by several independent aviation experts that deliberate or inadvertent pilot action may have caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to crash soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad in western India.

Flight AI171 was headed to London’s Gatwick Airport when it crashed on June 12.

The report on the crash, issued on Saturday by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel and the second pilot responded that he had not.

After the switches flipped, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner immediately began to lose thrust and altitude, according to the report.

One pilot can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he had cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.

It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight’s captain and which by the first officer or which pilot transmitted “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” just before the crash.

No more details about the cockpit dialogue between the pilots were revealed.

The ICPA said it was “deeply disturbed by speculative narratives, … particularly the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide”.

“There is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage,” it said in a statement. “It is deeply insensitive to the individuals and families involved.

“To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession.”

The ICPA was referring to a number of aviation experts suggesting engine fuel control switches can only be moved deliberately and manually.

United States-based aviation safety expert John Cox earlier said a pilot would not be able to accidentally move the fuel switches that feed the engines. “You can’t bump them and they move,” he told the Reuters news agency.

ALPA India, which has 800 members, also accused the investigative agency of “secrecy” surrounding the investigation, saying “suitably qualified personnel” were not involved in it.

“We feel that the investigation is being driven in a direction presuming the guilt of pilots and we strongly object to this line of thought,” ALPA India President Sam Thomas said in a statement issued on Saturday.

ALPA requested the AAIB be included as “observers so as to provide the requisite transparency in the investigations”.

Meanwhile, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the probe into last month’s crash is far from over and it is unwise to jump to any premature conclusions.

Wilson added: “The preliminary report identified no cause nor made any recommendations, so I urge everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over.”

The crash killed all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.