NEW DELHI: Home minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday, saying he felt obliged to take "moral responsibility" for the brutal Islamist attacks in Home minister Shivraj Patil gestures as he addresses mediapersons after a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday.
Idukki, Kerala: Four persons were killed and four others were reported missing after a pipe connecting the Ponmudi dam and Panniyar power house in this district burst yesterday. Three of the victims, whose bodies were recovered by midnight last night, were employees of the Kerala State Electricity Board. They lost their lives while trying to close the valve of the penstock pipe carrying water from the dam to the power house, sources said.
Their bodies were found trapped in the valve house. The person whose body was found this morning was yet to be identified. Police and fire service personnel resumed the search for the missing this morning with the help of local people. The gushing waters from the broken pipe destroyed seven houses and damaged 15 others partly. Crops in about 250 acres downhill had been destroyed. About 15 families that were cut off down the valley below the spot of the pipe burst had been rescued and brought to a church at Vellathuval where a relief camp had been opened. The preliminary official assessment was that the water spill was caused by loosening of bolts at a joint in the 200-inch-radius pipe. (Agencies)
