Canada train explosion: Bar-goers feared dead

Revellers at a bar close to where a runaway train carrying crude oil came off the rails and exploded are feared to be among the dead.

Five people were killed and around 40 remain unaccounted for after the unmanned 73-carriage freight train crashed at around 1am local time on Saturday in Lac-Megantic, near Quebec, in Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper likened the scene to a "war zone", while witnesses described how flames engulfed the popular Musi-Café, which was only a few metres from the scene.

The nightspot was packed with about 60 people, including a group of 20 who were celebrating a birthday.

Bernard Théberge was on the patio in front of the café smoking a cigarette when he heard the train and knew instantly that something was wrong, according to The Globe And Mail.

The 44-year-old, who suffered second-degree burns, said: "It was going way too fast. I saw a wall of fire go up. People got up on the outside patio. I grabbed my bike, which was just on the railing of the terrace.

"I started pedalling and then I stopped and turned around. I saw that there were all those people inside and I knew right away that it would be impossible for them to get out. Smoking saved my life."

Bar owner Yannick Gagne left the venue shortly before the explosion and received a call from one of his waitresses who was trapped inside.

He told the National Post: "She was screaming that there was fire everywhere. I didn't understand. I said 'Get out of the restaurant. Leave everything there. It's okay. We’ll gather things tomorrow and lock up later'."

Although she managed to escape, three other waitresses and one singer who were inside at the time have not been heard from.

"They won't find anyone alive. It's impossible. People are waiting for news, but a fire at that temperature, nothing remains. It melts cars," said Mr Gagne.

Jacques Bolduc and Solange Gaudreault's 23-year-old son, Guy Bolduc, was performing at the bar that night.

Mr Bolduc told Radio-Canada: "Our boy wanted so much to live. The police told us there is no hope. The train exploded 30 feet from the (Musi-Café) bar."

Quebec provincial police sergeant Benoit Richard said only a small part of the devastated scene had been searched as firefighters made sure all the flames were out.

A coroner's spokeswoman said it might not be possible to recover some of the bodies because of the intensity of the blasts

All but one of the train's tanker cars were carrying oil when they somehow came loose, sped downhill nearly seven miles into the town near the Maine border, derailed and began exploding one by one.

Mario Ducharme, 38, who had been visiting a friend at his home close to the café, told the National Post: "I thought it was the end of the world. We could hear the train cars cracking from the heat."

The Canadian Prime Minister visited the area on Sunday and said: "his is an unbelievable disaster.

"This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn't a family that is not affected by this."

About a third of the community of 6,000 people were forced out of their homes.

Fears remain over two oil-filled train cars at the scene. They were being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating.

The oil was being transported from North Dakota's Bakken oil region to a refinery in New Brunswick.

Because of limited pipeline capacity in the Bakken region and in Canada, oil producers are increasingly using railroads to transport oil to refineries.

The Quebec disaster is the fourth freight train accident in Canada under investigation involving crude oil shipments since the beginning of the year.

Transportation Safety Board investigator Donald Ross said the black box of the locomotive has been recovered, but officials have not been able to access much of the site.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1112847/canada-train-explosion-bar-goers-feared-dead

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Nine killed and 21 injured in Spain bus accident

Nine people have died and five are seriously injured after a bus careered off the road near the town of Avila, central Spain.

Local news reports say the bus, which was carrying around 30 passengers, rolled over after travelling at excessive speed on a bend along the N-403 highway south of Avila.

Paramedic crews who arrived on the scene rescued several passengers who had become trapped in the wreckage.

"We confirm nine dead, five seriously injured and more than 10 slightly injured in the bus crash," said an emergency services spokesman for the region of Castile and Leon.

The commuter bus, from a local company called Cevesa, was serving the route Serranillos-Ávila, from South to the North of the province of Avila.

Several drivers passing by alerted the authorities around 8.30 am about the accident. Pictures of the scene show the bus lying by the side of the road with the front windscreen smashed and most of the windows missing.

Four bodies lay on the N-403 road, completely covered in white sheets or silver foil.

Emergency services workers in black helmets and tunics carried one person away in a stretcher and several other people, apparently shocked passengers, sat on the kerb nearby.

The families of the victims have been taken to Avila, to the Carlos Sastre Sports Center, where a team of social workers and psycologists are providing medical attention and support.

There is no information about the nationalities of the victims but early indications are the passengers are from the villages located along the bus route.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1112830/nine-killed-and-21-injured-in-spain-bus-crash

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Navy calls off search for cargo ship crew off Phuket

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) has now called off the search for the six missing members of the crew of the Bangladesh-registered cargo ship MV Hope, four days after the crew abandoned the ship in heavy seas to the south of Racha Noi Island.

