A 20-year-old student from Madhya Pradesh has gone viral for taking on a solo mission to clean the heavily polluted Ajnar River. Surendra Singh Choudhary, known online as “Bittu Tabahi,” waded into the garbage-choked river in Biaora, taking matters into his own hands after becoming frustrated with its condition.

Boy uses social media to raise awareness about polluted river 

<p>Thousands of relief workers with huge crane ships moved towards Baltimore in the United States on Thursday (Mar 28) &nbsp;to carry out a massive cleanup, which was deemed as 'highly dangerous' and 'unprecedented' by some experts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The clean-up was initiated after efforts to find dead bodies of people who went missing were stopped. The officials had recovered two construction workers' dead bodies from a submerged truck and four people remain missing or are presumed to be dead.</p>

<p>However, the divers are no longer able to operate near the mangled bridge debris which has encased submerged vehicles.</p>

<p>The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed on Tuesday morning (Mar 26) after being hit by a massive cargo ship.</p>

<p>Several floating cranes were deployed by the US Navy, including one which can lift 1,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, the US Army Corps of Engineers said that they will send more than 1,100 engineering specialists as well as experts to start removing the debris which has crippled the Port of Baltimore.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-president-biden-claims-he-commuted-to-no-rail-lines-baltimore-bridge-by-train-many-times-704689">Biden says he commuted over Baltimore bridge by train 'many times'. The problem? It has no rail tracks!</a></p>

<h2><strong>Biden sanctions $60 million, Governor says 'very long road ahead'</strong></h2>

<p>Maryland Governor Wes Moore on Thursday (Mar 28) said it is a “very long road ahead" as the Biden administration sanctioned a federal aid of $60 million after the deadly collapse.</p>

<p>Moore said that “the best minds in the world" have been making plans to clear the debris and shift the cargo ship which had rammed into the bridge. "Government is working hand in hand with industry to investigate the area, including the wreck, and remove the ship," the governor said.</p>

<p>“This work is not going to take hours. This work is not going to take days. This work is not going to take weeks. We have a very long road ahead of us," Moore added.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>A three-step process to clean up debris</strong></h2>

<p>According to the officials, a three-step effort will be made to remove the debris. The teams will first remove the massive steel trusses from the shipping channel to start one-way traffic into and out of the port again.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Second, the pieces of the bridge, which are draped across the 985-foot Dali, will be lifted and moved. After this, they will remove concrete and steel which is present on the river bed.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is still unclear how long will the process take. However, as per the experts, the cleanup is likely to pose a monumental challenge because of frigid waters in which divers will have to cut steel beams.</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;Baltimore Bridge Collapse: US President Biden hails Indian crew for sounding SOS call</strong></p>

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<p>Meanwhile, US authorities started interviewing the personnel, which included Indian crew members, who were onboard the container ship 'Dali' and had sent the SOS.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Survivor's wife says workers were on break when bridge collapsed</h2>

<p>The wife of one of the living construction workers, Julio Cervantes, said that the workers were on a break inside the car when the bridge collapsed.</p>

<p>“All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit. We don't know if they were warned before the impact,” said Cervantes' wife, while speaking to NBC News.</p>

<p>“My husband doesn’t know how to swim. It is a miracle he survived,” she added.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


Thousands of relief workers with huge crane ships moved towards Baltimore in the United States on Thursday (Mar 28) to carry out a massive cleanup, which was deemed as 'highly dangerous' and 'unprecedented' by some experts.

