12.08.2009

accidents? stupidity? something else?

1. nightclub inferno in Russia

Anna Arutunyan

The owners of the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm have been detained over a fire that killed at least 113 partygoers on Friday night, as federal law enforcement agencies promised to get tough on fire safety violators.

Meanwhile, snap legislation may outlaw fireworks in public places this New Year's.

The fire broke out at about 1 am during the club's 8th anniversary party. Witnesses say an indoor fireworks display set fire to decorations on the ceiling, causing toxic smoke to spread quickly through the club. The windows were sealed shut and many could not find their way out of the club's single exit in the dark. Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation.

read more @ moscow news


2. pretty much the exact same thing happened at the Station Nightclub in Rhode Island

The Station nightclub fire occurred beginning at 11:07 PM EST, on Thursday, February 20, 2003, at The Station, a glam metal and rock n roll themed nightclub located in West Warwick, Rhode Island, United States; it is considered to be the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in American history, killing 100 people, four of whom died after being admitted to local hospitals. The fire was caused when pyrotechnic sparks, set off by the tour manager of the evening's headlining band, Great White, ignited flammable sound insulation foam in the walls and ceilings around the stage, creating a flash fire that engulfed the club in 5 1/2 minutes. Some 230 people were injured and another 132 escaped uninjured. Video footage of the fire depicts the astonishing rapidity of its initial growth, the quickness with which stampeding patrons blocked the front entrance, and the ensuing pandemonium as several people tried desperately to help, by whatever means possible, those attempting to escape the building, which, by that time, was already gushing black smoke.

more @ wikipedia



3. Fort Detrick researcher may be sick with tularemia


A military researcher at Fort Detrick may be sick from the bacteria she studies in her [level 3] lab at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

The employee contracted tularemia, commonly found in rabbits and rodents, but which can also infect humans. She was researching a vaccine for the disease, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes could be used in a bioweapon.

Tularemia cannot be passed from person to person; it spreads through contact with sick animals, bug bites and sometimes the air and water, according to the CDC.

The employee has been sick for at least two weeks, first going to the Barquist Army Health Care Facility at Fort Detrick on Nov. 23 with flu-like symptoms, said Caree Vander Linden, spokeswoman for USAMRIID.

..."We want to reassure the Frederick and Fort Detrick communities that this disease is not spread from person to person," said Col. John Skvorak, commander of USAMRIID, in a news release. "Our immediate concern is to make sure our employee is receiving the appropriate medical care. Secondly, we are working to determine how she may have been infected and to ensure that no one else has been affected. Laboratory acquired infections are rare, but if they do occur, we need to review our procedures to minimize future incidents."

The employee was researching ways to protect against contracting tularemia, Skvorak said in the release. Antibiotics have proved effective in treating infected people, but there are no vaccines to prevent the disease in the first place.

read more @ frederick news post



4. three bodies found in plane crash near Frankfurt


Rescue workers have located the charred bodies of three men aboard a small plane that crashed near Frankfurt on Monday afternoon, police said.

The tail end of the business commuter plane apparently tore a path into a forest before boring into the ground and catching fire as the plane broke apart. Two 61-year-olds and a 56-year-old – all residents of Offenbach – were killed near the Egelsbach airfield outside of Frankfurt.

Police said there had been heavy fog when the plane travelling from the northern city of Bremen crashed at 4:15 pm, but they were not sure whether this played a role in the accident....Egelsbach is Germany’s largest private airfield and is often used by business travellers and hobby pilots.

source: the local

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