6 dead in Alaska sightseeing plane crash, U.S. Coast Guard says
Source: Associated Press
A sightseeing plane crashed Thursday in southeast Alaska, killing all six people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The plane's emergency alert beacon was activated around 11:20 a.m. local time when the plane crashed in the area of Misty Fjords National Monument, near Ketchikan, the Coast Guard and U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said.
A helicopter company reported seeing wreckage on a ridgeline in the search area, and Coast Guard crew members found the wreckage around 2:40 p.m. A Coast Guard helicopter lowered two rescue swimmers to the site, and they reported no survivors, the agency said.
The identities of those killed in the crash were not immediately released. The Alaska State Troopers and volunteers from the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad will coordinate recovery efforts Thursday and Friday.
(Kyodo News) A cargo ship that ran aground at a port in northeastern Japan before being refloated and anchored off the coast was found Thursday to have broken apart and was spilling oil, the coast guard said.
The freighter, the Panamanian-flagged 39,910-ton Crimson Polaris, ran aground Wednesday morning at Hachinohe port in Aomori Prefecture. All 21 crew members -- eight Chinese and 13 Filipino nationals -- had been rescued without notable injuries, the coast guard said.
Leaked oil was confirmed floating in an area of about 24 kilometers in length and up to about 800 meters in width as of 5 p.m. Thursday, reaching the coastline of Misawa in the prefecture. The coast guard said its officials have been engaging in cleanup work.
About 1,600 tons of heavy oil still remained inside the cargo ship.
The vessel was on course to enter the port on Wednesday morning but ran aground in shallow water as it was carried away by strong winds, according to Nippon Yusen K.K., which is responsible for the operation of the ship.
Mississippi highway collapses, 2 killed, at least 10 injured
Source: AP
LUCEDALE, Miss. (AP) — Two people were killed and at least 10 others were injured when their vehicles plunged into a deep hole where a highway collapsed after Hurricane Ida blew through Mississippi.
Torrential rain may have caused the collapse, and the drivers may not have seen that the roadway in front of them had disappeared Monday night, Mississippi Highway Patrol Cp. Cal Robertson said.
“Some of these cars are stacked on top of each other,” he said. Seven vehicles were involved, including a motorcycle. A crane was brought in to lift them out of the hole.
WDSU-TV reports that state troopers, emergency workers and rescue teams responded to Highway 26 west of Lucedale, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Biloxi, to find both the east and westbound lanes collapsed. Robertson said the hole is around 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) long and 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) deep.
(The Conversation) The good news when Hurricane Ida churned into Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021 was that levees held up – especially those that were strengthened after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. The bad news: In many places, power systems failed. Nearly five days later, more than 80% of New Orleans customers were still in the dark, in sweltering heat.
Electricity is critical for health, safety and comfort. Without it, it’s hard to buy groceries, fuel your car or get cash from an ATM. Many medical devices, including power wheelchairs, ventilators and nebulizers, run on electricity. Schools can’t operate without power, and kids can’t attend class online without computers or electricity.
Dramatic images of damaged power lines can make people wonder whether their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But I’ve studied this question for utilities and regulators, and the answer is not straightforward. There are many ways to make power grids more resilient, but they are all costly, require the involvement of many agencies, businesses and power customers, and may not solve the problem.
It’s impossible to completely protect the grid
Ideas for making the electricity grid more resilient to weather and disasters have to acknowledge two unpleasant realities. First, there is no way to completely protect the grid.
Above-ground lines are vulnerable to damaging winds, flying debris and falling trees. But underground lines are susceptible to damage from water incursion driven by storm surges or flooding. So, choosing the location of power lines means choosing which threat is more manageable.
Plane crashes in California neighborhood near high school, at least 2 dead
At least two fatalities, likely more, according to fire department
By Bradford Betz , Louis Casiano | Fox News
A small plane crashed in a residential neighborhood of San Diego County Monday afternoon, damaging some homes, authorities said. In a news conference after the crash, a fireman confirmed that at least two people died in the crash.
"We know there is at least two," a Santee fire official said. "It's a pretty brutal scene."
Authorities said two people have died and two more have been taken to the hospital for burn injuries. The Santee Fire Department said the injuries of the people on the plane are likely "non-survivable."
(CNN) No major injuries were reported when a Boston-bound plane carrying more than 20 people struck a fence and erupted in flames while taking off at Houston Executive Airport on Tuesday morning, officials said.
