Xinhua Asia Pacific news summary at 1600 GMT, Jan. 13

NEW DELHI -- Five people were killed and two others went missing on Saturday after a civilian helicopter carrying officials from state-owned oil and natural gas corporation (ONGC) crashed in India's western state of Maharashtra, officials said.

The chopper with seven people on board, five ONGC officials and two pilots, crashed minutes after take-off from Juhu airport in Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. (India-Helicopter-Crash)

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SEOUL -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed on Saturday to hold working-level talks next week to discuss the DPRK's dispatch of its art troupe to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said.

South Korea accepted the DPRK's counterproposal earlier in the day to first discuss the dispatch of its art troupe to the winter sports event on Jan. 15 at Tongilgak, a building controlled by the DPRK in the truce village of Panmunjom. (DPRK-South Korea-Talks)

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NEW DELHI -- At least four school children died after a fishing boat carrying some 40 students capsized in the Arabian Sea off the coast of the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday, officials said.

The incident took place in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Dahanu, a coastal town in the state's Palghar district, some 110 kms from Mumbai. (India-Boat Capsizal)

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COLOMBO -- The track-laying commencement of the first phase of the China-built Matara-Kataragama railway extension project has been held in Matara in southern Sri Lanka.

The first phase of the project includes constructing a railway service from Matara to Beliatta, in the south of the island country. (Sri Lanka-Railway)

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SEOUL -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) offered to South Korea to hold talks about the dispatch of its art troupe to the 2018 Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said Saturday.

The DPRK proposed to South Korea holding a working-level dialogue on Jan. 15 in Tongilgak, a building controlled by the DPRK in the truce village of Panmunjom, to discuss the dispatch of its art troupe to the South Korea-hosted Winter Olympics. (DPRK-South Korea-Art Troupe) Enditem