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Indian President K.R. Narayanan consoles Madhavrao Scindia's family members at their residence in New Delhi. Scindia, aged 56, and six other people traveling aboard a private Cessna plane were killed when it crashed in northern India in the heavy rain. - Gulf News Archives

Indian politician Scindia killed in crash

2001 — The deputy leader of India’s opposition Congress party, Madhavrao Scindia, died along with four journalists and three others when his private plane crashed in heavy rain in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Scindia, 56, was on his way to address a party rally at Kanpur ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls when the chartered 10-seater Cessna C-90 aircraft caught fire in mid-air and crashed near Mainpuri while attempting an emergency landing amidst unseasonal heavy rain. All eight occupants of the aircraft died in the accident. Scion of the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, Scindia represented the young and dynamic face of the Congress party which was in shock. A police official said the Cessna’s single engine caught fire and the plane plunged into a paddy field. The aircraft broke into two, with one of the pieces submerged under water. Congress president Sonia Gandhi was said to depend heavily on Scindia to run the party and act as leader of the opposition in the lower house, the Lok Sabha.

September 30

1787 - Sailing ship Columbia leaves Boston on first voyage around the world by an American vessel.

1882 - The world’s first hydroelectric power plant opens on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

1938 - Britain, France, Germany and Italy agree to transfer Czech Sudetenland to Germany.

1954 - The first atomic-powered vessel, the submarine Nautilus, is commissioned by the US Navy.

1958 - The Soviet Union resumes nuclear testing.

1962 - Black American student James Meredith succeeds on his fourth try to register for classes at the University of Mississippi.

1965 - Six of Indonesia’s top army generals are kidnapped and killed in an abortive coup.

1966 - The Republic of Botswana gains independence from Britain.

1971 - The US and the Soviet Union sign pacts designed to avoid accidental nuclear war.

1975 - Boxer Muhammad Ali beats Joe Frazier to retain his world heavyweight title.

1986 - US releases Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov after the Soviets release US journalist Nicholas Daniloff.

1990 - The Soviet Union and South Korea open full diplomatic relations.

1993 - An earthquake rocks western India, leaving more than 10,000 dead.

1994 - The World Health Organisation announces that polio has been completely eradicated from the western hemisphere.

1996 - Seawolf 103, the cargo ship carrying 1,253 amnesty-seekers to Mumbai, leaves Port Hamriya in Dubai.

1999 - The first Arabian Wildlife Centre in the region is opened in Sharjah.

2007 - Rebel forces storm the African Union base in Darfur, killing dozens of peacekeepers.

2008 - 168 people are killed and scores injured in a massive stampede at a Hindu temple in Jodphur, India.

2009 - A massive earthquake strikes the Island of Sumatra in Indonesia, killing thousands.

2011 - Anwar Al Awlaqi, a key Al Qaida leader is killed in US airstrike in Al Jawf, Yemen.

2013 - Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is convicted in the fodder scandal by special CBI court.