An Indian-made Dhruv helicopter crashed last Tuesday during a military parade injuring its two pilots and prompting authorities to ground another six recently purchased Dhruv choppers.
The helicopter was flying in formation with two other choppers over an air force base near Quito when it suddenly veered off course and slammed to the ground, witnesses said.
“The two crew members managed to get out by their own means and were taken to hospital. Their condition is apparently good,” air force general Leonardo Barreiro told reporters.
He said the chopper was destroyed in the accident, which is under investigation. The crew members were both trained in India.
The remaining six Dhruv helicopter bought from India six months ago for 45 million dollars “have been grounded for the moment until the investigation is finished,” the presidential office said in a statement. (Reuters)
Man tries to rob bank with spoon
A would-be bank robber held a teaspoon to the neck of a cashier pretending it was a knife, a Polish news website said last Tuesday.
But Gazeta.pl said the two women behind the counter at the bank in the southern Polish city of Lublin were not fooled, and scared the man away with their screaming.
Police have compiled a photo-fit of the suspect. (Reuters)
Nuclear ‘neighbours’
A fisherman’s cottage described by estate agents as a “property not to be missed” is on the verge of being sold despite being yards from two nuclear power stations.
One of the estate agents handling the sale of the three-bedroom bungalow on Romney Marsh in Kent said it was under offer close to the £247,000 asking price.
Interest in the property, described by agents as an “exceptional detached fisherman’s cottage”, seems not to have been dulled by the looming presence of the Dungeness A and B power plants. (PA)
Aerial alert
A schoolboy was advised to stop using his TV aerial booster after it was found to be interfering with the radios of aeroplanes flying over his house, Ofcom has said.
The problem was discovered after pilots reported they were receiving interference on their radios when flying over Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.
An engineer sent by the communications regulator to inves-tigate traced the problem to a house in the area where it is thought a boy was using the booster to watch TV in his bedroom. The two-year-old booster was faulty and was giving off a frequency that happened to be the same as the radio frequency used by pilots flying to nearby Luton Airport, an Ofcom spokesman said. (PA)
Biscuit row in political show
The BBC has pulled an episode of This Week from the internet amid worries of a race backlash after host Andrew Neil compared Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo to a chocolate HobNob biscuit and a custard cream.
The political show was broadcast on BBC1 on the same night as BNP leader Nick Griffin’s controversial appearance as a guest on Question Time.
This Week began with Mr Neil poking fun at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s reluctance to name his favourite biscuit. (PA)
Food crash in Massachusetts
A truck loaded with beef overturned on a main Massachusetts toll road after hitting a tomato truck and one carrying plastic cups, strewing meat across a pay booth area.
Police said the chain-reaction crash happened west of Boston when the tomato truck was stopped at a cash-only lane and a car and two other trucks approached from behind.
The last truck in line - the one carrying the beef - struck a third truck carrying the cups. It took eight hours to clear the road. (PA)
Banking on it
A Swiss bank employee has admitted stealing millions from the bank’s safe to fund her £60,000-a-week gambling habit.
The 41-year-old from Schaffhausen confessed to embezzling £1.7 million over five years.
Banking giant UBS AG
has confirmed that it alerted police in September after discovering funds were missing at its branch in Neuhausen near the Swiss-German border. (PA)