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Federal Aviation Administration says two aircraft have collided at air show in Dallas; condition of pilots unknown
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Tag: Transportation accidents
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Captain of burning dive boat pleads not guilty in 34 deaths
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LOS ANGELES — A dive boat captain pleaded not guilty in federal court for a second time to manslaughter in the fiery deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off Southern California.
A federal grand jury issued a new indictment last month alleging that captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard the Conception during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history. A judge had thrown out the original case against Boylan on the third anniversary of the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy.
Boylan made a brief appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, and his trial was scheduled for Dec. 20.
Boylan faces 10 years in prison if convicted of a single count of misconduct or neglect of a ship officer — a pre-Civil War statute known as “seaman’s manslaughter” that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
All 33 passengers and a crew member who were trapped in the Conception’s bunk room died.
Boylan, who frantically radioed for help after he and four crew members sleeping above deck awoke to the fire, was the first man overboard and then told his crew to abandon ship rather than fight the fire, the indictment said.
He is accused of failing to train his crew, conduct fire drills and post a roving night watchman on the boat.
Prosecutors brought the second case against Boylan after U.S. District Judge George Wu in September dismissed the original indictment because it did not mention gross negligence, an element required to prove the crime.
The subsequent indictment alleges Boylan “acted with a wanton or reckless disregard for human life by engaging in misconduct, gross negligence and inattention to his duties.”
Officials blamed the owners of the vessel, Truth Aquatics Inc., for a lack of oversight even though federal safety investigators never found the cause of the fire. The owners, Glen and Dana Fritzler, have not been criminally charged.
Truth Aquatics is seeking to avoid payouts to the families of the victims under a provision in federal maritime law. Family members of the dead have filed claims against the Fritzlers and the company, and have sued the U.S. Coast Guard.
Family members of those who perished at sea showed up for Boylan’s arraignment and said it has been a trying three years seeking accountability.
“It’s been a long journey, a very hard journey. And learning to live with grief is very difficult,” said Susana Solano Rosas, who lost three daughters in the fire. “Today means that hopefully we can see a little bit of justice. … The court is going to move along and try this man, try this captain who allowed our 34 to be killed and burned on that boat.” ———
Associated Press writer Brian Melley contributed to this report.
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12 killed in Nigeria gasoline tanker explosion, police say
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ABUJA, Nigeria — At least 12 people were killed when a gasoline tanker crashed on a major road and then exploded in Nigeria’s northcentral Kogi State, police said Friday.
The tanker had a brake failure along a major road in the Ofu council area on Thursday night when it collided with a vehicle obstructing the highway, causing a fireball, a police spokesman told The Associated Press.
The vehicle “crushed cars on the way” and “12 people were killed” — all burnt to death, said William Ovye Aya with the Kogi police command.
Bisi Kazeem with Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps said 18 people were involved in the crash. Seven sustained “various degrees of injuries while the remaining 11 were burnt beyond recognition” at the scene, Kazeem said in a statement.
The road has been cordoned off and road safety workers are working to identify the victims, Kazeem said.
Such crashes are common along most major roads in Nigeria, with new measures introduced by the country’s road safety corps failing to curb their occurrence. Kogi is a known hot spot with more than 10 people killed in a similar crash in September.
Authorities in Kogi are investigating the latest crash, Kingsley Fanwo, the state commissioner for information, told the AP.
“As a state government, we have always been harping on this issue of road safety. It is becoming one occurrence too many,” Fanwo said.
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Woman to stand trial in deaths of 2 Michigan bicyclists
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IONIA, Mich. — A woman has been ordered to stand trial on second-degree murder and other charges after five bicyclists were struck by her vehicle as they rode in a summer charity event in western Michigan.
Ionia County District Judge Raymond Voet said during a preliminary hearing Thursday that Mandy Benn was intoxicated by a “cocktail of drugs,” despite testimony that she had only therapeutic levels of medication in her system, MLive.com reported.
Voet also said Benn, 42, acted with a “wanton and willful … disregard of life.”
Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler has said Benn was trying to pass a UPS truck on July 30 on a rural road in Ronald Township when she crossed the center line and hit the bicyclists who were participating in a three-day endurance ride for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Ronald Township is northeast of Grand Rapids.
