Fires and explosions

Citation

(2006), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315cac.007

Fires and explosions

10 March 2005County, Shanxi Province, China

Twenty-nine miners were trapped underground after a gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China, state media reported. The blast occurred yesterday evening when 83 workers were in a pit at the mine in Jiaocheng county, Shanxi province, the Xinhua news agency said. The director of the Shanxi Provincial Bureau for Workplace Safety, Gong Anku, said 54 miners escaped but 29 remained trapped underground. It was not clear whether they were dead or alive.

23 February 2005Ammunition Dump, Juba, Sudan

An explosion at an ammunition dump in a military training centre in the south Sudanese town of Juba killed 24 people today as artillery shells rained down on large parts of the town. An army statement said the blast was caused by a warehouse fire and said it did not believe “hostile action” was involved. Juba stayed in government hands throughout southern Sudan’s two decades of civil war, with a large garrison to protect it from rebels. “The extreme rise in temperature led to the explosion of an ammunition dump in the city of Juba at 12:30 hour (09:30, UTC) which led to the death of 24 people,” a police statement released by the Interior Ministry said. The statement said five people were injured, but aid workers in Juba and another Sudanese official said the number of injured was 30 or more. “There are bodies that have been burnt to nothing. There’s unexploded ordnance everywhere and almost half of the city has been blown up,” said one aid worker. The police statement said explosions lasted for an hour and a half, burning an area known as the customs market in the west of the town and damaging several neighbourhoods and official offices. However, it said the situation was under control. General Abbas Abdel-Rahman al-Khalifa, Sudanese armed forces spokesman, said in a statement that a fire had started in one of the live ammunition warehouses, leading to the blasts. “We consider it unlikely that this is the result of any hostile action,” Khalifa said. One aid workers quoted witnesses as saying they had seen between 15 and 20 bodies. Another aid worker in Juba said there were between 30 and 70 wounded so far. Aid workers said mobile phone lines were down in the town because a mobile phone antenna had been damaged, making communication with residents in Juba difficult. A Sudanese official said the government council for co-ordination of the southern states was meeting in Khartoum to discuss relief efforts. The Sudan Radio Service said houses in the area were burnt to ashes and some shells fell in the offices of a charity organisation. Sources said army officers were speculating that the ammunition dump ignited accidentally because of a recent spell of hot weather and because of poor storage methods.

18 February 2005Coal mine, Sunjiawan, Liaoning Province, China

The death toll in China’s worst reported mine disaster in decades rose today to 213, the government said. Rescuers are continuing to search for two missing miners still trapped underground, five days after the blast. China has kept a tight lid on the disaster, barring reporters from the mine site and the hospital where 29 injured were being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, burns and fractures. Beijing announced yesterday that the head of the country’s work safety administration would head an investigation into the disaster. Workers said they felt a sudden, strong tremor – “like an earthquake” – shake the mine 10 minutes before the blast. Moments later, gas detectors lost their signals and one of the mine’s main pits filled with smoke.

23 February 2005. The vice-governor of China’s Liaoning province has been suspended in connection with last week’s mine disaster, in which 214 miners died. Liu Guoqiang has been suspended until an investigation into the disaster is completed, state media reported. The accident, in China’s north-eastern city of Fuxin, was the most deadly reported mining disaster since the Communist Party took power in 1949. Liu Guoqiang was in overall control of industrial safety in Fuxin when a gas blast 242 m underground ripped through the Sunjiawan colliery, a statement said. The heads of the colliery and the regional Fuxin Mining Group will also face disciplinary action, China’s Xinhua news agency reported without giving further details. Mr Liu’s suspension was announced after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao chaired a special State Council meeting called in the wake of the last week’s blast. In addition to the suspensions, a specialist unit to deal with safety issues in the country’s coal mines is to be established. It will work under the auspices of the State Administration for Work Safety, which will be upgraded by the government.

