Archive | September 18, 2015
Massive fuel tanker explosion kills more than 100 in South Sudan, Africa
More than 100 people are reported to have been killed in South Sudan after a fuel tanker exploded.
A local government official, Charles Kisagna, said at least 100 people were killed and a further 50 people were injured in the blast in Maridi in the country’s heavily rural Western Equatoria state when the truck veered off the road.
The local county commissioner, Wilson Thomas Yanga, told the BBC that the death toll had risen to 176 and said officials were concerned that the true number of wounded was not currently known as many are believed to have fled the scene.
Mr Kisagna said local hospitals had been overwhelmed by the injured saying: “We don’t have medical equipment and these people may not survive because we do not have the facilities to treat the highly burnt people.”
A local doctor told Sudanese radio station Radio Tamazuj that they were running out of basic medical supplies like oxygen and pain killers.
Layal Horanieh, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in the South Sudanese capital of Juba, said the aid group had sent two burn kits to Maridi, each with enough equipment to treat at least 50 patients.
According to local officials, the vehicle was “full of petrol” which started to leak after the crash.
The driver is reported to have walked to the next village to ask for help and locals began siphoning off fuel. Someone is believed to have lit a cigarette, sparking an explosion.
Around 60 people, including women and children, were burned to death on the spot, Radio Tamazuj reports.
South Sudan, which officially broke away from Sudan in 2011 and has been mired in conflict since December 2013, has no tarmac roads and fuel tankers have to travel along potholed surfaces through desperately poor communities.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the incident was “an accident” and had nothing to do with the ongoing conflict.
Deadly fuel tanker explosions are common in East Africa, where poor residents living near highways converge around fuel tankers involved in accidents to steal gas and then sell it.
Courtesy of independent.co.uk
MAGNITUDE 2.9 CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN REGION
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=460124
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 251 km NW of Laâyoune / El Aaiún, Western Sahara / pop: 188,084 / local time: 22:11:01.3 2015-09-18
136 km NE of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain / pop: 381,847 / local time: 22:11:01.3 2015-09-18
70 km NW of El Cotillo, Spain / pop: 1,190 / local time: 22:11:01.3 2015-09-18
Fire at hotel forces over 1000 pilgrims to evacuate in Mecca
More than 1,000 pilgrims have been evacuated and two have been injured during a fire at a hotel in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The incident occurred just six days after a deadly crane collapse at the pilgrimage site.
Saudi officials say the fire erupted on the eighth floor of the 11-story hotel in the city’s Aziziya neighborhood, Associated Press reports. Firefighters managed to rescue two injured pilgrims, with a further 1,000 being evacuated unharmed, the civil defense agency said.
Courtesy of rt.com
Nigerian Banks Halt Lending To Each Other
When the head of the central bank utters the two words “don’t panic” you know the economy, currency, and financial system is in trouble…and that’s just what Nigerian central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele just did.
Following government intervention to sweep cash from local to central accounts, banks have panicked. As Reuters reports, overnight interbank lending rates spiked to 200%, which Emefiele opined was “a momentary action… just sentiment,” but the interbank Naira market was paralyzed for a third day on Thursday, with banks unwilling to lend to each other, even when rates fell back to 20-30%
To read more, go to http://tinyurl.com/q5alfj9
MAGNITUDE 5.5 NORTHERN MID ATLANTIC RIDGE
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=460085
1448 km NE of Paramaribo, Suriname / pop: 223,757 / local time: 12:59:41.2 2015-09-18
1491 km E of Bridgetown, Barbados / pop: 98,511 / local time: 11:59:41.2 2015-09-18
Subject To Change
Depth: 2 km
Distances:
1341 km NE of Cayenne, French Guiana / pop: 61,550 / local time: 12:59:41.2 2015-09-181448 km NE of Paramaribo, Suriname / pop: 223,757 / local time: 12:59:41.2 2015-09-18
1491 km E of Bridgetown, Barbados / pop: 98,511 / local time: 11:59:41.2 2015-09-18
MAGNITUDE 6.3 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us20003l5d#general_summary
93km (58mi) NW of Vina del Mar, Chile
94km (58mi) W of La Ligua, Chile
102km (63mi) NW of Quilpue, Chile
188km (117mi) NW of Santiago, Chile
Subject To Change
Depth: 8 km
Distances:
90km (56mi) NW of Valparaiso, Chile93km (58mi) NW of Vina del Mar, Chile
94km (58mi) W of La Ligua, Chile
102km (63mi) NW of Quilpue, Chile
188km (117mi) NW of Santiago, Chile

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