Benn had no alcohol in her system but had slurred speech and couldn’t follow instructions, said Butler, who added that there was evidence she used prescription drugs.
Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor, and Michael Salhaney, 57, of Bloomfield Hills, were killed. Three other men were hurt.
WZZM-TV reported that a woman who lives along the road where the bicyclists were struck witnessed the crash.
“My window faces the road, and I saw a body flying through the air,” testified Shoni Mayle.
After the bicyclists were hit, Benn appeared confused and disoriented, Ionia County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Phillip Hesche testified.
“She looked right at me, and she says, ‘Wow, officer that almost looks real,’” Hesche said. “I was really taken aback by that. It was like she was on a different planet.”
Geoffrey French, a state police toxicology unit supervisor, testified that three prescription drugs were found in Benn’s system. Prosecutors said she did not have a prescription for one of drugs.
French agreed with defense attorney Walter Downes that there were therapeutic levels of medication in her system. “None of the results were super, super large,” French testified.
But the medications can have adverse effects, he said while being questioned by the prosecution.
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Dive boat captain pleads not guilty in fiery deaths of 34
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LOS ANGELES — A dive boat captain pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court for a second time to manslaughter in the fiery deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off the Southern California coast.
A federal grand jury issued a new indictment last month alleging that Captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard the Conception during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history. A judge threw out the original case on the third anniversary of the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy.
The trial is scheduled for Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Boylan faces 10 years in prison if convicted of a single count of misconduct or neglect of a ship officer — a pre-Civil War statute known as “seaman’s manslaughter” that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
All 33 passengers and a crew member who were trapped in the Conception’s bunk room died.
Boylan, who frantically radioed for help after he and four crew members sleeping above deck awoke to the fire, was the first man overboard and then told his crew to abandon ship rather than fight the fire, the indictment said.
He is accused of failing to train his crew, conduct fire drills and post a roving night watchman on the boat when the fire ignited.
Prosecutors brought the second case against Boylan after U.S. District Judge George Wu in September dismissed the original indictment because it did not mention gross negligence, an element required to prove the crime.
The subsequent indictment alleges Boylan “acted with a wanton or reckless disregard for human life by engaging in misconduct, gross negligence and inattention to his duties.”
Officials blamed the owners of the vessel, Truth Aquatics Inc., for a lack of oversight even though federal safety investigators never found the cause of the fire. The owners, Glen and Dana Fritzler, have not been criminally charged.
Truth Aquatics is seeking to avoid payouts to the families of the victims under a provision in federal maritime law. Family members of the dead have filed claims against the Fritzlers and the company, and have sued the U.S. Coast Guard.
Family members of those who perished at sea showed up for Boylan’s arraignment and said it has been a trying three years seeking accountability.
“It’s been a long journey, a very hard journey. And learning to live with grief is very difficult,” said Susana Solano Rosas, who lost three daughters in the fire. “Today means that hopefully we can see a little bit of justice. … The court is going to move along and try this man, try this captain who allowed our 34 to be killed and burned on that boat.” ———
Associated Press reporter Brian Melley contributed to this report.
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1st winter storm of season rolling through Montana, Dakotas
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FARGO, N.D. — The first winter storm of the season to blast off from the Rockies was unloading its energy Thursday primarily in North Dakota, where it could dump up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow and kick up winds as high as 50 mph (80 kph), the National Weather Service said.
The system started with a round of freezing drizzle that made driving tricky in the Dakotas. It led to a chain reaction crash that totaled a state trooper’s vehicle and closed Interstate 94 in eastern North Dakota for several hours Wednesday night and shut down I-29 in eastern North Dakota for a few hours on Thursday morning.
Travel was hazardous throughout southern North Dakota by Thursday afternoon, when I-94 was closed from Dickinson in the west to Jamestown in the east, a distance of about 200 miles (322 kilometers). The move was due to zero visibility, blowing snow and icy conditions. Officials also warned of impassable secondary roads.
“Vehicles may become stranded and emergency responders may not be able to reach you safely,” the North Dakota Department of Transportation said in a release.
