Explosion
Havana hotel death toll at 31 as dogs search for survivors
The death toll of a powerful explosion at a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital increased to 31 Sunday evening as search crews with dogs hunted through the rubble of the iconic, 19th century building looking for people still missing.
The Hotel Saratoga, a five-star 96-room hotel in Old Havana, was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited, blowing the outer walls into the busy, midmorning streets just a block from the country’s Capitol building on Friday.
Several nearby structures also were damaged, including the historic Marti Theater and the Calvary Baptist Church, headquarters for the denomination in western Cuba. The church said on its Facebook page that the building suffered “significant structural damage, with several collapsed or cracked walls and columns (and) the ceiling partially collapsed,” though no church workers were hurt.
In releasing the names of those who were killed, the Health Ministry said the dead included four minors, a pregnant woman and a Spanish tourist, whose companion was seriously injured.
The ministry also said 54 people were injured, with 24 hospitalized. It previously reported 85 injured, but that tally turned out to include those killed by the explosion.
Nineteen families had reported people missing as of Saturday evening, but authorities did not say Sunday whether the number had changed.
Authorities said the cause of the explosion at the hotel owned by Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA was still under investigation, but believed it to have been caused by a gas leak. A large crane hoisted a charred gas tanker out of the rubble Saturday.
Also Read: Explosion at luxury Havana hotel kills 22, injures dozens
Burials for victims had begun, municipal authorities said, while some people still waited for news of missing friends and relatives.
“We are hoping that something will be known about my cousin’s mother,” Angela Acosta told The Associated Press near the site of the explosion. Her relative, María de la Concepción Alard, lived in an apartment adjacent to the hotel with a black Labrador, which was rescued along with another dog Sunday.
Crews have worked to clean up streets around the hotel and by late Saturday, substantial pedestrian traffic had resumed.
“There are mothers who are without their children today,” Matha Verde, a manicurist who was walking near the Saratoga, said Sunday, when Mother’s Day was celebrated in Cuba. She said she tells women who lost their sons or daughters in the explosion that they “have to keep going.”
The explosion added to the woes of a crucial tourism industry that had been stifled by the coronavirus pandemic as well as tightened sanctions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump and kept in place the Biden administration. Those limited visits by U.S. tourists to the islands and restricted remittances from Cubans in the U.S. to their families in Cuba.
Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the war in Ukraine deflated a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
The Saratoga, which had been closed through the pandemic, was one of the elite lodgings in Havana, often hosting visiting VIPs and celebrities. Its owner is one of the Cuban military’s businesses.
Some attention in Cuba began to shift to an official visit by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who arrived Saturday night at the end of a five-country tour that began in Central America.
López Obrador met Sunday with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who awarded him the Order of Jose Marti “for his great achievements for humanity.” It is the most important award the country gives to a foreigner.
Díaz-Canel’s office stated in a tweet that López Obrador said he would insist to U.S. President Joe Biden that Cuba not be excluded from the Summit of the Americas it will host in Los Angeles in June.
Also Read: Police patrol Havana in large numbers after rare protests
López Obrador said the objectives of the trip included signing agreements on trade, health, education and cooperation with the island, while he ratified his foreign policy stance.
“We are not in favor of hegemonies,” he said. “Let no one exclude anyone because we are independent countries, we are sovereign countries, and no one can place themselves above the rights of peoples and nations.”
Díaz-Canel visited Mexico during its independence day celebrations last year. López Obrador has recently spoken out against the apparent U.S. government intention of to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the upcoming summit.
Husband, wife killed in fridge compressor explosion at Jatrabari
A couple succumbed to their injuries on Monday sustained from an explosion in the compressor of the fridge at their home at Konapara in the capital’s Jatrabari area on April 20.
The deceased were identified as Abdul Karim, 30, Khadiza Akter, 25.
“Khadiza with 95 percent body burns breathed her last around 4 am and Karim with 54 percent burns around 6 am,” said Dr Ayub Hossain, resident surgeon of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Also read: 2 children hurt in bomb explosion in Jashore
Their daughter Fatema Akter, 2, with 35 percent burns is being treated at the same hospital and her condition is critical too, said Dr Ayub Hossain.
