One person died and nine others fell ill after inhaling toxic gas at a pharma company in Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalli district near here.

The incident occurred at Tagoor Laboraties Pvt Ltd at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parawada, about 35 km from this port city, on Tuesday but it came to light on Wednesday after the affected workers exhibited symptoms.

The workers were engaged in maintenance work on a reactor, which underwent a heavy pressure build-up while mixing Hydrochloric Acid and chloroform.

The workers inhaled toxic fumes around 4 p.m. but they started exhibiting the symptoms around midnight. The affected workers faced cough and breathing problems. They were all shifted to a hospital in Gajuwaka here.

A massive fire that broke at a plastic bag manufacturing company at Jeedimetla industrial area here on Tuesday continued blazing for more than 24 hours, resulting in the collapse of the three-story building.

Ten fire tenders were continuing their efforts to completely douse the fire. The surroundings were still enveloped by huge smoke billowing out from the manufacturing unit which made the task of firefighting personnel difficult.

The fire broke out at SSV Fab Industries in the Jeedimetla industrial area of Medchal Malkajgiri district around 12 noon on Tuesday. The fire rapidly spread and engulfed the entire premises.

There was no loss of life in the incident as all 60 workers quickly managed to vacate the premises.

Five women were killed on Wednesday after a speeding car hit them on the highway off Mammallapuram, near here, police said.

The police said the accident occurred when a car proceeding towards Mamallapuram from Chennai went off track and crashed into a group of people sitting by the roadside.

All five victims died instantly due to severe injuries.

Police sources told IANS that the car driver has been detained and a probe was underway.

In Tamil Nadu, a total of 18,074 people died in 66,841 road accidents in 2023, an increase from the previous year's statistics.

Two construction workers from Assam were killed and two others injured in Arunachal Pradesh’s Itanagar on Wednesday after a huge mound of earth collapsed on them.

The incident took place when the two workers were digging to construct a retaining wall and the surrounding area collapsed on them, police said.

Police said the tragic incident occurred at Doni Colony on the outskirts of capital city Itanagar.

The four workers were trapped under the debris as the earth of the surrounding area where they were busy digging collapsed on them all of a sudden.

Two union leaders were detained by police on Wednesday after fresh protests erupted in the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine base town of Katra in Jammu and Kashmir.

Police said two union leaders of shopkeepers and labourers were detained and an FIR was lodged against eight others after fresh protests erupted in the town.

A policeman was injured after the protesters clashed with the security forces on Monday. Police said a rally was led by Bhupinder Singh and Sohan Chand on Tuesday and Wednesday also. The protests were held despite the strike being called off on Tuesday after assurances from the government.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police have conducted a massive crackdown on terrorist networks linked to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) across the Jammu region.

Additional DGP (Jammu), Anand Jain told reporters on Wednesday that police have conducted a series of searches and raids across the Jammu region.

“Raids were conducted at 56 places across four districts of the Jammu region. The large-scale operation resulted in the arrest of several Over Ground Workers (OGWs) and terror suspects, along with the recovery of incriminating materials, including electronic devices, documents, unaccounted cash, weapons and ammunition. Investigations will continue based on the material and information gathered during the raids. Further operations are planned to target any remaining elements attempting to disrupt peace in the region, ” he said.

With the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall across many areas of Tamil Nadu, a holiday has been declared for educational institutions in several districts on Wednesday.

In Chennai and its neighbouring districts, including Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, and Chengalpattu, the district collectors announced a holiday for schools and colleges.

Anticipating severe weather conditions, authorities have extended the holiday to schools and colleges in the Delta districts of Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Villupuram.

Holiday has also been announced for educational institutions in Karaikal and Puducherry.

The RMC in Chennai stated that the depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal has intensified into a deep depression and is likely to develop into a cyclonic storm on Wednesday.

The air quality in Delhi-NCR remained in the 'very poor' category on Wednesday, with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 396, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The worsening pollution levels have escalated health concerns for the region's residents, with several areas in Delhi witnessing AQI levels above 400, indicating a potential shift to the ‘severe’ category.

Mundka reported the highest AQI at 443, followed by Rohini and Vivek Vihar at 432 each. Anand Vihar recorded an AQI of 431, while Jahangirpuri stood at 422. Other severely affected areas included Sonia Vihar at 425, Shadipur at 423, and Punjabi Bagh at 413. Alipur (416), Narela (415), and Ashok Vihar (420) also saw AQI levels firmly in the 'severe' range, further highlighting the dire situation.

A special court in Kolkata on Tuesday granted custody of Santu Gangopadhyay and Santanu Bandopadhyay, two Trinamool Congress leaders to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The leaders have allegedly acted as middlemen in the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal.

On Tuesday, only a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High granted conditional bail to Bandopadhyay in the case filed in the matter against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had been conducting a parallel probe along with CBI in the school job case.

However, before he could be released he was been taken back into custody by the CBI.

The Border Security Force (BSF) apprehended a Bangladeshi national with four gold biscuits, valued at Rs 36.56 lakh, during routine frisking at ICP Petrapole in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district on Tuesday.

In another operation in the same district, the BSF claims to have seized eight Air rifles and an air pistol that were allegedly being smuggled to Bangladesh. A large number of pellets and the barrel of an air rifle were also seized.

N K Pandey, DIG and spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF said that the troops of the 145 Bn BSF were on duty at ICP Petrapole.

“Around 7 am on Tuesday, as they were frisking people entering India from Bangladesh, a hand-held metal detector beeped when taken close to a man's body. However, nothing was found on him. The troops then took him to an enclosed area and carried out a thorough search. The four gold biscuits were hidden inside his rectum. The man was immediately taken into custody,” he said.