The state’s capital city, Bismarck, was at a standstill with numerous closings and cancellations. A scheduled appearance by comedian Bert Kreischer was postponed to March and Kreischer’s tour bus got stuck in the snow before reaching the city. About a dozen people responded to a rescue plea by Kreischer on social media, The Bismarck Tribune reported.
Storm warnings were issued Thursday for western Montana, for southwestern through northeastern South Dakota and for northwestern Minnesota, but meteorologist Carl Jones said North Dakota was getting the worst of it.
“It’s mainly driven by heavy snow amounts,” said Jones, who works out of the weather service’s eastern North Dakota office in Grand Forks. “We are talking 1- to 2-inch per hour rates over a pretty wide swath.”
A blizzard was hammering central North Dakota. Jacqueline Swiftbird, a cashier at the Flying J truck stop in Mandan, Bismarck’s neighboring city, said a semi-trailer that had been hauling other vehicles was stuck outside her window. She said she was the only cashier who could make it into work and that she picked up employees for restaurants and other shops in the travel center.
“It is extremely, extremely hazardous out there,” Swiftbird said. “I am really busy being the only cashier but I would rather not have any other employees try to make it here in these conditions.”
Snow totals by late afternoon Thursday included about 13 inches (33 centimeters) in Bismarck, 16 inches (41 centimeters) in New Salem, 14 inches (36 centimeters) in Steele, 10 inches (25 centimeters) in Harvey and 9 inches (23 centimeters) in Williston.
The crash involving the North Dakota trooper’s vehicle happened about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on I-94 near Jamestown, the state Highway Patrol said. The officer had gotten out of a vehicle after seeing a semi jackknife on the road and the patrol car was struck by a passenger car. The trooper was not injured.
There were seven additional crashes at the same location, all in quick succession. Several people were transported to a Jamestown hospital with injuries, including one person with a broken leg, the patrol said.
Jones, the meteorologist, said the first storm is always a learning or relearning experience.
“We kind of lean on that. That first storm, if you will, of the season, we really try to get the message out to be extra cautious,” Jones said. “We’re really trying to remind people to practice good safe driving habits and get their winter survival kits into their vehicles.”
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Section of destroyed shuttle Challenger found on ocean floor
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic, more than three decades after the tragedy that killed a schoolteacher and six others.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center announced the discovery Thursday.
“Upon first hearing about it, it brings you right back to 1986,” said Michael Ciannilli, a NASA manager in charge of the remains of both lost shuttles, Challenger and Columbia.
In a NASA interview, he said it’s one of the biggest pieces of Challenger ever found in the decades since the accident.
Divers for a TV documentary crew first spotted the piece in March while seeking wreckage of a World War II plane. NASA recently verified through video that the piece was part of the shuttle that broke apart shortly after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. All seven on board were killed, including the first schoolteacher bound for space, Christa McAuliffe.
The remnant is more than 15 feet by 15 feet (4.5 meters by 4.5 meters); it’s likely bigger because part of it is covered with sand. Because of the presence of square thermal tiles, it’s believed to be from the shuttle’s belly, officials said.
The fragment remains on the ocean floor just off the Florida coast near Cape Canaveral, as NASA determines the next step. It remains the property of the U.S. government.
Ciannilli said the families of all seven Challenger crew members have been notified.
A History Channel documentary detailing the discovery airs Nov. 22.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Section of destroyed shuttle Challenger found on ocean floor
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A large section of the destroyed space shuttle Challenger has been found buried in sand at the bottom of the Atlantic, more than three decades after the tragedy that killed a schoolteacher and six others.
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center announced the discovery Thursday.
“Upon first hearing about it, it brings you right back to 1986,” said Michael Ciannilli, a NASA manager in charge of the remains of both lost shuttles, Challenger and Columbia.
In a NASA interview, he said it’s one of the biggest pieces of Challenger ever found in the decades since the accident.
Divers for a TV documentary crew first spotted the piece in March while seeking wreckage of a World War II plane. NASA recently verified through video that the piece was part of the shuttle that broke apart shortly after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. All seven on board were killed, including the first schoolteacher bound for space, Christa McAuliffe.
The remnant is more than 15 feet by 15 feet (4.5 meters by 4.5 meters); it’s likely bigger because part of it is covered with sand. Because of the presence of square thermal tiles, it’s believed to be from the shuttle’s belly, officials said.
