Two men die in Saudi Arabian desert after losing GPS signal

An Indian man and his Sudanese colleague died from exhaustion and dehydration after getting lost in a Saudi Arabian desert.

Mohammad Shehzad Khan, 27, from the southern Indian state of Telangana and his colleague lost their way in the Rub’ al Khali desert after their GPS signal went off, NDTV reported.

They were reportedly stranded in the desolate and perilous Empty Quarter part of the desert, one of the most dangerous regions in the world.

After Shehzad’s phone battery died and their vehicle ran out of fuel, they were left stranded without food or water. And despite their efforts to survive in the harsh desert conditions, they succumbed to starvation and dehydration.

Their bodies were found on 22 August, four days after they were last heard from, buried under sand dunes beside their vehicle.

Khan and his Sudanese colleague, whose name was not known, had been working in Saudi Arabia for three years with a telecommunications company.

Rub’ al Khali, known as the world’s largest sand desert, stretches over 650km and is notorious for its extreme climate. Annual rainfall in the region is less than 50mm, making it one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

The desert can be reached mainly by Saudi Arabia’s Highway 10, the world’s longest straight road with an estimated driving time of about two hours, which runs from Haradh to Al Batha near the UAE border. The modern highway, which cuts right through Rub’ al Khali, passes through a landscape that’s one of the planet’s most perilous.

At least 37 killed in two separate bus crashes in Pakistan

At least 37 people were killed and dozens injured in Pakistan after two separate bus accidents occurred just hours apart on Sunday.

The first tragedy struck in the Lasbela district of Balochistan province, where a bus carrying Shia Muslim pilgrims returning from Iraq plunged into a ravine.

The accident occurred on the Makran coastal highway. The driver apparently lost control of the bus due to brake failure.

“The bus fell from a highway into a ravine, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32 others,” local police chief Qazi Sabir said.

The passengers had gone to Iraq for a religious pilgrimage.

Just a few hours later, a deadly accident occurred in the Kahuta district of Punjab province. A bus travelling from Kahuta to Rawalpindi veered off the Azad Pattan Road and fell into a ravine. The cause of the crash, as with the first, was attributed to brake failure.

Reports about the number of casualties varied. While some officials said 29 people had died, rescue workers reported 25 fatalities and one critically injured passenger.

Rescue official Usman Gujjar provided a breakdown, noting that the dead included 20 men, four women and one child.

Sunday’s crashes come just days after a fatal bus accident in neighbouring Iran left 28 Pakistani pilgrims dead. The bus reportedly overturned and caught fire due to a faulty braking system.

The bodies of those victims were recently returned to Pakistan and buried in the southern Sindh province.

Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims travel to Iraq’s Karbala city to commemorate the death anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein, a symbol of resistance to tyrannical rule during the tumultuous first century of Islam’s history.

The tragic accidents have prompted an outpouring of grief and sympathy in Pakistan.

“I pray for the high ranks of the departed souls and patience for their families,” prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said while directing authorities to provide immediate medical aid to the injured.

His interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, said: “Heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents.”

Punjab chief minister Maryam Nawaz wrote on social media: “May Allah exalt the ranks of those who died in this tragedy and grant patience to their loved ones.”

She underlined the need for improved road safety measures to prevent such accidents in the future.

Incredible true story behind Netflix’s new plane hijacking series

A new Netflix series follows the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in December 1999 that took seven days to resolve, remaining the longest seizure of an aircraft in Indian aviation history.

Adapted from the book Flight Into Fear by Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot on board the hijacked flight, IC814: The Kandahar Hijack delves into the crisis from various perspectives – the politicians and bureaucrats in Delhi’s War Room to the terrified hostages on board.

Five masked men hijacked the aircraft on 24 December 1999, 40 minutes after it took off from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, bound for New Delhi.

Sharan was forced to fly the plane into Pakistani airspace, where he did not receive clearance to land, despite the Indian High Commission in Pakistan making repeated requests. The plane then landed in Amritsar a little before 7pm, with barely 10 minutes worth of fuel left.

In Amritsar, the Indian authorities were tasked with delaying the refuelling of the plane for as long as possible. But at the same time, the hijackers wanted the plane back in the air, with permission to land in Pakistan.

“Please get permission to land at OPLA (Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore)… otherwise they are ready to crash anywhere … they have already selected 10 people to kill,” Sharan said to the Indian Air Traffic Control, according to India Today.

