Football team in Togo involved in fatal bus crash/ BBC News

Nothing much was left of the bus after the crash outside Atakpame/ Images credit: Daily Mail

Six people died when a bus carrying a Togolese football team plunged into a ravine and caught fire.

The accident happened 100 miles (160km) north of the capital, Lome, as the Etoile Filante [Shooting Star] team was travelling to a match.
In addition to the six technical staff who were killed, 25 people were admitted to hospital with serious injuries or severe burns.

Tragedy: The remains of the bus were smouldering on Sunday morning /Images credit: Daily Mail

Among those killed was former Togo national goalkeeper Charles Balogoun.

Reports said that a tyre burst before the bus toppled over and fell down the ravine. The accident happened on Saturday near the city of Atakpame.
"We do not know how we managed to get out of the bus," said one of the survivors, goalkeeper Mama Souleyman, according to Associated Press.

"Most of the players got out because they were all in the front row of the bus."

Images broadcast on Togolese national television showed the smouldering wreckage of the bus, almost completely burnt.
Those injured were reportedly ordered to be taken to a military hospital in the capital, Lome, by President Faure Gnassingbe.
Last year, two members of the Togo national football squad, and an Angolan bus driver, were killed after the team bus was attacked by separatist rebels in Angola.
In 2007, Togo Sports Minister Richard Attipoe was among 22 people who died when a helicopter carrying Togolese soccer fans and officials crashed in Sierra Leone after an African Cup qualifying match.

_____________________________________________________________

RELATED NEWS

• More Tragedy strikes Togo as six die in bus crash / Sydney Morning Herald
• At least 6 Togolese soccer players dead, 28 critically injured.../ Washington Post
• Six dead in football team bus crash / MSN UK

»»  read more

At least 3 dead and scores injured as Indonesia's 'Golden Gate Bridge' collapses

Report says 100 people taken to hospital; bus, cars and motorcycles went into water

People search for victims after a bridge collapsed in the town of Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Indonesia's Borneo island Saturday. Spot Community  /  AFP - Getty Images

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A busy bridge collapsed Saturday in central Indonesia, killing at least three people and injuring many more as a bus, cars and motorcycles crashed into the river below, police and witnesses said.

Capt. Syafii Nafsikin said search and rescue teams rushed to the scene.

The death toll could climb, he said, adding that many people were believed to be injured.

The bridge linking the towns of Tenggarong and Samarinda in East Kalimantan province was clogged with traffic when the accident occurred, Syaiful, a witness, told local TV station TVOne.

'Screaming'
He said he saw at least one bus and a dozen motorcycles plunge into the Mahakam river and survivors swimming to the shore in panic. Several cars were mangled.

"Everyone was screaming," said Syaiful, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

It wasn't immediately clear why the 10-year-old bridge collapsed.
The Indonesia Today website reported about 100 people were taken to hospital.

It carried a photograph that showed how a section of the large suspension bridge had fallen into the water.

The website said that the 0.6-mile bridge was known locally as "Kalimantan's Golden Gate Bridge."

Indonesia Today reported the bridge was built between 1995 and 2001 by state-owned construction firm PT Hutama Karya.
_____________________________________________________________________________
RELATED NEWS

* Indonesia's 'Golden Gate Bridge' collapses; 3 dead

   msnbc.com

* 3 dead, 17 injured in Indonesia bridge collapse

   The Hindu News

____________________________________________________________________

»»  read more

Breaking News/Plane with 6 crashes in AZ, no sign of survivors

A small plane with six people aboard, including three children, crashed in flames in mile-high mountains on Phoenix's eastern outskirts, leaving one child confirmed dead and no signs of any survivors, authorities said.

A helicopter search light looks over the scene of an aircraft that crashed in the Superstition Mountains in Apache Junction, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. The small plane with three adults and three children on board crashed into the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix on Wednesday, and there was no sign of survivors, authorities said. [AP Photo/Tim Hacker East Valley Tribune)

Preliminary reports indicate the two-engine aircraft flew from Safford to Mesa's Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford in southeastern Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said.
The aircraft slammed into an area of rugged peaks and outcroppings in the Superstition Mountains, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. MST. authorities said.
Callers reported hearing an explosion near a peak known as the Flat Iron, close to Lost Dutchman State Park, Sheriff's spokeswoman Angelique Graham said.
Witnesses reported a fireball and an explosion.

"I looked up and saw this fireball and it rose up," Dave Dibble told KPHO-TV . "All of a sudden, boom."
Sheriff's spokesman Elias Johnson said the body of one child was recovered late Wednesday night from the crash scene, but additional details weren't released.
No names were immediately released. The children reportedly were between the ages of 5 and 9. A pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said.
Rescue personnel used infrared devices to search for bodies, but had not been able to detect any sign of movement, according to Johnson.

"It does not look promising," Babeu said at a news conference. "We will search throughout the night."
Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site reported finding two debris field on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact.
"The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we're doing our best at this point in the darkness," Babeu said. "This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain."

Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common. Flames could still be seen from the suburban communities of Mesa and Apache Junction hours after the crash.
The region is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus. Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.
Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains' highest point.

Calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren't immediately returned Wednesday night.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined comment.
Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.

 (c) Associated Press
_______________________________________________________________________

»»  read more

Delhi fire kills 14 at eunuchs' gathering

Local people helped put out the fire and the injured.