The fragment remains on the ocean floor just off the Florida coast near Cape Canaveral, as NASA determines the next step. It remains the property of the U.S. government.
Ciannilli said the families of all seven Challenger crew members have been notified.
A History Channel documentary detailing the discovery airs Nov. 22.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Strike on fuel convoy from Iraq to Syria said to kill 10
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BAGHDAD — An air strike on a convoy carrying fuel across the Iraqi border into Syria killed at least 10 people late Tuesday, members of paramilitary groups operating in the area said.
The strike hit a convoy of about 15 trucks that had crossed from Iraq into Syria near Al-Qaim, two paramilitary officials told The Associated Press.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. It also was not immediately clear where the convoy was coming from, but the paramilitary officials said some of those killed were Iranian.
The strike came a day after a U.S. citizen, 45-year-old Stephen Edward Troell, was fatally shot in central Baghdad.
Troell, a native of Tennessee, was killed by unknown assailants in his car as he pulled up to the street where he lived with his family in Baghdad’s central Karrada district. It was a rare killing of a foreigner in Iraq in recent years, as security conditions have improved.
No group claimed responsibility for Troell’s killing. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, less than two weeks in office, ordered an investigation.
At a news conference Tuesday, Sudani insinuated that the attack may have been perpetrated by rivals intending on undermine his premiership, adding, “Those who want to test our government in terms of security will fail.”
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said it was closely monitoring the investigation by Iraqi authorities, but declined to comment further.
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EU court sides with Fiat Chrysler in tax advantage case
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LUXEMBOURG — The European Union’s top court on Tuesday overturned a decision requiring automaker Fiat Chrysler to pay up to 30 million euros ($30 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm and anti-trust regulator, had determined in 2015 that a 2012 Luxembourg tax ruling favored Fiat companies in Europe and was incompatible with state aid rules in the 27-nation bloc.
A European court ruled in the commission’s favor in 2019, ordering the automaker to return the tax break. Fiat Chrysler, which last year merged with France’s PSA Peugeot to form Stellantis, asked the higher court to set aside the order.
The Court of Justice of the EU said Tuesday that the commission failed to take into account the typical tax laws in Luxembourg when it was determining whether the automaker got a tax advantage and that the EU’s General Court “committed an error of law” in upholding that approach three years ago.
EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager tweeted that Tuesday’s ruling was a “big loss for tax fairness.”
“The Commission is committed to continue using all the tools at its disposal to ensure that fair competition is not distorted in the Single Market through the grant by Member States of illegal tax breaks to multinational companies,” she said in a statement.
It comes as countries in Europe and around the world are working to enshrine into law a global minimum tax deal that more than 130 nations signed on to last year, designed to create a more equal footing in attracting and keeping multinational companies.
It aims to deter multinationals from stashing profits in countries where they pay little or no taxes — commonly known as tax havens.
Stellantis is “pleased that the Court of Justice has confirmed our view that the Commission was wrong to consider our tax ruling to be unlawful state aid,” spokeswoman Valerie Gillot said.
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Officers charged in train crash into patrol car with suspect
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DENVER — Two police officers involved in the arrest of a woman who was seriously injured when the parked patrol car she was in was hit by a freight train were charged Monday.
Prosecutors also announced that the woman, Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, who was arrested after a report of an alleged road rage incident involving a gun before the crash, was also charged with felony menacing.
The Weld County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges in a statement. It provided basic court documents listing the charges but said it would not provide further details because of “pending litigation.” The documents did not include a narrative about what the officers allegedly did leading up to the Sept. 16 crash, which was captured on police body camera footage.
Rios-Gonzalez’s lawyer, Paul Wilkinson, who has said he planned to file suit over the crash, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Of the two police officers, Fort Lupton Officer Jordan Steinke, faces the most serious charges — attempted manslaughter and second-degree assault — both felonies. No lawyers were listed as representing her in online court records yet and no contact information for her was listed on the department’s website.
Pablo Vazquez, a sergeant from the neighboring city of Platteville identified on body camera footage as the arresting officer, was charged with five counts of reckless endangerment for allegedly putting Rios-Gonzalez, Steinke and three other people at risk, as well as for traffic-related violations including parking where prohibited.
