Fires and explosions

Citation

(2007), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2007.07316aac.004

Fires and explosions

26 August 2005 Paris, France

A fire tore through a six-storey Paris apartment block housing African immigrants today, killing 17 people – about half of them children, French officials said. They said the blaze broke out in the stairwell of the traditional Parisian apartment building just after midnight when most residents would have been sleeping. It was brought under control two hours later but the cause was not immediately known. About 30 people were injured in the blaze in southern Paris. A number of men and women, some carrying children in their arms, were also evacuated. Police said some 30 adults and 100 children had lived in the apartment block, many of them from African countries such as Mali. Most of the casualties were immigrants. Smoke could still be seen billowing out of windows of the apartment block hours after the blaze was brought under control. Police cordoned off the area, near the river Seine and the Jardin des Plantes botanical garden. More than 200 fire-fighters and dozens of ambulance workers and police were at the scene.

26 August 2005 Coal Mine, Renhuai, Guizhou Province, China

At least 15 miners were killed when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in Renhuai city in China’s Guizhou Province, the local government said today. The accident took place at Zhulinwan Coal Mine, a newly built coal producing base yesterday when 21 miners were working beneath the shaft. Only two miners managed to escape the accident, Xinhua news agency quoted officials from Guizhou Provincial Bureau of Coal Mine Safety as saying. Rescue workers today successfully rescued four miners and found remains of six others killed in the accident. The local police was searching for the owner of the Zhulinwan Coal Mine, who has disappeared after the accident. Rescue operations were still going, the report said, adding that the cause of the accident is under investigation.

31 August 2005 Kalakama, Nigeria

Eleven persons are feared missing and aquatic life completely destroyed when a 28-inch Liquefied Natural Gas underground pipeline exploded at Kalakama, an Ogoloma fishing community in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State. The incident, which occurred at the weekend, resulted in a wild inferno which engulfed an estimated 27 square kilometres of the once rich Kalakama mangrove, killing sea foods and cash crops. So huge, the impact of the explosion was felt on the Okrika Island and the Borikiri area of Port Harcourt where, residents were forced into “a stampede for safety”. The problem started more than two months ago, when a minor gas leakage was noticed by inhabitants of the Kalakama fishing community, on which a formal report was said to have been lodged with Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) by His Royal Majesty, Chief Nemi Tamunoiyalla-Oputibeya, Amanyanabo of Koniama. The leakage assumed a frightening dimension, last Monday (22 August), when a wild fire was first reported, before culminating in a major gas explosion. It took NLNG fire fighters, using hi-tech helicopter services, more than 48 hours to put out the fire, but not before shutting down the NLNG gas plant at Rumuoji substation. Rivers State Environment Commissioner, Dr Roseline Konya, on a visit to the area, last Monday described the incident as a great disaster, and blamed it on bureaucratic delays by companies in treating life-threatening complaints. Leader of the Okrika delegation and chairman of the Okrika Divisional Council of Chiefs, Chief Taribo Sekibo-Oduobaji blamed the incident on negligence on the part of NLNG. Chief Oduobaji, who was a Second Republic Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum and Gas Matters, said it was unimaginable that a report involving gas leakage could be allowed to snowball into such huge disaster.

4 September 2005 Apartment Block, Paris, France

An apartment block fire killed 12 people and injured 13 in the southern suburbs of Paris early today, the French fire service said, bringing to more than 30 the number of deaths in recent serious blazes in the capital. Some 160 fire-fighters tackled the fire which broke out in the entrance hall of the 15-floor building in l’Hay-les-Roses at around 0100 hours, a spokesman said. He said most of the victims were choked by fumes. The fire was quickly brought under control, but the cause was not immediately known. It was the latest in a spate of fires in or around Paris which had already killed 24 people, mostly Africans, in a matter of weeks and raised questions over fire safety and the treatment of immigrants. After a fatal fire less than a week ago, in which seven people died, President Jacques Chirac demanded action on fire safety to prevent further tragedies.

