Death toll from Spanish rail disaster rises to 77

At least 77 people died and 143 were injured when a train hurtled off the tracks along a high-speed line in northwest Spain yesterday, a regional court spokesman said, increasing an earlier toll.

Four carriages overturned in the smash, smoke billowing from the wreckage, as bodies were lain out under blankets along the tracks.

The wagons piled into each other and folded up like an accordion. One was ripped apart by the force of the crash, one of its ends pushed up into the air.

Disaster struck at 8:42 pm (1:42am, Malaysian time) as the train carrying 218 passengers and four staff was about to enter Santiago de Compostela station in the northwestern region of Galicia.

Rescue workers help a victim of a train crash near Santiago de Compostela, northwestern Spain yesterday. At least 69 people died after a train derailed in the outskirts of the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, the head of Spain's Galicia region, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, told Television de Galicia yesterday.v


Continue Reading..

Spain declares three days of mourning over rail crash

Spain will observe three days of mourning for the victims of a train crash that killed at least 78 passengers and injured more than 140, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said today.

"Today I will sign a decree declaring three days of official mourning in all of Spain," he told reporters in his hometown of Santiago de Compostela where the disaster occurred yesterday.

"I want to express on the behalf of myself and the Spanish government my condolences to all the families of the people who have died, of which unfortunately there are too many."

Rajoy was accompanied by the president of the region of Galicia, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who had already declared seven days of mourning within the region.

Continue Reading..

Nose tilt caused New York plane accident, says safety board

The nose of a Southwest Airlines plane that crash-landed at New York's La Guardia airport tilted down just before landing, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said yesterday.

The safety body said its preliminary investigation had found that the plane had been nose-up when it was just 32 feet (9.8m) above ground but was pitched down by three degrees at touchdown.

As a result, the Boeing 737-700's front landing gear, which collapsed on landing, hit the ground first. Ten passengers were wounded in the incident.

The NTSB did not say if the nose-down angle of the plane was responsible for the landing gear collapsing or if it should have been capable of coping with the shock.

A Southwest Boeing 737 aeroplane sits on the tarmac after passengers were evacuated, at La Guardia Airport in New York, in this photo courtesy of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made available on July 23, 2013. US safety regulators launched an investigation on Tuesday into the collapse of the front landing gear on the Southwest Airlines plane shortly after it touched down at La Guardia Airport on Monday evening. - Reuters

Continue Reading...

Japan nuclear regulator alarmed at Fukushima contamination reports

-->

Japan's nuclear regulator expressed growing alarm on Wednesday at increased contamination beside the seafront of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and urged the plant's operators to take protective measures.

Fukushima's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has acknowledged problems are mounting at the plant north of Tokyo, the site of the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

On Tuesday, the company said radiation levels in groundwater had soared, suggesting highly toxic materials from the plant were getting closer to the Pacific more than two years after three meltdowns triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Shunichi Tanaka, head of the new Nuclear Regulation Authority, told reporters he believed contamination of the sea had been continuing since the March 2011 catastrophe.

Continue Reading..

Fire damages historic palace in heart of Paris

-->


Firemen inspect the damage after a fire at the 17th century Hotel Lambert in the Ile Saint Louis in Paris July 10, 2013.

A fire caused serious damage to a 17th century palace in central Paris early on Wednesday, burning away a huge portion of its rooftop just as a costly renovation was near completion.

The Qatari-owned Hotel Lambert on the Ile Saint-Louis island on the River Seine was one of the most well-preserved private mansions in Paris. Its architect Louis Le Vau also designed the Palace of Versailles.

"This is a setback for our historical heritage," Paris Mayor Bernard Delanoe told journalists at the scene.

Firefighters rushed to the mansion at around 1 a.m., struggling for six hours to contain the blaze, which broke out in a hard-to-access area below the rooftop for reasons as yet unknown. No one was injured.

Continue Reading..

Exploding Samsung Galaxy phone leaves teenager with third degree burns

-->



Exploding Samsung Galaxy phone leaves teenager with third degree burns and smelling like a 'burnt pig'

* Fanny Schlatter's Samsung S3 is thought to have set fire in her pocket
* The flames caused third and second degree burns to 18-year-old's thigh
* She is now launching a criminal complaint against Samsung


A Swiss teenager suffered second and third degree burns when her smartphone apparently exploded in her pocket.

Fanny Schlatter, 18, was injured when the Samsung Galaxy S3 allegedly blew up in her trouser pocket.

She claims to have been left with no feeling in her right thigh and said she will be launching a criminal complaint against Samsung.

Continue Reading..

Pilots in Asiana crash relied on automatic equipment for airspeed

-->

A British Airways Oneworld jumbo jet lands near the charred remains of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 on the runway at San Francisco Airport International Airport in San Francisco, California July 9, 2013. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Seoul, South Korea broke apart and burned after crash-landing short of the runway on Saturday.


The pilots aboard the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crashed in San Francisco relied on automatic equipment - an auto-throttle system - to maintain airspeed and did not realize the plane was flying too slowly until it was just 200 feet (60 meters) above the ground, the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.

In her third detailed briefing on Saturday's crash that killed two Chinese passengers and injured more than 180 other people, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman also said two flight attendants were ejected from the plane after its tail hit a seawall in front of the runway and was torn off. Both were found injured but alive on the side of the runway.

Continue Reading..

Woman killed by runaway supermarket trolley

-->

Woman killed by runaway supermarket trolley which sped down an escalator at Chinese store

The accident happened on Friday morning in Shanghai
The 60-year-old died from horrific injuries after being hit by the metal trolley
Two men had loaded a trolley of their own with 15 crates of drinks


A horrific video has emerged of a grandmother being killed by a runaway supermarket trolley.

The accident, which was caught on CCTV, happened on Friday morning at Lianhua supermarket in Shanghai.

The 60-year-old, who was shopping alone, died from horrific injuries after being hit by the metal trolley at the Chinese store.The terrifying footage has been picked up by Chinese media and posted on YouTube.








Continue REading...

Stunt performer, pilot killed in Ohio air show crash

-->

A woman performing a wing-walking stunt and her pilot were killed on Saturday when their biplane crashed and burst into flames while doing aerobatics at an air show in Ohio, organizers of the event said.

Veteran stuntwoman Jane Wicker and her pilot, Charlie Schwenker, died when their Boeing Stearman crashed around 1pm EDT (1am, Malaysian time) at the Vectren Dayton Air Show in Dayton.

Video footage of the incident replayed on television and the Internet showed that at the time of the crash, the duo appeared to have been executing a stunt in which the vintage plane flips as Wicker is out on one of its wings.

Thousands evacuated after explosions at Russian munitions depot storing 13million shells

-->

Thousands evacuated after explosions at Russian munitions depot storing 13million shells, with 1,500 firefighters sent to tackle the blaze

30 people injured after blasts at depot near city of Chapaevsk
6,000 people evacuated and local authorities declared state of emergency
Depot stored up to 13million artillery shells with a range of about 1km

More than 6,000 people were evacuated after explosions rocked a Russian munitions depot last night where up to 13million shells are stored.

At least 30 people were injured when the shells exploded, causing huge blasts at the Chapaevsk military depot in the Samara region.

Reports from Russia said about 1,500 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze and residents were evacuated from the nearby village of Nagorny, about 15km from the city of Chapaevsk.

Continue Reading...