Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

A11
WORLD NEWS Friday 29 March 2019

At least 19 killed by Bangladesh high-rise building blaze

By JULHAS ALAM Firefighters shattered the han said.
Associated Press building's glass walls to free Witness Sajib Hasan said
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) toxic gas. some people shouted for
— A fire swept through a A Facebook Live video tak- help from the upper floors
high-rise office building in en by Roy Pinaki showed of the building. Onlookers
Bangladesh's capital on five people climbing shouted back encourage-
Thursday, killing at least 19 down from windows while ment, some raising their
people and injuring about burned building materi- hands to pray for the safety
70 others, officials said. als fell around them. One of those trapped. Heavy
The blaze trapped many person slipped from what smoke deterred efforts by
people inside the building, appeared to be a rope responders, but Hasan said
with some shouting for help that people were using to he watched at least a doz-
from windows on the build- escape, bounced off utility en people rescued.
ing's upper floors and from wires and fell to the ground. Banani, the area where
the roof. Military helicopters joined the fire broke out, is a busy
At least one person fell to A Bangladeshi, stuck in a multi-storied office building on fire, the rescue operation, and commercial district with
speaks on his mobile phone in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday,
the ground while trying to March 28, 2019. one person dangled from multistory buildings housing
climb down the building. Associated Press a helicopter hovering over offices, universities and res-
Fire officials said after bat- the roof as thick plumes of taurants.
tling the blaze for several han, a Fire Service and Civil trict, was the latest in a city smoke rose. Dilip Kumar Ghosh, deputy
hours that most people in- Defense deputy director. where flouted building reg- More than a dozen people director of the fire service,
side had been rescued. The fire at the FR Tower, on ulations and safety norms who fled to the roof were said heavy traffic delayed
"The situation is under con- a busy avenue in Dhaka's have made deadly blazes rescued by firefighters us- the arrival of firetrucks at
trol," said Debashish Bard- Banani commercial dis- common. ing hydraulic cranes, Bard- the building.q

Papuan fighters vow more attacks on Indonesian highway

Associated Press dence, our nation must in the U.N.'s human rights
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) unite to separate from the watchdog.
— Papuan independence Republic of Indonesia." An Indonesian human rights
fighters are vowing more Indonesian forces have lawyer, Veronica Koman,
attacks on a highway that's poured into Nduga since and a Papuan activist, Vic-
the Indonesian president's rebels killed 19 people tor Yeimo, addressed the
key development project working on the trans-Pap- council earlier this month.
in the country's troubled ua highway on Dec. 2. The They said 25 civilians have
easternmost region. government of President died as a result of military
The threat was made in a Joko Widodo says the high- and police security opera-
video purportedly record- way will speed up econom- tions in Nduga since the
ed last week in the Nduga ic development of West Dec. 2 attack.
area of Papua province's Papua and Papua prov- Indonesia replied that se-
central highlands. The vid- inces, among the poorest curity forces are "trying to
eo and photos show about regions in Indonesia, but be very selective and cau-
40 fighters, a few with Indo- independence supporters tious in the attempt to bring
nesian military assault rifles see the project as a way for all perpetrators of the hei- In this Dec. 7, 2018, file photo, Indonesian soldiers and police of-
and other weapons. Jakarta to cement control nous killing" on Dec. 2 to jus- ficers carry a body bag containing the body of a victim of sepa-
In the video, a man stand- over the region. tice. The military says civil- ratist attack in Nduga district upon its arrival at Moses Kilangin
ing next to a liberation An insurgency has sim- ian workers on the highway Airport in Timika, Papua province, Indonesia.
army commander, Egia- mered in Papua, which have fled and its engineers Assocaited Press
nus Kogoya, reads out a makes up the western half will build the 21 bridges
statement that taunts the of the island of New Guin- needed to complete it.
military for being unable ea, since the early 1960s Papuan fighters claimed
to find the Papuan fighters when Indonesia annexed to have seized weapons
even though they're in the the Dutch-controlled terri- from Indonesian soldiers in
same mountainous area. tory. Discrimination against a Mar. 7 gunfight in Ndu-
Kogoya, who also speaks indigenous Papuans and ga that according to the
in the video, said, "We can- abuses by Indonesian military killed three soldiers
not step back, we will not police and military have and at least one Papuan.
hesitate, we would pursue drawn renewed attention Indonesia's military also
(military and police) until globally as Indonesia cam- claimed to have recov-
Jakarta gives us indepen- paigns for membership ered weapons.q