All passengers and crew managed to leave the plane safely -- two with minor injuries -- before firefighters extinguished the flames engulfing the McDonnell Douglas MD-87 on a field outside the airport, local officials said.
"This is a good day. This is actually a day of celebration for a lot of people," Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Sgt. Stephen Woodard told reporters at the scene.
One person reported back pain, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon reported via Facebook.
"The information we have at this time indicates that the plane did not attain altitude at the end of the runway and went across Morton Road, coming to a rest in the field just north of the airport, where it caught on fire," the judge said.
CNN indicates that "this is a developing story" and that updates may be forthcoming.
Oil tanker explodes in Sierra Leone, killing at least 92
Source: AP
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.
The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.
The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning. About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to Foday Musa, a staff member in the intensive care unit.
Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them Saturday. Hundreds of people milled outside the main gates of the mortuary and near the hospital’s main entrance, waiting for word of their loved ones.
Neighbors react after police find seven dead in Minnesota home
Source: WBAY, ABC affiliate in Green Bay
MOORHEAD, M.N. (Valley News Live/Gray News) – Heavy feelings surround a neighborhood after police found seven dead in a south Moorhead, Minnesota, home Saturday evening.
According to KVLY, the victims included four adults and three children.
Police said there are no signs of violence or forced entry, and there is no known threat to the public.
Massive ferry fire kills at least 39 in southern Bangladesh
Source: AP
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire swept through a crowded river ferry in Bangladesh early Friday, leaving at least 39 people dead and 72 injured, officials said. Many passengers leapt from the vessel into cold waters to escape the blaze.
It took 15 fire engines two hours to control the fire and another eight to cool down the vessel, according to fire officer Kamal Uddin Bhuiyan, who led the rescue operation. Afterward, the blackened hull of the ferry sat anchored at the river’s edge, and rescuers continued to look for both those who died and survivors.
The blaze broke out around 3 a.m. on the MV Avijan-10, which was carrying 800 passengers, many of whom were traveling to visit family and friends for the weekend, officials said.
“I was sleeping on the deck and woke up hearing screams and a loud noise,” survivor Anisur Rahman told reporters, adding that he saw smoke coming from the back of the ferry. “I jumped into the freezing water of the river in the thick fog, like many other passengers, and swam to the riverbank.”
Small Single-Engine Airplane Hit by Train After Going Down on Tracks in Pacoima
Source: KNBC
A small single-engine airplane went down in Pacoima on Sunday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The plane went down on or near train tracks next to the Whiteman Airport around 2:09 p.m., the LAFD said.
The only person in the plane was the pilot, who was pulled from the plane by bystanders before fire officials arrived.
Those bystanders pulled the pilot from the plane just before an incoming train hit the wreck, which was on the tracks, according to the Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau.
Biden Notes Benefit of Recently Passed Infrastructure Funding Bill After Visiting the Site of Collapsed Bridge in Pittsburgh bySarah Kolinovsky,Alisa Wiersema,Libby Cathey, and Ben Gittleson
January 28, 2022
(ABC News) Just hours ahead of President Joe Biden traveling to Pittsburgh to stress improvements needed for the nation's infrastructure, a bridge in the area collapsed on Friday morning, coincidentally providing Biden an opportunity to tout how his bipartisan infrastructure law provides funding for badly needed repairs.
Before his scheduled afternoon remarks at Carnegie Mellon University, Biden stopped by the collapsed bridge near Pittsburg's Frick's Park. Ten people were reported injured in the collapse, according to local authorities.
He said the collapsed bridge was a prime example of one of the thousands of bridges in need of repair across Pennsylvania -- bridges that would benefit from the billions of dollars in his infrastructure law, including $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania to repair bridges.
"It had been rated in poor condition for the past 10 years," Biden said in prepared remarks. "What you all know, if you don't you should know, there are another 3,300 bridges here in Pennsylvania, some of which are just as old, and just as decrepit -- decrepit condition as that bridge was, including here in Pittsburgh, the city of bridges."
"We've got to get it on with it," Biden added. "We got to move. The next time, we don't need headlines saying that someone was killed when the next bridge collapses."
(Axios) Roughly a third of the nation's 620,000 bridges — 36% — need major repair work or replacement, a new report finds.
Why it matters: Deferred maintenance, climate change and heavier-than-anticipated traffic are causing bridges to wear out earlier than expected, and engineers say not enough is being done to keep drivers safe.