Chaos ensued, as he made contact with the ATC again, telling them that the hijackers had begun to kill hostages. Soon after, at 750pm, he took off.

“We are all dying,” he told the ATC.

The hijackers forced Sharan to fly the plane to Lahore, where the pilot made a desperate landing despite not getting permission from Pakistan’s ATC, which turned off all lights and navigational aids at the airport.

After refuelling, the plane once again took off from Lahore and attempted to land in Dubai. After being refused permission there as well, the flight landed at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE. Here, the hijackers released 27 of the 176 passengers, including the body of 25-year-old Rupin Katyal, who had been fatally stabbed by the hijackers.

After this, the plane finally landed in the hijackers’ original destination, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan’s Kandahar airport.

It was here that the remaining hostages waited for the next six days, while the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government negotiated with the terrorists who wanted India to release 36 prisoners in exchange for the hostages.

The five Pakistani hijackers were identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir, and belonged to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), a Pakistan-based Islamist terror group.

Their demands were simple: they wanted the release of HuM members Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Masood Azhar, and Pakistan-backed Kashmiri militant, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.

After intense negotiations and internal handwringing, on 30 December the Indian government managed to convince the hijackers to release all hostages for three terrorists.

“I must have slept around 3 am. I woke up at 8 am. The usual Afghan bread was served for breakfast. I did not feel like eating. I was worried that the millennium would end in hours and I would be missing the celebrations. I was thinking of many things,” reads the account of 41-year-old merchant navy captain Kollattu Ravikumar, one of the hostages on the flight.

All three terrorists who were released have since been implicated in terror attacks, including the attack on parliament of India in New Delhi in 2001, the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the kidnapping and murder of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Once the hostages were freed, Indian authorities assumed that the Taliban officials would arrest the hijackers and secure the released terrorists. Instead, the Taliban drove them across the border, towards Quetta in Pakistan.

The BJP government faced severe criticism over failing to resolve the crisis sooner, and especially over allowing the flight to leave Indian territory.

AK Doval, the 64-year-old former Intelligence Bureau Chief who led the four-member negotiating team to Kandahar, described it as a “diplomatic failure” and a “bloody disgrace” for India.

“There was a diplomatic failure on our inability. When we know that the US is totally against the terrorists, they are against the Taliban, they had total hold over the UAE, we could not leverage this thing. Our Ambassador could not even get inside the airport (in Abu Dhabi),” he said to news agency Press Trust of India.

The series has an ensemble cast, and is created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava.

“Trishant, the writer, and I dived in thinking most of the information is available online. Documentaries and vlogs have been made, articles have been written, so we wanted to sink our teeth deeper for a more succulent bite,” Sinha told Variety.

“We met officials engaged in running the rescue mission from Delhi, and passengers and the crew told us the story inside the aircraft. Adrian Levy, an eminent journalist, author and filmmaker from London came on board and an all-new international canvas unfolded before us.

“What went on across those seven days turned out to be a compelling story that cuts through chilling and thrilling tactical and diplomatic manoeuvres that had to be told. The viewers must know this story that has never been told inside out before with a cast I don’t know if I can put together again.”

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack will be available to stream on Netflix from 29 August.

Flash flood kills at least 13 on Indonesia’s Ternate Island

A flash flood following torrential rains on Indonesia’s eastern island of Ternate left 13 people dead on Sunday.

Search and rescue teams working with local residents recovered 10 bodies in the village of Rua, in North Maluku province.

The team was working to retrieve more bodies, according to Bram Madya Temara, an official from the island’s search and rescue agency BNPB.

The flood swept away residential areas and cut off the main road and access to Rua. Dozens of houses and buildings were buried in mud.

Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.

Citing forecasts that heavy rain may continue in the next few days, BNPB warned local residents to be on guard.

“We urge people to remain vigilant and follow directions from authorities on potential subsequent floods,” spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.

Motorcycle bomb kills three people and injures 16 in Pakistan

A bomb blast in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday killed three people, including two children, police said.

It also injured at least 13 people, including two police officers who were reported by local media to be in a critical condition.

The explosion occurred near the police headquarters at Surkhab Chowk in Pishin, a town in Balochistan province about 100km from the border with Afghanistan.

“Explosives were planted in a motorcycle,” police officer Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman said, adding that it was remotely detonated.

Two children who were passing by were killed when the blast occurred, he said.

Police suspected the blast was carried out by separatist Baloch factions, which have ramped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months, although no group claimed responsibility.

