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29 Pupils Taking High School Exams Killed In Central Africa Stampede

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Twenty-nine students taking their high school exams in the Central African Republic died in a stampede sparked by an exploding power transformer, the health ministry told AFP Thursday.

Just over 5,300 students were sitting the second day of the baccalaureat exams at the time of the explosion early Wednesday afternoon in Bangui, the capital of the deeply poor nation.

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In the ensuing panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school.

The injured were transported by ambulance, on the back of pickup trucks or by motorbike taxi, AFP journalists saw.

READ ALSO:Plane Crash Near Minneapolis Sets Home Ablaze

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I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” President Faustin Archange Touadera said in a video published on his party’s Facebook page.

Touadera, who is attending a summit of the Gavi vaccine alliance in Brussels, also announced three days of national mourning.

According to a document circulating on social media and authenticated by the health ministry, 29 deaths were registered by hospitals in the city.

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The hospital was overwhelmed by people to the point of obstructing caregivers and ambulances,” a health ministry source stated.

READ ALSO:Fireworks Mistaken For Gunfire Cause Stampede At New York Parade

UN peacekeepers, police and other security were seen around the Barthelemy Boganda high school and hospitals.

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Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas said in a statement Wednesday that “measures will be taken quickly to shed light on the circumstances of this incident”.

The minister added that a further statement would follow regarding selection of a date for the students to resume their exams programme.

The Republican Bloc for the Defence of the Constitution (BRDC), a coalition of opposition parties, condemned what it termed “the irresponsibility of the authorities in place, who have failed in their duty to ensure the safety of students and school infrastructure.”

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The CAR is among the poorest countries in the world and, since independence from France in 1960, has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil wars.

The latest civil war started more than a decade ago. The government has secured the main cities and violence has subsided in recent years.

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But fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan troops.

Municipal, legislative, and presidential elections are scheduled for August and December of this year but UN experts are calling for urgent institutional reform of the electoral authority before the polls and for “transparent internal governance,” as tensions between the government and the opposition intensify.

AFP

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Alarming Food Shortage Forces People To Eat Animal Feed In Sudan

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Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a “gender emergency” in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday.

Particularly hard hit is El Fasher, where hunger is growing, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warning of a deteriorating situation that is putting even more civilians’ lives at risk.

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UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq disclosed the alarming shortages of food in the war-torn country on Thursday at the UN Headquarters in New York.

With increasingly alarming food shortages and spiralling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation,” Haq said.

READ ALSO:US Justifies Sending Migrants To South Sudan

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El Fasher has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide at nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families.

This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country, Haq said.

These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation,” he added.

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He noted that engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is “more important than ever”.

READ ALSO:Over 1.3 Million Return To Homes In Sudan – UN

Similarly, OCHA’s Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said the suffering was immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to face communities in ruins.

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She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship.

Warnings also came from UN Women, the gender equality agency of the UN.

READ ALSO:At Least 19 Dead In Sudan Army Plane Crash

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“This crisis is a gender emergency,” Salvator Nkurunziza, the agency’s representative in Sudan, said.

Displaced women and girls can be subject to the risks of exploitation and abuse, especially during the delivery of aid, where protection mechanisms are weak or absent in some locations.”

NAN

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30 Injured As Train Derails In Iran

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A train derailed in the southern Iranian province of Kerman on Friday, injuring more than two dozen people though no deaths were reported, according to local media.

“Thirty people were injured when a train derailed on the Kerman-Zarand railway path,” Babak Mahmoudi, head of the Red Crescent Society’s Relief and Rescue Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.

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A statement from the public relations office of the national railway body carried by the Tasnim news agency reported that after “the timely arrival of railway technical personnel and rescue forces, all passengers safely exited the train”.

READ ALSO:Family Of Five Killed In Iranian Missile Strike After Fleeing Ukraine For Safety In Israel

Train derailments are not uncommon in Iran, and while they do not generally result in deaths, there have been fatal disasters in the past.

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In June 2022, 21 people were killed and dozens were injured when a train derailed near the central Iranian city of Tabas after hitting an excavator beside the track.

In 2016, two trains collided and caught fire in northern Iran, killing 44 people and injuring scores.

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Authorities Order Evacuations In Los Angeles Zones As Wildfire Spreads

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A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles triggered evacuations in two US counties, scorching nearly 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares), authorities said Friday.

At least 10 zones in Los Angeles and Ventura counties were under evacuation orders, with 2,700 residents displaced as of 11 pm (0600 GMT) Thursday, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd told AFP.

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At least 400 personnel have been deployed to contain the fire, according to Dowd.

The blaze erupted as firefighters battled a separate wildfire — California’s largest of the year so far — which raged for an eighth straight day and engulfed more than 99,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest, threatening hundreds of homes.

READ ALSO:10 Die, 33 Missing As Floods Hit Northwest China

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The latest fire has so far burned 4,856 acres and remains zero percent contained, Dowd said.

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the area, urged residents to heed evacuation guidelines.

The #CanyonFire is spreading fast under extreme heat & dry conditions near Ventura–LA County line,” Barger wrote on X.

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“If you’re in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously — when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep aware–please don’t risk lives.”

READ ALSO:Outrage In Los Angeles As Residents Demand Reason For Wildfires

The fires follow a July blaze that scorched more than 70,000 acres and needed hundreds of firefighters to contain it.

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Fire authorities at the time noted that dry brush, sustained winds and high temperatures were fueling the flames.

That came after several earlier fires, stoking fears of a difficult season in a state still reeling from wildfires that killed 30 people in January.

Earlier this week, Zurich-based reinsurance giant Swiss Re said natural disasters caused $135 billion in economic losses globally in the first half of this year, fuelled by the Los Angeles wildfires.

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