Miscellaneous

Citation

(2006), "Miscellaneous", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315eac.007

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

24 April 2005Flooding of Coal Mine, Jiaohe, Jilin Province, China

Flooding has trapped 69 miners underground in China's North-Eastern Jilin Province, the official Xinhua news agency reported today, in the latest accident to hit the world's deadliest mining industry. The miners have been out of contact since the flood in the Tengda mine in Jiaohe City in the early morning Chinese time, the agency quoted local sources saying. Urgent rescue operations were under way and the cause of the accident is being investigated.

27 April 2005. Ten rescue workers searching for 30 miners trapped in a flooded coal pit in North-Eastern China have been taken to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning, state media reported. The rescuers were in stable condition after breathing the fumes at the Tengda mine in Jilin Province's Jiaohe City, Xinhua news agency said. Around 39 miners were rescued yesterday after water gushed in from a neighbouring shaft. Still 30 others are missing, Xinhua said.

6 May 2005Brown Water V (USA)

Nearly four years after a bridge collapse that killed eight people, the Coast Guard said a tug master who failed to prepare for a turn was to blame. However, strong currents before dawn on 15 September 2001, were also a factor in the accident, and a shortage of horsepower may have made it more difficult for Capt David Fowler to keep control of his load, which was a quarter-mile long, the 28 April report said. The Coast Guard will not pursue criminal charges against Fowler. The tug (tug Brown Water V) and four barges rammed the Queen Isabella Causeway, the state's longest bridge. Eight people died when their vehicles plummeted 85 feet into the channel, which separates South Padre Island from the Texas mainland. Fowler surrendered his Coast Guard licence after the accident. The report was the conclusion of Coast Guard hearings that began about a month after the accident. “The apparent cause of this casualty was Captain David D. Fowler's failure to exercise reasonable care according to the standards of the ordinary practice of good seamanship” wrote James Wilson, the retired Coast Guard officer who presided over the hearings. While Wilson did not find current, horsepower, or the way the vessels were loaded to be contributing factors, Coast Guard higher-ups disagreed. “Although Captain Fowler's negligence was the apparent cause, the strong currents and their influence on the tow's misalignment cannot be ignored” the report said. Fowler invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to testify at the hearings, but his attorney, Sheldon Weisfeld, said the weather, the tides and the currents were responsible for the accident. “I think it was a tragic accident and I don't believe that he has any culpability” he said. Several lawsuits are pending from the collapse, including one that alleges American Commercial Barge Lines, based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, hired a tow company that it knew had problems. Plaintiff Attorney Ray Marchan said he would show that lack of horsepower is to blame. “By their own statement they realize that there's more work to be done in determining the horsepower issue” he said. Doug Rabe, Chief of the Investigation Division at Coast Guard headquarters, said the report took a long time because of officials' differing opinions. “Not to say we have great reasons for taking three and a half years to do this, but it was difficult to come to a consensus on all those issues,” he said.

25 May 2005Collapse of Building, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

At least ten people were killed and several others trapped when a building collapsed in Nigeria's southern oil city of Port Harcourt, police said today. The four-storey building under construction on Sani Abacha road in the city centre suddenly caved in yesterday, killing at least ten construction workers, Police Spokesperson Barasua Ireju said. “A number of others are still trapped under the rubble. More bodies may still be found as rescue operations are continuing” she added. State Governor Peter Odili visited the scene shortly after the incident and has ordered an inquiry. Ireju said rescue efforts were hampered yesterday because of the swampy nature of the area. “One of the cranes sent to assist evacuation efforts sank because the place was muddy” she explained. She said the owner of the building would be prosecuted if it was discovered he had used sub-standard materials.