On April 20, around 3:30 am the explosion occurred at the kitchen of Karim and Khadiza’s house while they were having seheri, said Karim’s brother Kamal Hossain.
Three of them were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery around 5:30 am, he said.
Also read: Jatrabari explosion: 1 succumbs to burns
2 suspects sought as 100 die in Nigeria oil refinery blast
At least 100 people may have died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeast Nigeria, a local oil official said Sunday as the search intensified for bodies at the site and for two people suspected of being involved in the blast.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement, called the explosion a “catastrophe and a national disaster.”
The explosion Friday night at the facility in Ohaji-Egbema local government area in Imo state was triggered by a fire at two fuel storage areas where more than 100 people worked, state officials told The Associated Press.
Dozens of workers were caught up in the explosion while many others attempted to escape the blaze by running into wooded areas.
Also read:Explosion at illegal oil refinery in Nigeria kills over 50
Those who died in the disaster are estimated to be within “the range of 100,” said Goodluck Opiah, the Imo commissioner for petroleum resources. “A lot of them ran into the bush with the burns and they died there.”
Buhari has directed the nation’s security forces “to intensify the clampdown” on such facilities being operated illegally in many parts of southern Nigeria, a spokesperson said in a statement.
Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, for many years its oil production capacity has been limited by a chronic challenge of oil storage and the operation of illegal refineries.
Nigeria lost at least $3 billion worth of crude oil to theft between January 2021 and February 2022, with shady business operators often avoiding regulators by setting up refineries in remote areas such as the one that exploded in Imo, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) said in March.
“There are no arrests yet but the two culprits are on the run with the police now looking for them,” said Declan Emelumba, the Imo State commissioner for information. Officials did not reveal the identities of the suspects.
A mass burial is being planned for those killed in the explosion, many of who “were burnt beyond recognition,” said Emelumba. Environmental officials have started to fumigate the area.
Such disasters are a regular occurrence in Africa’s most populous country, where poverty and unemployment – at 33% according to the latest government estimates – have forced millions of young people into criminal activities.
Also read:Aid group says tribal violence kills 8 in Sudan’s Darfur
Operating illegal refineries is not as popular in Imo state as it is in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, where militants have gained notoriety for blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping workers from petroleum companies.
As many as 30 illegal oil refineries were busted in the Niger Delta region in just two weeks, Nigeria’s Defense Department said earlier this month when it announced a task force to curb crude oil theft.
In the aftermath of the explosion in Imo state, the Nigerian ministry of petroleum told The AP there is “a renewed action” to tackle illegal activities in the oil sector.
The government and the military are stepping up actions “to minimize the criminalities along the oil production lines,” said Horatius Egua, a senior official at the petroleum ministry.
But many of the culprits are not deterred including in Imo state, one of the few places producing oil in Nigeria’s southeast. The problem of illegal refineries “has never been this bad” and remains “difficult to end,” said Opiah, the Imo petroleum commissioner.
“It is like asking why kidnapping or armed robbery has not stopped,” he said. “Even with this incident, not many people will be deterred. I am sure more illegal refineries will be cropping up in other places.”
Explosion at illegal oil refinery in Nigeria kills over 50
More than 50 people were killed and many injured when an explosion rocked an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria, state officials and police said Saturday.
The death toll may be more than 100, according to a report in the Lagos-based Punch newspaper. The fire was reported to have spread to nearby properties.
The fire broke out Friday night and quickly spread to two fuel storage areas at the illegal crude oil refinery, causing the complex to be “engulfed by fire which spread rapidly” within the area, said Declan Emelumba, the Imo State commissioner for information.
The immediate cause of the explosion and the extent of the deaths, injuries and damage were being investigated, Emelumba said.
READ: Nigeria attacks: Hundreds reported killed as bandits target villages
Multiple videos posted on social media showed a gruesome scene, with people’s charred remains reduced to skeletons and cinders. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify them.
“A lot of people died. The people who died are all illegal operators,” said Michael Abattam, spokesman of the Imo State Police Command.