Thousands of relief workers with huge crane ships moved towards Baltimore in the United States on Thursday (Mar 28) to carry out a massive cleanup, which was deemed as 'highly dangerous' and 'unprecedented' by some experts. The clean-up was initiated after efforts to find dead bodies of people who went missing were stopped. The officials had recovered two construction workers' dead bodies from a submerged truck and four people remain missing or are presumed to be dead. However, the divers are no longer able to operate near the mangled bridge debris which has encased submerged vehicles. The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed on Tuesday morning (Mar 26) after being hit by a massive cargo ship. Several floating cranes were deployed by the US Navy, including one which can lift 1,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, the US Army Corps of Engineers said that they will send more than 1,100 engineering specialists as well as experts to start removing the debris which has crippled the Port of Baltimore. Also Read: Biden says he commuted over Baltimore bridge by train 'many times'. The problem? It has no rail tracks! Biden sanctions $60 million, Governor says 'very long road ahead' Maryland Governor Wes Moore on Thursday (Mar 28) said it is a “very long road ahead" as the Biden administration sanctioned a federal aid of $60 million after the deadly collapse. Moore said that “the best minds in the world" have been making plans to clear the debris and shift the cargo ship which had rammed into the bridge. "Government is working hand in hand with industry to investigate the area, including the wreck, and remove the ship," the governor said. “This work is not going to take hours. This work is not going to take days. This work is not going to take weeks. We have a very long road ahead of us," Moore added. A three-step process to clean up debris According to the officials, a three-step effort will be made to remove the debris. The teams will first remove the massive steel trusses from the shipping channel to start one-way traffic into and out of the port again. Second, the pieces of the bridge, which are draped across the 985-foot Dali, will be lifted and moved. After this, they will remove concrete and steel which is present on the river bed. It is still unclear how long will the process take. However, as per the experts, the cleanup is likely to pose a monumental challenge because of frigid waters in which divers will have to cut steel beams. Watch: Baltimore Bridge Collapse: US President Biden hails Indian crew for sounding SOS call Meanwhile, US authorities started interviewing the personnel, which included Indian crew members, who were onboard the container ship 'Dali' and had sent the SOS. Survivor's wife says workers were on break when bridge collapsed The wife of one of the living construction workers, Julio Cervantes, said that the workers were on a break inside the car when the bridge collapsed. “All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit. We don't know if they were warned before the impact,” said Cervantes' wife, while speaking to NBC News. “My husband doesn’t know how to swim. It is a miracle he survived,” she added. (With inputs from agencies)

Baltimore bridge collapse: Dangerous cleanup begins as search efforts halt

<p>A cleansing programme being run by the University of California Riverside is helping California get rid of industrial waste with the help of plants and fungi. The plants, referred to as solar-powered vacuum cleaners by experts, have an extraordinary ability to suck out heavy metals from soil and rid it completely of all forms of pollutants.&nbsp;</p>

<p>One such plant employed in the process is California buckwheat, whose beautiful pink and white flowers have this special ability to detoxify the soil. "That's the miracle of life," Kreigh Hampel, a 68-year-old volunteer was quoted as saying by the Phys.org website.</p>

<h2><strong>How does the detoxification process work?</strong></h2>

<p>Several California plants and fungi such as the telegraph weed, the California bush sunflower and Oyster mushrooms have the ability to suck up heavy metals and help decompose pollutants. They suck up metals like lead into their bodies. And later, when these plants are uprooted from the site, the soil gets effectively sanitised.</p>

<p>“When we pull out the plants, we've removed the lead from the soil," says Danielle Stevenson, a mycologist and the leader of the programme. She says that lead recovered from plants then can be recycled and reused.</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;In soaked California, only 2% residents insured against flood</strong></p>

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<p>Similarly, Oyster mushrooms are good at sucking up diesel from the soil. "Those same fungi that in nature would eat a dead tree will also recognize diesel oil, for example, as a food source. The reason is, it's basically the same thing. A lot of our fossil fuels are just dead stuff that got compressed over long periods of time," observes Stevenson.</p>

<h2><strong>Way better than the traditional way of cleaning up sites?</strong></h2>

<p>According to Stevenson, bioremediation techniques are proving to be a highly cost-effective alternative to traditional methods of environmental cleanup.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She explains, "The conventional method of cleaning up sites is just to dig up all the contaminated soil and to dump it somewhere else. That approach doesn't actually solve the problem, right? It just moves it somewhere else." This approach has not only been ineffective in tackling the issue but has also proven to be a financial burden.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/tragic-california-man-killed-by-car-while-helping-ducks-cross-road-595327"><strong>Also Read |&nbsp;Tragic! California man killed by car while helping ducks cross road</strong></a></p>

<p>The bioremediation project, undertaken on three sites in the Los Angeles area, has shown immense promise thus far, with a budget of approximately $200,000. Early results have given rise to optimism among experts and stakeholders involved in the field of environmental remediation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The cost-effectiveness of bioremediation has the potential to revolutionise the cleanup efforts required for numerous commercial sites that have outlived their usefulness and are left abandoned.</p>

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A cleansing programme being run by the University of California Riverside is helping California get rid of industrial waste with the help of plants and fungi. The plants, referred to as solar-powered vacuum cleaners by experts, have an extraordinary ability to suck out heavy metals from soil and rid it completely of all forms of pollutants.

