tribuneindia...Spotlight

			Friday, September 17, 1999
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25 drown
VALSAD, Sept 16 (PTI) — Twentyfive persons, including four children, drowned when an overcrowded boat capsized in the Arabian Sea in Tarmula Khadi at Kathalwad in Valsad district of Gujarat on Wednesday, police said. Search teams had recovered 12 bodies so far and rescue operations were on to track down 13 more persons, they said. The victims were going to immerse the idol of Lord Ganesh.

24 die in collision
JAKARTA, Sept 16 (AP) — At least 24 people were killed when a passenger train slammed into a bus in central Java, an official report said today. Five other people were severely injured in the collision at a railway crossing in Pemalang town, about 350 km east of Jakarta, the Antara news agency reported.

10 soldiers killed
COLOMBO, Sept 16 (PTI) — Ten Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and 15 injured today when their vehicle was blown up by a claymore mine set off by the LTTE rebels in north west Mannar district. Meanwhile, the government denied allegations by the Red Cross that it had bombed civilian areas in the rebel held northern Vanni region.

27 killed in Peru
LIMA, Sept 16 (AP) — Rescue workers pulled the wreckage of a bus out of an Andean river after it plunged off a bridge, discovering more bodies trapped inside to raise the death toll to 27. The accident occurred on Tuesday night when the bus, entering a narrow Andean bridge 160 km east of the capital, Lima, jumped the rail and plunged into the surging Mantaro river.

Algerian referendum
ALGIERS, Sept 16 (Reuters) — Algerians began voting today in a referendum on a peace plan President Abdelaziz Bouteflika hopes will end more than seven years of violence. 100,000 persons have been killed since 1992 when Algeria plunged into violence after the authorities cancelled a general election in which Muslim militants had taken a commanding lead.

Crowd lathi-charged
BANGALORE, Sept 16 (UNI) — The police burst teargas shells and resorted to a lathi-charge to quell violence and arson in Madhugiri town, in Tumkur district of Karnataka today. Additional Director General of Police (law and order) T. Madiyal said the trouble began when miscreants resorted to stone throwing during a protest by farmers against inadequate power supply, leading to violence and arson.