Train crash leaves several injured in Iran

Several people were injured in a train accident in Iran’s western Lorestan province.

A passenger train moving in the direction of Shushtar-Mashhad crashed into a freight train near Tange Haft station in Lorestan province at 5:30 local time (GMT +4:30 hours) this morning, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on July 17.

There is no further information about the number of injured people.

In 2009, at least three people were killed and two others injured when two trains collided on the outskirts of Tehran. The accident happened when a passenger train en route from Mashhad to Tehran hit a maintenance train on the line near the town of Varamin.

Back in 2004, a train loaded with chemicals and fertilizer derailed and exploded along the same route, killing at least 300 people.

http://tinyurl.com/nuhg3qn

High speed train crash injures 25, 4 of them seriously in France

At least 25 people were injured, four of them seriously, when a high-speed TGV train collided with a regional express train in southern France on Thursday.

Among those badly injured were a baby, a 10-year-old boy, a woman and the driver of the regional express train.

The high-speed train carrying 178 people collided with the regional express, which had 70 passengers, near the town of Denguin, on the line between Pau and Bayonne in the south-west of the country, local officials said. The crash happened about 17 kilometres (10 miles) from Pau.

The worst casualties were in a “terrible state”, a rescue worker said.

Two of them were airlifted to hospital, police told Le Figaro newspaper.

Four of the injuries were described as serious but no fatalities were expected, Patrice Abbadie, Pyrenees-Atlantiques prefectural spokesman said.

A medical unit was set up at a nearby school. The TGV was travelling at less than 20 miles per hour when the collision occurred, but nevertheless the impact was “extremely violent”, according to a local journalist at the scene.

It was unclear why it was moving so slowly. One report said it had stopped briefly but was moving again at the time of the collision, which occurred when the regional train rammed the high-speed TGV train from behind.

Both trains were badly damaged, with the front of the express train crumpled and the rear of the TGV reduced to a mass of twisted metal.

Initial reports from witnesses said the regional express hit the back of the TGV at about 5.30pm.

Twelve ambulances and a helicopter were rushed to the site of the crash, where police and firefighters had already arrived and were helping to extricate the injured from the wreckage. Twelve ambulances and a helicopter were rushed The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but the French state rail operator, SNCF, launched an immediate investigation.

All train services between Pau and Bayonne were suspended after the crash.

The collision came just over a year after a rail crash in Brétigny, outside Paris, in which seven people died and dozens were injured.

A recent report into the crash highlighted the poor state of the French rail network, blaming poor maintenance checks.

The report, released on the anniversary of that crash, was compiled by engineers appointed by a court to investigate the cause of the accident.

It said the poor state of the track meant that a tragedy was inevitable.

The report said the train had been derailed by a faulty fishplate – a link between two pieces of rail. It gave details of about 100 defects on the track, several of which had been known months before the crash but had not been corrected.

http://tinyurl.com/qyhm9s3

Orange Aviation Alert issued due to Zhupanovsky volcano spewing ash

The Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Thursday issued a warning to all air companies about the hazard to aircraft in the area of the Zhupanovsky volcano in the eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula (north-eastern part of Eurasia). The orange aviation colour code has been assigned to the volcano as it spews ash to a height of six – 6.5 kilometres. Due to the hazard ash particles pose to aircraft engines, aviation services have been advised to change flight routes.

The ash plume from the volcano has stretched for 370 kilometres, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) told ITAR-TASS.

Zhupanovsky is a volcanic massif with four cones. Its previous eruptions were recorded in 1959 and 2013.

http://tinyurl.com/lry9xhv

At least 20 dead in Philippines after Typhoon Rammasun passes through

At least 20 people have been killed and seven others injured in a typhoon that ripped through the Philippines, government officials said Wednesday.

 

Typhoon Rammasun, which made landfall early Tuesday, blasted the island nation with 105-mph winds and heavy rain, knocking down power lines and leading to the collapse of some bridges and buildings.

Officials have begun to survey the damage as the worst of the storm moved west off the coast of the country and toward China.

 

The storm is the first typhoon to touch down in the Philippines since Typhoon Haiyan, which was one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. It devastated the country in 2013, leaving thousands dead.