15 March 2005Coal mine, Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province, China

A coal mine blast trapped 19 miners in China’s north-eastern Heilongjiang province today, the official Xinhua news agency said. The accident occurred at the Xinfu coal mine in Qitaihe city, according to the Heilongjiang Provincial Administration of Coal Mine Safety, the report said. Rescuers were trying to enter the tunnel. Further investigation was under way, it said. Meanwhile, at another mine in central China, six workers had been trapped for 25 hours after a mudflow, Xinhua reported. The mudflow broke out under the Yaozishan coal mine in Ningxiang County of Hunan Province late on Sunday afternoon, trapping the six workers in an underground tunnel, Xinhua said. “The trapped workers have still hopes of survival, though the oxygen was estimated to support them more than 10 hours,” said Yan Yinchu, vice director of the local working security monitoring bureau.

15 March 2005. Sixteen miners trapped after a coal mine gas explosion in north-east China have been found dead, Xinhua news agency reported today. One miner had been rescued and two were still missing, it said. The accident happened today at a mine in Qitaihe, Heilongjiang province. “The rescue operation is still going on, and the cause of the explosion is under investigation,” Xinhua said.

10 March 2005Prison, Higuey, Dominican Republic

The death toll from a fire in a Dominican prison rose to 136, four days after one of Latin America’s worst jailhouse fires, an official said today. Two more prisoners died in the past two days, one from a bullet wound and another from smoke inhalation, said Sergio Sarita Valdez, public health undersecretary. Rival gangs battling for control of the drug trade in the Higuey jail, about 103 miles east of Santo Domingo, set bedding ablaze and jammed the locks from the inside of their cell block on Monday (March 7). Survivors said prisoners who ignited the fire had a pistol and three machetes, shooting and hacking prisoners who tried to escape. Two of the 16 injured people remained in critical condition today, Sarita said. Thirty bodies were buried together in Higuey’s public cemetery on Tuesday after relatives identified them. Authorities plan to begin burying 40 prisoners who had not yet been claimed by relatives tomorrow. The unclaimed bodies have been photographed and identified by crosschecking finger prints and dental records with prison registries, Valdez said. “If in a week or a year relatives show up, we can show them the documentation we have,” Valdez said. “If there is still any doubt, we can dig up a coffin and do a DNA test.” The government has appointed a five-member commission to investigate how prisoners smuggled weapons into the prison. That report is expected next week. The burned cell block, called Vietnam, had at least 178 inmates, though its maximum capacity was about 25.

18 March 2005Coal mine, Xinzhen, China

Eighteen miners have been confirmed dead after a gas blast ripped through a coal mine in China’s southwest Chongqing municipality, the Xinhua news agency reported today. Rescuers were still searching for one missing miner, the agency said. Xinhua said 19 miners had been trapped by the blast, which occurred around 15:00 hour, yesterday at the Sulongsi coal mine in Xinzhen town, Fengjie country. The cause of the explosion was under investigation, Xinhua said.

20 March 2005Coal mines, Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, China

The death toll from a gas explosion at two adjacent coal mines in northern China has doubled to 42, state media reports. With 27 remaining trapped, and possibly still alive, intensive rescue efforts are continuing a day after the powerful blast ripped through the Xishui colliery at Shuozhou city in Shanxi province. The blast immediately caused a wall to collapse in neighbouring Kangjiayao coal mine. Television reports did not specify how many of the confirmed fatalities are from each of the two mines. However, previous reports describe three deaths in the Xishui mine, and 18 in the Kangjiayao pit.

20 March 2005. State media in China said today the death toll from a gas explosion in a mine yesterday had risen to 59. Another ten miners were trapped underground, with some of them possibly still alive. Officials said police had detained the four owners of the mine in the northern province of Shanxi. The Chinese news agency Xinhua said the licensed mine had been ordered to suspend production after safety problems last November. However, the owners had defied the order and resumed work. The blast occurred yesterday at the Xishui coal mine in Shuozhou and rocked nearby Kangjiayao coal mine. Chinese leaders President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have “demanded relevant departments try their best to save the trapped and instructed rescuers to pay attention to their own safety” Xinhua said. Xishui was established in 1993 and has an annual output of 150,000 tons.

