In brief Sight killed

Press, 21 August 1989, Page 8

In brief Sight killed

Eight people were killed when a car apparently loaded with fireworks exploded in the car park of a supermarket in Alicante, Spain. At least 27 passers-by taking their evening stroll and customers of the supermarket were injured in the blast. Interior Ministry sources said the car was apparently loaded with fireworks and the son of the owner of a fireworks factory was among the dead. They said the blast appeared to have been an accident.—NZPA-Reuter.

Cuba rail deaths

At least 15 people were killed and 219 injured when a passenger train was derailed in eastern Cuba. Four of the train cars jumped the track and plunged off a steep riverbank near Guantanamo, 800 km south-east of Havana, the official news agency, AIN, reported. The news agency said the casualty toll was “preliminary” and that authorities were investigating the cause of the crash.—NZPA-AFP.

Soviet unrest

Hundreds of thousands of people, some holding banners proclaiming “down with Russian dictatorship,” packed the central square of Baku, capital of the Azerbaijan republic, protest organisers said. The gathering was called by the unofficial Azerbaijani Popular Front to back its demands for greater local auton-omy.—NZPA-Reuter.

79 executed

Iran executed 79 drug dealers, including two women, the Iranian news agency I.R.N.A. reported. 1.R.N.A., received in Nicosia, said the hangings took place in Teheran and 21 provincial cities. The deaths bring the total number of executions for drug offences in Iran this year to 851. Teheran introduced tough new anti-drug laws in January. The verdicts issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in charge of the antinarcotics campaign said the accused were guilty of continuous involvement in the purchase, sale and distribution of several tonnes of opium and hundreds of kilos of heroin.—NZPA-Reuter.

Karachi curfew

An indefinite curfew was placed on Karachi’s western districts after day-long rioting left three people dead and at least seven wounded. Two people were killed earlier in a shootout between police and rioters in the Pak Colony area. As intermittent firing continued in the industrial area, rioting spread to adjacent Nazimabad and Gulbahar districts where a youth died of gunshot wounds, the officials said. Meanwhile, six persons died and four were injured elsewhere in ethnic incidents, according to both witnesses and police.— NZPA-AFP. 4r