Wanderlust

Tag: Disaster Accident

  • Munilla Construction Management, Figg Bridge Engineers involved in collapses before FIU

    Two companies involved in building the bridge that collapsed Thursday at Florida International University have been accused of shoddy work resulting in bridge collapses in recent years.

    Two companies involved in building the bridge that collapsed Thursday at Florida International University have been accused of shoddy work resulting in bridge collapses in recent years.

    According to a report in the Miami New Times, lead contractor Munilla Construction Management was sued less than two weeks ago over the collapse of a “makeshift bridge” built at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as part of a major airport expansion.

    According to a lawsuit filed March 5 in Miami-Dade Civil Court, TSA worker Jose Perez was traversing the bridge last October when it “broke under [his] weight.”

    SEE ALSO: Company that built collapsed FIU bridge offers ‘thoughts and prayers’

    “They built this makeshift bridge in the area where all the employees work, and it was poorly done. He fell and hurt himself really badly,” Tesha Allison, a lawyer representing Mr. Perez, told the New Times. “He had multiple broken bones and damage to his spine… They did shoddy work.”

    The company that designed the bridge — Figg Bridge Engineers — had an even worse accident on a bigger project happened almost six years ago in Virginia, according to the New Times.

    Four workers were injured in June 2012 when Figg-assembled span fell apart, causing “a 90-ton concrete portion of the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge to drop 40 feet onto railroad tracks below,” New Times wrote.

    State regulators called it luck that nobody was killed.

    “They were fortunate that the injuries were not more serious,” Jay Withrow, director of the legal support division for the Department of Labor and Industry, told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

    Mr. Withrow’s department fined Figg $28,000 for several violations of safety rules, though the company’s manager on that project called the violations unrelated to the completed bridge’s stability.

    “The incident that occurred during construction was a construction equipment property damage issue that had nothing to do with the final bridge,” W. Jay Rohleder told the Virginian-Pilot.

  • Miami pedestrian bridge collapse is a homicide case but doesn’t mean criminal charges: Police

    Miami-Dade Police Department Chief Juan Perez said Friday that the bridge collapse in Florida is a homicide investigation, but added that doesn’t mean there will be criminal charges.

    Miami-Dade Police Department Chief Juan Perez said Friday that the bridge collapse in Florida is a homicide investigation, but added that doesn’t mean there will be criminal charges.

    “We’re not there yet. We don’t even know if it’s going to lead to that,” Mr. Perez said at a press conference in Miami.

    The pedestrian bridge collapsed Thursday afternoon and left six people dead at the last count. Recovery efforts are still underway, but officials said they are not hopeful there will be any more survivors. The newly installed bridge was on Florida International University’s campus in Miami.

    SEE ALSO: Two companies in FIU bridge construction accused of ‘shoddy’ work in previous collapses

    National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the agency brought a full investigative team to the area Thursday night and said their investigation differs from what local authorities are looking at.

    “We’re charged by Congress to investigate transportation accidents, to determine the cause, [and] to make recommendations so that something like this does not happen in the future,” Mr. Sumwalt said.

  • No survivors in U.S. helicopter crash in western Iraq

    The entire crew of a U.S. Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter were killed when their aircraft crashed in western Iraq, American commanders with the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State in t

    The entire crew of a U.S. Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter were killed when their aircraft crashed in western Iraq, American commanders with the U.S.-led operation against the Islamic State in the country confirmed Friday.

    The seven-member crew of the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter were conducting an operation near Al Qaim in Anbar Governorate, nearly 250 miles northwest of Baghdad along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

    “All personnel aboard were killed in the crash,” said Brig. Gen. Jonathan P. Braga, director of operations, said in a command statement.

    The operation was reportedly in support of the coalition effort to battle the terror group known as ISIS in Iraq, according to a statement issued by command officials at Operation Inherent Resolve.

    While the incident is still under investigation, there are no indications the helicopter was brought down as a result of enemy fire, Gen. Braga added in the statement issued early Friday.

    “This tragedy reminds us of the risks our men and women face every day in service of our nations. We are thinking of the loved ones of these service members today,” Gen. Braga said in Monday’s statement, refusing to disclose the identities of the slain service members.