 

The fatalities from Rammasun, which included an 11-month-old baby and were mostly caused by falling trees and debris, were concentrated mainly in the Calabarzon region, just south of the nation’s capital.

 

“We cannot give a very clear picture yet. We are still awaiting reports from our local governments and councils,” said Romina Marasigan, a spokeswoman for the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

 

Marasigan said more than 420,000 people have been evacuated throughout the country so far, and local governments are distributing relief and food packs to citizens.

 

Manila, where nearly 12 million people live, largely escaped major damage from Typhoon Rammasun, also known as Typhoon Glenda in the Philippines.

 

More than 20 people are dead after Typhoon Rammasun made landfall in the Philippines this week.

An aerial survey conducted over the capital city showed mostly downed power lines and damage to trees, but no major building collapses, Marasigan said.

 

Still, many areas remain without power. The storm knocked out service to more than 90% of customers, according to the Manila Electric Co. As of Wednesday evening, only 25% of customers had had their power restored.

 

Philippine officials cautioned residents in low-lying and mountainous areas about the possibility of landslides and flash flooding.

 

The U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said it expects Rammasun to intensify before hitting the Chinese island of Hainan and Vietnam.

http://tinyurl.com/kuxgylz

MASSIVE DIP SPIKES ON THE MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 18:30 & 19:15 hrs UTC

**URGENT**

  MASSIVE DIP SPIKES ON THE MAGNETOSPHERE @ APPROX 18:30 & 19:15 hrs UTC. FURTHER EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANO ACTIVITY & ADVERSE WEATHER PATTERNS WILL BE GREATLY INFLUENCED BY THE COSMIC RAYS STRIKING THE EARTH’S CORE

***BE ALERT***

MAGNITUDE 5.1 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391460

Subject To Change

Depth: 46 km

Distances: 709 km NW of Honiara, Solomon Islands / pop: 56,298 / local time: 05:08:37.0 2014-07-18
311 km SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea / pop: 26,273 / local time: 04:08:37.0 2014-07-18
114 km W of Panguna, Papua New Guinea / pop: 2,916 / local time: 04:08:37.0 2014-07-18

Malaysian passenger plane crashes in Ukraine near Russian border

A Malaysian flight with 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

“A Malaysia Airlines 777, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, started descending 50 kilometers before entering Russian airspace, and was subsequently found burning on the ground in Ukrainian territory,” Interfax quoted an aviation source as saying.

The plane disappeared from radar at 10,000 meters and then crashed near the city of Shakhtarsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the news agency reported, citing Ukrainian law enforcement authorities.

A group of emergencies service is on the way to the scene.

According to the Interfax, an advisor to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko wrote on his Facebook that “280 passengers and 15 crew members have been killed.”

There are also reports saying the plane was shot down by the eastern Ukrainian militias, which was immediately denied by the leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, as the Interfax reported.

http://tinyurl.com/q7bj57v

MAGNITUDE 6.0 SOUTHERN YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ak11328120#summary

Subject To Change

Depth: 14 km

Distances: 95km (59mi) NNW of Yakutat, Alaska
300km (186mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada
411km (255mi) NW of Juneau, Alaska
512km (318mi) E of Knik-Fairview, Alaska
523km (325mi) E of Anchorage, Alaska

MAGNITUDE 5.1 TAIWAN REGION

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=391361

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 136 km E of Kaohsiung, Taiwan / pop: 1,519,711 / local time: 14:11:51.5 2014-07-17
74 km SE of Taitung City, Taiwan / pop: 110,941 / local time: 14:11:51.5 2014-07-17

A VERY STRONG INFLUX OF ENERGY WILL STRIKE THE MAGNETOSPHERE FROM THE 19th JULY 2014

**EXTREMELY URGENT**

A VERY STRONG INFLUX OF ENERGY WILL STRIKE THE MAGNETOSPHERE FROM THE 19th JULY 2014. FURTHER EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANO ACTIVITY AND ADVERSE WEATHER WILL BE GREATLY INFLUENCED BY THE COSMIC RAYS STRIKING THE EARTH’S CORE

**BE ALERT**