Death Audits in case of fatalities in road transport accidents (RTAs) will be compulsory in West Bengal, as per the latest order from the state Health Department.

The decision was taken at the Chief Medical Officers of Health (CMOH)-level meeting on December 16, following which the Deputy Director of Health Services issued the order.

"As instructed by the Principal Secretary of this department in the CMOH Review Meeting held on 16.12.2024 at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, it has been decided that every death caused by RTA should be audited henceforth at the facility level," read the order, a copy of which is available.

A devastating fire engulfed a house in the Shiv Nagar area of Kathua city on Wednesday, claiming the lives of six people, including two children.

According to doctors at GMC Hospital, Kathua, the victims succumbed to suffocation caused by smoke inhalation.

The incident occurred around 2:21 A.M. Emergency services were promptly alerted, with the fire department personnel and police rushing to the scene. Despite their efforts, six individuals were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The tragedy happened in a rented house where the victims resided. Surinder Atri, a Doctor at GMC Hospital stated, “This is an extremely tragic incident. The fire broke out in a rented accommodation. Among the deceased are the husband of a retired Assistant Matron, their unmarried daughter, and two children from her brother’s family. The survivors, including another daughter, a son, and the rest of the brother's family, are currently out of danger.”

Delhi-NCR woke up to a thick blanket of smog on Wednesday as air quality remained in the ‘severe’ category for the third consecutive day as the cold gripped the region.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi was recorded at 442 at 7:15 A.M., with several areas in the national Capital registering levels between 400 and 500.

Visibility across the region was significantly reduced, with low-visibility procedures implemented at Delhi airport after visibility dropped to 300 meters.

Key areas in Delhi reported alarming AQI levels, including Anand Vihar (481), Ashok Vihar (461), Burari Crossing (483), and Nehru Nagar (480). Other prominent locations like Alipur, Jahangirpuri, and Mundka recorded AQI levels of 443, 469, and 473, respectively.

The condition of nine-year-old Sri Tej, who was injured during a stampede at a theatre in Hyderabad during the premier show of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, remained critical.

The boy remained in the Intensive Care Unit at KIMS Hospital. According to doctors, he was on mechanical ventilation with minimal support of oxygen and pressures.

“His fever is reducing and on minimal inotropes, his vital parameters are stable. He is tolerating feeds well,” said a statement from the hospital.

With one more militant taken into custody, the number of arrests in connection with Saturday's killing of two migrant workers from Bihar has risen to eight, officials said on Tuesday.

A police official said that a hardcore cadre of the banned Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group) (KCP-PWG) outfit, identified as Irengbam Rameshwar Singh, 48, was arrested from Kakching Lamkhai area under Kakching district on Monday night.

The official said that a police team, acting on secret information, had earlier on Monday arrested seven militants of the KCP-PWG group from a hideout located at the Kakching Mamang Ching Laipham Loknung area in Kakching.

The arrested extremists were identified as Elangabm Herojit Singh, 40, Heikrujam Prem, 28, Okram Arundatta, 30, Senjam Rebingson, 27, Okram Amarjit, 31, Aribam Ghanendrajit Sharma, 25, and Chongtham Rajkumar, 26.

A cache of arms and ammunition including eight weapons were recovered from the detainees.

A police personnel was killed while two others were seriously injured when a Dial 112 police patrol vehicle overturned in a pond in the Simri Bazar police station area in Bihar's Darbhanga district in the early hours of Tuesday.

The incident occurred at 12.30 a.m. when the police vehicle, returning from Sadhwara to Simri Bazar after patrolling, overturned into a pond while avoiding hitting a dog on the road.

The cop, identified as Shekhar Paswan (59), succumbed to his injuries in Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) while driver GK Jha, and constable Archana Kumari, were currently undergoing treatment.

Paswan was a resident of Raghepura village in the Bahadurpur police station area.

Senior police officers visited the accident site and inquired about the circumstances leading to the accident.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths raided three locations in and around Kolkata on Tuesday in connection with three different bank loan forgery cases.

The central agency sleuths conducted a raid at the residence of local businessman Sanjay Surekha at Ballygunge in Kolkata.

Sources said that the raid and search operations by the central agency officials were in connection with a bank loan forgery case registered by the State Bank of India (SBI) in the year 2022.

The total forgery amount involved in the matter is to the tune of Rs 3,280 crore.

Minimum temperature dropped to bone-chilling minus 5.3 in Srinagar city on Tuesday as an intense cold wave swept across Jammu and Kashmir with wind blowing into the mainland from snowclad mountains.

MET department officials said that the minimum temperature dropped to minus 5.3 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, a shade less than minus 5.4 recorded on December 10, which was the coldest this season so far.

“Cold dry weather is likely to continue till the evening of December 21 after that a feeble Western Disturbance is likely to result in snowfall on the higher reaches”, Mukhtar Ahmad, director of the local MET department said.

Western Disturbance is the name given to an extratropical storm in the Mediterranean Sea that causes precipitation in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In the wake of deteriorating air quality in Delhi on Monday night, the Commission for Air Quality (CAQM) was forced to reimpose GRAP 4 restrictions in the entire Delhi-NCR, with immediate effect.

Delhi's average air quality index (AQI) rose to 399 at 9 p.m. on Monday and breached the 400 mark at 10 p.m.

The air quality plummeted to 'Severe+' category and hence, the decision to reintroduce Stage IV of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was taken in an emergency meeting.

Issuing a statement, CAQM said, "In pursuance of the Supreme Court's directives, the Sub-Committee hereby invokes the Stage-IV of the Schedule under the GRAP, as comprehensively revised and issued on December 13, 2024, with immediate effect. The actions under Stage-IV shall be over and above the actions under Stages III, II and I, already in force."

Four members of a family, including two children, have been killed in a tragic road accident in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, officials said here on Monday.

The accident took place late on Sunday night following which the four persons were shifted to a local hospital. However, all attempts by the doctors to treat them ultimately failed and on Monday morning all four of them were declared dead.

The two deceased have been identified as Sanjit Roy and his wife Bipasha Sarkar Roy. Their son Ivan Roy and daughter Ishita Roy have also been killed in the road accident.

According to a district police official, the four were returning home late Sunday night in Cooch Behar district from adjacent Tufanganj in the same district after attending a marriage function.