Train derailments and explosions and chemical spills

A large, black column of smoke stands over #Berlin on Wednesday evening. In #Neukölln, the warehouse of the recycling company Remondis is on fire.

Why do I have the feeling that this kind of warnings are going to have other purposes?
--
One hour after the #fire in #neukölln there is such a nonsense #warning message on the #iphone. IF THAT IS YOUR STANDARD, WE ARE LOST (which I already knew before). Something like this has to come after a few minutes at the latest. #berlin #fire #warning message

 
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India: More than 280 dead in massive train crash​


At least 280 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured when multiple trains collided in India's eastern state of Odisha. After hours of searches, rescue operations have now ended.

Cleanup operations were underway on Saturday after multiple trains derailed in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.

At least 288 people were killed and at least 900 were injured in the accident, which took place late on Friday, officials told news agencies.

The death toll rose steadily throughout the night.

"By 10 p.m. (on Friday) we were able to rescue the survivors. After that it was about picking up dead bodies," Sudhanshu Sarangi, director of Odisha's fire department, told The Associated Press.

"This is very, very tragic. I have never seen anything like this in my career," he said.

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Sarangi said rescuers worked for hours cutting through the wrecked rail cars to find people who may still be alive and trapped.

Odisha's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the scene on Saturday morning to take stock of the situation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the site of the tragedy later on Saturday, his office confirmed.

Rescue efforts end, cleanup begins​

The accident happened in Balasore, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Odisha's state capital, Bhubaneswar.

The major crash sparked an extensive search-and-rescue operation, involving hundreds of first responders from the fire department and the police force, who used sniffer dogs. National Disaster Response Force teams were also at the site.

By Saturday afternoon, the Ministry of Railways announced the rescue operation was completed and that "restoration work has commenced" to clean up the debris at the crash site.

Odisha state officials declared a day of mourning on Saturday as a mark of respect to the victims.

Meanwhile, hundreds of young people lined up outside a government hospital in the small city of Soro to donate blood.

What do we know so far?​

The crash happened around 7:20 p.m. local time (13:50 GMT) near Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore.

There are some conflicting accounts on which train came to derail first, but the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency cited officials as saying that three trains were involved in the crash.

PTI reported that the first to derail was the Bengaluru-to-Howrah train, which is known as the Howrah Superfast Express. Some of its carriages fell onto adjacent tracks.

Those derailed coaches collided with the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai.

As it derailed, the Coromandel Express then hit a freight train, officials told PTI.

Television images showed rescue teams trying to reach the survivors trapped inside mangled carriages, with scores of bodies laid out under white sheets beside the tracks.

The Ministry of Railways said it has initiated an investigation into the incident.

The ministry also announced compensation for victims and their families of the accident in a post on Twitter. The government will pay 10 lakh rupees (€ 11,300; $12,100) to the families of the deceased, 2 lakh rupees (€ 2,260; $2,400) for those grievously injured and 50,000 rupees (€ 566; $607) for those with minor injuries, according to the post.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that rescue operations were underway at the site and "all possible assistance" is being given to those affected. "May the injured recover soon," he said.

Survivors describe horror of crash​

Locals from Balasore and nearby towns rushed to the site to evacuate people after hearing the train coaches collide with each other, according to reports.

"The local people really went out on a limb to help us. They not only helped in pulling out people, but retrieved our luggage and got us water," Rupam Banerjee, a survivor of the tragedy, told PTI.

Another survivor, Vandana Kaleda, said people were "falling on each other" inside the train as it shook violently and veered off the tracks.

"As I stepped out of the washroom, suddenly the train tilted. I lost my balance. [...] Everything went topsy-turvy. People started falling on each other and I was shocked and could not understand what happened. My mind stopped working," she said.

World leaders react to tragedy​

Dozens of world leaders offered their condolences on Saturday to the people of India and the families of those deceased.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was "deeply saddened by the loss of hundreds of lives in a train accident in India."

"I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy," he said. "Prayers for speedy recovery of the injured."
Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, more commonly known as Prachanda, offered his condolences to the victims' families as well as to Modi.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is of Indian heritage, also offered his thoughts and prayers.