The Imo state government was looking for the owner of the refinery where the explosion occurred and declared him a wanted individual, an official said.
3 injured in oxygen cylinder explosion in Bagerhat
Three persons sustained burn injuries after an oxygen cylinder exploded in an ambulance near Rayendanmasua ferry ghat in Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district on Friday night.
The victims have been identified as Al Mamun, 30, the owner of the ambulance, Milon Khan, 32, its driver, and Shimul, 30, an assistant.
The explosion occurred when one of the victims was removing the oxygen mask of a patient, sources said.
Fortunately, the patient escaped unhurt.
The injured were taken to Sharankhola Upazila Health Complex and later shifted to Khulna Medical College and Hospital for better treatment, said Dr Farida Yeasmin, a doctor.
The victims sustained burn injuries in their hands and other parts of the body, she said.
Read: Worker dies in Ctg gas cylinder blast
Omicron explosion spurs nationwide breakdown of services in USA
Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.
The current explosion of omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services — the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic.
“This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,” said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE. “And the unfortunate reality is, there’s no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers — globally — up.”
First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up.
In Kansas' Johnson County, paramedics are working 80 hours a week. Ambulances have frequently been forced to alter their course when the hospitals they're heading to tell them they're too overwhelmed to help, confusing the patients' already anxious family members driving behind them. When the ambulances arrive at hospitals, some of their emergency patients end up in waiting rooms because there are no beds.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, said when the leader of a rural hospital had no place to send its dialysis patients this week, the hospital's staff consulted a textbook and “tried to put in some catheters and figure out how to do it.”
READ: 10 more Omicron cases detected in Bangladesh
Medical facilities have been hit by a “double whammy,” he said. The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital rose from 40 on Dec. 1 to 139 on Friday. At the same time, more than 900 employees have been sickened with COVID-19 or are awaiting test results — 7% of the hospital's 13,500-person workforce.
"What my hope is and what we’re going to cross our fingers around is that as it peaks ... maybe it’ll have the same rapid fall we saw in South Africa," Stites said, referring to the swiftness with which the number of cases fell in that country. “We don’t know that. That’s just hope.”
The omicron variant spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more readily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus. However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, and vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.
Still, its easy transmissibility has led to skyrocketing cases in the U.S., which is affecting businesses, government offices and public services alike.
In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers were queued up outside a pharmacy before it opened Friday morning and before long, the line wound throughout the large drugstore. Pharmacies have been slammed by staffing shortages, either because employees are out sick or have left altogether.
Pharmacy technician Anecia Mascorro said that prior to the pandemic, the Sav-On Pharmacy where she works always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it's taking a lot longer to fill the hundreds of orders that are pouring in.
“The demand is crazy — everybody’s not getting their scripts fast enough so they keep transferring to us,” Mascorro said.
In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and fire personnel were sidelined because of the virus as of Thursday, causing slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.
In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services because of a virus-fueled staffing hemorrhage. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said about one-fifth of subway operators and conductors — 1,300 people — have been absent in recent days. Almost one-fourth of the city sanitation department's workers were out sick Thursday, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said.
“Everybody’s working ’round the clock, 12-hour shifts,” Grayson said.
The city's fire department also has adjusted for higher absences. Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers were out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% on a normal day. Twice as many firefighters as usual were also absent.
In contrast, the police department saw its sick rate fall over the past week, officials said.
At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport's busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.
Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast tried to maintain in-person instruction despite massive teacher absences. In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers union over remote learning and COVID-19 safety protocols led to classes being canceled over the past three days. In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.
In Hawaii, where public schools are under one statewide district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday because of illness or pre-arranged vacation or leave. The state’s teachers union criticized education officials for not better preparing for the ensuing void. Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counselors and security guards were being pulled to go “babysit a classroom.”
“That is very inappropriate,” Tui said at a news conference. “To have this model where there are so many teachers out and for the department to say, ‘Send your kid’ to a classroom that doesn’t have a teacher, what’s the point of that?”
READ: Police HQ issues guidelines to protect force from Omicron
In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms. Some teachers say they appreciate that, but that it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they're already feeling because of the pandemic.
