disaster

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Window's Iron Grills Trapped Workers in Blaze

Filipino workers died trapped on factory's 2nd floor

(Newser) - Police will open a criminal investigation into a Philippine factory fire that killed at least 72 people, as a relative of several of the victims said the blaze had trapped workers in the building's second floor, where iron grills on windows prevented their escape. Most of the bodies were...

Experts Met to Plan for Nepal Quake—Last Week

50 scientists from around the world came together to talk about Kathmandu's risk

(Newser) - Nepal's devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming. Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to Kathmandu, Nepal, to figure out how to get this poor, congested, overdeveloped, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, a...

Leaders Meet Fury on Ferry Disaster Anniversary

Angry S. Korea families unmoved by pledge to raise Sewol

(Newser) - Angry relatives of passengers who drowned in a ferry sinking snubbed South Korea's president on the disaster's anniversary today, even as she pledged to salvage the ship. Tears and grief mixed with raw fury as black-clad relatives and their supporters mourned the 304 victims of the ferry Sewol,...

Vanuatu: Cyclone Has Wrecked Whole Country

President says he doesn't even know if his family is safe

(Newser) - Vanuatu's president says the cyclone that hammered the tiny South Pacific archipelago over the weekend was a "monster" that destroyed or damaged 90% of the buildings in the capital and has forced the nation to start anew. Baldwin Lonsdale, who was attending a UN disaster conference in Japan...

Mystery Footage Found of 1915 Eastland Disaster

 Mystery Footage Found 
 of 1915 Eastland Disaster 
in case you missed it
Feb 14, 2015 11:10 AM CST

Mystery Footage Found of 1915 Eastland Disaster

A doctoral student finds while doing online research

(Newser) - Ted Wachholz couldn't believe his eyes: He opened Facebook and saw film footage of the SS Eastland disaster, which claimed 844 lives on the Chicago River in 1915, the Chicago Tribune reports. "I'm reasonably confident that this is the first opportunity that the public has had" to...

School VP Rescued From Ferry Found Hanged

He apparently killed himself, was found hanging from tree

(Newser) - A high school vice principal who was aboard the doomed South Korean ferry with more than 300 students from his school was one of the first to be rescued—but today he was found dead. Kang Min Kyu, 52, apparently hanged himself from a tree, using a belt, CNN reports....

Here's How Earth Could Really End: Scientists

Global warming, pandemic, fungus ... a not-fun time for everyone

(Newser) - From Planet of the Apes to After Earth, Hollywood has depicted Earth's demise many a time—but scientists' fears of planetary catastrophe are just as scary, LiveScience reports. Here are a few Doomsday scenarios as imagined by scientific minds:
  • Global warming: Scientists call this the biggest threat of all.
...

New Gizmo Helps Rescuers Detect Heartbeats in Rubble

NASA device uses radar to pick up on signs of life

(Newser) - NASA engineers have dreamed up and built a new device that could help rescuers save lots more lives after earthquakes or other disasters: It's essentially a radar gun that detects heartbeats under heaps of concrete and steel, reports Red Orbit . The FINDER device is portable at 20 pounds, and...

'I Never Dreamed I'd See Daylight Again'

How a woman survived 17 days under factory rubble in Bangladesh

(Newser) - When the factory came crashing down around her, seamstress Reshma Begum ran from the second floor, where she was working, to a Muslim prayer room in the basement. When the rubble had stopped falling she found herself alive and miraculously uninjured, but trapped in a wide pocket of open space....

80 Years On, History&#39;s Worst Airship Disaster Remembered
 History's Worst Airship 
 Disaster Remembered 
not the hindenburg
Apr 1, 2013 12:08 AM CDT

History's Worst Airship Disaster Remembered

... and it wasn't the Hindenburg

(Newser) - The 1937 Hindenburg explosion is history's most famous airship disaster, but a bigger, deadlier, and earlier one involved an American craft that will be commemorated this week, the AP finds. On April 4, 1933, the US Navy's 785-foot USS Akron airship plunged into the Atlantic Ocean during a...

Giant Sinkhole Eats Buildings in China

No injuries, but deep hole is still growing

(Newser) - This brings new meaning to the phrase "shop 'til you drop." Five stores and one building were swallowed by a giant sinkhole in Guangzhou, China, yesterday, and the collapse was caught on video, reports the Christian Science Monitor . All of the approximately 300 people inside were evacuated...

3 Dead in Florida Garage Collapse

Police shift to recovery mission

(Newser) - A third person has died following the collapse of a parking garage at Miami Dade College, police say. The latest victim was pulled from the rubble early today, some 13 hours after the five-story structure fell, creating a pancake-like collapse. A police rep says the man died at a Miami...

1 Dead, Dozens Hurt in Tornado Close to Tokyo

Rare twister destroys some 200 houses

(Newser) - A tornado tore through a city northeast of Japan's capital today, killing one person, injuring dozens of others, and destroying scores of houses. Firefighters and medical teams rushed to the area after the tornado struck Tsukuba city, 40 miles from Tokyo. The city is a science center, with dozens...

100 Years Later, Titanic Remembered

Balmoral cruise, plaque unveiling in Belfast among events honoring disaster

(Newser) - Amid a buildup to the centennial of the Titanic's sinking that went on and on , the actual event arrived last night, with ceremonies from Belfast to the North Atlantic marking the disaster that claimed nearly 1,500 lives. The MS Balmoral, on a cruise retracing the doomed liner's...

238 Saved, 112 Still Missing in Ferry Wreck

No bodies yet found in Papua New Guinea wreck

(Newser) - Rescuers have managed to find 238 survivors of the ferry that sank off Papua New Guinea yesterday and get them to safety—but that still leaves 112 of the 350 who were aboard the Rabaul Queen unaccounted for, the New York Times reports. Search teams, which are using three ships,...

Papua New Guinea Ferry Sinks With 350 Onboard

Helicopters, merchant ships join frantic rescue effort

(Newser) - Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after a ferry with up to 350 people on board sank off Papua New Guinea's northern coast. Merchant ships that arrived on the scene after the Rabaul Queen sent a distress signal have rescued 28 people, and helicopters have joined the...

Costa Captain: Bosses Made Me Perform 'Sail-Pasts'

Costa Cruise captains do them for publicity: Schettino

(Newser) - The captain of Costa Concordia insists his bosses ordered him to sail close to land for publicity-boosting "salutes," the Telegraph reports. Sparking a war of words with Costa Cruises, Captain Francesco Schettino says that "Costa was aware of the frequent practise of cruise ships performing sail- pasts....

Cruise Ship Captain: I Tripped, Fell Into Lifeboat

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino cops to crashing the ship

(Newser) - Just when you thought you couldn't get more disgusted with Francesco Schettino, the Costa Concordia captain produces this reason for how he came to leave the stricken cruise ship: As he was assisting passengers, "I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That's how...

As Hope Fades, Divers Blast Holes in Cruise Ship

Minnesota couple among 29 passengers, crew unaccounted for

(Newser) - Rescuers are working around the clock looking for survivors on the Costa Concordia—as Italian naval divers blast holes in the hull to speed the search—but they admit they are running out of time to find survivors. Some 25 passengers and four crew members from the cruise ship are...

Cruise Captain Changed Route 'for Headwaiter'

Schettino invited waiter to the bridge to watch

(Newser) - The Costa Concordia's captain may have steered too close to shore so his head waiter's family could watch from a nearby island, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Just minutes before disaster struck, the head waiter's sister on the island of Giglio posted a Facebook message: "In...

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