"My deepest condolences to the family and friends of those killed, and my heartfelt support and admiration to the survivors and those working tirelessly to respond," he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said he was "deeply saddened" by the news of the train accident.

"Germany stands by India in this difficult time," he said.

Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened" by the "immense loss of life."

India no stranger to rail accidents​

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, accidents occur every year on India's railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

In 2018, a commuter train drove through a crowd gathered on the tracks for a festival in the northern city of Amritsar, killing at least 59 people and injuring dozens of others.

In 2017, over 40 people were killed after several coaches of a passenger train went off the rails in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Most train accidents in the country are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.

zc, mk, rm, mm/sri, rs (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)

Source: India: More than 280 dead in massive train crash – DW – 06/03/2023
 
Zelensky meets Modi at the G7 and Modi tells him India wants nothing to do with what’s going on in Ukraine in terms of taking sides or sending support.

There was some speculation on the Duran that the conversation was taken pretty badly by Zelensky, and the reason he didn’t turn up to his meeting with Lula afterwards was because he didn’t want to be told the same thing and embarrassed again.

A week or two later, massive train disaster in India. Connection?
 
Zelensky meets Modi at the G7 and Modi tells him India wants nothing to do with what’s going on in Ukraine in terms of taking sides or sending support.

There was some speculation on the Duran that the conversation was taken pretty badly by Zelensky, and the reason he didn’t turn up to his meeting with Lula afterwards was because he didn’t want to be told the same thing and embarrassed again.

A week or two later, massive train disaster in India. Connection?

I hadn't considered that and i think India's pivot is a worthwhile consideration, even if there are also other reasonable explanations.

With the above in mind, in the last 24 hours there was also a bridge collapse in India (which may have been posted elsewhere but i think it's pertinent to the speculation): Under construction bridge collapses twice in one year:


Added: a few details just for reference:

Bridge india
© AFP
This photo taken on June 4, 2023, shows an under construction bridge collapsing into the river Ganges in Bhagalpur district in India's eastern state of Bihar.

An Indian state government on Monday ordered a probe into the collapse of a portion of an under-construction bridge over the Ganges River over the weekend, the second time the structure has crashed in a year.

No casualties were reported with no movement of people or vehicles on the bridge when nearly 250 meters (820 feet) of the concrete surface connecting pillars crashed into the river on Sunday.

Videos of the collapse spread on social media.





"Those found guilty will not be spared," Bihar state's top elected official, Nitish Kumar, said in a statement. A portion of the bridge on the other side collapsed in April last year.

India's infrastructure has long been marred by safety concerns, sometimes leading to major disasters on highways and bridges. Builders often use poor quality construction materials to cut costs.


The bridge collapse was criticized by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the opposition party in the state. The state government is headed by Kumar's regional party, the Janata Dal-United (People's Party).

BJP spokesman Shehzad Poonwalla described it as "the bridge of corruption."

The construction of the 3.6-kilometer (1.9-mile) long bridge started in 2014, but it suffered delays and was scheduled to be inaugurated later this year connecting the town of Bhagalpur with Khagaria, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of Patna, the state capital.

It was being built by a private company at a cost of 17 billion rupees ($208 million).
 
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Zelensky meets Modi at the G7 and Modi tells him India wants nothing to do with what’s going on in Ukraine in terms of taking sides or sending support.

There was some speculation on the Duran that the conversation was taken pretty badly by Zelensky, and the reason he didn’t turn up to his meeting with Lula afterwards was because he didn’t want to be told the same thing and embarrassed again.

A week or two later, massive train disaster in India. Connection?
That is giving too much credit to Zelensky or West. Some comments on it.

Much frequent accidents happened before, but the current rate very low. If Ukraine wants to create mayhem, they can. But what happens when found out? India will do what it had done with Pakistan- branding Islamabad as terrorist state and promote it as such its new found financial state and discipline. From Ukraine's point view, it may not be a worthy terrorist act. Recently Ukraine shot itself with insulting video on Hindu goddess and apologized for it.

