Air India plane crash: UK sets up 'Reception Centre' in Ahmedabad to aid kin of British nationals
The UK has set up a Reception Centre in the Ummed Hotel to provide support and advice for the families and friends of British nationals following the plane crash on 12 June.
The UK Reception Centre, near Ahmedabad airport, will be open from 0900 to 2100 every day, starting today pic.twitter.com/xmOkYlgjpQ
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Hindustan Times
7 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Spaniards squirt water guns at foreigners in Barcelona and Mallorca to protest overtourism
BARCELONA, Spain — Protesters used water pistols against unsuspecting tourists in Barcelona and on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Sunday as demonstrators marched to demand a rethink of an economic model they believe is fueling a housing crunch and erasing the character of their hometowns. The marches were part of a coordinated effort by activists concerned with the ills of overtourism across southern Europe's top destinations, including Venice, Italy, Portugal's capital of Lisbon and several other Spanish locations. 'The squirt guns are to bother the tourists a bit,' Andreu Martínez said in Barcelona with a chuckle after spritzing a couple seated at an outdoor café. 'Barcelona has been handed to the tourists. This is a fight to give Barcelona back to its residents.' Martínez, a 42-year-old administrative assistant, is one of a growing number of residents who are convinced that tourism has gone too far in the city of 1.7 million people. Barcelona hosted 15.5 million visitors last year eager to see Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia basilica and the Las Ramblas promenade. Martínez says his rent has risen over 30% as more apartments in his neighborhood are rented to tourists for short-term stays. He said there is a knock-on effect of traditional stores being replaced by businesses catering to tourists, like souvenir shops, burger joints and 'bubble tea' spots. 'Our lives, as lifelong residents of Barcelona, are coming to an end," he said. "We are being pushed out systematically.' Around 5,000 people gathered in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, with some toting water guns as well. The tourists who were targeted by water blasts laughed it off. The Mediterranean island is a favorite for British and German sun-seekers. It has seen housing costs skyrocket as homes are diverted to the short-term rental market. In Venice, a couple of dozen protesters unfurled a banner calling for a halt to new hotel beds in the lagoon city in front of two recently completed structures, one in the popular tourist destination's historic center where activists say the last resident, an elderly woman, was kicked out last year. Protesters in Barcelona blew whistles and chanted, 'Everywhere you look, all you see are tourists.' They held up homemade signs saying 'One more tourist, one less resident.' They stuck stickers saying 'Citizen Self-Defense,' in Catalan, and 'Tourist Go Home,' in English, with a drawing of a water pistol on the doors of hotels and hostels. There was tension when the march stopped in front of a large hostel, where a group emptied their water guns at two workers positioned in the entrance. They also set off firecrackers next to the hostel and opened a can of pink smoke. One worker spat at the protesters as he slammed the hostel's doors. American tourists Wanda and Bill Dorozenski were walking along Barcelona's main luxury shopping boulevard where the protest started. They received a squirt or two, but she said it was actually refreshing given the 83 degree Fahrenheit weather. 'That's lovely, thank you sweetheart,' Wanda said to the squirter. 'I am not going to complain. These people are feeling something to them that is very personal, and is perhaps destroying some areas .' There were also many marchers with water pistols who didn't fire at bystanders and instead solely used them to spray themselves to keep cool. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with mass tourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, like Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Spain, where protesters in Barcelona first took to firing squirt guns at tourists during a protest last summer. There has also been a confluence of the pro-housing and anti-tourism struggles in Spain, whose 48 million residents welcomed record 94 million international visitors in 2024. When thousands marched through the streets of Spain's capital in April, some held homemade signs saying 'Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods.' That sentiment was back in force on Sunday, where people held up signs saying 'Your Airbnb was my home.' A poll in June 2022 found just 2% of Spaniards thought housing was a national problem. Three years later, almost a third of those surveyed said it is now a leading concern. Spain's official public opinion office said 76% of people responded 'Yes' last year when asked if they were in favor of tighter government regulations on tourist apartments. Those polls were of 4,000 people, with a margin of error of 1.6%. Spain's municipal and federal authorities are striving to show they hear the public outcry and are taking appropriate action to put the tourism industry on notice, despite the fact it contributes 12% of gross domestic product. Last month, Spain's government ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform that it said had violated local rules. Spain's Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told The Associated Press shortly after the crackdown on Airbnb that the tourism sector 'cannot jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people,' which enshrines their right to housing and well-being. Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, said in a separate interview that the government is aware it must tackle the unwanted side effects of mass tourism. And last year, Barcelona stunned Airbnb and other services who help rent properties to tourists by announcing the elimination of all 10,000 short-term rental licenses in the city by 2028. The short-term rental industry, for its part, believes it is being treated unfairly. 'I think a lot of our politicians have found an easy scapegoat to blame for the inefficiencies of their policies in terms of housing and tourism over the last 10, 15, 20 years,' Airbnb's general director for Spain and Portugal, Jaime Rodríguez de Santiago recently told the . That argument either hasn't trickled down to the ordinary residents of Barcelona, or isn't resonating. Txema Escorsa, a teacher in Barcelona, doesn't just oppose Airbnb in his home city, he has ceased to use it even when traveling elsewhere, out of principle. 'In the end, you realize that this is taking away housing from people,' he said. Videojournalist Hernán Múñoz in Barcelona, and writer Colleen Barry in Venice, Italy, contributed.