8 June 2005Release of Toxic Gas, Coal Mine, Hunan Province, China

Seven miners were choked to death by leaking gas in a coal mine in central China's Hunan Province at around 11.00, today, according to the Hunan Provincial Coal Mine Safety Administration. The seven victims were working underground when a large amount of poisonous gas suddenly filled the pit at the Zijiang Coal Mine in the City of Loudi this morning. The specific number of miners working in the shaft when the accident occurred is currently unavailable but it is thought that at least 20 are trapped inside, for reasons unknown.

16 June 2005Flooding of Coal Mine, Pataratu, India

Nearly 14 miners were feared dead when a wall collapse flooded a mine in Eastern India, a government official said today. Rescue officials were trying to pump out the water from the mine in Pataratu Town in the mineral-rich state of Jharkhand after the mine was flooded yesterday, said N.N. Pandey, Commissioner of Hazaribagh District. There was no contact with the miners, he added. “We have engaged five pumps to remove water from the mine, but it will take three days” Pandey said.

30 June 2005. Rescuers found all 14 bodies in a coal mine in central India's Jharkhand Pradesh after they were trapped for 15 days when 2.5 million gallons of water flooded into the mine, Indo-Asian News Service reported. The last two bodies from the inundated Central Coalfield Limited's (CCL) Saunda Mine in Hazaribagh of Jharkhand were found yesterday evening. The families of each of the miners will get a compensation of 1.6 million rupees (37,000 US dollars), including provident fund. CCL officials said they would also get Rs 100,000 (2,325 US dollars) from the prime minister's fund. The accident occurred on 15 June with workers alleging that CCL authorities had overlooked their warnings that water had been seeping in from adjacent mines. According to safety rules, there must be a 40-meter wall between two mines as well as a coal pillar to avoid any accidents. However, in a bid to extract more coal no such pillar was built and the gap between two mines was also narrowed. For the first time the Hazaribagh administration lodged a police complaint against 12 CCL top officials, including its chief R.P. Ritolia. Four of the officials had surrendered to the court on 20 June and were released on personal bonds.

22 July 2005Collapse of Dam, Yunnan Province, China

At least 15 people have been killed after a dam collapsed in south-west China, state media has reported. Dozens of houses were destroyed when a torrent of water swept through the town of Xiaocaoba in Yunnan Province, Xinhua new agency said. The latest burst comes amid warnings from environmentalists that thousands of villagers living beneath China's enormous Three Gorges Dam are at risk. Critics of the dam say if it breaks, if would spell disaster for those living down-river. A local official said days of heavy rain had caused a retaining wall in a reservoir in Xiaocaoba to collapse. Xinhua said one person was missing and another 23 were injured.

23 July 2005Collapse of Bridge, Mekong River, Thailand/Laos

Part of a second bridge connecting Thailand to neighbouring Laos collapsed into the Mekong River yesterday, the Nation reported, citing police. A Japanese construction engineer was killed, eight other workers are missing, and seven are injured, the paper said, quoting Pairot Chantim, an Inspector at Mukdahan Police Station. Witnesses said a crane bent under the weight of a beam, which was then dropped onto the 1,600 metre-long structure, the paper reported. Heavy rain hampered search and rescue efforts. The 2.5 billion baht ($60.5 million) bridge, financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), was 90 percent complete, the paper said. Initial damage was estimated at over 100 million baht, said Songsak Paecharoen, a Highways Department Engineer who is overseeing the project. The bridge is being built by the Japanese construction firm Sumitomo.

25 July 2005. The bodies of six of the eight workers missing in the Mekong river after an accident during the building of the second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge on Friday (22 July) were recovered yesterday. The eight plunged into the river after being hit by a giant construction crane that collapsed and broke into three pieces. Two workers are still missing. The bodies are being kept at Mukdahan Hospital. The confirmed death toll as of yesterday was eight, including a Lao worker, who was seriously injured and died at a hospital in Ubon Ratchathani on Saturday. The number of injured stood at ten. Police were waiting for experts from Sumitomo Co and the JBIC to arrive to establish the cause of the accident and those responsible for the deaths and injuries.