A highrise in central Shanghai (map below: Jiaozhou Road and Yuyao Road intersection) that housed mainly teachers from nearby schools, many of them retired, caught fire early Monday afternoon 15 November and at least 40 people appear to have died, with scores more taken to hospital for treatment. The fire was brought under control within five hours, in part by hosing it down from the tops of nearby buildings. The building, which dates from the early 1990s, was being renovated when the fire broke out, for reasons that are not yet clear.
Links to other sites: AFP/Vancouver Sun, Xinhua
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in Zurich announced Wednesday 29 September that a 30-year-old man has died from his injuries, sustained when his clothes caught fire following an accidental explosion in a public toilet near Lake Zurich. The man was critically injured by the explosion Thursday 23 September in Oetwil am See.
The toilet was close to a bus stop and a bus driver put out the fire.
Details of the cause of the accident have not been released, except to say it was “accidental”. Material damage to the toilets will cost several thousand francs.
A ruptured gas line is the cause of an explosion and fire that has killed one person, left several others critically injured and destroyed 53 homes. The initial explosion in San Bruno, south of San Francisco at 18:00 on 9 September was so loud that emergency officials thought a plane had crashed. The neighbourhood is west of San Francisco’s airport.
Links to other sites: AP, Le Temps, New York Times
Source: Channel 7 helicopter footage
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Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - A major fire at the Opeo Gouttes factory that recycles Pet (polyethylene) bottles, on avenue de Sévelin in Lausanne, broke out at 04:30 Thursday morning 8 July. Police say there is no danger from fumes and no one has been injured, but as a precaution the M1 Metro line has been closed between Flon and Malley to check the system for damage.
TSR reports that 30 firefighters were at the scene at 06:30 and that traffic in the area remains disrupted.
Buses are being used to replace the Metro trains. Updates on the Metro line are posted on the Lausanne Transports Publique site.
A9 early morning death in Valais, A9 later in Vaud
The truck driver from the early morning A9 accident was taken to Sion hospital
Update 15 June Sion / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One person died and another was injured shortly after 04:00 Monday morning when a car and a truck collided on the A9 autoroute near the town of Vernayaz. The truck was heading from St Maurice towards Martigny when the collision occurred, for unknown reasons, and the driver of the car was thrown from his vehicle and killed immediately. The truck driver was injured and was flown to the Sion hospital.
The car caught fire and was totally destroyed. Police have not yet identified the dead man and are seeking anyone who can provide information about the accident. In particular, they are trying to determine if the car was stopped on the shoulder of the road and if so, why. Tel: +41 27 326 5656
The driver of the car has not yet been identified, say Valais police
The A9 was closed in the direction of St Maurice to Sion for part of the morning, with enormous tailbacks once it opened.
Later in the day, on the canton Vaud stretch of the A9 between Aigle and St Triphon, a driver lost control of his car, heading in the direction of St Triphon, at 18:00, for reasons not yet clear. The car hit the central divider, then flipped over several times. The driver was thrown from the car and was unconscious when emergency teams arrived. He died at the scene of the accident.
The accidents bring to four the number of deaths on Valais and Vaud autoroutes in just three days. A couple from Ontario, Canada died Saturday 12 June when their tour bus overturned in the Goms Valley. Another 28 persons were injured in the accident.
A fire raged late Thursday 3 June in an old neighbourhood in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, killing 114, according to government figures, but the number could rise higher, officials say. The force of the fire and the difficulty of pulling out the dead and wounded make it difficult to assess just what happened, but Reuters reports that “fuelling the flames, which some witnesses said rose up to six-storeys high, were chemicals from illegal, home-based factories in the Kayettuli neighbourhood, one of the most densely populated in Dhaka and in the heart of the city.”
An explosion in the city Tuesday killed 25 people. The government has declared a period of national mourning for the dead.