Pakistan’s interior minister Mohsin Naqvi mourned the loss of innocent lives. He said the fight against insurgents was for “Pakistan’s honour and to give the future generations a peaceful and safe country”.

“This war will continue until the terrorists and their enablers are eradicated,” he said.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, expressed sorrow and directed authorities to provide the best medical treatment possible to the injured.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to combating terrorism. “Cowardly terrorists who attack young children do not deserve to be called humans,” he said.

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for Balochistan’s provisional government, condemned the “terrorist incident”.

“Anti-society and anti-state elements do not deserve any concession,” Mr Rind said. “Terrorists are targeting innocent and sinless people to achieve their nefarious goals.”

Balochistan has seen a surge in violence in recent months, particularly since the breakdown of a ceasefire between the government and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in 2022.

The blast in Pishin continues a broader trend of escalating attacks on security forces and civilians in Balochistan and the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Balochistan has long been plagued by insurgency, with separatist groups seeking independence from Pakistan.

Despite the government’s claims of having quelled the insurgency, violence has continued, posing ongoing security challenges to the country.

Balochistan holds strategic importance internationally as well, not least due to its proximity to Afghanistan and Iran, making it a focal point for regional stability.

Narendra Modi urges Zelensky to hold talks with Russia to end war

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has urged Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down for talks with Russia to end Moscow’s invasion during a visit to Kyiv a month after hugging Vladimir Putin.

Mr Modi, whose visit to Moscow last month was widely criticised, said he had come to Ukraine with a message of peace and called for dialogue at the earliest opportunity.

“The road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy. And we should move in that direction without wasting any time. Both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis,” Mr Modi said.

He urged the two countries to “move in the direction of dialogue”, calling it the “only way to resolve conflict”.

The remarks were made during joint statements, in which both leaders hailed the visit as “historic”. Mr Modi spoke second and Mr Zelensky did not have an opportunity to respond to the call for dialogue. But the Ukrainian leader said in his remarks that “the matter of ending the war and a just peace are the priority for Ukraine”.

Mr Modi and Mr Zelensky hugged and shook hands as they met at the National Museum of History in Kyiv.

Mr Zelensky said of the meeting that he and Mr Modi “agreed on a joint statement focusing on the development of a strategic partnership, bilateral trade, and continued military-technical cooperation… India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“Conflict is particularly devastating for young children,” Mr Modi wrote on the social media platform X after the visit. “My heart goes out to the families of children who lost their lives, and I pray that they find the strength to endure their grief.”

They laid teddy bears at the memorial at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War before observing a moment of silence.

“Prime minister [Modi] was deeply touched by the poignant exposition set up in memory of children who have lost their lives in the conflict,” said India’s foreign ministry in a statement.

“He expressed his sorrow at the tragic loss of young lives and as a mark of respect placed a toy in their memory.”

He also paid tribute at the Mahatma Gandhi monument in Kyiv. The chief of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, emphasised Ukraine’s expectation that India could play a role in ending the war with a “just peace”. Ukraine has repeatedly said it wants the war to end but on Kyiv’s terms, not Russia’s. Ukraine has been pushing to hold a second international summit later this year to advance its vision of peace and involve representatives from Russia.

“We respect India as a very big democracy in the world and a powerful country,” Mr Yermak said in an interview with India Today.

“But now it’s necessary to say who is the aggressor, who is the victim.”

“Reached Kyiv earlier this morning,” the Indian prime minister had posted on X on his arrival, as he shared pictures of a reception with members of the Indian diaspora in Ukraine. “The Indian community accorded a very warm welcome,” he said.

Mr Modi’s visit comes one month after he met Putin in Moscow. It is also the first trip by any Indian prime minister to Ukraine since Kyiv gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The visit comes at a volatile juncture in the war as Ukrainian forces are still occupying swathes of Russia’s western Kursk region following an incursion that began on 6 August, while Russian troops are grinding out slow but steady advances in Ukraine’s east.

India and Ukraine have some important links in terms of migration and trade in military spare parts, but the trip is largely being seen in the context of India’s ongoing balancing act when it comes to the Ukraine war. Delhi has condemned the suffering taking place in the conflict without directly criticising Putin’s invasion, and has profited enormously from buying large volumes of discounted Russian oil.

“I look forward to the opportunity to … share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict,” Mr Modi had said before the trip. “As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region.”

Mr Modi‘s visit to Moscow last month coincided with a heavy Russian missile strike on Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital.