Nine of the 17 crew of the Hope crew were found alive and two bodies were recovered. It is now assumed that the remaining six are no longer alive.

Meanwhile, the stricken MV Hope itself has survived and is under tow from the tug Confidence. It will be taken to a port in Malaysia so that repairs can be made.

Thus far it is not clear which port the Hope will be towed to and, in any case, towing the ship, which is lying half on its side, is likely to be a slow job.

The Navy earlier voiced concerns that the abandoned ship might drift into the very busy sea lane going to India or the Red Sea from the Strait of Malacca; that it would leak oil that would end up on the coast of Thailand; and that the cargo aboard the ship might damage the environment.

Now that the Hope is under tow, the first concern has been alleviated, and agents for the ship’s insurers have found no leaks aboard the Hope, and no cracks in the hull, so thus far oil leaks are not a concern.

The owners of the MV Hope, Singapore-based Manship Pte Ltd, at first would not reveal what the cargo was, but have now confirmed that it consists of clay for the manufacture of ceramics. The environmental implications of this are not yet clear.

The same team that inspected the ship for damage noted that the loose cargo of clay had shifted, which had caused the ship to list heavily and prompted the skipper to give the order to abandon ship.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://www.thephuketnews.com/navy-calls-off-search-for-cargo-ship-crew-off-phuket-40713.php

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Hyderabad hotel collapse: 20 more trapped under debris

There are over 20 people still trapped in the hotel building collapse in Hyderabad. The reported death in the building collapse has gone up to six.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma said that so far six bodies were recovered while 11 injured were taken out.

"We suspect another 20 people may be trapped under the debris," he said.

The police chief said they sought help of search experts from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) workers were seen clearing the debris with the help of fire fighting personnel. GHMC commissioner Krishna Babu supervised the rescue operation.

One of the rescued hotel workers said there were 30 workers in the building at the time of the incident.

Locals said the City Light hotel was one of the 200 old buildings which were issued notices by the GHMC for demolition but the owner had reportedly got a court stay.

The two-storey building of City Light Hotel on Rashtrapati Road in Secunderabad, collapsed around 6.30 a.m.

Police, fire fighting personnel and rescue workers managed to evacuate 11 people from the rubble and shifted them to government-run Gandhi Hospital. The conditions of some of the injured is stated to be critical.

Many auto-rickshaw drivers and daily wage workers were at the famous joint to have Iranian tea and snacks.

While the cause of the collapse of the roof is not yet known, police officials suspect that internal constructions like putting up a new rolling shutter or putting up the huge stoves to make the Ramzan delicacy - Haleem, in the upper floors could have led to the incident.

Police, Fire & Disaster Management and the GHMC teams rushed to the site within minutes of learning of the incident. However, they could not do much with regard to the rescue of the persons trapped under the collapsed roof as they did not have the crucial equipment like the gas cutters or thermal scanners. Traffic came to a standstill as scores of onlookers gathered at the site. TV news vehices too parked hapazhardly became an obstacle for relief and rescue teams from getting into the mishap site.

It was only when then disaster management team from the National Industrial Security Academy (NISA) came to the site on being called by the GHMC that these vital equipment like gas cutters to cut through the steel-concrete slab and thermal scanners to scout for the trapped persons was used.

"I have having tea with my friends - Swamy, Sailu and others when the ground seemed to have given away and the roof was coming down. We immediately rushed out and also dragged some people out. We could also see fire breaking out of the kitchen," said Shankar, a daily wage worker, who was inside the hotel.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/hyderabad-hotel-collapse-20-more-trapped-under-debris/1/287430.html

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/nine-dead-in-hyderabad-hotel-collapse/article4893989.ece

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Grim process identifying Lac-Megantic victims

As investigators begin to sift through the wreckage of downtown Lac-Mégantic, family and friends of the 40 people still missing after the spectacular blaze early Saturday morning might have to accept the grim reality that it could be days, months or even years before some of their loved ones are positively identified amid the ashes.

Given the intensity of the fire and the heat — which razed 30 buildings and, according to some witnesses, could be felt kilometres away — it’s possible people were completely vapourized in the explosions, said Geneviève Guilbault, a spokesperson for the Quebec coroner’s office who was on site Sunday.

“We can deduce that many of the bodies are severely burned,” Guilbault said. “That complicates identification, but all necessary means at our disposal will be used to identify them.”

She said the five bodies recovered so far will be sent to Montreal for forensic identification.

But it’s possible some of the bodies will never be found.

“Right now, we’re working on those we are able to recover,” Guilbault said.

It is a long, grim process.

Identifying human remains from a disaster site typically means getting as much information from the families of the missing individuals as possible: dental records, X-rays, photographs or descriptions of tattoos, clothing and jewelry, as well as blood-type information and objects that might contain the deceased’s DNA, such as hair or a toothbrush.

