A small private plane crashed Thursday in a busy area of Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, killing five people including one person on the ground, police said. A former aviation minister said the pilot avoided a much higher toll by hitting an open area at a construction site.
A private chartered plane goes up in flames after it crashed in Ghatkopar area, Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 28, 2018. The plane hit an open area at a construction site for a multistory building in a crowded area with many residential apartments.(AP Photo)
The fatalities included the two pilots and two technicians on the aircraft, the Press Trust of India news agency said. Police officer Vishnu Kolekar said one person on the ground was killed and two others were injured. Police earlier said two were killed on the ground.
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A small private plane crashed Thursday in a busy area of Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, killing five people including one person on the ground, police said. A former aviation minister said the pilot avoided a much higher toll by hitting an open area at a construction site.
The fatalities included the two pilots and two technicians on the aircraft, the Press Trust of India news agency said. Police officer Vishnu Kolekar said one person on the ground was killed and two others were injured. Police earlier said two were killed on the ground.
They said it plowed into an open area at a construction site for a multistory building in the Ghatkopar district, a crowded area with many residential apartments. Workers at the construction site had left for lunch.
Current Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident.
Television images of Thursday's crash showed pieces of the plane burning on the ground. Eight fire trucks rushed to the crash site. Fire official R. Pawar said the bodies recovered from the wreckage were badly burned. A strong smell of aviation fuel hung over the area.
Police said the 12-seat Beechcraft King Air C90 crashed on a test flight after being repaired and had taken off from Mumbai's Juhu airstrip, which is used by small planes and is some distance from the city's main airport.
Rescuers search among the wreckage of a private charter plane that crashed in Ghatkopar area in Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 28, 2018. The plane hit an open area at a construction site for a multistory building in a crowded area with many residential apartments. (AP Photo)
They said it plowed into an open area at a construction site for a multistory building in the Ghatkopar district, a crowded area with many residential apartments. Workers at the construction site had left for lunch.
Former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, a Mumbai resident, said the pilot prevented many more casualties by avoiding residential buildings.
"Salute to the pilot who showed presence of mind to avoid a big mishap, saving many lives at the cost of her own," he tweeted.
Rescuers stand amid the wreckage of a private chartered plane that crashed in Ghatkopar area, Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Current Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered an investigation into the cause of the accident.
New Delhi Television reported that the plane had engine trouble and the pilot had requested an emergency landing at the main Mumbai airport.
The plane was more than 20 years old and had been acquired by the Uttar Pradesh state government in 1995, which sold it in 2014 to a private Mumbai company, UY Aviation, following a crash in 2012, said Surya Pal Gangwar, a state civil aviation official in Lucknow, the state capital. He did not describe details of the crash or the extent of the damage the aircraft suffered.
Rescuers carry a victim from the wreckage of a private chartered plane that crashed in Ghatkopar area, Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 28, 2018. The plane hit an open area at a construction site for a multistory building in a crowded area with many residential apartments. (AP Photo)
Television images of Thursday's crash showed pieces of the plane burning on the ground. Eight fire trucks rushed to the crash site. Fire official R. Pawar said the bodies recovered from the wreckage were badly burned. A strong smell of aviation fuel hung over the area.
Surveillance camera video from a nearby building broadcast on NDTV showed the plane hitting a red vehicle in the open area and bursting into a ball of fire.
The wreckage was spread over a 50-meter (50-yard) radius.
"We are used to planes flying overhead," a resident of a nearby apartment complex told NDTV. "We thought there was an explosion at the construction site. Only later we realized that a plane had crashed."
Rescuers stand amid the wreckage of a private chartered plane that crashed in Ghatkopar area, Mumbai, India, Thursday, June 28, 2018. An official said it was not immediately known how many people were on board the aircraft. Five bodies were recovered from the wreckage and rescue work was continuing. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
The deadliest civil aviation accident in Indian history was a mid-air collision near New Delhi in 1996 which killed all 349 people on board the two planes, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-100B and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76.
An Air India passenger plane crashed in 1978 about 3 kilometers (2 miles) off the coast of Bandra, Mumbai. All 213 passengers and crew were killed.
Another Air India flight from Dubai to Mangalore overshot the runway on landing and fell over a cliff and caught fire in May 2010. Only eight of the 166 passengers and crew survived.
LONDON (AP) — TikTok is in the crosshairs of authorities in the U.S., where new legislation threatens a nationwide ban unless its China-based parent ByteDance divests. It would be the biggest blow yet to the popular video-sharing app, which has faced various restrictions around the world.
TikTok is already banned in a handful of countries and from government-issued devices in a number of others, due to official worries that the app poses privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
Those fears are reflected in the U.S. bill, which is the culmination of long-held bipartisan fears in Washington that China’s communist leaders could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data, or influence Americans by suppressing or promoting certain content. TikTok has long maintained that it doesn’t share data with the Chinese government and its CEO has taken a defiant stance, vowing to fight back.
Here are the places that have partial or total bans on TikTok:
AFGHANISTAN
TikTok has been banned since 2022, along with videogame PUBG, after the country's Taliban leadership decided to forbid access on the grounds of protecting young people from “being misled.”