Mint
6 hours ago
- Mint
An island with strong ties to Europe counts its dead after Air India crash
DIU ISLAND, India—The only survivor of Air India Flight 171 was born on this tropical island dotted with palm trees and fishing boats. So were 14 passengers who died in the crash, most of them Portuguese or British nationals of Indian origin. They straddled two continents, their lives consisting of long-haul flights between work and family. Like many of the 241 people who perished on the London-bound Boeing 787, they were part of the large Indian diaspora that has spread all across the world. Yet Diu is unique. Unlike much of India, the island off the country's west coast was a Portuguese colony until 1961, a history that gives its residents a leg up if they want to go abroad. Those born under Portuguese rule and their descendants for two generations are entitled to citizenship of the country. Thousands of people have taken that path, local officials said. Most have left the island of around 50,000 people, with some making their way to London or Leicester in the U.K., where a large Indian community lends a helping hand. Viswashkumar Ramesh, the lone survivor of the crash, moved to the U.K. as a child. 'So many have left but come back to visit," said Dipak Deugi, the head of Ramesh's home village. Flights to and from London are a normal part of life, he said. Residents say that the ones who have left still feel the pull of the island. They return every year to attend weddings and bring their children back during school vacations. Many keep a foothold on the island through property or business. The shock of Thursday's crash is ricocheting across its coastal communities. Girish Lalgi, 30, left Diu a decade ago for the U.K. in search of a better job. A Portuguese national, he worked his way up to the position of a supervisor at a snack foods factory in London and married a co-worker who was also from Diu. Over the past decade, at least one-third of Lalgi's village on Diu has moved abroad, a local official said. For the roughly 1,200 people who remain, there are only two careers open: fishing or tourism. A month ago, Girish returned to the island with his wife, Hemakshi, and their two young children, both British citizens. He was there to visit his ailing mother, Vimlaben, so she could meet her one-year-old granddaughter for the first time. Girish called moments after boarding the plane on Thursday. 'Don't worry, I will call again once we land," he told his mother. But she never heard from her son again. All four perished in the crash. Diu was for centuries a colony under the rule of Portugal, which conquered it in the 16th century during its heyday as a maritime superpower. Despite India gaining independence from Britain in 1947, Portugal held on to the island until 1961. A Portuguese flair still pervades. Restaurants serve Portuguese fish stew, colonial-era churches and forts are popular tourist attractions, and brightly-colored Portuguese-style houses are sprinkled throughout the island. Ramesh's father emigrated to the U.K. as a Portuguese citizen two decades ago, finding work as a machine operator at a tissue paper company, family members said. But he held on to his fishing-boat business, toggling back and forth between Leicester and Dui over the years. Ramesh and one of his brothers, Ajay, eventually took over and spent the last seven months in Dui overseeing the business. They ran an auction selling the catch from two fishing boats to seafood exporters. They were on their way back to the U.K. to see their families, said their aunt Shantaben Bawa. Ramesh survived, becoming the miracle from seat 11A. He managed to escape out of an emergency exit before the plane exploded into a massive fireball. His brother Ajay didn't make it. 'No one can understand how we feel," their aunt said. 'They were in and out of here as boys. We saw them growing up." Many like Shantubhai Bhikhabhai Bhaliya have built big houses in Diu that sit empty for most of the year. The 62-year-old, who held Portuguese citizenship, followed in the footsteps of his younger brother by moving to the U.K. eight years ago. He got work loading and unloading transport trucks. It was physically taxing work for a man in his 50s, but it trumped his previous job as a fisherman in Diu, where he sometimes spent weeks at sea, said Maniben Bhaliya, his sister-in-law. Bhaliya planned to retire in Diu, and two years ago he built a two-story house with flowered tiles. They bought a sofa set that is still covered in plastic wrap. He and his 59-year-old wife died in the crash. Despite the tragedy that has sent the island into mourning, many on Diu still dream of going abroad. Neha Lalgi, the sister of Girish, is in the midst of applying for a British work visa. The 35-year-old hopes to settle in London in the same neighborhood where her brother and his family lived. With her brother gone, Neha said the family will struggle to survive. He typically wired about $500 a month back to Dui, enough to support his mother, sister and older brother. 'I have to leave to have work," she said. Write to Shan Li at
Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Indian Express
Watch: Snake slithers into crowded waterfall in Mussoorie, sparks panic among tourists
Panic unfolded at Kempty Falls in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, after a snake unexpectedly slithered into the crowded waterfall. Shared by @littledehradunstories, the Instagram video captures the chaotic moment when tourists rushed away from the reptile. According to the viral post, the incident occurred on June 14. The video begins with tourists enjoying themselves in the waterfall's pool, unaware of the surprise that was about to appear in the water. Suddenly, panic erupts as a snake is seen gliding swiftly through the water, just inches away from people. The crowd, once lively and relaxed, breaks into chaos as people can be heard screaming and running to climb out of the water as quickly as possible. 'A snake entered among the tourists bathing at Kempty Falls in Mussoorie. See how chaos ensued!' the caption read. Watch here: A post shared by Little Dehradun Stories (@littledehradunstories) The video immediately took over social media, prompting a wave of reactions. 'The only way we can get rid of tourists from Doon and Mussorie! I'm sure the animals have had enough of it too!!' a user wrote. 'Snake scared itself. Must be thinking, how did I land among the sinners,' another user commented. 'Tourists have entered snake's neighbourhood,' a third user reacted. According to Euttarnachal, Kempty Falls was the prime location for tea parties organised by British officers. At a height of 4500 ft, the waterfall is located 15 km from Mussoorie. The tourist spot also offers a bustling shopping lane selling handcrafted items, handloom shawls, local food, and a cable car ride experience. Tourists gather at a pool area just before the waterfall. Meanwhile, a video of a snake coming out of the AC vent of a car, while the car owner was driving, emerged on social media recently. The photos posted by the man showed the snake casually peeking out from the air-conditioning vent of his Mazda.