Forensic anthropologists working with fire investigators can help differentiate human remains from other components of the debris. Then the remains are compared with the biographical information and DNA to try to find a match.

Kathy Reichs, a best-selling author and forensic anthropologist who works at the Quebec government’s Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale, said the central forensic lab in Montreal was put on notice to expect multiple deaths from Lac-Mégantic.

She said it would probably be a very difficult task to recover human remains from the debris, given the intensity and duration of the fire.

“Anyone caught in that, the remains will be extremely compromised,” Reichs said. “Primarily, they will try to go with dental IDs — it’s so hard to say unless you know what they’re going to recover. But a fire that burned that hot and that long, it’s pretty devastating.”

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., Reichs was deployed to Ground Zero in New York, with one of the “DMORTs” or Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams, to try to identify human remains — a job that is still not finished.

Last week, on July 5, the remains of another firefighter killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center were identified, more than 11 years later. He was the third to be identified since April.

In Lac-Mégantic, townfolk are still holding out hope their missing loved ones will be found alive.

On a Facebook Support Group for Lac-Mégantic, with 17,756 members as of Sunday afternoon, members asked for information about loved ones — Gilles, Yves, Geneviève. They offered help, a free apartment or donations, and occasionally, they reported that a loved one had been found, safe and sound.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/M%C3%A9gantic+could+years+before+missing+identified/8627124/story.html

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Seven more bodies identified in Damauli bus accident

Seven more bodies of those killed in Saturday’s bus crash in Damauli have been identified. At least one was confirmed missing while the police say more might be disappearing in the flooded river.

Eleven people, including a child and four women, died and 10 others were injured when a Muglin-bound bus plunged into the Madi river near Damauli Bazaar on the Prithvi Highway. The vehicle had swerved off a bridge and fallen into the river as the driver braked to save children walking on the bridge.

Out of eleven people who died in the bus accident, ten have been identified till this morning.

Laxmi Narayan Shrestha of Khotang and his son Hemraj Shrestha, Keshav Dhakal and Hom Bahadur Somai Magar of Chitwan, Mahesh Bastakoti of Nawalparasi, Kiran Shrestha of Kathmandu and Bishwonath Yadav of Saptari have been identified as dead. Aayush Thapa, Muna Thapa and Tikamaya Ale were already identified. Identity of a woman is yet to be ascertained. Police handed over the bodies to their kin after postmortem.

Police said that 10-year-old Aayushma Thapa of Damauli was missing. According to Som Bahadur Thapa, a neighbour, her brother Aayush died while their mother Bishnu Kumari Thapa sustained injuries.

Nine of the injured are receiving care at Manipal Teaching Hospital in Pokhara while one Pabitra Sapkota is being treated at the Damauli-based Ratnahari Hospital.

The local administration has deployed security personnel to various places downstream to search for the missing.

Though it has been speculated that around 35-40 people were on board when the accident took place, the exact number of passengers is not been known yet.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://ekantipur.com/2013/07/08/national/seven-more-bodies-identified/374467.html

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Uttarakhand readying to release list of missing persons

After seeing the massive rescue operation to its completion, the Uttarakhand government, with the aid of disaster management authorities, is getting ready to release the final list of "missing" persons who can, for all practical purposes, be "presumed dead".

The "missing" database is expected to be ready by the weekend, or July 8, and will be released soon after. Sources overseeing the relief work indicated that though the number of missing may be a few thousands, it would be far less than the 10,000-figure being quoted by some NGOs. The "missing persons" list will not only help bring closure to the fate of the untraced nearly three weeks after the Himalayan tsunami, but also pave the way for tehsildars to start issuing death certificates for the "missing" by July 15. This would pave the way for release of compensation, processing of insurance claims filed by their kin and other legal formalities for inheritance of property.

To guard against any slip ups in identifying the "missing" or "presumed dead", the Uttarakhand government, with the aid of the Central nodal officer tasked with coordinating rescue and relief operations in the state, has embarked on a massive exercise to verify the missing. This includes aerial survey of the affected regions, verification of locals by the village patwari or panchayat, physical checks on the ground, tracking the missing/traced on the net through social media networks, and even a confirmation call to all cells active in the affected places between June 14 and 19.

"There are many bodies that are beyond recognition. Though we are taking DNA samples, none of the relatives have approached us for a match. The state of the bodies still buried in the debris or layers of silt is possibly worse," Centre's nodal officer for coordinating with the forces and central agencies V K Duggal told TOI.