“We’ve already been tested so much. How much can the rubber band stretch here?” asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.
3 of a family injured in gas pipeline explosion
Three members of a family sustained burns in a fire triggered by a cooking gas pipeline explosion in their flat in old Dhaka in the early hours of Tuesday.
The injured have been identified as Kamal, 35, his wife Selina, 30, and their seven-year-old child Bonya. The three injured are being treated at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.
Also read: Jatrabari explosion: 1 succumbs to burns
The explosion occurred around 1.35am at their ground-floor apartment in a five-storey residential building in the Najirabazar area of old Dhaka.
"The explosion led to the collapse of a wall on the floor and damaged walls in adjoining flats. Five units of fire tenders took nearly two and a half hours to douse the flames, said Rafi Al Faruque Duty Officer (media), Fire Service and Civil Defense Headquarters.
Also read: 6 suffer burns in Jatrabari gas cylinder explosion
Fortunately, other residents of the building are safe, said the fire service official.
Explosions in Palestinian camp in Lebanon cause casualties
Arms stored for the Palestinian Hamas group exploded in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Friday night, killing and wounding a number of people, the state-run National News Agency reported.A Lebanese security official said authorities have no exact numbers of the casualties yet but that there could be as many as 12 dead in the Burj Shamali camp in the port city of Tyre. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.Earlier Friday, camp residents said explosions shook the camp, adding that the nature of the blasts was not immediately clear.
READ: Israeli police questioned on Palestinian attacker's shooting
Ambulances rushed to the scene, residents told The Associated Press by phone.Initial reports said a fire had started in a diesel tanker and spread to a nearby mosque controlled by the Palestinian militant group. The fire triggered explosions of some weapons that appeared to have been stored inside the mosque, according to the residents.The NNA said the army cordoned off the area, preventing people from entering or leaving the camp.
READ: Palestinian kills 1, injures 4 before police shoot him dead
NNA added that the state prosecutor in southern Lebanon has asked security agencies and arms experts to inspect the arms storage site that belongs to Hamas.Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians refugees and their descendants. Many live in the 12 refugee camps that are scattered around the small Mediterranean country.
Munshiganj fire: 36-yr-old father of deceased sisters dies
Another Munshiganj cylinder explosion victim has succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, officials said.
Kawsar, 36, died at the hospital's Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery on Saturday morning, taking the total number of deaths in the explosion to three.
Kawsar, 36, his wife Shanta, 27, and their two children -- Yeasmin, 6, and Fatema, 3 -- sustained burn injuries in a fire triggered by the cooking gas cylinder blast in their house in the Char Muktarpur area of Munshiganj's Sadar upazila in early on Thursday morning.
READ: Munshiganj Building Fire: Siblings succumb to burns at SHBU
The two sisters died of their injuries that night only. Their mother and a neighbour are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
For over eight years, Kawsar, a welder by profession, had been staying in Munshiganj with his family.
Sadar Police Station OC Rajib Khan said, "Prima facie, it seemed to be a cooking gas cylinder explosion. But a CID team is investigating the case," he said.
Explosion of WWII bomb in Munich injures 4, disrupts trains
A World War II bomb exploded at a construction site next to a busy railway line in Munich on Wednesday, injuring four people, one of them seriously, German authorities said.
A column of smoke was seen rising from the site near the Donnersbergerbruecke station. The construction site for a new commuter train line is located on the approach to Munich's central station, which is a bit over a kilometer (about a half-mile) to the east.
Read: Russia: Death toll in Siberian coal mine blast raised to 52
Trains to and from that station, one of Germany's busiest, were suspended but service resumed in mid-afternoon. A few local trains were evacuated. The fire service said there was no damage to the tracks.
Unexploded bombs are still found frequently in Germany, even 76 years after the end of the war, and often during work on construction sites. They are usually defused or disposed of in controlled explosions, a process that sometimes entails large-scale evacuations as a precaution.
Bavaria's state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was found during drilling work, German news agency dpa reported.
Herrmann said authorities must now investigate why it wasn't discovered earlier. He noted that such construction sites are usually scanned carefully in advance for possible unexploded bombs.