Sister of Tunisian man killed in France demands justice

The Sun04-06-2025

TUNIS: The sister of a Tunisian man shot dead in France called for justice on Tuesday, saying her brother was on a video call with family when he was killed.
Hichem Miraoui, 46, was killed on Saturday in Puget-sur-Argens in southern France when a neighbour shot him five times.
'I want justice for my brother, the victim of a terrorist act,' Hanen Miraoui said in a telephone call from France, where she lives.
She urged Tunisian authorities to 'stand by Tunisians in France and closely follow the case so that justice is done for my brother'.
She said Hichem was in a video call with family, including their mother in Tunisia, when he was shot.
'We were discussing Eid preparations,' she said. 'He was joking with our sick mother when I heard him grunt and the call ended.'
The suspect, now in police custody, had posted two racist videos online and intended to 'disturb public order through terror', a source close to the investigation told AFP.
French authorities said he had also wounded another neighbour, a Turkish national.
France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor confirmed a suspect had been detained on Monday.
Hanen said the suspect 'was known in my brother's neighbourhood for his hatred of Arabs'.
She said six weeks before his death, Hichem found graffiti on his Vespa reading 'dirty Arab'.
He will be buried in their hometown of Kairouan in central Tunisia, she added.
Tunisian Interior Minister Khaled Nouri condemned the killing in a phone call with his French counterpart Bruno Retailleau, calling it a 'terrorist' act.
He said it caused 'deep outrage and sorrow among the Tunisian public' and stressed 'the need to protect the Tunisian community in France'.

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[UPDATED] Ahmedabad police chief says 'appears to be no survivors' in India air crash

New Straits Times

29 minutes ago

New Straits Times

[UPDATED] Ahmedabad police chief says 'appears to be no survivors' in India air crash

AHMEDABAD, India: Thick black plumes of acrid smoke towered high above India's Ahmedabad airport Thursday after a London-bound passenger jet with 242 people aboard crashed shortly after takeoff. Police said there appeared to be no survivors, with the plane smashing into a residential area. Several videos posted on social media, which AFP was not able to immediately verify, showed an aircraft rapidly losing altitude – with its nose up – before it hit a building and exploded into an orange ball of fire. Authorities said it went down outside the airport perimeter, in a crowded residential area while an AFP reporter in the city said the plane crashed between a hospital and the city's Ghoda Camp neighbourhood. A medic described how the burning plane had smashed into a residential block that is home to medical students and young doctors. "One half of the plane crashed into the residential building where doctors lived with their families," said Krishna, a doctor who gave only one name, adding he saw "about 15-20 burnt bodies" in the wreckage and debris. It was not clear whether the dead he had seen had been killed on board the plane, or had been in the building the aircraft ploughed into. "The nose and front wheel landed on the canteen building where students were having lunch," he said, adding he and colleagues had "rescued some 15 students from the building and sent them to hospital." "When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames," resident Poonam Patni told AFP. "Many of the bodies were burned", she added. Another resident, who declined to be named, said: "We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames. "We helped people get out of the building and sent the injured to the hospital." Air India's flight 171 – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed shortly after takeoff around 1.40pm (0810 GMT), officials said. The passengers included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard. At the crash site, firefighters could be seen trying to control flames on the burning plane debris that also charred trees. One video, from social media but posted by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, showed what appeared to be a chunk of fuselage – larger than a car – that had smashed onto the roof of a multi-storey building. Photographs released by India's Central Industrial Security Force, a paramilitary police force, showed a large chunk of the plane that had smashed through the brick and concrete wall of a building. "I was at home when we heard a massive sound," one Ahmedabad resident told PTI. "When we went out to see what had happened, there was a layer of thick smoke in the air. When we came here, dead bodies and debris from the crashed aircraft were scattered all over." Outside Ahmedabad airport, a woman wailing inconsolably in grief said that five of her relatives had been aboard the plane.

Pope ‘deeply saddened' by India plane crash

The Sun

42 minutes ago

The Sun

Pope ‘deeply saddened' by India plane crash

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV expressed his 'heartfelt condolences' Thursday to those who have lost loved ones in an air crash in India and prayers for those recovering the bodies of victims. 'Deeply saddened by the tragedy involving an Air India aircraft near Ahmedabad, his Holiness Pope Leo XIV sends his heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives,' the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in a telegram. Leo also sent his 'assurance of prayers for all involved in the recovery efforts', Parolin said. London-bound Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board, crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff. Ahmedabad city police commissioner GS Malik told AFP there appeared to be no survivors.

Ahmedabad police chief says 204 bodies found after India plane crash

The Sun

an hour ago

The Sun

Ahmedabad police chief says 204 bodies found after India plane crash

AHMEDABAD: Police in the Indian city of Ahmedabad said they had collected 204 dead bodies after a London-bound passenger plane with 242 people on board crashed into residential buildings after takeoff on Thursday. 'We have found 204 bodies,' city police commissioner GS Malik told AFP, adding that 41 injured people were 'under treatment'. The dead included those from the plane crash and from buildings into which the plane smashed. 'Rescue work is ongoing,' he said.