A cleansing programme being run by the University of California Riverside is helping California get rid of industrial waste with the help of plants and fungi. The plants, referred to as solar-powered vacuum cleaners by experts, have an extraordinary ability to suck out heavy metals from soil and rid it completely of all forms of pollutants. One such plant employed in the process is California buckwheat, whose beautiful pink and white flowers have this special ability to detoxify the soil. "That's the miracle of life," Kreigh Hampel, a 68-year-old volunteer was quoted as saying by the Phys.org website. How does the detoxification process work? Several California plants and fungi such as the telegraph weed, the California bush sunflower and Oyster mushrooms have the ability to suck up heavy metals and help decompose pollutants. They suck up metals like lead into their bodies. And later, when these plants are uprooted from the site, the soil gets effectively sanitised. “When we pull out the plants, we've removed the lead from the soil," says Danielle Stevenson, a mycologist and the leader of the programme. She says that lead recovered from plants then can be recycled and reused. Watch: In soaked California, only 2% residents insured against flood × Similarly, Oyster mushrooms are good at sucking up diesel from the soil. "Those same fungi that in nature would eat a dead tree will also recognize diesel oil, for example, as a food source. The reason is, it's basically the same thing. A lot of our fossil fuels are just dead stuff that got compressed over long periods of time," observes Stevenson. Way better than the traditional way of cleaning up sites? According to Stevenson, bioremediation techniques are proving to be a highly cost-effective alternative to traditional methods of environmental cleanup. She explains, "The conventional method of cleaning up sites is just to dig up all the contaminated soil and to dump it somewhere else. That approach doesn't actually solve the problem, right? It just moves it somewhere else." This approach has not only been ineffective in tackling the issue but has also proven to be a financial burden. Also Read | Tragic! California man killed by car while helping ducks cross road The bioremediation project, undertaken on three sites in the Los Angeles area, has shown immense promise thus far, with a budget of approximately $200,000. Early results have given rise to optimism among experts and stakeholders involved in the field of environmental remediation. The cost-effectiveness of bioremediation has the potential to revolutionise the cleanup efforts required for numerous commercial sites that have outlived their usefulness and are left abandoned. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

California researchers successfully rid soil of industrial waste using plants and fungi

<p>The survivors of a severe <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/nepal-thunderstorm-india-offers-relief-assistance-to-storm-victims-207573&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjCmN_e5LXhAhVd63MBHdO1DIMQFggFMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;usg=AOvVaw0irC-5cuYnRvsAMgrC9S1-">thunderstorm</a> over the weekend in southern Nepal have been struggling to get back on their feet without sufficient food or a roof over their heads this week.</p>

<p>The severe thunderstorm which hit <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/at-least-27-dead-over-600-injured-after-storm-hit-southern-nepal-207129&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiJ1o2F5bXhAhV463MBHcXaBE4QFggFMAA&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;usg=AOvVaw2TTUUXAJTxMq1gn6hYf-cC">southern Nepal </a>on March 31, killed more than 30 people, injured hundreds and destroyed nearly 400 houses, local media reported.</p>

<p>The storm, accompanied by heavy rainfall, destroyed buildings, uprooted trees, electric, and telephone poles. With no roof on their heads and their food stock destroyed, people living in the impoverished settlements were the worst-affected.</p>

<p>"We don't have anything to eat," said a survivor in <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/nepal-thunderstorm-india-offers-relief-assistance-to-storm-victims-207573&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiP3u_y5LXhAhVk73MBHVuDDN4QFggJMAI&amp;client=internal-uds-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;usg=AOvVaw0GseFqKIVnu_7NHMoPSYqN">Bara</a>, where the storm hit. "The storm took everything with it," he added.</p>

<p>Despite being less than 100 kilometres from the capital, Kathmandu, the Bara region is remote, meaning rescue and cleanup operations have taken days. Pre-monsoon thunderstorms are common in Nepal during the spring season but are rarely of an intensity that causes high casualties.</p>


The survivors of a severe thunderstorm over the weekend in southern Nepal have been struggling to get back on their feet without sufficient food or a roof over their heads this week.

The survivors of a severe thunderstorm over the weekend in southern Nepal have been struggling to get back on their feet without sufficient food or a roof over their heads this week. The severe thunderstorm which hit southern Nepal on March 31, killed more than 30 people, injured hundreds and destroyed nearly 400 houses, local media reported. The storm, accompanied by heavy rainfall, destroyed buildings, uprooted trees, electric, and telephone poles. With no roof on their heads and their food stock destroyed, people living in the impoverished settlements were the worst-affected. "We don't have anything to eat," said a survivor in Bara, where the storm hit. "The storm took everything with it," he added. Despite being less than 100 kilometres from the capital, Kathmandu, the Bara region is remote, meaning rescue and cleanup operations have taken days. Pre-monsoon thunderstorms are common in Nepal during the spring season but are rarely of an intensity that causes high casualties.

