Fires and explosions

Citation

(2001), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310eac.005

Fires and explosions

Fires and explosions

26 March 2001 – Machakos, Kenya

At least 58 secondary school pupils have died in a fire in the early hours of this morning at a school south-east of the capital, Nairobi. A Kenyan police statement said 28 other pupils were seriously injured and are now in Machakos District Hospital, which is about 60km from Nairobi. The fire began at 01.40, while children were sleeping in the main dormitory at Kyanguli Mixed Secondary School in Machakos. According to the police the victims were all boys.

9 April 2001 – Tongchuan City, China

A gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China has killed 38 people and injured 16. Officials say the explosion ripped apart the Chenjiashan mine near Tongchuan City, in the northern province of Shaanxi. The official Xinhua news agency says Provincial Governor Cheng Andong had rushed to the scene to supervise rescue work and visit the injured. The blast is the latest in a string of fatal accidents at China's poorly regulated coal mines, which killed more than 5,000 people last year.

21 April 2001 – Shanxi Province, China

At least 46 people have died in a gas explosion inside a mine in the northern province of Shanxi. The Chinese news agency Xinhua said more than 50 miners were known to have been working at the time of the explosion. A total of 46 bodies have been recovered; four were found alive, and two were still unaccounted for. The agency said other mines in the province considered to be at risk of gas explosions were ordered to halt production immediately.

26 April 2001 – San Faustino, Colombia

A powerful methane gas explosion killed ten miners in an underground coal mine in northern Colombia today, and up to five more were feared dead under tons of rubble, police and rescue officials said. The explosion, which was apparently set off by a miner's pick, occurred at about 12.30, in the Cana Brava Mine in the village of San Faustino, some 223 miles north of the capital Bogota, in Norte de Santander Province, Colombia. Luis Andres Estupinan said: "It was a very strong explosion. We suspect there are no survivors", speaking from the city of Cucuta, capital of Norte de Santander. Up to 15 miners were believed to have been inside the tunnels at the time of the blast, which sent earth and rocks crashing down on the workers, he said. "We have evacuated ten dead miners", Fernando Rosales, director of Civil Defence in Cucuta said. Estupinan said firefighters and emergency personnel battled to reach down into the 4,629ft-long tunnel to unearth the bodies of the victims but their search was hindered by tons of rubble and explosive vapours. "It's going to take us time to get down there", he said. "We have to advance very slowly." Cana Brava, owned by a local consortium called Sociedad Mina Cana Brava, produces 2,000 tons of coal per month for a regional thermoelectric station.

5 May 2001 – Yotsukaido, Chiba State, Japan

A fire broke out at a company dormitory east of Tokyo early today, killing at least ten people, officials said. At least one other person was missing. The fire began shortly before 01.00, in a two-storey lodging for workers at a construction company in Yotsukaido, in Chiba State, said local fire department official Mitsue Kato. The wooden building burned to the ground, and rescue workers picked through cinders in search of other casualties. They said it was not clear how many people had been inside. The victims could not immediately be identified and it was not known whether they had died from burns or smoke inhalation, officials said. Fire inspectors were investigating the cause of the blaze.

6 May 2001 – Donetsk region, Ukraine

A methane gas explosion killed seven workers in a mine in eastern Ukraine, the deadliest accident to strike the country's coal industry this year, officials said today. Three people were missing. The blast occurred yesterday evening at the Kirov mine in the coal-rich Donetsk region, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. Of the 151 miners working underground at the time, 141 were brought safely to the surface. Three other miners died yesterday at three separate coal mines in the Donetsk and nearby Luhansk regions, all as a result of violation of safety rules, the ministry said. It said one miner was electrocuted, another was crushed by a coal combine and the third fatally wounded by a conveyor belt.

8 May 2001 – Welkom area, South Africa

An explosion deep inside a South African goldmine today killed at least 12 miners in the country's worst mining disaster in two years. The blast tore apart a development area about 2,700ft underground at the Beatrix mine, near Welkom, 175 miles south-west of Johannesburg. "Rescue teams have begun a search for a number of employees who are still unaccounted for", mine owner Gold Fields Ltd said. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, said company spokeswoman Charmane Russell. It also was not clear how many miners were working in that part of the Beatrix No. 2 shaft when the explosion happened. A spokesman for South Africa's Mines Minister said an investigation was under way.

9 May 2001 – Hegang, China

A gas explosion at a coal mine in China has left at least nine miners dead and a further 45 missing, feared dead. The explosion was at the Lanshan No. 1 Coal Mine, in Hegang, Heilongjiang province. Rescuers believe they know the location of the missing 45 miners but cannot reach them because of a fire. A mine spokesman said: "We have to put out the fire first. All the rescue efforts are focused on it at this moment." The Lanshan mine is government-owned but privately operated.

10 May 2001 – Rescuers were today continuing their search for 45 coal miners trapped under tons of rubble after a gas explosion in north-eastern China. The blast on Tuesday (8 May) killed nine miners as it ripped through the coal mine in Hegang City, Helongjiang Province. The search has been hampered by high temperatures after the explosion sparked a fire inside the underground tunnels at the Nanshan No. 1 mine. Local officials said the rescuers reached a platform 280m below ground, but were still trying to put out the flames.

17 May 2001 – Kwangju, South Korea

A fire swept through a private boarding school in South Korea, killing eight students and injuring 25, police said today. Most of the victims suffocated after inhaling toxic smoke from the fire which gutted the four-story Yeji Institute near Kwangju, 20 miles south of Seoul, shortly after 22.00 yesterday, police said. Some of those injured were in critical condition, and police said the death toll could rise. Citing witnesses, investigators said the blaze started in a smoking lounge on the top floor and spread quickly downward, engulfing the entire brick and wood building in less than 30 minutes. Burning cigarettes may have started the fire, police said. The school houses about 100 students preparing for college entrance examinations.

19 May 2001 – warehouse, Al-Bayda, Yemen

An explosion ripped through a crowded marketplace in central Yemen today, killing at least 14 people, an Interior Ministry official said. One witness said the blast occurred when dynamite sticks self-ignited at a warehouse. The interior ministry official said that apart from the 14 dead, 19 people were injured when the early afternoon blast tore through the marketplace at al-Bayda City, in al-Bayda province. Rescuers were sifting through rubble for victims believed to be trapped. It was not clear if the missing were dead or alive. "The search operation is still on", the Interior Ministry official said. Yemen's news agency, Saba, earlier quoted a security official as saying 15 people had died and 16 had been injured. The explosion destroyed several warehouses and stores. Saba said the dynamite in the warehouse was being sold by a local trader for construction purposes. It said an investigation had been launched.

31 May 2001 – factory, Pune area, India

A total of 11 people were killed and ten others injured in a massive explosion at a factory in Sanaswadi area of Pune today, police said. The explosion occurred due to heavy build-up of pressure in the boiler of the factory, they said. While nine persons died on the spot, two others succumbed to injuries later, police said, adding the injured have been admitted to a hospital.