It elicited strong criticism from Mr Zelensky, who said it was a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, told Reuters that Mr Modi‘s visit to Kyiv was significant because Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.

“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is – and that it is also in their interests,” he said.

Sikh separatist targeted in California ‘assassination attempt’

A Sikh separatist leader reportedly survived an “assassination attempt” on 11 August in Sacramento, California.

The truck in which Satinder Pal Singh Raju was travelling was allegedly “sprayed with bullets” on Interstate 505 near Sacramento earlier this month. Mr Raju is the leader and organiser of Sikhs for Justice – an organisation that seeks a separate Sikh state or Khalistan.

Sikhs for Justice said in a statement that a car pulled up next to Mr Raju’s vehicle and opened fire, causing the driver of the truck to veer off the road. Mr Raju and two of his colleagues who were travelling with him in the truck escaped the vehicle and took cover behind a haystack, where they called 911, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The California highway patrol confirmed that there was a shooting on Interstate 505 on 11 August at about 11.30pm and is investigating the incident. The Guardian reported that no arrests have been made so far, according to the agency’s spokesperson, Rodney Fitzhugh.

Mr Raju is reportedly associated with Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Khalistan advocate who was allegedly assassinated in Canada last year. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau described what he called credible allegations that India was connected to the assassination of Nijjar in June. The Indian government denied any hand in Nijjar’s killing while also saying Canada was trying to shift the focus from Khalistan activists there.

Sikhs for Justice suggested that India, which has been linked to several plots against Sikh leaders in the US and other countries, could be responsible for the attack in Northern California. They believe that the attack was part of a broader effort by the Indian government to suppress the Khalistan independence movement globally.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, lawyer and spokesperson for Sikhs For Justice, said in a statement: “(Indian prime minister Narendra) Modi 3.0 Regime is continuing with its policy of transnational repression to violently suppress the global Khalistan Referendum campaign seeking liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation.”

The Indian government has not yet responded to Mr Pannun’s allegation.

In 2023, Mr Pannun was the target of a thwarted assassination attempt in the US, which US officials attributed to the Indian government, though India denies any involvement.

Mr Pannun is also facing terrorism charges in India for his advocacy of an independent Sikh state.

Mr Raju has played a significant role in organising Khalistan referendum votes – a symbolic effort by some Sikhs worldwide to advocate for independence from India. He was involved in votes held in San Francisco and Sacramento earlier this year and also helped with a referendum in Calgary, Canada, in July.

“The American administration and the Canadian government, they have not held India accountable, and Modi feels emboldened,” Mr Pannun said. “They are using their proxies to target leaders of the Khalistan referendum movement.”

Photos from Sikhs for Justice revealed at least four bullet holes in the driver’s side window, marked with what appeared to be police evidence tags. One bullet seemed to have lodged in the truck’s dashboard, while another appeared to have exited through the windshield.

Mr Raju told The Los Angeles Times: “The day of our death is already written. I am happy to survive. But this won’t change the work that we do.”

He is currently helping Sikh activists organise a November referendum in New Zealand.

The Independent has reached out to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs for comment.

At least 14 dead after bus carrying Indian pilgrims plunges into river

At least 14 people were killed, 16 others injured, and several more believed to be missing after a bus carrying dozens of Indian pilgrims drove off a key highway on Friday in Nepal, officials said.

The bus veered off the Prithvi Highway and rolled toward a fast-flowing river, stopping on the rocky bank. The top part of the bus was ripped, but the wreckage did not plunge into the Marsyangdi river.

Armed police force spokesperson Shailendra Thapa said that among those pulled out of from the bus, 14 were declared dead and 16 were injured in the accident.

Officials could not yet say how many more were missing or the exact number of people on the bus when it crashed, but they estimated there were some four dozen on board at the time of the accident.

Police and army rescuers were helping to pull people from the wreckage near Abukhaireni, a town about 120km (75miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu.

At least 29 passengers were rescued from the bus bearing the Uttar Pradesh state number plate UP 53 FT 7623, reported the Times of India newspaper.

The bus from neighbouring Indian town of Gorakhpur was heading toward Kathmandu from the resort town of Pokhara on Friday when it drove off the highway midway in the journey.

In July, two buses were swept by landslides not too far from Friday’s accident site. Of the 65 people on board those two buses, only three survived and only about half the bodies were recovered. The wreckage of those buses have not been found yet but authorities have continued to search.

Bus accidents in Nepal are mostly due to poorly maintained roads and vehicles and much of the country is covered by mountains with narrow roads.