Indians view Ukraine as Russia's Pakistan and they will not have sympathies towards Ukraine. India itself have enough opposition politicians following their "democratic" traditions shouting "Modi did it". Opposition couldn't blame Modi for Bihar's bridge collapse as it is ruled by a Chief minister who changes his loyalties like a chameleon and currently against Modi's BJP.

Because It is a country with (at least) 12 times population density than USA, casualties will be more too. There was so much infrastructure development going on, things may not work as one expected in few cases. It is a country of 1.4 billion, transports 23 million passengers per day, with 22,000 operating trains, covering 67,000 route km's with accidents per million km of .03. Here is one video comparing the Indian Rail accidents with other developed countries.
 
That is giving too much credit to Zelensky or West. Some comments on it.

Much frequent accidents happened before, but the current rate very low. If Ukraine wants to create mayhem, they can. But what happens when found out? India will do what it had done with Pakistan- branding Islamabad as terrorist state and promote it as such its new found financial state and discipline. From Ukraine's point view, it may not be a worthy terrorist act. Recently Ukraine shot itself with insulting video on Hindu goddess and apologized for it.

Indians view Ukraine as Russia's Pakistan and they will not have sympathies towards Ukraine. India itself have enough opposition politicians following their "democratic" traditions shouting "Modi did it". Opposition couldn't blame Modi for Bihar's bridge collapse as it is ruled by a Chief minister who changes his loyalties like a chameleon and currently against Modi's BJP.

Because It is a country with (at least) 12 times population density than USA, casualties will be more too. There was so much infrastructure development going on, things may not work as one expected in few cases. It is a country of 1.4 billion, transports 23 million passengers per day, with 22,000 operating trains, covering 67,000 route km's with accidents per million km of .03. Here is one video comparing the Indian Rail accidents with other developed countries.

I wasn’t considering it from a view of India ever being able to blame Ukraine for it.

Zelensky’s a puppet, and his perpetual world tour is as orchestrated by the West as everything thing else he and the Ukrainian government and military have done since the start of the SMO, and longer.

So the tour is a show, to get other world leaders to pick a side. And the West have a history of sending big messages to other countries’ governments who don’t want to dance to their song.

So the idea of Zelensky having his ego bruised and ordering a complex operation in a foreign country to cause a train disaster is, granted, a far-fetched idea. But with all the train derailments happening in America at the moment (and the C’s said these were acts of deliberate sabotage) they’ve now had a lot of practice at doing this.

Politically, it’s makes life more difficult for Modi. We saw how the useful idiots were rallying in Serbia to try to effect regime change after the two shootings. We saw how Erdogan’s approval rating dropped after the Earthquakes in Turkey.

So it’s not that this may have been done to punish the Indian people for their view on Ukraine, or to try to garner support for the Zelensky regime. But to show Modi that there are consequences to not picking sides.

Again, all that is IF this was deliberate.
 
I wasn’t considering it from a view of India ever being able to blame Ukraine for it.

Zelensky’s a puppet, and his perpetual world tour is as orchestrated by the West as everything thing else he and the Ukrainian government and military have done since the start of the SMO, and longer.

So the tour is a show, to get other world leaders to pick a side. And the West have a history of sending big messages to other countries’ governments who don’t want to dance to their song.

So the idea of Zelensky having his ego bruised and ordering a complex operation in a foreign country to cause a train disaster is, granted, a far-fetched idea. But with all the train derailments happening in America at the moment (and the C’s said these were acts of deliberate sabotage) they’ve now had a lot of practice at doing this.

Politically, it’s makes life more difficult for Modi. We saw how the useful idiots were rallying in Serbia to try to effect regime change after the two shootings. We saw how Erdogan’s approval rating dropped after the Earthquakes in Turkey.

So it’s not that this may have been done to punish the Indian people for their view on Ukraine, or to try to garner support for the Zelensky regime. But to show Modi that there are consequences to not picking sides.

