In what might be the only good news to come out of the massive explosion at a Chinese port late Wednesday, a lone firefighter was found alive after 32 hours of being classified as “missing” by Chinese authorities.
The 19-year-old firefighter, Zhou Ti, was quickly rushed to a local hospital where it was reported he has significant injuries to his face, chest and feet. Fire officials said that they are continuing to search for other missing fire personnel.
“Forces from all sides are searching for the (remaining) missing firefighters,” Tianjin Fire Department head Zhou Tian said at a news conference Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Chinese government officials confirmed that 56 people have died because of the explosion including 21 firefighters. Over 700 remain hospitalized because of blast related injuries.
Western officials are now asking if the firefighters contributed to the intensity of the explosions because many of the chemicals reportedly stored at the site react with water to form explosive compounds.
David Leggett, a chemical safety expert, told Reuters that calcium carbide reacts with water to form acetylene, a highly explosive gas. That could have ignited ammonium nitrate that was stored at the facility. (By comparison, ammonium nitrate and acetylene were used by terrorist Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing.)
“In my mind, the presence of ammonium nitrate makes it easier to explain the level of devastation,” he told the news agency.
A massive explosion ripped through parts of the Chinese city of Tianjin Wednesday causing at least 300 reported injuries and seven deaths.
“The hospital cannot count how many patients we have received – there are too many of them and many of them have burn injuries,” an unidentified doctor told the London Guardian newspaper. He said that doctors who had been in Beijing for a conference are being rushed back to the community because of the amount of injured.
The Chinese Seismological Network reported two major explosions, the first equivalent to the detonation of 3 tons of dynamite and the second which took place 30 seconds later equivalent to 21 tons of dynamite.
China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, reported that the explosions took place at a container port where flammable material was being stored. The initial blast also triggered secondary blasts that residents reported feeling similar to earthquake tremors.
The blasts shattered windows and in some cases blew apart fish tanks in homes of nearby residents.
Chinese Public Security Ministry released information that they initially were called to the scene because of a fire and that the explosions took place after they arrived on the scene. At least four firefighters are injured and two have been reported to have “lost contact” with Ministry officials.
A man police described as a “drifter” opened fire in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater on Thursday night, killing two and wounding nine before the gunman took his own life as police closed in on the situation.
Police officials say that some of the wounded are in “very critical” condition with “life-threatening” injuries.
According to witnesses, the gunman, 58-year-old John Russell Houser, sat in the back of a showing of the film “Trainwreck.” About 100 people were in the theater when he stood up shortly after the film started and began to open fire with a handgun.
“The information we have at this time indicates that he was by himself, he sat by himself and the first two people he shot were sitting right in front of him … When he stood up and started firing, people started rushing out. It looks like he spotted the officers coming in and he turned around, went against the crowd and fired a single gunshot,” Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft told reporters.
Witnesses told NBC that the shooter said nothing as he carried out his rampage.
Governor Bobby Jindal praised two teachers who were inside the theater for their bravery. One took a bullet that was heading for the second teacher’s head, the second pulled an alarm.
“Both teachers ended up shot. The second one, the one whose life was saved, even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives,” he said.
One of the dead has been identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux, a pro-life activist who is being remembered as an “amazing young woman.”
A gunman opened fire on two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, leaving soldiers dead and wounded.
Officials in the Chattanooga area say the gunman has been shot and killed and that they believe he is the only one involved in the attacks.
Fox News reported that four Marines were killed at one of the two centers. FBI officials confirmed others were injured and are being treated at local hospitals but there was no information on their condition.
The U.S. Prosecutor for the region said at a press conference the investigation is being conducted “as a case of domestic terrorism.” He added there is a joint federal, state and local investigation which is why much of the information about the shooting is being withheld from the media and public.
The FBI, ATF and the Department of Homeland Security were on the scene within hours and leading the investigation.
Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI at the same news conference praised the local police department for the response and for “neutralizing the threat to the community.”
The FBI confirmed the suspect carried “multiple weapons” but would not describe the weapons. They believe that the gunman was residing in the area before the attack. Reinhold also said that while it’s being investigated as domestic terrorism, it’s possible the attack was not related to terrorism and just an act of violence.
An ice cave that is part of the Big Four Ice Caves at Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest east of Seattle partially collapsed, killing a 34-year-old woman.
Eight people were in the back of the cave when the collapse took place around 5 p.m. Tuesday. The caves had large warning signs about instability but the caves were not blocked.
“It’s not illegal to go in the caves. However, we’ve been saying since mid-May, it’s extremely dangerous with all this hot weather,” Shari Ireton with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office told CNN before noting that hot weather weakens the caves.
“There was a large pile of ice and rock that came down,” she said. “So it wasn’t just one big slab. … It wasn’t a piece of a shelf coming off.”
“They’re essentially a frozen-over avalanche chute sitting over a waterfall, sitting below a giant rock shoot,” Ireton added. “It’s incredibly dangerous.”
A witness told ABC that she heard a pop before the ice gave way.
“Everybody was happy. It was really cool. … [Then] we heard a pop and I got really nervous and I just look up and there’s, I see there’s this sheet of ice coming down,” said Chloe Jakubowski, 18. “I crouched down as quickly as I could and I put my hands over my head.”