A telephone message and email sent to Vazquez at work were not immediately returned. Online court records did not list an attorney representing him yet either.
Following the crash, Vazquez told other officers on body camera footage that he thought he had cleared the tracks when he parked his patrol vehicle behind Rios-Gonzalez’s truck to arrest her. He said he was focused on her because he was concerned about weapons. He also said he did not know that the other officer he was working with from another department, who was not identified, had put Rios-Gonzalez in his patrol vehicle until after it was hit by the train. He said the “saving grace” was that the other officer put Rios-Gonzalez on the side of the vehicle not usually used for people who are arrested.
Other video from Vazquez’s body camera show him and another officer searching Rios-Gonzalez’s truck as the train approaches and its horn is blaring. Vazquez asks the other officer several times over the sound of the train’s rumbling whether Rios-Gonzalez was in the patrol vehicle and she responds, one hand to her face, “Oh my God, yes, she was!”
Other police video shows officers scrambling as the train approaches and slams into the vehicle.
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7 killed after bus crashes, catches fire in eastern Turkey
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ANKARA, Turkey — A bus slammed into two trucks and caught fire on Monday, killing at least seven people and injuring 18 others, officials said.
The crash occurred on a highway near the town of Tutak, in Agri province in eastern Turkey that borders Iran and Armenia. The cause of the crash was under investigation, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Television footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the scene.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the deaths while addressing a ceremony for the inauguration of projects for rural areas.
“Unfortunately, seven of our citizens passed away as a result of a fire caused by the overturning of a bus in Tutak. I wish God’s mercy on them,” he said.
The Agri governor’s office said 18 people were hospitalized for treatment following the crash and two of them were in serious condition.
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Tanzania: Small passenger plane crashes into Lake Victoria
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NAIROBI, Kenya — A small passenger plane crashed Sunday morning into Lake Victoria on approach to an airport in Tanzania.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the plane as it headed for Bukoba Airport. Tanzanian airline company Precision Air said the flight was coming from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam.
News reports showed photos of the plane mostly submerged in the lake.
“We have managed to save quite a number of people,” Kagera province police commander William Mwampaghale told journalists.
“When the aircraft was about 100 meters (328 feet) midair, it encountered problems and bad weather. It was raining and the plane plunged into the water. Everything is under control,” he said.
Mwampaghale said rescue efforts continued.
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FAA mandates seaplane inspections after Puget Sound crash
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SEATTLE — Federal regulators on Wednesday ordered seaplanes like one that went down in Washington’s Puget Sound in September be inspected for a flaw that likely caused the deadly crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive requires that operators of all the DHC-3 Otter seaplanes in the United States — 63 of about 160 operating worldwide — examine the stabilizer to confirm the condition of an actuator piece, The Seattle Times reported. That piece was missing from the Friday Harbor Seaplanes aircraft that crashed Sept. 4 into the waters near Whidbey Island, killing 10 people, newspaper reported.
Operators must confirm that the stabilizer actuator lock ring is correctly installed and report back to the FAA by Dec. 19, according to the directive. The order does not ground the aircraft.
Kenmore Air, the largest Otter operator on Puget Sound, has said its aircraft have passed inspection.
On Oct. 24, the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, urged operators to ground all those particular planes until the part is inspected, noting it would be up to the FAA to issue a grounding order. Last week, the NTSB officially called for the FAA to require inspection of the planes.
“We’re concerned that another plane could crash as a result of something similar,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at the time.
In an investigative update, the NTSB identified a lock missing from the actuator of the horizontal tail — also known as a stabilizer — which controls the pitch of the plane.
After crews recovered about 85% of the plane wreckage in September, investigators found the upper portion of the actuator was attached to the horizontal stabilizer, while the lower part was “attached to its mount in the fuselage” but disconnected.
While the NTSB has not officially said the actuator separation caused the crash, Homendy said the failure of the actuator could have caused the plane to plummet. Additional crashes could happen if the lock pin is missing or improperly installed.
An FAA spokesperson told The Seattle Times on Wednesday that the directive was issued after the manufacturer, Viking Air Limited, issued a service bulletin.
A problem with pitch control would be consistent with the “nose dive” reported by people who saw the plane hit Puget Sound.