22 March 2005. The death toll from a north China coal mine gas explosion rose to 65 after two more bodies were found and four miners remain missing, state media said. The explosion Saturday (March 19) ripped through the Xishui colliery at Shuozhou city in Shanxi province, killing 46 there so far, the Xinhua news agency said. The blast was so powerful that it caused a wall to collapse in the neighbouring Kangjiayao coal mine, killing another 19 miners there. A total of 69 coal miners were trapped in the two shafts after the accident. The four missing miners are from the Xishui mine. Four owners of the Xishui mine have been detained on suspicion of defying an order last November to cease operations over safety problems. The other coal mine, Kangjiayao, had governmental approval to operate

23 March 2005. Chinese authorities ordered illegal mines closed as rescuers ended a search for survivors of an explosion at a coal mine in northern China, confirming that all 69 miners trapped by the blast were killed, state media reported today. Eight people, including the mine’s director, were detained in connection with Saturday’s (March 19) explosion at the Xishui colliery in Shuozhou, a city in north-central China, Xinhua reported. The mine was operating illegally. China’s state-run television reported that rescue operations ended yesterday after 65 bodies were recovered and four other miners trapped in the shaft were confirmed dead. A safety inspector sent to the mine was also found to be “seriously negligent,” the state-run newspaper China Daily quoted Zhao Tiechui, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, as saying.

5 April 2005Mine accidents, China

Mine accidents in China killed 1,113 people in the first three months of the year, the government said today as it laid out a new plan to try to halt the carnage in the world’s deadliest mining industry. The figure represented a 20.2 per cent jump in the number of fatalities from the same period last year, the State Administration of Work Safety said. The biggest problem has been enforcing the innumerable regulations designed to keep the industry’s more than 25,000 mines safe, said Li Yizhong, minister of the administration. “The most fundamental reason for these kinds of mining disasters is that supervision and administration are not very strong, and the laws are not strictly enforced,” Li told a news conference. Last year, more than 6,000 miners were killed in explosions, floods and other underground disasters in China, and Premier Wen Jiabao has pledged to spend 3 billion yuan ($362.5 million) to improve mine safety. Funding for safety has been a problem and the administration planned to raise the bar, Li said. Mine enterprises were required to put aside two to ten yuan ($0.24 to $1.21) for safety measures per tonne of coal produced, he said. “We are preparing to issue a supplementary document to exceed that amount according to the situation,” Li said. China produced 1.95 billion tonnes of coal last year but official media say it can safely mine only half that rate. The administration also pledged to arrest mine operators running illegal pits and supported high levels of compensation for families of victims as a deterrent. “We are cracking down on all kinds of illegal mining operations, and rectifying mines that failed to meet work safety standards,” Li said. “Increasing the level of compensation is increasing the cost of accidents,” he said, adding he hoped the high cost would make mine operators realise that paying for better safety would be cheaper. Some areas have recently put the level of compensation paid to families at 11 to 15 years worth of victims’ salary. The government has had trouble shutting down unsafe mines, especially amid a nationwide shortage of coal, which is the main source of energy in power-hungry China. Zhao Tiechui, deputy head of the work safety administration, denied that China’s policy of reliance on coal was part of the problem, even though others in the government have admitted that China’s thirst for coal was causing mine operators to keep unsafe mines open and push beyond safe production capacities. “Mine disasters and China’s energy policy are not directly related,” he said, pointing the finger at mining conditions and the depth of mine shafts in China.