Nepal storm survivors struggle for food, housing

<p>China has retrieved 8.5 tonnes of waste from Mount Everest since April as it clears garbage left by growing numbers of visitors, the state-run Global Times said on Thursday.</p>

<p>Enthusiasts from all over the world who flock to the world's tallest mountain, at a height of 8,850 metres (29,035 ft) between Tibet and Nepal, discard tonnes of trash each year.</p>

<p>A team of 30 people has cleared about 5.2 tonnes of household waste, 2.3 tonnes of human faeces, and one tonne of mountaineering trash in the cleanup by Tibetan mountaineering officials, the paper said.</p>

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<h5>Since 2015, officials in Tibet have given every climber two trash bags to retrieve at least 8 kg of rubbish, levying a fine of $100 for each kilogram by which a climber falls short. Nepal adopted similar rules in 2014</h5>
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<p>The work is almost as demanding as tackling the summit, say climbers, since collection is a strenuous task that boosts the consumption of oxygen people need to breathe, it added.</p>

<p>During last year's climbing season, which usually runs from March until May, 202 climbers summitted from the Tibetan side, versus 446 from the Nepali side, while thousands of tourists visited base camps on both sides.</p>

<p>The warming global climate has melted frozen garbage left by climbers over decades, spurring environmental concern in Nepal, India and China, which is taking tough measures to clean up air, water and soil contaminated after decades of breakneck growth.</p>

<p>Since 2015, officials in Tibet have given every climber two trash bags to retrieve at least 8 kg of rubbish, levying a fine of $100 for each kilogram by which a climber falls short. Nepal adopted similar rules in 2014.</p>

<p>China also plans to build environmentally friendly toilet and waste collection sites at Mount Everest, the official Xinhua news agency said.</p>

<p>Authorities in Tibet have pledged to complete 45 pollution cleanup tasks before 2020, according to a list published this week by the environment ministry, after a central inspection team flagged concerns last year.</p>

<p>Beijing plans a further round of inspections early next year, the People's Daily newspaper of the ruling Communist Party has said.</p>


A team of 30 people has cleared about 5.2 tonnes of household waste, 2.3 tonnes of human faeces, and one tonne of mountaineering trash in the cleanup by Tibetan mountaineering officials, the state-run Global Times said

China has retrieved 8.5 tonnes of waste from Mount Everest since April as it clears garbage left by growing numbers of visitors, the state-run Global Times said on Thursday. Enthusiasts from all over the world who flock to the world's tallest mountain, at a height of 8,850 metres (29,035 ft) between Tibet and Nepal, discard tonnes of trash each year. A team of 30 people has cleared about 5.2 tonnes of household waste, 2.3 tonnes of human faeces, and one tonne of mountaineering trash in the cleanup by Tibetan mountaineering officials, the paper said. Since 2015, officials in Tibet have given every climber two trash bags to retrieve at least 8 kg of rubbish, levying a fine of $100 for each kilogram by which a climber falls short. Nepal adopted similar rules in 2014 × The work is almost as demanding as tackling the summit, say climbers, since collection is a strenuous task that boosts the consumption of oxygen people need to breathe, it added. During last year's climbing season, which usually runs from March until May, 202 climbers summitted from the Tibetan side, versus 446 from the Nepali side, while thousands of tourists visited base camps on both sides. The warming global climate has melted frozen garbage left by climbers over decades, spurring environmental concern in Nepal, India and China, which is taking tough measures to clean up air, water and soil contaminated after decades of breakneck growth. Since 2015, officials in Tibet have given every climber two trash bags to retrieve at least 8 kg of rubbish, levying a fine of $100 for each kilogram by which a climber falls short. Nepal adopted similar rules in 2014. China also plans to build environmentally friendly toilet and waste collection sites at Mount Everest, the official Xinhua news agency said. Authorities in Tibet have pledged to complete 45 pollution cleanup tasks before 2020, according to a list published this week by the environment ministry, after a central inspection team flagged concerns last year. Beijing plans a further round of inspections early next year, the People's Daily newspaper of the ruling Communist Party has said.

In 2 months, China cleans up 8.5 tonnes of garbage from Everest: Report

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