The site of the fire in Delhi on 20 November 2011 The fire was reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit
At least 14 people have been killed and more than 40 others injured in a fire at a gathering of eunuchs in the Indian capital, Delhi.
The fire broke out on Sunday evening when a three-day convention of eunuchs was about to end.
It is thought that a short circuit in the electricity line sparked off the fire which then spread to the makeshift tent under which people had gathered.
The gathering at Nand Nagri in east Delhi was being attended by hundreds of eunuchs from all over India and neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal, reports said, at a convention held once every five years.
There are hundreds of thousands of eunuchs across South Asia. The term is used to refer to transvestites, transsexuals and people who see themselves as neither male or female.
Many make a living by dancing at weddings and other ceremonies, but they face significant discrimination and live on the margins of society.
"We were performing evening prayers and many of us were also having food when there was an electrical short circuit in a chandelier. The sparks triggered off a fire and in no time the tents were engulfed by the blaze," Komal, a participant, told The Hindu newspaper.
Fire brigade officials said they pulled out 12 charred bodies from the gutted tents. Two people succumbed to burn injuries later in hospital.
The Delhi government is investigating allegations that the organisers of the gathering had not sought permission from the fire department.
BBC NEWS
____________________________________________________________________

»»  read more

14 killed in eastern China chemical plant explosion

BBC map

An explosion at a chemical plant in eastern China has killed fourteen workers.

It happened at a melamine production unit in Xintai in Shandong province where a condenser was being maintained and repaired, local officials say.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known.
Industrial accidents are common in China and are often blamed on widespread disregard for basic safety measures.
The state news agency Xinhua reported that the explosion happened on Saturday afternoon.
The plant belongs to Shandong Liaherd Chemical Industry Co Ltd, according to a statement issued by the Xintai city government.

Four workers were killed outright and ten more died in hospital, while another five injured were in a stable condition, said the statement.
An investigation into the cause of the blast is under way.

Melamine is a nitrogen-rich chemical used to make plastics and other products: however, Xinhua said no poisonous or harmful substances were released by the explosion.

China has a notoriously poor workplace safety record, with rules widely flouted as companies chase contracts and profits.
Accidents in factories and on construction sites are common - and China's coalmines are the most dangerous in the world, despite the government's efforts to improve safety standards.

Chinese internet-users have questioned whether China's rush to build a modern industrial economy has jeopardised workers' safety.

BBC NEWS

_____________________________________________________________________

»»  read more

School bus crash with coal truck kills 20 in China

credit: Getty Images

Eighteen children and two adults died after an overloaded school bus collided with a coal truck Wednesday in northwest China's Gansu province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The nine-seater minibus was involved in a head-on collision with the truck in Yulinzi township in Zhengning county, in the Qingyang city area, an official from the city's work safety bureau told Xinhua.
The bureau blamed overloading, saying in a statement the bus had 64 people on board at the time. Most of them were children from Yulinzi's Little Doctor Kindergarten, Xinhua said.
Five people, including the bus driver, were reported to have died at the scene Wednesday morning, with the others confirmed dead later.
Another 45 people, most of them children, were injured and are being treated in hospital, Xinhua quotes the bureau as saying.

»»  read more

Mexico Interior Secretary Blake Mora dies in helicopter crash

Mexico's Secretary of the Interior, Francisco Blake Mora, has died in a helicopter crash outside Mexico City, officials say.

Mexican Secretary of the Interior Francisco Blake Mora in Mexico City - 4 October 2011

The helicopter was travelling to Cuernavaca in neighbouring Morelos state for a meeting of prosecutors when it went down.
All eight people on board were killed. It is not clear what caused the crash.
Mr Blake Mora, 45, was appointed to the post last year and was a key figure in the war against drug cartels.
The helicopter had initially been reported missing. Some Mexican media reports said there was heavy cloud at the time.
"Unfortunately the interior secretary, his [assistants] and the helicopter crew were found dead," government spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said.
Spanish news agency Efe said Deputy Interior Secretary Felipe Zamora and the interior ministry's chief press officer Alfredo Garcia were also on the helicopter.
The interior secretary is Mexico's senior cabinet position and the top official after the president, with responsibility for domestic affairs and security.
Mr Blake was President Felipe Calderon's fourth interior secretary. One of his predecessors, Juan Camilo Mourino, was killed in a plane crash in Mexico City three years ago.
Mr Blake began his political career in the north-western border city of Tijuana in the mid-1990s, Associated Press news agency said. He later served in the federal congress.
He earned a reputation as being a hardliner in Mexico's struggle with drug cartels.
More than 40,000 people are reported to have died from drug-related violence since President Calderon sent in the army to help combat the cartels in 2006.

»»  read more

Mine disaster kills 29 people in China

Rescue officials gather at the Xialiuchong colliery in Hengyang, China's Hunan province, October 30, 2011 in this still image taken from video. A blast at a coal mine in southern China has killed 28 people, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday, in the latest disaster to hit the accident-prone industry. REUTERS/CCTV via Reuters TV

BEIJING (Reuters) - A blast at a coal mine in southern China has killed 29 people, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday, in the latest disaster to hit the accident-prone industry.
The gas explosion happened on Saturday afternoon at the state-owned Xialiuchong colliery in Hunan province's Hengyang while 35 miners were at work, the report said.
One miner who had remained alive was later found dead, it said. The six survivors have been sent to hospital.
Luo Lin, the head of the State Administration of Work Safety, and Hunan governor Xu Shousheng have arrived at the site of the accident to oversee the investigation, Xinhua said.
The mine had been operating legally, it said. Many disasters happen at illegal mines, or those that the government has closed down and have then been surreptitiously reopened.
China's mines are the deadliest in the world, due to lax safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy.
In 2010, 2,433 people died in coal mine accidents in China, although this was an improvement on the toll of 2,631 a year earlier.

»»  read more