Witnesses helped officials identify the crash site, search for survivors and locate the remains of one passenger.
It took the NTSB and U.S. Navy crews more than a week and several types of sonar to find what remained of the plane because of the depth and current of the channel where the aircraft hit. Remains of seven of the 10 people aboard have been located.
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FAA mandates seaplane inspections after Puget Sound crash
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SEATTLE — Federal regulators on Wednesday ordered seaplanes like one that went down in Washington’s Puget Sound in September be inspected for a flaw that likely caused the deadly crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive requires that operators of all the DHC-3 Otter seaplanes in the United States — 63 of about 160 operating worldwide — examine the stabilizer to confirm the condition of an actuator piece, The Seattle Times reported. That piece was missing from the Friday Harbor Seaplanes aircraft that crashed Sept. 4 into the waters near Whidbey Island, killing 10 people, newspaper reported.
Operators must confirm that the stabilizer actuator lock ring is correctly installed and report back to the FAA by Dec. 19, according to the directive. The order does not ground the aircraft.
Kenmore Air, the largest Otter operator on Puget Sound, has said its aircraft have passed inspection.
On Oct. 24, the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, urged operators to ground all those particular planes until the part is inspected, noting it would be up to the FAA to issue a grounding order. Last week, the NTSB officially called for the FAA to require inspection of the planes.
“We’re concerned that another plane could crash as a result of something similar,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at the time.
In an investigative update, the NTSB identified a lock missing from the actuator of the horizontal tail — also known as a stabilizer — which controls the pitch of the plane.
After crews recovered about 85% of the plane wreckage in September, investigators found the upper portion of the actuator was attached to the horizontal stabilizer, while the lower part was “attached to its mount in the fuselage” but disconnected.
While the NTSB has not officially said the actuator separation caused the crash, Homendy said the failure of the actuator could have caused the plane to plummet. Additional crashes could happen if the lock pin is missing or improperly installed.
An FAA spokesperson told The Seattle Times on Wednesday that the directive was issued after the manufacturer, Viking Air Limited, issued a service bulletin.
A problem with pitch control would be consistent with the “nose dive” reported by people who saw the plane hit Puget Sound.
Witnesses helped officials identify the crash site, search for survivors and locate the remains of one passenger.
It took the NTSB and U.S. Navy crews more than a week and several types of sonar to find what remained of the plane because of the depth and current of the channel where the aircraft hit. Remains of seven of the 10 people aboard have been located.
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Train derailment, acid lead prompt evacuations in Louisiana
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PAULINA, La. — A train derailment and acid leak led to road closures and evacuations Wednesday in a Louisiana community about 50 miles west of New Orleans.
The St. James Parish Sheriff’s Office said it happened in the community of Paulina. No injuries were reported. St. James officials told area news outlets that about 150 people were evacuated. A shelter was opened at a seniors’ center in nearby Lutcher.
Eric Deroche, St. James homeland security director, said a tank car was leaking hydrochloric acid that would have to be neutralized and removed. Government websites say that inhaling fumes from the corrosive chemical can damage the lungs.
Deroche told The Advocate that cleanup could take 24 hours.
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Police: Driver in Nebraska crash that killed 6 was drunk
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LINCOLN, Neb. — An investigation into a crash that killed six people in southeastern Nebraska last month shows the driver of the car was drunk, police said in a news release.
Lincoln police said Monday that the results from a toxicology report show 26-year-old Jonathan Kurth, of Lincoln, had at the time of the crash a blood alcohol content of .211 — more than 2½ times the legal driving limit of .08.
Police also said that electronic data collected from the car showed it was traveling 100 mph (161 kph) in the moments before it crashed into a tree along a residential street where the speed limit is 25 mph (40 kph).
Police were first alerted to the early morning Oct. 2 crash when one passenger’s cellphone automatically alerted dispatchers that the phone’s owner had been in a crash and was not responding.
Kurth and four male passengers died at the scene: Octavias Farr, 21; Jonathan Koch, 22; Nicholas Bisesi, 22; and Benjamin Lenagh, 23. A fifth passenger, Cassie Brenner, 24, died later at a hospital.
All of the dead were residents of Lincoln except Lenagh, who was from Omaha.