6 April 2005Coal mine, Hechuan, China

Rescue teams are trying to free 22 miners trapped after a gas explosion in a coal mine in south-western China. China’s Xinhua news agency reports, one miner died in the explosion which occurred yesterday afternoon at the Tianfu Mining Company in Hechuan.

11 April 2005Coal mine, Sorainj, Pakistan

Three miners were killed and two were injured when methane gas in a coalmine exploded in Sorainj today. Miners said that eight workers were in the 1,600 feet deep mine Three miners managed to escape without injuries. Officials said that wood beams supporting the mines roof broke and caused the accident.

5 April 2005Petrochemical plant, Texas City, Texas, United States

Texas State District Court Judge Susan Criss today allowed BP investigators into the site of the blast that killed 15 contract workers on March 23, but only in the company of a cameraman. BP attorney Jim Galbraith told Criss the company wanted to send its investigative team into the wrecked refinery unit at 17:00 hour, today to start BP’s internal investigation into what caused the deadly explosion. Lawyers representing victims and victims’ relatives suing the company wanted their own experts to accompany BP officials. Galbraith had said they could not because they lacked safety training required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enter industrial chemical sites. Criss had a conference call hearing this afternoon, in which Galbraith said the training was about a two-hour course. Earlier today, he had told the judge the course was 40 hours. In addition to the two-hour course, plaintiffs’ experts will also have to submit to a medical exam or provide medical records to ensure “they have the respiratory capacity sufficient for respirator use,” Galbraith said. Criss castigated Galbraith for BP’s waiting “practically until the last minute” to bring up the safety requirement. Until the plaintiffs’ experts complete training, Criss ordered a videographer to film BP investigators on-site to address plaintiffs’ attorney Renee Haas’ concern that evidence remain unaltered. Also today, Criss signed an order governing how the two sides would exchange information in their investigations. The order requires BP to turn over a list of all people working in the area and internal memos or reports about the investigation, among other things, by Monday. It also calls for the two sides to exchange photographs and witness statements biweekly. Many of those items will likely remain secret, as part of a confidentiality agreement Criss said the two sides would likely sign this week.

20 April 2005Accident at coal mine, Lusaka, Zambia

At least 19 miners have died today in a mine accident at the Chambishi copper mine, about 400 km north of Lusaka, a mine official said. “I can confirm to you that 19 miners are confirmed dead after an accident at our mine,” Ruiyong Xu, manager for administration at the Chinese-owned mine, said. The mine was investigating the cause of the underground accident, he said.

18 April 2005Coal mine, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China

Five miners were confirmed dead in a coalmine blast in north China’s Hebei Province Friday’s (April 15), the local government said today. All the five were natives of Zhangjiakou city, where the mine is located. Their bodies had been retrieved over the weekend. The gas explosion occurred in the No. 1 shaft of the Xinglongshan Coal Mine in Xiahuayuan district of Zhangjiakou. Thirteen miners were working underground and eight of them managed to escape. Investigation into the accident is under way, Xinhua news agency reported.

20 April 2005Factory, Chambishi, Zambia

At least 46 people were killed today when a blast tore through an explosives factory at a Zambian copper mine, destroying the plant and ripping bodies apart, the country’s mining minister said. “I cannot explain this tragedy which has killed 46 people so far. The entire plant has been razed. Most people were burned badly while others were just in pieces,” Kaunda Lembalemba said, from the mine, 400 km north of Lusaka. Officials said the explosion occurred at an explosives factory on the premises of the Chambishi mine, owned by China’s NFC Mining Africa Plc. The mine itself was not affected by the blast. Lembalemba said Bgrimm officials had told him that there were 50 people in the plant at the time of the blast, although other people said there could have been more. An eyewitness told Reuters that four of those who died were standing more than 100 m away from the plant when the blast occurred. “It was such a big explosion that it caused extensive damage to an office block which was 100 m away and killed four people who were standing by,” the witness said. Chambishi administration manager Xu Ruiyong said a mine rescue team had been joined by rescuers from the two bigger mining units, Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines. “Although the accident has happened within our premises, our production has not been affected,” he said.

