Yangon // At least 20 people were killed when a boat carrying wedding guests collided with a river barge in western Myanmar, with more feared drowned.
The boat sank on Friday evening in a river near Pathein, a port city west of the commercial capital Yangon.
It was believed to be carrying about 60 passengers on their way home from a wedding ceremony, according to a local police officer.
Of the dead, officials said 16 were women and four were men.
“They were crossing to the other side of the river after attending a wedding in Pathein. Most of them were relatives from the same village,” the officer said.
He said both ships were unlit when they collided in the middle of the river.
“We estimate nine people are still missing,” said Aung Thu Htwe, an MP from the region, adding that about 30 people had been rescued after the collision.
Photos carried by local media showed frenzied scenes rescuers working in the dark as they wheeled stretchers away from the river and lay bodies on the shore.
Authorities resumed the search operation on Saturday morning, the police officer said, but no bodies had been found by midday.
“We will do search and rescue for the whole day,” he said.
Fatal boat accidents are common in Myanmar, a poor country with rudimentary transport and weakly-enforced safety regulations.
Vessels ferrying people along the country’s coastline and rivers are often dangerously overcrowded, and accidents can have staggering death tolls. It can also take several days for all bodies to be retrieved.
Last October 73 people, including many teachers and students, drowned when their overloaded vessel capsized in central Myanmar on the Chindwin river.
About 60 people died in March 2015 when their ferry sank in rough waters off of Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
* Agence France-Presse
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UAE squad
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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Transmission: 7-speed DSG auto
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0-200kph in 5.5 seconds
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
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The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
Tonight's Chat on The National
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Three stars
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Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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