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Greece: Dozens missing after boat carrying migrants sinks
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ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities have launched a major search and rescue operation for dozens of migrants missing after a boat they were traveling on from Turkey overturned and sank in rough weather overnight between the islands of Evia and Andros.
The coast guard said Tuesday that nine people, all men, had been found on an uninhabited rocky islet in the Kafirea Straits between the two islands, which lie east of the Greek capital. The survivors, who were picked up by a coast guard patrol boat, told authorities there had been a total of about 68 people on board the sailing boat when it sank, and that they had initially set sail from Izmir on the Turkish coast.
Authorities were initially alerted by a distress call in the early hours of Tuesday from passengers saying the boat they were on was in trouble, but they did not provide a location. Weather in the area was particularly rough, with gale force winds. The coast guard said a helicopter, a coast guard patrol boat and two nearby ships were participating in the search and rescue operation.
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Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.
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Nine arrested after bridge collapses in India, killing 134
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MORBI, India — Police in western India arrested nine people on Monday as they investigated the collapse of a newly repaired 143-year-old suspension bridge in one of the country’s worst accidents in years, officials said. The collapse Sunday evening in Gujarat state plunged hundreds of people into a river, killing at least 134.
As families mourned the dead, attention turned to why the pedestrian bridge, built during British colonialism in the late 1800s and touted by the state’s tourism website as an “artistic and technological marvel,” collapsed and who might be responsible. The bridge had reopened just four days earlier.
Inspector-General Ashok Yadav said police have formed a special investigative team, and that those arrested include managers of the bridge’s operator, Oreva Group, and its staff.
“We won’t let the guilty get away, we won’t spare anyone,” Yadav said.
Gujarat authorities opened a case against Oreva for suspected culpable homicide, attempted culpable homicide and other violations.
In March, the local Morbi town government awarded a 15-year contract to maintain and manage the bridge to Oreva, a group of companies known mainly for making clocks, mosquito zappers and electric bikes. The same month, Oreva closed the bridge, which spans a wide section of the Machchu river, for repairs.
The bridge has been repaired several times in the past and many of its original parts have been replaced over the years.
It was reopened nearly seven months later, on Oct. 26, the first day of the Gujarati New Year, which coincides with the Hindu festival season, and the attraction drew hundreds of sightseers.
Sandeepsinh Zala, a Morbi official, told the Indian Express newspaper the company reopened the bridge without first obtaining a “fitness certificate.” That could not be independently verified, but officials said they were investigating.
Authorities said the structure collapsed under the weight of hundreds of people. A security video of the disaster showed it shaking violently and people trying to hold on to its cables and metal fencing before the aluminum walkway gave way and crashed into the river.
The bridge split in the middle with its walkway hanging down, its cables snapped.
Police said at least 134 people were confirmed dead and many others were admitted to hospitals in critical condition. Emergency responders and rescuers worked overnight and throughout Monday to search for survivors. State minister Harsh Sanghvi said most of the victims were teenagers, women and older people.
At least 177 survivors were pulled from the river, said Jigar Khunt, an information department official in Gujarat. It was unclear how many people were on the bridge when it collapsed and how many remained missing, but survivors said it was so densely packed that people were unable to quickly escape when its cables began to snap.
“There were just too many people on the bridge. We could barely move,” Sidik Bai, 27, said while recovering from injuries in a hospital in Morbi.
Sidik said he jumped into the water when the bridge began to crack and saw his friend being crushed by its metal walkway. He survived by clinging to the bridge’s cables.
“Everyone was crying for help, but one by one they all began disappearing in the water,” Sidik said.
Local news channels ran pictures of the missing shared by concerned relatives, and family members raced to overcrowded hospitals searching for their loved ones.
Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was visiting the state at the time of the accident. He said he was “deeply saddened by the tragedy” and his office announced compensation for families of the dead and called for speedy rescue efforts.
“Rarely in my life, would I have experienced such pain,” Modi said during a public event in the state on Monday.
Modi was the top elected official of Gujarat for 12 years before becoming India’s prime minister in 2014. A Gujarat state government election is expected in coming months and opposition parties have demanded a thorough investigation of the accident.
The bridge collapse was Asia’s third major disaster involving large crowds in a month.