Again, all that is IF this was deliberate.
India being vast diverse nation has its own problems. There are signs that Soros latest target is India. Soros' Open source foundation leaders are promoting the MAJOR opposition leader Nehru-Gandhi clan descendant Rahul Gandhi during his US tour. Nehru hated British for his years in Jail and beatings and his descendant decided to become puppet of the same forces. It is widely known in India that "There are no permanent friends or enemies in Politics". I understand it is some what different from PTB sponsored, ideologically groomed western politicians.

Does it mean they did it? If they wanted to do it, they can. If so, their target will be BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh or Gujarat rather than Odisha where opposition party is ruling. Any way, it looks its a human error as of now, but we will see how it goes. Here is a video I posted on Modi's thread.
 

"Roadway Is Gone": Tanker Explosion Destroys I-95 Bridge In Philadelphia​




Driving into Philadelphia during working days itself is a hell. It's I-95 that eases little. Now that it self is gone. It will be rough until they do something to fix it.
The runoff from the tanker is also causing underground explosions, explained Captain Derrick Bowmer of the Philadelphia Fire Department. There have been multiple reports of exploding manholes around the area.

He said the 'highways isn't expected to re-open anytime soon,' and this could spark significant traffic delays on Monday morning, considering the I-95 highway is a major interstate through the Mid-Alantic corridor.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro tweeted he has been briefed on the tanker explosion and bridge collapse.
 
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At this stage of the investigation, it has not been confirmed yet that the explosion was caused by gas:

Paris explosion – live: One person still feared buried in rubble after blast at fashion school injures dozens

Oliver O'Connell and Shweta Sharma
Thu, June 22, 2023 at 3:44 PM GMT+2·19 min read


One person is still missing and four are in critical condition after dozens were injured in a powerful explosion in a building in central Paris.

The explosion at around 4:55pm local time on Wednesday at the Paris American Academy on Rue Saint-Jacques left 37 people injured.

The blast sparked a fire that sent smoke soaring over the French capital’s monuments and prompted an evacuation of other properties, authorities said.

Officials are exploring a possible gas leak as the explosion but Paris police spokesperson Loubna Atta said it was too early to determine the source of the fire and could not confirm reports it was caused by a gas explosion.

Huge plumes of black smoke swelled into the air over the surrounding neighbourhood, but the fire was quickly brought under control.

“The explosion was extremely violent,” said Florence Berthout, mayor for the fifth arrondissement of the city, where the explosion happened.

Key points​

  • Blast occurred at Paris American Academy in Rue Saint-Jacques in the 5th arrondissement
  • 33 people injured, four seriously, two feared buried in rubble
  • Huge cloud of smoke billowed out over rooftops
  • Officials say too early to determine cause of blast and fire
  • Fires quickly brought under control by emergency services

Rescuers search for person feared missing under rubble​

14:40 , Oliver O'Connell

French rescue workers are searching for a person feared missing in the rubble after a powerful blast ripped through a street in central Paris, injuring more than 30 people – four of them critically.

The blast started fires and caused the collapse of the facade of a building housing a design school. At least 37 people were injured,

Some of the four critically injured people suffered severe burns, said health minister Francois Braun. One person who was feared missing has been found.

Jane Dalton has the latest.

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At the moment, at least 15 buildings in the neighborhood are still inaccessible to their occupants, who were evacuated yesterday:

Explosion in Paris: some fifteen buildings still inaccessible, according to the mayor of the 5th arrondissement

Thu, June 22 2023 at 10:50 AM

In the aftermath of the explosion that totally destroyed a building in Paris's 5th arrondissement, and affected several others, leaving 6 people injured in an absolute emergency, the mayor of the 5th arrondissement, speaking to France Bleu Paris, said that a legal and psychological support service had been set up.

Around a hundred people were evacuated after a building exploded on Wednesday evening: some residents of rue Saint-Jacques, in Paris's 5th arrondissement, still don't know when they'll be able to return home, says arrondissement mayor Florence Berthout, speaking to France Bleu Paris. Although the mayor's office was preparing to accommodate local residents directly in its village hall, this was not necessary in the end: "All the people have been rehoused," says the mayor. We had a huge outpouring of solidarity, with people arriving until very late to offer rooms, so in the end we didn't have to house anyone" in the town hall.
 
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