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Indian climber, two sherpas missing in Nepal
Tremors across India as 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes
Thai army chief announces military coup

Indian climber, two sherpas missing in Nepal

Posted: 22 May 2014 06:17 AM PDT

KATHMANDU, May 22, 2014 (AFP) - A female Indian climber and two sherpas are missing after being hit by an avalanche while climbing on Mount Kanchenjunga, her family and Nepalese officials said Thursday.

Chhanda Gayen and her three Nepalese guides successfully summited Mount Kanchenjunga last Sunday before attempting to scale a lower peak on a different part of the world's third-highest mountain on Tuesday.

Gayen, an experienced climber in her mid-thirties who scaled Everest last year, was on her way down from the 8,505-metre-high Yalung Kang peak on Tuesday evening when the avalanche struck at 5,500 metres, officials said.

"An Indian climber... Chhanda Gayen, and two sherpas have gone missing," said Dipak KC from the tourism ministry.

After the accident, Na Tashi Sherpa, the only known survivor from Gayen's team, alerted Seven Summits, the Nepalese expedition company handling her climb.

"Rescue operations so far have been unsuccessful. We will resume search on Friday morning," said Pasang Sherpa of Seven Summits.

The avalanche comes a month after 16 Nepalese guides were killed in the deadliest ever accident on Mount Everest, spurring a virtual shutdown of the world's tallest peak.

The disaster highlighted the huge risks taken by sherpa guides on behalf of foreign clients and fuelled demands for better death and injury benefits after the government initially offered $400 to each of the families of those killed.

The accident also sparked a labour dispute between sherpas and the government and led to a boycott by most guides that left hundreds of foreign climbers with no choice but to quit the peak.

Gayen's mother Jaya told local media in her home city of Howrah near Kolkata in eastern India that news of the avalanche reached the family when they were celebrating her success at scaling Kanchenjungha.

"We are pleading with the government to intensify the rescue operation," she said.

Tremors across India as 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes

Posted: 22 May 2014 03:27 AM PDT

NEW DELHI, May 21, 2014 (AFP) - An earthquake that struck in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast on Wednesday caused tremors as far away as the capital of New Delhi, a distance of more than 1,200 miles.

Mild tremors from the 6.0-magnitude quake were also felt in the eastern city of Kolkata, according to reports, but seismologists said no damage was expected, and no tsunami warning was issued.

The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 1621 GMT, was located 275 kilometres (170 miles) southeast of the coastal Indian town of Konarka, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The quake struck at a depth of 39 kilometres.

India's capital regularly experiences minor tremors, usually from distant earthquakes in remote areas of the Himalayas.

Thai army chief announces military coup

Posted: 22 May 2014 03:14 AM PDT

BANGKOK, May 22, 2014 (AFP) - Thailand's army chief announced in a televised address to the nation on Thursday that the armed forces were seizing power after months of deadly political turmoil.

"In order for the country to return to normal quickly, the National Peace Keeping Committee comprised of the army, the Thai armed forces, the Royal Air Force and the police need to seize power as of May 22 at 4.30 pm," army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said.

The commander-in-chief, who invoked martial law on Tuesday, said the coup was needed to prevent the conflict escalating.

"All Thais must remain calm and government officials must work as normal," he added.

The move came after military-hosted talks between the kingdom's political rivals apparently failed to reach a compromise on ending nearly seven months of mass protests on the streets of Bangkok.

Thai armed soldiers use a military truck to block the entrance of the Army Club, after a meeting between the army and the main political rivals on second day in Bangkok, Thailand, 22 May 2014. Thai Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha announced a coup after his efforts to reconcile rival political factions failed. - EPA

Rival protest leaders at the talks - held at a heavily guarded military facility in the capital - were seen being taken away by the army although it was unclear whether they had been formally detained.

The long-running political crisis broadly pits a Bangkok-based royalist elite and its backers against the billionaire family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, a former tycoon-turned-populist politician, was ousted by the military in a coup in 2006 but still enjoys strong support, particularly in rural northern Thailand.

His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was dismissed as prime minister earlier this month in a controversial court ruling after months of protests seeking her overthrow.

Her supporters have warned of possible civil war if opposition demonstrators achieve their goal of seeing an unelected interim premier take power to oversee vaguely defined reforms widely seen as a bid to cripple the Thaksin family's political power.

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