Investigators have found the black box, which is intact, from the Air India Express flight that crashed when it overshot the runway, went over a cliff and burst into flames near Mangalore Saturday 22 May. The crash killed 158 people; eight people are being treated in hospital. Those who died were reportedly burned in the fire. The airport is on a kind of tabletop, with a deep ravine next to it.
Links to other sites: Reuters, India, Times of India
Update 13:15 Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A fire in the centre of Nyon, at Rue de la Gare number 24, has put two people in hospital, destroyed their studio apartment and caused extensive damage to neighbouring apartments, say Vaud police. The fire that began early in the morning was brought under control by 07:00 but a large emergency was brought in to deal with the blaze and possible injuries. Thirteen residents from numbers 22, 24 and 26 on the Rue de la Gare were evacuated. Firefighters used two long ladders to reach the occupents of the studio on at the top, after a neighbour phoned in the alarm at 03:00 Friday 21 May.
The mainly pedestrian street runs perpendicular to the Nyon train station.
Forty-three firefighters, 13 fire engines, four ambulances, six regular and traffic police patrols were called in, in addition to Nyon police on duty at the time of the blaze.
Cleanup in Bangkok underway, gunshot injuries reported
The Thai government is moving to close the red-shirts protesters encampment but appears to be having mixed success and is reported to be shooting at some intersections in the heart of commercial Bangkok, with several injuries reported Friday. At least one person was killed Thursday, but details remain murky and journalists in the city report that it is difficult to obtain numbers of people injured, from hospitals. The crisis in Thailand is now having a stronger impact on the economy, which relies heavily on tourism. Reuters reports that “the cost of insuring Thai debt jumped the most in 15 months and Thai bond yields fell to a nine-month low on Friday as the wave of violence prompted investors to rush to the relative safety of government debt. Five-year credit default swaps, used to hedge against debt default but also to speculate on country risk, jumped by more than 30 basis points to 142 basis points.”
Links to other sites: Bangkok Post, BBC, Reuters
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It lasted only about 20 minutes, but a fire at the Ikea construction site in Vernier pour an impressive amount of black smoke into the sky shortly after noon, reports the Tribune de Geneve. A blacktopping roadworks machine caught fire and part of the busy route de Vernier had to be closed while firefighters brought the flames under control.
Post-walk “strike” by 20 prisoners designed to show solidarity with man who died in fire
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Twenty prisoners detained at Bois-Mermet in Lausanne refused to return to their cells Tuesday 27 April following their 08:00 walk, to show their solidarity with the family of a 30-year-old Swiss man, who died 11 March when smoke from the mattress he’d set on fire killed him.
Police say the men and prison officials negotiated all morning, and in the early afternoon police arrived and negotiations began again. The group returned to their cells at 16:30 without any incidents.
The circumstances surrounding the death of the man who died at the Bochuz prison in Vaud, has been in Swiss headlines for the past few weeks, and the death is currently under investigation by an independent judge appointed by Vaud authorities.
A Transocean rig off the US coast (photo ©2009 Transocean)
22 April 08:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eleven people are still missing after an oil rig blast in the Gulf of Mexico 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana late Tuesday night, Transocean, the Swiss-based company that owns the rig says. The explosion critically injured 7 of the 115 crew who were lifted to safety.
The Deepwater Horizon rig had 126 crew members on board at the time of the accident. It is owned by Transocean but BP operates the license on which the rig was drilling an exploration well.
“Transocean, BP and the US Coast Guard are actively pursuing various methods to stem the flow of hydrocarbons that appear to be fueling the fire. The rig is being monitored continually for stability. The US Coast Guard has contingency plans in the event environmental risk escalates,” according to Transocean’s Zug office.
The cause of the explosion is not yet known, but several hours after the explosion the rig was reportedly still ablaze.
Transocean moved its head office to Geneva, Switzerland in 2008. It has an office in canton Zug.
The company is the world’s largest offshore drilling company.
