Chinese boy trapped in well found dead

BEIJING • A young boy who had been trapped in a well in China for more than four days was found dead on Thursday, state media said, despite a desperate rescue attempt involving hundreds of people.

The six-year-old boy's body was discovered in the abandoned narrow, 80m-deep well in Hebei province in northern China.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

13 killed in India garment factory fire

GHAZIABAD • Thirteen workers died in a fire at a suspected illegal garment factory on the outskirts of the Indian capital yesterday as they slept in the workshop.

The blaze started in the early hours of the morning on the ground floor of the narrow residential building, where workers made fake leather jackets, on the eastern edge of New Delhi.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Metal cylinder falls from sky in Myanmar

YANGON • A large metal cylinder thought to be from a Chinese satellite or aircraft fell from the sky and slammed into a jade mining area in northern Myanmar, state media reported yesterday.

The large barrel-shaped object, 4.5m long and just over a metre in diameter, crashed onto property owned by a jade mining company in Kachin State's Hpakant township on Thursday, reported the Global New Light of Myanmar. Another smaller piece of metal bearing Chinese writing tore through the roof of a house in a nearby village at the same time.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Thai Crown Prince flies home

BANGKOK • Thailand's Crown Prince flew back to the kingdom yesterday after a fortnight overseas, palace sources confirmed, although there is still no date for when he will officially succeed his father.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, left Thailand last month, some two weeks after his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej died, ending a seven-decade reign.

Although the Crown Prince is the named successor, he surprised many and veered from tradition by asking to delay his proclamation as king in order to grieve with the nation, according to the junta that currently runs the country.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE