Fires and explosions

Citation

(2005), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2005.07314bac.007

Fires and explosions

10 June 2004Coal mine, Guizhou Province, China

At least nine miners were killed in a coal mine gas explosion in south-western Guizhou Province yesterday morning, according to local government sources. The blast occurred at 1010 hrs at the Yongliu Colliery in Luobie Township of Liupanshui City, said an official with the provincial coal mine administration. An investigation into the cause of the explosion and rescue work were under way, said the official.

16 June 2004Coal mine, Rio Turbio area, Argentina

Two miners died in a coal mine fire that continued raging today, and authorities said there was little chance of rescuing another 11 miners still trapped below. “It is not very likely” that the other men were alive, one rescue worker said after his team members finally accessed the damaged tunnel through an alternative route, more than 20 hours after the fire broke out late on Monday (June 14). Galleries collapsed some seven kilometres underground. About 100 miners escaped. Some were treated for smoke inhalation. Community official Paulino Rodriguez said two unidentified bodies have been recovered and taken to be autopsied at a hospital in Rio Turbio, in southern Patagonia region. Rescuers tried to reach the 13 workers who were trapped after a conveyor belt broke down and caught fire, mining authorities said. Today, rescuers were still trying to extinguish the fire a union official said. Rio Turbio Mayor, Matias Mazu, told reporters that rescuers were sealing off some tunnels in order to draw the smoke out and choke the fire.

17 June 2004. Argentinian President Nestor Kirchner has rushed to his home province after a coal mine cave-in in southern Argentina killed six miners and trapped eight others. Authorities said the chances of the trapped people being rescued were fading. Rescuers pulled the bodies of six miners from the Rio Turbio coal mine in Santa Cruz province, some 2,800km south-west of the capital, and were trying to reach those still trapped yesterday. Mr Kirchner set out from the capital at midday to follow rescuers’ progress on the ground. But Rio Turbio Mayor Matias Mazu told reporters chances of their getting out alive are “almost nil” due to the amount of carbon monoxide emitted by the fire on Monday that sparked the collapse.

15 June 2004Coal mine, Shaanxi Province, China

Fifteen people were confirmed killed and seven others were still missing as of 0600, today, in a coal mine blast that occurred yesterday afternoon in north-west China’s Shaanxi Province, local officials said. The blast took place at 1650 yesterday in the No. 1 coal mine of the Huangling Mining Co. Ltd when 85 miners were working underground. Of them, 65 miners were rescued, including five injured miners who were rushed to hospital. The 15 killed people included two rescuers, according to the provincial bureau for supervising safety in coal production. A task force has been set up to search for the missing miners and to deal with the aftermath of the accident.

17 June 2004. At least seven miners are known to have died in a fire at a coal mine in southern Argentina, officials said. They died when flames and smoke swept through the coal mine in the southern province of Santa Cruz, after the fire broke out on Monday evening (June 14). A further seven men are still missing, believed to be trapped in a shaft 600 metres underground. The fire broke out deep in the tunnels at the remote Rio Turbio mining complex, some 2,100km south-west of Buenos Aires. Some 50 miners managed to escape soon after the blaze started. Search teams used night scopes and other high-tech equipment to try and locate the missing miners. Rescue workers said they hoped the remaining seven miners had managed to reach ventilated areas deep in the mine. However, authorities yesterday told local news agency Diarios y Noticias that hopes were fading of finding any more survivors.

26 June 2004Vehicles and premises, Zahedan area, Iran

A gasoline tanker truck slammed into a row of packed buses, setting off a fiery explosions that killed at least 90 people and injured more than 100 in south-eastern Iran, officials said yesterday. Many of the victims were burned alive because fire-fighting equipment had to arrive from Zahedan, about 110 kilometres away, said Heidar Ali Nouraei, the region’s governor. Many of the injured suffered severe burns, officials said. Officials said the death toll could rise to 200 as rescue workers scoured charred buses, cars and trucks in the gruesome task of collecting body parts. “Ninety bodies have been recovered, but the death toll could rise further,” a Red Crescent official in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, told Iranian media. He said 114 injured had been removed from the accident scene. The buses, along with a truck containing tar, were parked at a police station on the main highway between Zahedan and Bam, nearly 1,100 kilometres south-east of Tehran, when the accident occurred late Thursday night. The driver of the tanker, which was carrying 18,000 litres of fuel, apparently lost control – perhaps due to a steering failure – and his vehicle slammed into the buses and the other truck, the Islamic Republic News Agency said. State-run television showed charred bodies in the burned out buses, the tanker lying on its side, and grieving men walking among the destroyed vehicles. Another Red Crescent official, Alireza Ghadiani, said many of the bodies had melted into the ground due to the intense heat. Mr Nouraei said the horror of the accident meant it would take time to establish a definitive death toll. The official IRNA news agency said most of the dead were women and children who had stayed in the passenger buses while their husbands were being searched by police. Trucks and buses often wait outside police stations in the area to be inspected for drugs and other contraband.

28 June 2004Factory, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

At least four workers were killed and 35 were injured during a huge fire that broke out at Saadi Cement Factory at Hattar Industrial Estate in North West Frontier Province of Pakistan on Saturday (June 26). According to police and fire brigade sources, fire was triggered by a blast in a furnace plant of the factory around 2030 on Saturday night. The flames quickly trapped more than 50 factory workers. On receiving information about the incident, fire engines from Haripur, Wah Cantonment and HMC Taxila reached the site and succeeded in extinguishing the fire after five hours of continuous efforts. The injured were shifted to the POF hospital, Wah Cantonment, where two of them were pronounced dead on their arrival. The deceased had received 95 per cent burns. Later, two other injured also succumbed to their injuries at the hospital’s burns unit. Over 35 people with 30 to 50 per cent burn injuries were shifted to different hospital of Rawalpindi and Islamabad due to a few numbers of beds in the burns unit. An inquiry is being ordered.

30 June 2004. The death toll in the recent fire at a cement plant has risen to eight. The fire broke out at Saadi Cement plant in Hattar Industrial area in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan on Saturday evening. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. A factory worker who escaped unhurt in the inferno disclosed that pipes carrying raw material (melted stone) from the kiln to the cyclone drum had got choked and when employees tried to clear the obstruction, the hot raw material gushed out with a bang and spilled over the workers present in the premises of the pre-heater. As result, when the burning liquid hit the drums filled with furnace oil, it caught fire with a blast setting that portion of the building on fire.

7 July 2004Coal mine, Fuyuan, Yunnan Province, China

A gas explosion in a coal mine killed seven miners and their bodies have been found at the spot in Fuyuan of south-west China’s Yunnan Province. They were found dead in a sitting position round a windpipe. Preliminary observation showed they had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Cai Jianfang, chief engineer with the mine. The gas explosion occurred last Saturday (July 3) when a 40-metre-long cable caught fire, resulting in burning of the wooden frames and coal layer in the pit. According to Cai, the coal mine immediately evacuated miners working in the pit and organized rescuers to put out the fire. Seven workers, however, were separated by flames in the pit. When a narrow lane leading to the seven was dug, they were found already dead. Rescue of miners in the pit has been completed. But rescuers are still working hard to extinguish the surging flames, Cai said.

16 July 2004Coal mine, Tongzi County, Guizhou Province, China

A gas explosion at a coal mine killed three workers and left another 16 trapped or missing in Tongzi County, south-western Guizhou Province, on Wednesday (July 14). The trapped miners could survive, Zhang Shihe, vice director of the provincial work safety administration, said yesterday. More than 100 rescue workers were mobilised. A total of 19 workers were working in the Maolong Coal Mine when the mishap occurred at 1600 on Wednesday.

19 July 2004Coal mine, Hunan Province, China

Poisonous gas and smog prevented rescue work in the Shuangfu Coal Mine in central China’s Hunan Province, leaving little chance of survival for the three missing miners. Experts decided to seal the coal mine to extinguish the fire on Saturday (July 17). The decision was made on experts’ discussion and the approval of the missing victims’ families, according to the rescue headquarters. The fire occurred at around 0700 Wednesday in the coal mine in Xiangtan county as the result of a broken cable. Six miners had been killed, three were still missing and 15 were hospitalised including two in serious condition.

20 July 2004Coal Mine, Ya’an City, Sichuan Province, China

Five people were killed and 15 others injured in a coal mine blast in southwest China’s Sichuan Province today, according to local sources. The accident happened at 1000hrs, today in Baiguowan Coal Mine of Yingjing County, Ya’an City. The accident may have been caused by a combination of poor ventilation causing the accumulation of gases and misuse of electrical equipment, said the rescue team. An investigation is underway.

20 July 2004Ukraine

At least 24 miners have been killed and 13 were missing in a gas explosion and fire that ravaged a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian emergencies ministry said. The bodies of 24 miners have been brought to the surface, a ministry spokesman said. Nine miners managed to escape the mine on their own, while 13 were still missing, out of the 46 men who were working 545 metres under the surface when the incident occurred, the spokesman said. The fire broke out at the Krasnolimanskaya mine, in the eastern Donetsk region, while a loud bang was heard almost simultaneously. The work of the rescuers was complicated by the presence of thick smoke inside the mine.

21 July 2004. Ukraine suffered its worst coal mining disaster in two years on Monday (July 19) when a methane blast ripped through the Krasnolimanska mine in the eastern Donetsk region, killing at least 31 men. Viktor Yanukovich, prime minister and a former governor of the Donetsk region, flew to the scene yesterday, where rescue workers were still searching for five men stranded underground. However, a fire that burned all night in the shaft left little hope of survivors. The latest accident raised the death toll in Ukraine’s coal mines so far this year to over 100.

21 July 2004. Emergency workers laboured to extinguish a fire deep in a Ukrainian mine today, two days after an explosion killed 31 and left five missing. Nearby, distraught relatives clustered at the mine’s entrance. A massive methane and coal-dust blast sparked the blaze Monday evening as 48 miners were changing shifts at a coal face 3,180 feet below the surface. Twelve escaped uninjured. Part of the blaze at the Krasnolimanskaya mine was brought under control after workers pumped in water and nitrogen, Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Klyuyev said. But rescuers have struggled for two days with the fire, smoke and high temperatures. Authorities declared three days of mourning for the 31 confirmed dead. A funeral was scheduled for tomorrow. The government said it would set aside about $1.1 million in financial aid for families of the victims.

22 July 2004. Reconnaissance in the Krasnolimanskaya coalmine burning after an explosion may begin this morning. It will be possible only if the ventilation section is cooled, sources in the rescue headquarters of the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said. The temperature in the section remained 60 degrees centigrade last night. The mine was filled with smoke, and the level of methane concentration was high as of 0001, Moscow time. The work to cool the section has been continuing there, and rescuers will try to get into the part of the mine that is still inaccessible so far because of the high temperature and gas concentration that may cause an explosion. Supposedly, five miners may be in the section. Their fate has been unknown for two days after the methane explosion. The search for the five missing miners is continuing.

25 July 2004Coal mine, Tehsil Balakot, Pakistan

One person was killed and seven others sustained injuries in a gas explosion in a privately-owned coal mine in Tehsil Balakot, district Mansehra at Jabtar Klash in North West Frontier Province of Pakistan yesterday. According to details the explosion, which was caused by accumulation of gas, occurred at 1030 hrs.

30 July 2004Ath area, Belgium

Several people were killed and about 100 injured by an explosion on a gas pipeline in southern Belgium, regional civil protection agency spokesman Benoit Hachez said today. “There are about 100 injuries, including some deaths, though we don’t know the exact number,” Hachez said. “Emergency services were repairing a gas leak at the scene when the explosion happened,” he said. Federal police said the blast occurred today in the industrial zone of Ghislenghien near the town of Ath, some 25 miles south-west of Brussels. “There must have been a problem in the gas pipe,” police spokeswoman Els Cleemput said. “Part of the factory has exploded.”

30 July 2004. A huge gas explosion in Belgium has killed at least 14 people and injured 200, many of them with serious burns. The blast, at an industrial park about 30km southwest of Brussels, sent flames shooting into the air, and was felt over a wide area. A fire service spokesman, at the scene near the town of Ath, said the site of the explosion looked like a war zone. Emergency services are treating the blast as a major incident and troops are helping with the disaster response. A nearby motorway was closed and local residents were advised to stay indoors with their windows closed. A spokesman for the Belgian health ministry confirmed the high number of casualties. Some of the dead are reported to have been killed as they went to investigate a leak in the pipeline carrying gas from the port of Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast to France. Fire-fighters and policemen are among the casualties. A fire service spokesman said that bodies and debris from the blast were scattered hundreds of metres around the disaster site at the Ghislenghien industrial park. “There were bodies in parking lots, in the fields; burnt out cars in an area half a kilometre wide,” he said. Army units have been called in to help co-ordinate the disaster response and military helicopters have helped ferry victims to hospitals and specialist burn units. France has also sent medical support and a helicopter. Christian Otto, a spokesman for Fluxys, which runs the country’s gas pipelines, said the blast completely destroyed buildings in the immediate area. He said the company had stopped pumping gas along the line and had taken measures to keep supplying customers. Acting provincial governor Guy Petit said local people were no longer at risk. “This was a leak of gas for residential use – it is not a dangerous chemical,” he said.

2 August 2004Shopping Centre, Asuncion, Paraguay

An exploding gas canister in a food department may have fuelled a fire that killed up to 340 people in a crowded supermarket in Paraguay’s worst disaster in more than half a century. Hundreds more were injured, many with serious burns, after the blaze swept through the multi-level Ycua Bolanos supermarket on the outskirts of the capital, Asuncion, while it was crowded with Sunday shoppers. The heat of the blaze caused one floor to collapse, crushing dozens of cars in the car park as flames engulfed the motorists inside, police said. Badly burned bodies, some with twisted limbs, were whisked away as black billows of smoke rose overhead. Rescuers led away dozens of children found near the store’s toy department. The government confirmed 256 deaths, but Interior Minister Orlando Fiorotto said officials were still counting bodies. Paraguay’s Channel 9 reported that 340 bodies had been recovered and that hundreds were injured, citing reports by rescue workers and police. Authorities said they had detained two owners of the supermarket for questioning amid local media reports that some survivors claimed they were unable to open doors as they tried to flee. A statement released by the management vehemently denied that any doors were shuttered soon after the fire in order to prevent theft.

2 August 2004. Survivors of a supermarket blaze in Paraguay that killed at least 364 people found exit doors locked and in one case welded shut as they desperately tried to flee the inferno, police and witnesses said today. “There are several witnesses who saw how they shut the doors to the supermarket and we also confirmed that the emergency exit was welded,” Paraguayan Police Chief Humberto Nunez told Reuters. Fire-fighters had found the main doors shut, he added. Three owners of the Ycua Bolanos supermarket and three security guards were in police custody. Main shareholder Juan Pio Paiva said no orders were given to lock the doors. Prosecutors probing allegations guards locked exit doors to keep shoppers from fleeing without paying for their groceries asked the courts to keep the supermarket president, his son and four guards in custody pending further investigation. Officials said the fire was caused by a gas explosion near the food court. Witnesses told of an explosion, the flames’ rapid spread and suffocating smoke overtaking those who ran to the exits or a parking lot beneath the market. Several charred corpses were found in burned cars. The Ministry of Health reported 256 people hospitalized, 70 of them in intensive care.

3 August 2004. Authorities today filed manslaughter charges against an owner of a Paraguayan supermarket which caught fire, killing at least 464 people, local media reported. The indictment in Paraguay’s worst disaster in decades came after investigators said a security guard told them that when Sunday’s (August 1) fire broke out, the doors were ordered locked to prevent looting. Supermarket owner Juan Pio Paiva denied that the doors had been deliberately locked and said the building met safety codes. Channel 13 television reported that a judge had charged Pio Paiva with involuntary manslaughter and ordered him imprisoned while the investigation moved forward. Earlier today, the death toll soared as the attorney general’s office said 464 had been killed, up from the 325 reported earlier. Officials also said 409 people remained hospitalised. Dozens of families were still searching for lost loved ones as investigators questioned the store’s two owners, a manager and four security guards over whether the doors had been ordered locked to stop people from leaving without paying – allegedly trapping shoppers inside. The blaze broke out during lunch hour at the three-storey supermarket in a suburb of Asuncion, the capital. Flames quickly spread through the Ycua Bolanos supermarket, food court and parking garage, causing a floor to collapse. Officials say they were checking reports an exploding gas canister could have started the flames. Prosecutor Edgar Sanchez, who is leading the investigation, said a security guard told authorities that at the outset of the fire he received orders over a radio to lock the doors to prevent theft. Sanchez said the guard “didn’t know” who gave the order. “He couldn’t identify the voice that spoke to him over the radio,” the prosecutor said. In addition to Pio Paiva’s arrest, authorities have also taken into custody for questioning his son who is a co-owner, a business associate and four security guards. Officials said they were trying to piece together survivor claims that locked doors might have impeded or slowed shoppers trying to escape.

6 August 2004. Authorities today lowered the death toll from a weekend supermarket blaze, announcing that 399 people were killed and 144 remained missing in Paraguay’s worst tragedy in decades. Attorney General Oscar Latorre said authorities struck 27 names from the list of the dead after reports filed by hospitals, morgues and rescuers were found to contain duplications and other errors. He said 52 of the 399 bodies had not yet been identified. Authorities have charged a co-owner of the Ycua Bolanos supermarket and four others with manslaughter after a security guard said he was ordered after Sunday’s (August 1) fire broke out to lock doors to prevent people from stealing. Forensic experts were still studying the site today, trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which some officials speculated may have been started by an exploding gas canister in the store’s food court. Four other supermarkets in the Ycua Bolanos change remained shuttered, sparking a protest by some 800 workers who insisted the stores should resume operations.

5 August 2004Riding School, Lescheraines, Savoy Region, France

Seven teenagers perished when a fire swept through a riding school in the Savoy region of south-east France overnight, local police said. Two adults were reported missing and a young woman was critically injured and taken to hospital. The victims were all aged 13 to 15. The riding school, a kilometre outside the village of Lescheraines, consisted of two buildings and a ring, whose roof collapsed in the blaze. The alarm was raised around 0330hrs. The fire broke out in a one-storey building with a loft above. One teenager escaped by jumping out of a first-floor window. Firemen extinguished the blaze by 0630hrs and were combing through the smouldering ruins looking for bodies. The Minister for Youth and Sports Jean-Francois Lamour was due to visit the scene of the tragedy later today, his office said.

7 August 2004Coal mine, Hejin City, China

Ten miners were killed and five others were believed trapped after a gas explosion in a mine in northern China, the state news agency said. They were among 99 miners working underground in the Xiaowangou coal mine in Hejin City in Shanxi province. Another five trapped workers were rescued after the blast, which happened early yesterday. Rescue teams were at the scene and the cause of the explosion was under investigation, officials told Xinhua.