Links to other sites: CNN, Transocean press release, Deepwater site and BP press release
A group of thieves tunneled their way into an underground vault at Credit Lyonnais in Paris Saturday night 27 March and took off with an unknown amount after nine hours of work, police say. They worked their way from a neighbouring building at the Place de l’Opera into the bank, where they tied up a security guard while they lifted the contents of some 200 private safes. They set fire to the building, which was then flooded by the sprinkler system that was triggered by the fire alarm.
A fire that broke out at 04:30 Thursday morning on Tabernacle Street in Shoreditch, in central London, required 100 firefighters and at one point up to 20 fire trucks before it was brought under control at 11:30. The London Fire Brigade says that fire crews will remain on the scene for the day. The fire broke out in a building that houses a restaurant/bar and offices, and it severely damaged the third floor and roof, as well as causing damage to the other floors.
Lyss, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Twenty-six people were injured in Lyss, canton Bern, after a fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday 25 February at a centre for asylum seekers. Cantonal police say there is no reason at this stage of the investigation to suspect criminal activity. The fire broke out shortly after 04:00, waking residents of the centre. Many of them appear to have panicked and jumped out of windows rather than taking the emergency exits, which were open. Several of the injured suffered pelvic fractures from hitting the hard ground when they jumped.
The center has a population of 135 people from 30 countries.
Links to other sites: ats/romandie (Fre), Bern police (Fre)
Andrew Joseph Stack, 53, appears to have flown his Piper Cherokee plane into an IRS (tax authority) building in Austin, Texas intentionally, say authorities in the city, after setting his house on fire 18 February. Two people died in the crash into a building where 200 people work, and two others were injured. Firefighters had contained most of a fire started by the crash but were working during the night to put it out completely. Stack’s web site appears to reflect a long-held grudge against the US government and the IRS in particular.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Hotel Terminus across from the Cornavin main train station in Geneva caught fire at 03:00 Monday and 50 firefighters were called to the scene. Monday morning traffic in the area has been rerouted, with only one lane open, causing serious traffic jams in the area. Public transport is working normally, say police.
Some 90 residents of the hotel were evacuated and three were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, but there were no serious injuries. The cause of the fire, which appears to have started in a technical services room.
Meyrin, Geneva (GenevaLunch) - The driver who died when her car caught fire late Sunday night in Meyrin has not been officially identified, while police await the results of an autopsy on the person they describe only as a 72-year-old woman. According to the Tribune de Geneve the driver was from Vaud, a musician who had just given a concert, followed by a small celebration, and she was heading home to Begnins.
The circumstances surrounding the accident remain unclear, with police saying she drove up onto a pedestrian area and into a post in the area between the town hall and the Forum Meyrin. For reasons not yet understood, she appears to have left her foot on the gas pedal while the car was blocked, causing the tires to explode and the fire to start.
Russia is holding a day of mourning for the 112 people, now all identified, who died when a club caught fire Friday night 4 December in the city of Perm in the Urals. The fire appears to have been started by fireworks inside the club, officials say. Some deaths were caused by inhaling deadly plastic fumes, others by the smoke and flames. Four people are under arrest but a fifth is fighting for his life, one of the 123 injured who are hospitalized. The government has banned club fireworks and is reviewing safety legislation.
Links to other sites: Moscow Times, Ria Novosti
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Friday often brings some of the world’s stranger bits of news, from amusing to weird to hard to believe:
- Young people who are not yet of voting age, in Geneva, Switzerland erected the first new and relatively small minaret, defying the 29 November popular vote that bans them: in the Place Neuve, out of cardboard. Institute of Race Relations, UK (Ed. note: here is a design for homemade miniature cardboard minarets, in case they suddenly sell out in Swiss shops)
- Manchester, England: a 29-year-old man was shot dead when he and friends were confronted outside the money exchange where he worked. Police say he was robbed for cash and for his laptop. A 20-year-old is in custody. Guardian, UK
- A heavily drunk man in the Perm Territory, in the Russian Urals, was saved from flames by his cat. He fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand and when the apartment burst into flames his cat leaped onto him, scratching his face until the man came to and phoned the fire department. Ria Novosti, Russia
- Read more…
Update 11:10 Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A Lausanne city bus caught fire at 09:30 Friday morning near the entrance to the autoroute (Bourdonette) in Lausanne, and is causing traffic jams as fire fighters worked to put out the blaze, reports 20 Minutes (Fre). Police are not yet releasing information about the cause of the fire and 24 Heures (Fre) reports that the driver led off the one passenger on the parked bus.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A fire has broken out in an electric station near the central train station in Lausanne, according to several local media. Electricity has been cut in the area although trains continue to operate. The fire appears to be in a station under the Edipresse tower on Avenue de la Gare, up the hill about 150 metres from the station. Traffic in the area is reported to be congested. The office building has been evacuated.