Duggal said the missing can be divided into four categories — tourists/pilgrims, locals, registered labour and unregistered labour. Even though the rescue operation is complete, the authorities have ensured that the rescue forces of the Army and para-military re-survey the villages for any "miracle" survivors. "We got choppers to fly low and spot any stranded survivor. No living person was found, but some bodies were spotted," Duggal told TOI.

An interactive forum is now active on the Uttarakhand website and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to report missing/traced. on the state government website and social networks to report missing and traced. The Uttarakhand authorities have secured records of calls made between June 14 and 19 and will call back these cell numbers to know if those who exchanged these calls had reached home safely. If not, these will be enrolled as "missing".

The locals are also being traced with the help of the village panchayats or patwaris.

While registered migrant workers - mule-owners, pithoos, etc - are being traced with the help of the relevant registering authority, the unregistered workers - such as tea-stall workers, beggars, sadhus -- are being verified through interviews with the locals at their respective places of work.

Those still untraced after this massive verification exercise will be classified according to gender and duly certified as "missing". These would then be presumed dead, and the local tehsildar can then issue death certificates to their kin.

Monday 8 July 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Uttarakhand-readying-to-release-list-of-missing-persons/articleshow/20964294.cms

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10 reported dead in Soldotna plane crash

An air taxi crashed at the Soldotna Airport on Sunday morning, killing all 10 people onboard in the worst aviation accident in Alaska in at least 25 years.

The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter airplane crashed at 11:20 a.m. at the Soldotna Airport, according to the Alaska State Troopers and Soldotna Police Department.

The plane was operated by Rediske Air, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board described the flight as an air taxi, but on Sunday evening was still trying to confirm who was onboard and where they were going.

The NTSB's Clint Johnson said an initial report from someone at the small airport indicated the plane was taking off.

The person saw the plane taxiing out for takeoff but didn't see any actual takeoff attempt.

"The next thing they knew is they saw it on fire, unfortunately, after the accident," Johnson said. The investigation is still in early stages and nothing is confirmed about what went wrong, he said.

The Soldotna Airport is a municipal airstrip with a single paved 5,000-foot long runway adjacent to the Kenai River. The airport is busy in the summer months with fishing, hunting and sight-seeing flights that take off from the Kenai Peninsula town.

Fire crews got the call for help at 11:24 a.m. and were the first to get to the burning plane, said Capt. Lesley Quelland of Central Emergency Services, which handles fire and medic calls from Cooper Landing to Clam Gulch.

"We saw the plume immediately when we left the station," Quelland said Sunday evening. It was a big, black cloud of smoke visible from the station, about three driving miles from the airport, she said. Campers at the nearby Klondike RV Park also saw smoke, owner Al Belknap said.

When fire crews got to the airport about 11:30 a.m., "the aircraft was crashed off the side of the runway and it was fully involved in flames," she said.

It took crews about 10 minutes to put out the fire and look for survivors. There were none, and no one made it out. Everyone died inside the plane, she said.

Quelland said she knows of no eyewitnesses to the crash.

Names of the crash victims have not yet been released, pending positive identification of their bodies by the state medical examiner and notification of their next-of-kin, said the Soldotna Police Department.

The pilot was Walter Rediske, said Andrew Harcombe, who identified himself as a spokesman for Rediske Air. Public records list Rediske's age as 42.

Rediske Air is a family-owned business on the Kenai Peninsula that offers air charter services, Harcombe said.

The company is registered to Lyla and Walter Rediske, with an address in Nikiski, according to the state's Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing. It was formed in 1991. Harcombe said Rediske was a "highly experienced" pilot and lifelong Alaskan.

The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter airplane had a single turbo-prop engine and was manufactured in 1958, according to FAA records.

The cause of the crash has not been determined. The weather was reported to be cloudy with a light wind at the time of the crash, troopers said.

Much of the plane burned, said Johnson, the head of the NTSB's Anchorage office.

NTSB investigator Chris Shaver was at the scene looking for witnesses and clues, Johnson said.

A national NTSB "go-team" was on its way to Alaska on Sunday night to investigate the crash because of the number of fatalities, he said. A team of at least eight people from Washington, D.C., will handle the investigation, led by accident investigator Dan Brower.

The crash is one of the deadliest in decades in a state with many fatal aviation accidents.

In 2001, a Peninsula Airways commuter plane bound for King Salmon crashed in Dillingham, killing nine of the 10 people aboard.

In 1987, a Beechcraft 1900C Ryan Air flight crashed in Homer, killing 18 people.

The last major crash at the Soldotna airport was in 1985, when a North Pacific Air Beechcraft 65-A80 crashed, killing nine.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/07/07/2966860/fatalities-reported-in-soldotna.html#storylink=cpy

Monday 8 July 2013

http://www.adn.com/2013/07/07/2966860/fatalities-reported-in-soldotna.html

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