15 April 2005Hotel, Paris, France

At least 13 people have died and 57 people have been injured in a devastating fire at the Paris-Opera hotel in central Paris, a fire service spokesman said. At least 12 of the wounded were in a serious condition after the blaze, in the city’s 9th arrondissement. The fire, which broke out at about 02:00 hour (00:00 UTC), gutted the six-storey Paris-Opera hotel. Some of the guests leapt from windows to escape the flames. Dozens of fire engines, 250 fire-fighters and ten ambulances were called to the scene. The flames were extinguished by 03:30 hour (01:30 UTC). The toll is provisional because of the fear of more victims on the upper floors. There was only one staircase and the fire broke out on the lower floors. There was no explosion. An emergency hospital and a makeshift morgue were set up in the nearby Galeries Lafayette department store. Many of the injured were suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Seventy-six people were reported living in the 32-room hotel on rue de Provence. It is not clear who was staying in the hotel. There have been reports of tourists being among the wounded, but local witnesses said the building was used to put up people waiting to be housed.

17 April 2005. Fire-fighters sorting through the debris of a burned-out Paris hotel found the body of a small child today, raising the death toll from Friday’s (April 15) blaze to 22, police said. Half of the victims were children. The fire at the Paris Opera hotel, housing mostly people in need who were placed there by social services, was Paris’ worst in recent memory. Police said fire-fighters digging through debris early today found the body of a young child. The body of a woman was found on Friday night, hours after the blaze had been extinguished. The overcrowded 32-room hotel, in the ninth district popular with tourists, was meant to accommodate 61 people, but at least 90 people – many of them Africans – were known to be living there. The blaze was believed to have started shortly after 02:00 hour. An investigation for manslaughter has been opened, but officials suggested the probe could be lengthy, given the devastation caused by the fire. Parts of the fragile structure risked collapse. The hotel’s fire prevention system had been checked on March 24, and four recommendations to improve safety were issued. However, the measures were insufficient to close down the hotel, the police headquarters said.

18 April 2005. French police detained a woman today over last week’s fire in a Paris hotel that killed 22 people, a police source said. The woman – the girlfriend of one of the hotel’s night-guards – had been held for questioning since this morning, the source said, without giving any further details.

19 April 2005. A woman detained in connection with a fire that killed 22 people at a budget hotel in Paris last week admitted that she started the blaze by accident, police said today. The woman was identified by judicial officials as the girlfriend of one of the hotel’s night watchmen. She acknowledged starting the fire accidentally, police said without providing details. Hours after the fire, which devastated the hotel, fire-fighters speculated that it had started accidentally in a breakfast room. The prosecutors office opened an investigation for manslaughter. The exact origin of the blaze was not immediately known. The hotel’s fire prevention system had been checked on March 24, and four recommendations to improve safety were issued, but the measures were insufficient to close down the hotel, police said.

20 April 2005. A young woman has admitted accidentally causing last week’s deadly fire in a Paris hotel after throwing clothes over candles in an argument with her boyfriend. The death toll in Friday’s (April 15) fire rose to at least 23 when another victim died from injuries sustained in the blaze that engulfed the six-storey Paris-Opera hotel, a hospital official said. The young woman, the girlfriend of one of the hotel’s night watchmen, admitted to accidentally starting the fire by throwing clothes over candles in the hotel breakfast room after a row with her boyfriend, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. “Following a violent argument that she put down to the intoxicated state of her companion, she left the hotel, throwing piles of clothes on the floor in anger, without paying attention to the candles,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The boyfriend is in a coma after being caught in the fire. Eleven of those killed in the fire were children. About 50 people were injured. The woman was placed under official investigation, one step short of pressing charges in France, and held in jail, judicial sources said. The woman had been held for questioning since Monday morning. She had been detained after an anonymous tip-off.