Links to other sites: 20 Minutes, LFM radio
A little less water than usual in Lake Geneva near Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The fire that began in Lausanne Thursday 23 September in the storage space of an archiving firm was finally under control late Tuesday, but it continues to smolder, say officials. More than 300 firefighters from around the region have been involved in the battle against the flames and smoke, with the army called in over the weekend to provide relief and more equipment.
Forty-five soldiers from the catastrophe division put in 48 hours, providing a 1.5 km waterhose from Lake Geneva up the hill to the Rue de Provence, to ensure an adequate water supply to douse the fire. The hose delivered 8,000 litres of water a minute for 27 hours straight.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Firemen were still fighting a fire after 24 hours, at a storage space where some 50,000 industrial companies’ archives are kept by the company Secur-archiv, 24 Heures reported late Friday afternoon 25 September.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A fire broke out in a warehouse storing used wood on the route des Jeunes, Lancy, metres away from the la Praille stadium. The first sent clouds of smoke billowing into the sky Monday afternoon 24 August. One hundred emergency personnel were mobilized, the route des Jeunes was closed to traffic, and the autoroute was closed in one direction for 30 minutes. One fireman was evacuated because of the heat.
Etoy fruit bar, scene of explosion 4 August
Nyon and Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A gas explosion at the recently closed Fruit Bar, a landmark truck stop in Etoy, near Lausanne Tuesday afternoon seriously injured the owner and an employee. In Brassus, canton Vaud, first reports that a refrigerator caught fire Tuesday, causing considerable damage to a chalet, may have been incorrect.
Granges, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One of the largest and most popular garden centres in Valais, Le Point Vert, lost its warehouse and storage area to fire Sunday afternoon 12 July. Employees were working in the building earlier in the day, but no one was there at the time of the fire and there were no injuries. It is the second major fire in the area in a month, with a lumberyard going up in flames 8 June only a couple kilometres away.
Seven officials in Sonora, Mexico have been charged with negligent homicide following the deaths of 47 children, with 17 more still in hospital, many of them seriously injurerd. A fire in early June trapped the children in a daycare centre. The officials were responsible for the centre as well as a warehouse next door where cars, tires and state paperwork were stored. An electrical short in the roof of the warehouse, or an overheated air-conditioning system are suspected causes of the fire. BBC, Wall Street Journal
Greenland, next leg of the trip after Nova Scotia, Canada
Halifax, Canada (romandie/ats, Fre) – American Airlines flight 64 from New York’s JFK to Zurich Tuesday night 9 March was forced to land in Halifax after a fire started in the toilets. No one was injured. The fire appears to have been caused by a short-circuit in the toilet fan’s motor.
Granges, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A huge cloud hung over the Rhone between Sion and Sierre Saturday and drew crowds from miles around as a lumber yard caught fire and burned nearly to the ground. Dozens of police and firefighters from several towns fought the blaze for three hours and tried to keep crowds away, blocking off several roads in the area. Employees were working at the time but managed to escape and no one was injured.
The lumber yard is near a penitentiary, whose roads are signposted with warnings to keep off, but narrow country lanes around it were crawling with spectators Saturday as the fire roared.