7 September 2005 Coal Mine, Shanxi Province, China

Seventeen miners died, mostly from burns or suffocation, in a gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province, state media said today. The miners were killed when the blast happened yesterday in the Zhike Town Coal Mine in Zhongyang county, Luliang city, the Xinhua news agency said. Only nine of the 26 miners working underground at the time survived, Xinhua said. Two of them were injured. The mine, run by the township government, had been ordered to shut down due to safety problems but its owners secretly resumed operation on Monday without permission, Xinhua said, citing a local mine safety official. Police have detained six mine executives and authorities have frozen the company’s bank accounts, Xinhua said

5 September 2005 Beni Suef, Egypt

Twenty-five people were killed and 45 injured in a fire today in a cultural centre in the Egyptian town of Beni Suef, 100 km south of Cairo, police sources said. The fire broke out in the evening but it was too early to say how it started or why the death toll was so high, the sources added.

6 September 2005. At least 32 people were killed when fire broke out in a crowded Egyptian theatre apparently sparked by candles used by the performers, the official MENA news agency reported today. The blaze swept through the theatre in the town of Beni Suef south of Cairo late yesterday and many of the victims were believed killed in a stampede as hundreds of panicked theatre-goers tried to escape the flames. Egyptian hospital sources told MENA that some of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition in the fire that took hold at about 2330 hours (2030, UTC). Of those injured, 12 were in serious condition and some had to be evacuated to Cairo for treatment, the agency said. Health Minister Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin told state television that 16 of those injured suffered burns exceeding 60 per cent. The blaze is believed to have been started accidentally by actors carrying lighted candles during the performance. The stage curtains caught fire and the flames quickly spread to other parts of the theatre, fuelled by combustible items that were part of the set’s decor, including paper and wood. It provoked panic among the crowd as they attempted to escape the blaze, with many of the victims believed to have been trampled underfoot. There were also deaths due to asphyxiation, said Anas Gaafar, governor of Beni Suef which lies about 150 km south of Cairo. Fire-fighters eventually brought the blaze under control, officials said.

6 September 2005. Survivors of a blaze that killed 32 people in a crowded theatre said today that only one exit was available as the audience stampeded in panic, and authorities were looking into possible fire code violations. Last night’s fire was believed to have begun when an actor knocked over a candle, igniting a paper-filled set during a production at the government-run Culture Palace in Beni Suef, about 60 miles south of Cairo. Prosecutors early today inspected the concrete building, which was left a hollowed-out, charred husk. A top official from Egypt’s Culture Ministry, which controls the theatre, said local culture authorities had not made sure the theatre’s main exit could be opened in an emergency, restricting the escape to a smaller door blocked by debris at the end of the hall where the fire started. Security officials said 32 people were killed. Among them were 14 members of a theatre troupe from nearby Fayoum who were performing and its director, who had designed the set, said Alwy. The fire also injured 60 people, 18 critically, hospital and police officials said. The government requires some fire-safety measures in buildings, including fire extinguishers, but in general the rules are not strictly enforced. Alwy was unsure if the small theatre destroyed in the blaze was equipped with fire extinguishers.

12 September 2005 Coal Mine, Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang Province, China

Nine people were confirmed dead with six others still missing in a coal mine fire that broke out yesterday morning in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, local government sources said this morning. Rescuers discovered the remains of the nine dead miners under the fire-ravaged shaft at around 0900 hours, this morning and are still searching for the six missing miners. The Jinyuan Coal Mine in Baoshan District of the city caught fire at about 1000 hours, yesterday, when 15 miners were working underground. Preliminary investigation found the tragedy was caused by burned cables.

13 September 2005. Rescuers recovered remains of 14 miners underground, with one worker still missing, in a coal mine fire that broke out on Sunday (11 September) in Shuangyashan City, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, local government sources said this morning. The Jinyuan Coal Mine in Baoshan District of the city caught fire at about 1000, Sunday, when 31 miners were working underground. Of them, 16 managed to escape, and another 15 were trapped. Rescue work is continuing to search for the one still missing, the sources said. Preliminary investigation found that the tragedy was caused by burned cables. A check up for workplace safety is underway throughout the province, with unqualified mines ordered to shut down.

14 September 2005 Coal Mine, Zarand, Iran

An explosion in a coal mine in south-east Iran killed nine miners, the Iranian News Agency reported today. The agency said the explosion in the city of Zarand occurred at 100 metres underground, killing all the miners who were working at that level. A local official in Zarand, Ghulam Ali Nakhi, said the explosion might have been caused by a leakage of methane gas from a hole in the mine’s wall. Nakhi said an official investigation into the incident would be conducted.