07/10/2025

TUESDAY | OCT 7, 2025 7 Cough syrup maker under probe NEW DELHI: Police here have launched criminal action against a maker of cough syrup whose product was found to contain dangerous levels of a toxic chemical, following the deaths of 10 children suspected to have consumed contaminated medicine. Known as the “pharmacy of the world”, India has faced scrutiny for the quality of its pharmaceutical exports, with its cough syrups being linked to child deaths in Cameroon, Gambia and Uzbekistan over the past few years. A sample of the syrup, Coldrif, among 19 medicines tested after the deaths in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, contained diethylene glycol exceeding permissible limits, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. A criminal case has been registered against the manufacturer, Sresan Pharma, in Tamil Nadu, and a doctor who prescribed the medication to some of the dead children. “The doctor who wrote the prescription has been arrested,” said Madhya Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla. The company faces accusations of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, adulteration of drugs, and manufacturing, selling, or distributing cosmetics in violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Regulatory action has also been taken against a unit of the company, the ministry said, without giving details, and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation recommended cancellation of its manufacturing licence. Sresan Pharma did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. India supplies 40% of generic medicines used in the United States, 25% of all those used in Britain and more than 90% of all medicines in many African nations. – Reuters TOKYO: A bear attacked a Spanish tourist in a Japanese village, a local official said yesterday, days after another mauling left one woman dead and another missing. The 44-year-old tourist was pounced on from behind as he was walking to a bus stop on Sunday in Shirakawa-go, known for its traditional large houses with thatched roofs, said village official Kazunari Takashima. The tourist“was injured with a scratch on his right arm, then he walked to a tourist information office nearby and requested an ambulance,” Takashima said, adding that the man was treated in hospital and discharged. The animal was about one metre long and is believed to be a juvenile black bear. – AFP PAPUA MINE COLLAPSE, LAST FIVE BODIES RECOVERED JAKARTA: Rescuers have recovered the bodies of five workers, including two foreigners, who were missing for nearly a month after a landslide trapped seven of them at a mine in Indonesia’s Papua region, operator Freeport Indonesia said yesterday. The bodies of the other two workers were recovered in September. The landslide occurred on Sept 8 when material from an extraction point flowed at one section of the Grasberg Block Cave underground gold and copper mine in Tembagapura, Central Papua. The workers were trapped after the flow closed access. Two workers were found dead on Sept 20. – AFP HEAVY RAINS TRIGGER FLOODS, LANDSLIDES IN DARJEELING NEW DELHI: Floods and landslides unleashed by unrelenting rain in India’s eastern region of Darjeeling killed at least 18 people, after washing away homes, roads and bridges, while the death toll in Nepal rose to 50. Several people were still missing yesterday, as relief work got under way, said local officials in West Bengal, warning that the death toll was likely to rise . “Two iron bridges have collapsed, several roads have been damaged and huge areas flooded,” said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. – Reuters SPANISH TOURIST HURT IN JAPAN BEAR ATTACK

Stranded Everest trekkers brought to safety

o Heavy snow, rainfall pummell Himalayas

mountains on Sunday and was greeted by villagers after enduring a harrowing evening of heavy snowfall combined with thunder and lightning. “Back in the village, we had a meal and were finally warm.” Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams had been deployed to help remove snow blocking access to the area, where nearly 1,000 people had been trapped, according to an earlier report by state-backed Jimu News. The remaining trekkers will arrive in Qudang in stages under the guidance and assistance of rescuers organised by the local government, CCTV reported. The CCTV report did not say if local guides and support staff of the trekking parties had been accounted for. Snowfall in the valley, which lies at an elevation averaging 4,200m, began on Friday evening and persisted throughout Saturday. “It was raining and snowing every day, and we did not see Everest at all,” said Eric Wen, who survived the ordeal. His trekking party of 18 had decided on

Saturday night to make their way back from their fifth and final campsite, concerned by the continuous snowfall. “We only had a few tents. More than 10 of us were in the large tent and hardly slept,” Wen said yesterday. “It was snowing too hard.” Wen said his group had to clear the snow every 10 minutes. “Otherwise our tents would have collapsed,” he said. Two men and a woman in the group fell victim to hypothermia when the temperature slipped below freezing, even though they were sufficiently attired, Wen said. But his expedition party emerged largely unscathed, including eight other expedition guides and several others who tended the yaks transporting their equipment and kit. Karma valley, first explored by Western travellers a century ago, is a relatively pristine part of the Everest region. Unlike the peak’s arid north face, it boasts lush vegetation and untouched alpine forests, fed by meltwaters from the Kangshung glacier at the foot of the world’s highest mountain. – Reuters

BEIJING: Hundreds of trekkers stranded by a blizzard near the eastern face of Mount Everest in Tibet have been guided to safety by rescuers, Chinese state media reported on Sunday, as unusually heavy snow and rainfall pummelled the Himalayas. As of Sunday, 350 trekkers had reached the small township of Qudang, while contact with the remaining 200-plus trekkers had been made, CCTV reported. Visitors to the remote valley of Karma, which leads to the eastern Kangshung face of Everest, were in the hundreds last week, taking advantage of an eight-day National Day holiday in China. “It was so wet and cold in the mountains, and hypothermia was a real risk,” said Chen Geshuang, who was part of an 18-strong trekking team that made it to Qudang. Chen’s party descended from the

BR I E F S

Indonesia transfers seized assets to state tin miner PANGKALPINANG: Indonesia’s attorney general yesterday handed over assets including smelters and heavy equipment seized in a corruption case to state tin miner PT Timah, as President Prabowo Subianto urged authorities to stop illegal mining and smuggling of tin. confiscated after a number of tin executives were convicted for colluding to conduct illegal mining. authorities to continue their efforts to stop illegal activities. “We are determined to eradicate smuggling, eradicate illegal mining, eradicate all those who violate the law, we will enforce it,” Prabowo told reporters after the handover. The assets transferred to state tin miner Timah included six smelters, about 680 tonnes of refined tin and 108 units of heavy equipment. HERITAGE IN ACTION ... Performers in Hong Kong taking part on Sunday in the centuries-old Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance, featuring a 67m dragon effigy with over 10,000 burning incense sticks, to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. – REUTERSPIC The attorney-general said their actions had led to about US$18.09 billion (RM76 billion) in state losses, including environmental damage. The visit came after Prabowo said he had ordered the closure of about 1,000 illegal tin mines on the islands and would intensify a crackdown on tin smugglers, sending tin prices last week to a near six-month high. Prabowo yesterday urged the military, customs office, the coast guard and related Some of the assets were on display at the handover, including stacks of the tin ingots and dozens of excavators. – Reuters The resource-rich country is ramping up efforts to improve governance of natural resources exploitation, with measures including a clampdown on illegal mining. Prabowo visited tin hub Bangka Island to witness the transfer of assets that were