COLOMBO: Monsoon rain and strong winds in Sri Lanka have killed at least 23 people with many more missing, mostly fishermen caught in rough seas, an official said yesterday.
The navy and air force are searching for 26 fishermen who have been missing at sea since the monsoon hit early Saturday, said a spokesman for the Colombo-based Disaster Management centre, Sarath Lal Kumara.
The bodies of 22 fishermen have so far been found, while the body of another person was discovered on land, Kumara said. A government minister said at least 21 injured fishermen had been rescued and admitted to hospital and assistance was being offered to bereaved families.
Sarath Kumara Gunaratne, deputy minister of fisheries and coordinator of disaster relief, said most of the victims were fishermen using very small boats that operated close to the coastline.
On Saturday officials confirmed the deaths of five people due to the monsoon which hits annually, bringing much-needed rain, but also frequently causing loss of life and damage to property.
China tries former minister for graft
BEIJING: China’s former railways minister went on trial yesterday charged with accepting millions of dollars in bribes, state media reported, in the first high-profile corruption case under President Xi Jinping.
The ex-minister, Liu Zhijun, stood trial in a court in Beijing, the official Xinhua news agency reported in a brief dispatch.
According to the indictment, Liu took advantage of his position to help 11 people win promotions or contracts, and accepted 64.6m yuan ($10.5m) in bribes between 1986 and 2011, Xinhua reported.
The stakes are high for Liu. Under Chinese criminal law, the death penalty can be imposed for taking bribes over 100,000 yuan.
Agencies