Driving the news: More than 43,500 U.S. bridges are in poor enough condition to be deemed "structurally deficient," according to the report by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Those bridges are crossed 167.5 million times a day.
Chunks of concrete fall from bridges with some regularity, and routine inspections often reveal problems that prompt authorities to shut down lanes of traffic or close off a bridge to heavy vehicles, to reduce the weight burden.
At least nine dead in Texas bus collision involving student athletes
Source: BBC
At least nine people are dead after a vehicle carrying members of a New Mexico university's golf team collided with a pickup truck in Texas, the school said.
Nine passengers including the team's coach were on the bus involved in the fatal crash, the University of the Southwest said in a statement.
Two passengers from the bus are in critical condition.
A driver and passenger in the pickup were also both killed.
...
"For unknown reasons, the Dodge pickup- drove into the northbound lane and struck the Ford passenger van head-on," Mr Blanco said. "Both vehicles caught fire and burned."
China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet crashes in China, state media says
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) aircraft with 133 people on board crashed in mountains in south China on Monday while on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, state media reported.
The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said. Rescue was on its way, it said.
There was no word on the cause of the crash of the plane, a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.
The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.
Boston parking garage under construction partially collapses
Source: Associated Press
BOSTON — Several floors of a downtown Boston parking garage that was under construction collapsed Saturday evening, fire officials said. Officials did not immediately confirm whether there were any injuries.
The garage, located in the Haymarket area, came down after a crane on the top part of the structure collapsed on areas that were under construction, crews on scene told WCVB-TV.
The collapse caused multiple floors of the garage to fall, the television station reported.
Boston police officers, firefighters and emergency service personnel, and state police troopers all responded to assist.
Snow Squall Leads to 50-Car Pileup on Pennsylvania Highway
Source: NY Times
By Neil Vigdor and Johnny Diaz
A blinding snow squall led to a fiery pileup on a Pennsylvania interstate on Monday morning that involved at least 50 vehicles, including several tractor-trailers, the authorities said.
The chain reaction happened around 10:36 a.m. on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County about 50 miles northeast of Harrisburg, Pa., where an early spring burst of wintry weather overwhelmed drivers in the northbound lanes.
About 20 people were taken to hospitals, John Blickley, a spokesman for the Schuylkill County Office of Emergency Management, said on Monday. He did not know of any fatalities and did not have information about the severity of the injuries.
“The road conditions when the squall came through contributed to the accident,” Mr. Blickley said.
Philadelphia firefighter killed in building collapse; 5 other people rescued
Source: CNN
A Philadelphia firefighter has died Saturday morning in the collapse
of a building following a fire, a city fire official said.
Five others who were trapped -- four firefighters and a licensing and
inspections worker -- were rescued from the collapse, 1st Deputy Fire
Commissioner Craig Murphy said.
"So far, several were rescued and transported to hospitals," reads the
Philadelphia Fire Department's tweet, posted at 6:05 a.m. ET. The
department still was working to rescue others, it added.
The collapse at 300 W. Indiana St. in the city's Fairhill neighborhood
happened during a fire response, the department said. Details about a
fire, the collapse or what the building housed weren't immediately
available.
At least 50 injured and multiple people killed when Amtrak train derails in Missouri
Source: CNN
(CNN) There are multiple fatalities and at least 50 people who were injured after an Amtrak train derailed Monday in Missouri, Eric McKenzie, the superintendent with Chariton County Ambulance Service, told CNN. Amtrak said in a statement the train collided with a dump truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at about 1:42 p.m. CT.
Eight cars and two locomotives left the track "after striking a truck that was obstructing a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri," company officials said in an updated statement. Amtrak had said earlier that there were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the train. Three people are being taken to University Hospital in Columbia, according to a hospital spokesperson. The conditions of the patients is unknown.
Robert Nightingale, a passenger with a sleeper car, said he was taking a nap when he heard something. "It all happened like slow motion. It started to rock and, and rock, and then flicker, and then it just all of a sudden -- all this dust was through my window," Nightingale, who is from Taos, New Mexico, told CNN. He said the train fell over on the side that his compartment was on.
Nightingale, who was not injured, said he couldn't get through the window, which was blocked by dirt, so he grabbed his backpack and climbed into the hallway. Then he moved into a neighboring room where he found a way to climb out and onto the side of the train.
He said some people helped others reach the ground where he and others walked to the front of the train. He said the truck looked like it had big boulders in it. "It hit something major to cause ... every car to go off," he said. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.