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BEIJING -- An explosion caused by illegally stored
chemicals has killed seven people and injured 37 at an Internet cafe in
southwest China, state media and the government said
Sunday.
The blast occurred late Saturday in a shop next to the
cafe, located under a bridge, the Kaili city government in Guizhou
province said in a statement. The official Xinhua News Agency said nine
of those hurt were seriously injured.
Packs of
highly concentrated aluminum chloride and sodium nitrite, which are
hazardous, were stacked up against a wall in a shop that sold chemicals
adjacent to the Internet cafe, the report said. It did not say how the
chemicals were ignited.
Police have detained a person named Wu Zhanzhi for
illegal possession of the chemicals, while the cafe's boss and manager
were also being held by police for questioning, it
said.
The explosion was so powerful it shattered the windows
of nearby residential buildings, Xinhua said.
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Eight
people have been treated by paramedics and hundreds more have been
evacuated after a chemical scare in southern Sydney.
Fire and
ambulance crews were called after a strong odour was detected throughout
the Qantas catering building near Sydney Airport at 7.37am
today.
NSW Fire Brigades Superintendent Ian Krimmer said the
odour was believed to be from a floor treatment
product.
"At this stage it is believed to be a floor treatment
product, the vapours of which have gone through the building as a result
of air-conditioning," he told reporters.
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Firefighters in South Gloucestershire have dealt with a
chemical incident at a hotel in Filton.
Emergency
services were called to the Holiday Inn after reports staff had
inadvertently mixed two chemicals together near the hotel's
pool.
An Avon Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said one man
in his 20s had been taken to hospital.
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NAGPUR:
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's (MPCB) regional office in Pune
has got a major reprieve as the state government has refused to link the
August 2008 fire incident at a chemical factory in Bhosari with
negligence on the part of the board officials in carrying out regular
inspection of the factory.
Eleven
women were killed and several others were injured in one of the worst
ever industrial accidents to have occurred in the twin industrial
township of Pimpri-Chinchwad on August 27, 2008. The chemical plant, Sai
Industries, which had a green category status, has since been shut
down.
"It won't
be appropriate to conclude that the fire incident had resulted out of
negligence on the part of the concerned authorities," minister for
environment Sanjay Deotale told the state assembly in a written reply on
Saturday.
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TAHOE CITY, Calif. =97 A chemical reaction was the
probable cause for a cloud of noxious vapors Thursday morning at Tahoe
Lake Elementary School that eventually led to the school being shut down
prior to students arriving to campus, officials
confirmed.
The North Tahoe Fire Protection District received a
call at 8:31 a.m. Thursday, said spokesman Dave Zaski, about possible
smoke coming from the gymnasium at the school.
...
Out of the staff evacuated,
18 people were assessed on scene by responding paramedics; 17 of them
were immediately released, while one employee =97 janitor Frank Godoy =97
was taken to Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee. Godoy was later
released.
Steve Dickinson, assistant superintendent of finances,
said Godoy had been mixing cleaning chemicals to scrub the gym floor
when the chemicals caused the reaction.
Dickinson
said the chemicals =97 which the district labeled as a releasing a
=93strong odor=94 and =93visible fumes=94 =97 used by Godoy are
unknown.
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The Grand
Junction Fire Department Hazmat Team says a hauling drilling fluid lost
its load of barrels around 7:20 a.m. About 100 gallons of the hazardous
fluid spilled from a punctured barrel.
Hazmat
members wore full protective gear and oxygen masks while they cleaned
up. None of the chemical is believed to have gotten into the
river.
Highway 65 was closed for more than five hours at from
the I-70 off ramp to 45 1/2 Road. Drivers were forced to take the De
Beque cut off.
Officials say the driver of the truck won't be cited
for losing his load because he handled the situation properly after it
happened. He stopped immediately and called a towing company to help him
put the barrels back on the truck and it was the towing company that
actually punctured the barrel in the course of repacking the load. It's
unclear if the towing company will be cited.
-----------------------
JEFFERSON
- Jefferson High School was evacuated for a few hours Thursday after
workers mixed chlorine and hydrochloric acid while trying to clean the
school's pool, according to Jefferson School District Superintendent
Michael Swartz.
The accident happened about 1:15 p.m. Thursday. Police
say workers were trying to clean the pool, where an accident earlier
this week hurt two people.
=93The company that was cleaning the pool and the
pool's maintenance area mixed chlorine with hydrochloric acid and that
created a chlorine gas,=94 Swartz said. =93It was an accident, but it
happened. So, the chlorine gas then seeped into the building and we
immediately evacuated the building as a precaution.=94
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LAWRENCE,
Ind. (WISH) - Fire investigators say the fire at Camp Belzer in Lawrence
was an accident.
The fire completely destroyed the center for volunteer
training at the Boy Scout camp.
Lawrence fire investigators
told 24-Hour News 8 Friday morning a chemical called "Duraseal
Renovator" was being used to refinish the dining halls' hardwood
floors.
The company contracted to do the work left flammable
materials in containers which caused the fire.
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COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (WANE) - Police are investigating
a fatal explosion just east of Columbia City.
According
to the Whitley County Sheriff=92s Department, a loud bang was reported
just after 1 a.m. Friday at lot 65 of the Miami Village Mobile Home Park
on East Old Trail Road.
When Deputy Jason Spencer first arrived, he entered
the residence and detected a strong chemical odor. He also found Alecia
L. Stine, 24, dead on the master bedroom floor.
The
preliminary investigation shows there was some kind of chemical
explosion which occurred in or near a glass container. That explosion
threw shards of glass into the air hitting Stine in the throat, neck and
arm. She also had chemical burns to her face.
Deputy
Spencer was taken to the hospital after he complained that the chemical
smell was causing him to have trouble breathing. He has since been
treated and released.
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"The first of two DuPont Belle Plant employees
hospitalized early on Friday morning for observation following a
monomethylamine railcar leak at the plant was released from the hospital
Friday evening. The second employee remains at the hospital for
observation as a precaution and continues to show no signs of
respiratory symptoms."
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HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO EWING
HOUSE - NJ.COM, http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/i
ndex.ssf?/base/news-21/1291445172201430.xml&coll=5
EWING --
The Trenton Fire Department's Hazmat team was called out to the township
yesterday when people cleaning out a house stumbled upon old pesticides,
Battalion Chief John Gribbin said.
Two men and a woman who had
been hired to empty the home of a deceased woman on the 1000 block on
Pennington Road were cleaning out the basement.
"They
were carrying a box out that had a couple of containers of insecticides,
glass containers," Gribbin said.
The bottles contained
mathalion, which was commonly diluted with water and placed in a spray
container to keep bugs off vegetables, he said. The box was leaking the
liquid, and one of the workers placed the box on the floor. He put
baking powder over it, then placed water on top of everything, causing
the chemicals to spread, Gribbin said.
Firefighters dispatched around noon removed the containers,
which contained 4 to 5 ounces each, Gribbin said. An EMS check of all
the people who were in the basement revealed they were fine, he
said.