AUSTRALIA
TikTok is not allowed on devices issued by the Australian federal government. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he made the decision after getting advice from the country’s intelligence and security agencies.
BELGIUM
The National Security Council decided last month to indefinitely ban TikTok from devices owned or paid for by the federal government. The ban was issued on a temporary basis last year on worries about cybersecurity, privacy and misinformation. Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said it was based on warnings from the country’s state security service and cybersecurity center.
CANADA
Devices issued by the federal government are forbidden from using TikTok. Officials cited an “unacceptable” risk to privacy and security and said the app would be removed from devices and employees blocked from downloading it.
DENMARK
Denmark’s Defense Ministry banned its employees from having TikTok on their work phones, ordering staffers who have installed it to remove the app from devices as soon as possible. The ministry said the reasons for the ban included both “weighty security considerations” as well as “very limited work-related need to use the app.”
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Parliament, European Commission and the EU Council, the 27-member bloc’s three main institutions, have imposed bans on TikTok on staff devices. Under the European Parliament’s ban, lawmakers and staff were also advised to remove the TikTok app from their personal devices.
FRANCE
“Recreational” use of TikTok and other social media apps like Twitter and Instagram on government employees’ phones has been banned because of worries about insufficient data security measures. The French government didn’t name specific apps but noted the decision came after other governments took measures targeting TikTok.
INDIA
India imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps like messaging app WeChat in 2020 over privacy and security concerns. The ban came shortly after a clash between Indian and Chinese troops at a disputed Himalayan border killed 20 Indian soldiers and injured dozens. The companies were given a chance to respond to questions on privacy and security requirements but the ban was made permanent in 2021.
INDONESIA
TikTok isn't entirely banned in the sprawling, populous Southeast Asian nation, only its online retail function, after the authorities clamped down on e-commerce transactions carried out on social media platforms in a bid to protect small businesses.
LATVIA
Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted that he deleted his TikTok account and that the app is also prohibited from official foreign ministry smartphones.
NETHERLANDS
The Dutch central government banned apps including TikTok from employee work phones citing data security concerns. A government statement did not name TikTok specifically but said civil servants are discouraged from having apps “from countries with an offensive cyber program against the Netherlands and/or Dutch interests installed and used on their mobile work devices.”
NEPAL
The Himalayan country imposed a nationwide ban on TikTok, saying it was disrupting “social harmony” and goodwill and blaming it for a “flow of indecent materials.” Authorities ordered the telecom company to block access to the app.
NEW ZEALAND
Lawmakers in New Zealand and staff at the nation’s Parliament are prohibited from having the TikTok app on their work phones, following advice from government cybersecurity experts. The app was removed from all devices with access to the parliamentary network, although officials can make special arrangements for anybody who needs TikTok to perform their democratic duties.
NORWAY
The Norwegian parliament banned Tiktok on work devices after the country’s Justice Ministry warned the app shouldn’t be installed on phones issued to government employees. The Parliament’s speaker said TikTok shouldn’t be on devices that have access to the assembly’s systems and should be removed as quickly as possible. The country’s capital Oslo and second largest city Bergen also urged municipal employees to remove TikTok from their work phones.
PAKISTAN
Pakistani authorities have temporarily banned TikTok at least four times since 2020, citing concerns that the app promotes immoral content.
SOMALIA
The government ordered telecom companies to block access to TikTok, along with messaging app Telegram and gambling platform 1XBET. Officials said they were concerned that the platforms could spread extremist content, nude images and other material seen as offensive to Somali culture and Islam.
TAIWAN
Taiwan imposed a public sector ban on TikTok after the FBI warned that the app posed a national security risk. Government devices, including mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers, are not allowed to use Chinese-made software, which includes apps like TikTok, its Chinese equivalent Douyin, or Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle content app.
UNITED KINGDOM
British authorities banned TikTok from mobile phones used by government ministers and civil servants. Officials said the ban was a “precautionary move” on security grounds and doesn’t apply to personal devices. The British Parliament followed up by banning TikTok from all official devices and the “wider parliamentary network.” The semi-autonomous Scottish government and London City Hall also banned TikTok from staff devices. The BBC urged staff to delete TikTok from corporate devices unless they’re using it for editorial and marketing reasons.
UNITED STATES
U.S. authorities ordered government agencies to delete TikTok from federal devices and systems over data security concerns. More than half of the 50 U.S. states also have banned the app from official devices, as have Congress and the U.S. armed forces. Montana's efforts to bring in a state-wide ban failed, as did a proposal in Virginia to block kids from using it.
FILE - The TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen, Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. TikTok is gearing up for a legal fight against a U.S. law that would force the social media platform to break ties with its China-based parent company or face a ban. A battle in the courts will almost certainly be backed by Chinese authorities as the bitter U.S.-China rivalry threatens the future of a wildly popular way for young Americans to connect online. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
These are the countries where TikTok is already banned
These are the countries where TikTok is already banned
A TikTok content creator, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Washington, as Senators prepare to consider legislation that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
