Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

5 September 1998 - Sao Paulo, Brazil

A roof collapsed on a Brazilian church packed with worshippers early today, killing at least 24 people and injuring 500, authorities said. Some 1,300 people were crowded inside the Church of the Universal Kingdom of God in Osasco, a working-class suburb of south of Sao Paulo, when support beams weakened by water damage gave way and the roof came crashing down, firemen said. Many people managed to flee the building moments before the roof caved in when they heard loud creaking from the structure's enormous wooden support beams. However, hundreds more did not make it out in time. Officials at five area hospitals said 500 people were being treated for injuries suffered in the collapse, which occurred about 02.00. They said the death toll could rise because many of the injured were in grave condition. Amateur video taken immediately after the collapse and broadcast on local television showed victims trapped in the wood and steel rubble and firemen desperately trying to reach them. Firemen said they used large hand saws to cut through several 2-ft-wide support beams to rescue 140 people trapped in the debris. By mid-morning, all of them were freed. Firemen said the roof of the huge wooden structure had been weakened over time because of water damage, probably resulting from leaks in the roof. The 40-year-old building was converted into a church from a movie theatre, fire officials said.

31 October 1998 - Koidu, Sierra Leone

Diamond fever claimed 50 victims in Sierra Leone's richest gem town, where an old mine under the post office collapsed last Sunday (25 October) as hundreds of would-be diamond diggers piled in. Scores of others were dragged alive from the pit in the centre of Koidu, which lies in the east of the country and has become the scene of a chaotic diamond rush, paramilitary sources said today. Anti-government rebels are active in the area and the news was slow to reach the capital, Freetown. "Hundreds of people rushed to dig up the old pit inside the national post office building when they heard that a gang had found a big diamond in gravel originally dug from the pit," a paramilitary officer said. He said the pit, which was more than 100 feet deep, had collapsed on the illicit miners, killing more than 50 people including several Sierra Leone soldiers stationed in the town. Mineral Resources Minister Mohammed Deen said the government had received reports of the disaster but had no officials there. "It is a no-go area for us because of the fighting going on between the rebels and the ECOMOG troops and Sierra Leone soldiers," he said.

7 November 1998 - Thane, Maharashtra State, India

At least seven people were killed and many more were trapped when a five-storey building collapsed in India's western state of Maharashtra today, officials and police said. The disaster occurred in Thane district, about 35km north of Mumbai, when the ground and the first floors of the building were completely crushed, bringing the second floor to ground level, they said. Some 50 families were living in the three-year-old illegally constructed building, said Thane Municipal Commissioner, T. Chandrashekhar. A fire brigade officer said around 15 people were still unaccounted for and the death toll was expected to rise. Rescue operations were hampered as many structures were built close to each other in narrow lanes making it difficult for fire brigades and rescue cranes to to reach the stricken building.

17 November 1998 - Heshan, China

A press report, dated today states: Thirty-five people were killed and one was missing and presumed dead after a coal mine suddenly flooded in south-western China, according to a report seen today in Beijing. The flood occurred on 25 October at two adjoining mines near the city of Heshan in Guangxi province, the official Yangcheng Evening News newspaper reported. It said the mines, which had stopped producing in March for the rainy season, resumed operations without official approval on 13 October. Ten days later, the local government ordered the mines to close until they could be inspected, but the order was ignored. The owners of the mines fled after the accident, the report said.

2 December 1998 - Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam

At least 25 workers died when the wall of a gold mine in northern Vietnam collapsed, and a search for more bodies was continuing, a police officer said today. He added that Monday's (30 November) accident was due to poor construction at the private mine in Thai Nguyen province, around 50 miles north of Hanoi. "We don't know how many people had been buried in the mine, the search is still going on," the police officer said, adding that similar accidents happened in the area each year.

16 December 1998 - Rome, Italy

At least eight people including a child were killed when an apartment block collapsed in southern Rome early today. Around 40 people were listed as living in the block which housed apartments and offices in a heavily built-up area of southern Rome and officials feared the death toll could rise. The collapse, which occurred at around 03.00, local time, was first thought to have been due to a blast caused by a gas leak but some officials said it looked more likely that the disaster was due to a structural fault such as subsidence. "It was not a gas explosion," Liborio Pilato, fire service inspector for the region of Lazio, told reporters. "Debris would have been projected and the buildings surrounding are intact." Asked if he believed people could still be alive under the wreckage, Pilato said: "Theoretically, there could be survivors but it does not seem likely. It's a total collapse." One woman reported to have been pulled out alive was later confirmed dead at the site of the collapse. The dead were being carried on stretchers to a nearby garage for identification. More than 100 firefighters, soldiers, police and Red Cross workers, joined by shocked neighbours, dug through the rubble, some with their bare hands, witnesses said. Working under hastily erected are lights, teams of rescuers used a huge crane to lift pillars and concrete joists while dumper trucks began shifting the debris in the narrow residential street in the Portuense district. Ambulances were on stand-by to ferry injured to three hospitals, all of them within less than half a mile radius from the scene. None had yet needed to be used. The collapsed block was built in the 1950s, while three other blocks around it were erected more recently.