On Saturday, a Halloween crowd surge killed more than 150 people attending festivities in Itaewon, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea. On Oct. 1, police in Indonesia fired tear gas at a soccer match, causing a crush that killed 132 people as spectators tried to flee.
India’s infrastructure has long been marred by safety problems, and Morbi has suffered other major disasters. In 1979, an upstream dam on the Machchu river burst, sending walls of water into the city and killing hundreds of people in one of India’s biggest dam failures.
In 2001, thousands of people died in an earthquake in Gujarat. Morbi, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the quake’s epicenter in Bhuj, suffered widespread damage. According to a report in the Times of India newspaper, the bridge that collapsed Sunday also was severely damaged.
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Hussain, Saaliq and Pathi reported from New Delhi.
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Today in History: October 31, Indira Gandhi assassinated
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Today in History
Today is Monday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2022. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 31, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh (sihk) security guards.
On this date:
In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state as President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation.
In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.
In 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Tomb as part of the Soviet Union’s “de-Stalinization” drive.
In 1964, Theodore C. Freeman, 34, became the first member of NASA’s astronaut corps to die when his T-38 jet crashed while approaching Ellington Air Force Base in Houston.
In 1967, Nguyen Van Thieu (nwen van too) took the oath of office as the first president of South Vietnam’s second republic.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II formally proclaimed that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning the astronomer Galileo for holding that the Earth was not the center of the universe.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.
In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito (ah-LEE’-toh) to the Supreme Court. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks was honored during a memorial service in Washington, D.C.
In 2015, a Russian passenger airliner crashed in a remote part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula 23 minutes after taking off from a popular Red Sea resort, killing all 224 people on board.
In 2019, President Donald Trump announced that he would be making Palm Beach, Florida, his permanent residence after leaving the White House rather than returning to Trump Tower in New York.
In 2020, actor Sean Connery, who rose to international stardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then carved out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, died at his home in the Bahamas at the age of 90.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama joined New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for a tour of damage along the Jersey coast from Superstorm Sandy; Wall Street was back in business after a two-day shutdown caused by the storm. (Stocks finished mixed).
Five years ago: Eight people were killed when a man drove a truck along a bike path in New York City in an attack that authorities immediately labeled terrorism; the driver, identified by authorities as Uzbek immigrant Sayfullo Saipov, was shot and wounded by police. Netflix said it was suspending production on “House of Cards” following sexual harassment allegations against its star, Kevin Spacey. (Spacey would later be fired from the show, and production resumed without him.)
One year ago: Southwest Airlines said it was investigating after a pilot greeted passengers over the plane’s public address system using a phrase that had become a stand-in for insulting President Joe Biden. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she had contracted COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms. American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights for a third straight day as it struggled with staffing shortages.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Lee Grant is 97. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 91. Folk singer Tom Paxton is 85. Actor Ron Rifkin is 84. Actor Sally Kirkland is 81. Actor Brian Doyle-Murray is 77. Actor Stephen Rea is 76. Olympic gold medal long-distance runner Frank Shorter is 75. Actor Deidre Hall is 75. TV show host Jane Pauley is 72. Actor Brian Stokes Mitchell is 65. Movie director Peter Jackson is 61. Rock musician Larry Mullen is 61. Actor Dermot Mulroney is 59. Rock musician Mikkey Dee is 59. Rock singer-musician Johnny Marr is 59. Actor Rob Schneider is 59. Country singer Darryl Worley is 58. Actor-comedian Mike O’Malley is 57. Rap musician Adrock is 56. Rap performer Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) is 55. Rock musician Rogers Stevens (Blind Melon) is 53. Rock singer Linn Berggren (Ace of Base) is 52. Reality TV host Troy Hartman is 51. Gospel singer Smokie Norful is 49. Actor Piper Perabo (PEER’-uh-boh) is 46. Actor Brian Hallisay is 44. Actor Samaire (SAH’-mee-rah) Armstrong is 42. Actor Eddie Kaye Thomas is 42. Rock musician Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) is 41. Actor Justin Chatwin is 40. Actor Scott Clifton is 38. Actor Vanessa Marano is 30. Actor Holly Taylor is 25. Actor Danielle Rose Russell is 23. Actor-singer Willow Smith is 22.
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