Tag Archives: oceania

Australian permanent resident dies in India

An Australian permanent resident has died in India, as the country faces steep challenges with rising COVID-19 numbers.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed Australian officials remain in contact with the bereaved family but declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

"The Australian Government is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian permanent resident whose death was reported to our High Commission in India," the spokesperson told 9News.com.au.

READ MORE: Pressure over India lockdown as coronavirus surge breaks record again

"Australia's High Commission and consulates general in India continue to assist Australians in need".

Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed the death yesterday but did not detail the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

A Sydney woman who identified herself as the man's daughter said both of her parents contracted COVID-19 in India and claimed the Australian High Commission in Delhi "did nothing more than call my mother once in a while".

"With a very heavy heart and pain I need to inform you that my father has left us, for his journey in heavens," the woman who did not want to be identified wrote on social media.

"Now all I have left is my mother, who has been abandoned by her own government in India, [with] no way to come back to her children.

"We all want to cry our hearts out, but we are saving them for when we are all together again.

In the now deleted post, she pleaded for assistance in getting her mother back to Australia.

"Please save your own humanity, by doing the right thing."

The woman told SBS her father died in a New Deli hospital three days after the Morrison government imposed a travel ban.

"[My father] got the email from the Australian government regarding the new rule and everything. He was sick, and in that condition, receiving this news really panicked him," she told SBS.

She said he had become a permanent resident more than 10 years ago and that he had not qualified to become a citizen as he travelled back and forth to manage a hotel in India.

Women mourn the death of a family member, who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), outside the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of the largest facilities for coronavirus disease  patients, in New Delhi, India on May 4, 2021. (Photo by Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The woman is an Australian citizen, along with her brother and mother.

This comes as India records 401,078 new cases and 4187 coronavirus related deaths in the last 24 hours.

Ms Payne extended her sympathies to the family.

"I don't think it's helpful to speculate and particularly out of respect for the family," Ms Payne told 2GB.

"I will receive further advice from our posts in India in relation to that.

People are silhouetted against multiple burning funeral pyres of patients who died of COVID-19 in New Delhi, India.

READ MORE: Growing number of nations across Asia ravaged by fresh COVID waves

"But most importantly let me extend my sympathy and that of the government to the family of this person, and to so many families that we know are dealing with what is an extraordinary challenge with infection rates surging over 400,000 infections a day at the moment in India.

"There are very many families dealing with this challenge."

The government is due to lift its controversial India travel ban and will start repatriating Australians this month.

Melbourne truck driver bailed after allegedly hitting five pedestrians

A truck driver has been granted bail after a B-double allegedly crashed into a traffic light and ran over five pedestrians in Melbourne's CBD.

Frank Rogers denied having any knowledge of hitting a woman and four men – aged in their 20s and 30s – when he allegedly cut the intersection corner and mounted the footpath on the corner of City Road and Power Street in Southbank on Thursday night.

The 64-year-old – who has driven a truck for 40 years – told his lawyer he was surprised when police knocked on his door and charged him with two counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury.

He told police he felt a bump but believed it was the rear axel mounting the kerb as it often does.

More than a dozen of emergency vehicles, including police, ambulances and firefighters quickly swarmed the area after the collision, with bystanders also stopping to assist as the five pedestrians left bleeding on the ground.

All five sustained lower body injuries.

One man in his 20s remains in a critical but stable condition in the Alfred Hospital.

Southbank truck crash

Two others in their 30s are in a serious condition at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

A woman and man – both in their 20s – are stable.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Ben Oliver told Melbourne Magistrates' Court he thought the incident was a "reckless act".

https://twitter.com/LanaMurphy/status/1390894336380870658

"A truck of that size, and the angle at which he took such a busy intersection says to me there was no possible way that truck was going to make that corner on its own," Mr Oliver said today.

The City Road and Power Street intersection is notorious for accidents, heavily populated with foot traffic and trucks coming on and off the Westgate Freeway.

A local resident told 9News the corner was a "disaster waiting to happen", witnessing a number of accidents and near-misses over the years.

Southbank truck crash

Mr Oliver said the way the cabin moved suggested to him Mr Rogers had "knowledge of more than just hitting the kerb".

"Having watched the footage numerous times, I believe there was sufficient knowledge a collision occurred given you see the rear axel jump significantly back onto the road."

Mr Rogers was on his way to the depot to conclude his shift when the accident occurred.

The prosecutor argued Mr Rogers put the public in danger.

"The intersection is not the danger, Your Honour, it's the person driving the truck that's the danger."

The court heard Mr Rogers has no criminal history, nor a record of drug or alcohol abuse.

He was granted bail on condition he surrendered his passport, does not drive a truck or tow anything and stays at a stable address.

More charges could be laid over the incident.

Mr Rogers will next appear in court in September.

Trans-Tasman bubble pause with NSW to lift on Sunday

The pause on quarantine-free travel between New South Wales and New Zealand will be lifted on Sunday night.

But New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the end of the pause of the trans-Tasman bubble with Sydney will always depend on the development of more cases.

This comes after NSW detected no new local cases of COVID-19 for the second consecutive day, despite more than 22,000 tests being conducted.

READ MORE: No new cases of coronavirus in NSW for second day in a row

Trans-Tasman bubble pause with NSW to lift on Sunday

Flights can resume from 11.59pm Sunday, Mr Hipkins said.

The end of the pause aligns with the lifting of restrictions in New South Wales at 12.01am on Monday.

Trans-Tasman bubble pause with NSW to lift on Sundayhttps://twitter.com/sophie_walsh9/status/1390909169138495489

Giant spider crawls all over 34m space antenna in Canberra

Canberra's Deep Space Communications Complex is one of the world's most powerful means of looking into the depths of the Solar System.

So it would make sense that an alien spider the size of a football field would target it in its initial invasion of planet Earth.

That's not what happened, but that's what it looked like for a brief moment.

READ MORE: Growing number of Asian countries ravaged by coronavirus

A huntsman spider towering over Tidbinbilla's massive space antenna.

A security camera fixed on the giant antenna at Tidbinbilla had an unwelcome pedestrian atop it.

A huntsman crawled over the lens, making it seem like it was dwarfing the 34-metre wide deep space antenna.

"When mission scientists decided to put images from Mars on the World Wide Web, we don't think this is what they had in mind," the Canberra Deep Space Network tweeted.

The Canberra facility is part of NASA's Deep Space Network, but operated by the CSIRO.

READ MORE: NSW warned of funnel-web spider 'plague'