“It was really scary,” she said. “I just didn’t know if those were going to be my last few moments.”
A 25-year-old man hurt in the collapse remains in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center although his status was upgraded from critical to serious.
An 8-year-old boy has been attacked off the North Carolina coast by a shark, the fourth shark attack in the last two weeks.
The boy was standing in knee-deep water when he was attacked near Surf City, North Carolina. The boy suffered wounds on the lower leg, ankle and heel.
Officials with the city have decided not to warn visitors about the shark bite or tell swimmers to get out of the water. They will increase beach patrols as they do not have an official lifeguarding staff.
“It really comes down to a joint decision on public safety officials, including myself,” Town Manager Larry Bergman said. He said he would have decided to close the beaches “if there was a big hazard, if there was an imminent danger.”
On June 11, a 13-year-old girl was bitten at Ocean Isle Beach. Three days later, two attacks in 90 minutes took place at Oak Island, North Carolina. Both victims, aged 12 and 16, had to have limbs amputated following the attacks.
The Florida Museum of National History (FMNH) told the Christian Science Monitor that sharks usually attack lone swimmers so it’s best to stay in groups. Also they said the scent of blood will draw them so do not go into the water with open cuts.
George Burgess of the FMNH wanted to remind people they have “a better chance of dying from a bee sting, a dog or snake bite, or lightning than from a shark attack.”
In a new twist to the situation with Baltimore and rioting over alleged police brutality, a witness has come forward saying that Freddie Gray, the man who died from a spinal injury, may have attempted to injure himself inside a police van.
The Washington Post reported a prisoner who was in the transport van with Gray heard him “banging against the walls” and that he believed he was “trying to injure himself.” The prisoner, whose name is being withheld and is currently incarcerated, could not see Gray because of a metal partition. Officials are trying to keep the prisoner’s identity secret because of fears he will be killed by other inmates who are sympathetic to the rioters.
Police have admitted that Gray was wrongly denied medical attention when he first requested it. Paramedics weren’t called until the van arrived at the police station which took 30 minutes.
Attorneys for the Gray family do not believe that Gray injured himself.
“We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord,” attorney Jason Downs said. “We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”
The police have confirmed that half of those arrested during the riots on Monday have been released without charges. A police spokesman said in the chaos of the rioting, it was difficult to document which officers made which arrest and that officers could not figure out within 48 hours who they had arrested in the riot.
The official total of officers injured in the Monday riot was raised to 20.
The city remains under a state of emergency and nightly curfew.
The prime minister of Nepal is telling reporters that his country is “on war footing” as they work to recover victims of the weekend earthquake and aftershocks.
Sushii Koirala told Reuters was “doing all it can for rescue and relief” in a “difficult hour.” He said that he was making requests to every nation around the globe for help in rescuing citizens trapped in rural areas.
Koirala said that many of the requests from rural areas are having to be denied because they do not have the heavy equipment necessary to reach the victims. The lack of available resources likely means an increase in the death toll.
The death toll from the quake has officially passed 5,000 and over 10,000 have been confirmed to have suffered injuries.
Nepal’s home ministry reports at leave 500,000 people have been displaced by the quake. However, the United Nations puts the estimates significantly higher.
“Eight million people in 39 districts have been affected, of which over two million people live in the 11 severely affected districts,” said the most recent report from the UN Office of the Resident Co-ordinator in Nepal.
Relief workers in Gortha, which was located next to the epicenter, say that 90% of the town has been leveled. Most residents do not have access to clean water or food.
Aftershocks are continuing to hit the region causing minor landslides that are hampering relief efforts. The government has declared three days of mourning for the dead.
Local officials are teaming with Hindu extremists to attack Christians in India.
Christians in Madota, Bastar District, were summoned to a meeting by local officials to discuss issues related to problems with non-Hindu religions worshipping in the region. When the Christians arrived, no local officials were there, but a mob of Hindu extremists showed up to beat the Christians.
“Some of the injured Christians were admitted in a hospital in Jagdalpur, and some local Christians have also been forced to go into hiding due to the constant threats they received from the right-wing groups,” Bhupendra Kohra told Morning Star News.
The government has banned missionaries and Christians from worshipping in the region.
“The district authorities, along with some right-wing elements, are also pressuring us to withdraw the petition filed in the high court against the ban on the entry of non-Hindu missionaries in Bastar,” said Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum. “Now our writ is pending in the high court. We see this latest attack as a pressure tactic.”
Local officials have said their goal is to stop Chrsitians from being able to discuss their faith with Hindus.
A major earthquake shook northern Japan on Saturday.
The magnitude 6.3 quake struck around 12:35 p.m. local time under the ocean about 400 miles north northeast of Tokyo. The quake was 8.4 miles underground and did not produce a tsunami.
Because of the location of the quake, only a small amount of damage and minor injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, Japan’s nuclear regulatory commission said that the tsunami in 2011 was the cause of the damage and meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The massive earthquake did not cause enough damage to launch the plant into a meltdown.
The plant also announced last week they had made improvements that would now require an 89 foot wave to cause damage.