  • Dog dies in overhead bin on United Airlines flight

    A dog died on a United Airlines plane after a flight attendant ordered its owner to put the animal in the plane’s overhead bin.

    A dog died on a United Airlines plane after a flight attendant ordered its owner to put the animal in the plane’s overhead bin.

    United said Tuesday that it took full responsibility for the incident on the Monday night flight from Houston to New York.

    In a statement, United called it “a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin.”

    The dog was in a small pet carrier designed to fit under an airline seat.

    Passengers reported that they heard barking during the flight and didn’t know that the dog had died until the plane landed at LaGuardia Airport.

    Passenger Maggie Gremminger posted a photo on Twitter of the dog’s owner and children after the flight. “I want to help this woman and her daughter. They lost their dog because of an (at) united flight attendant. My heart is broken,” she wrote.

    United spokesman Charles Hobart said the flight attendant told the dog’s owner to put the pet carrier in the overhead bin because the bag was partly obstructing the aisle. It is unclear why the carrier was not placed under a seat, he said.

    Hobart said United is investigating the incident and talking to the flight attendant, whom he declined to identify. He said the airline refunded the tickets purchased for the dog owner and her two children and the fee that they paid to bring a pet on board – typically $200.

    The cause of the dog’s death was not immediately known. The spokesman said Chicago-based United offered to pay for a necropsy.

    Last year, 18 animals died while being transported on United – there were six cases on all other U.S. carriers combined, according to the Department of Transportation.

    United has suffered a string of incidents that generated bad publicity in the last two years, including the violent removal of a passenger from a United Express plane to make room for a crew member, and the death of a giant rabbit – its Iowa owners sued the airline, which they said cremated the animal to destroy evidence about the cause of death.

  • Violence halts rare aid delivery to Syria’s eastern Ghouta

    The first aid delivery in weeks to reach the besieged eastern suburbs of Damascus was cut short after Syrian government forces began shelling the area while aid workers were still inside, a local coun

    BEIRUT (AP) — The first aid delivery in weeks to reach the besieged eastern suburbs of Damascus was cut short after Syrian government forces began shelling the area while aid workers were still inside, a local council said on Tuesday.

    Monday’s shipment was the first to enter eastern Ghouta amid weeks of a crippling siege and a government assault that has killed hundreds of civilians since February 18.

    The International Committee for the Red Cross confirmed that its joint convoy with the United Nations had to leave before offloading all its supplies on account of the deteriorating security situation.

    Ingy Sedky, the ICRC spokeswoman in Syria, said most of the aid from a 46-truck convoy was delivered to the town of Douma in eastern Ghouta but the mission was cut short before the rest of the supplies could be unloaded.

    Iyad Abdelaziz, a member of the Douma Local Council, said nine aid trucks had to leave the area after government shelling and airstrikes intensified in the evening.

    At least 50 civilians were killed Monday by shelling and airstrikes in eastern Ghouta as the Syrian government, backed by Russia’s military, showed no signs of easing its assault on the beleaguered region, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution passed Feb. 25 demanding a 30-day cease-fire.

    The convoy that reached Douma on Monday carried only a fraction of the relief needed for the estimated 400,000 people trapped under the government’s siege. The U.N.’s humanitarian office said the convoy carried food for 27,500 people.

    But it said the Syrian government offloaded 70 percent of the health supplies, including trauma and surgical kits and insulin, before allowing the convoy to enter eastern Ghouta.

    The government routinely removes lifesaving medical supplies from aid convoys, in a pattern of denying such aid to civilians living in opposition areas. U.N. officials have complained for years about such actions by the Syrian government.

  • Collapsed building in Poland may have been blown up

    An “intentional” attack could be the reason an apartment building collapsed in western Poland, leaving five people dead and 21 injured, a prosecutors’ spokeswoman said Monday.

    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — An “intentional” attack could be the reason an apartment building collapsed in western Poland, leaving five people dead and 21 injured, a prosecutors’ spokeswoman said Monday.

    The building with 18 apartments collapsed early Sunday in the western city of Poznan, most probably as a result of an explosion, authorities said.

    Magdalena Mazur-Prus, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors’ office, would not confirm unofficial media reports, including by the state PAP agency, that one of the victims had been murdered before the collapse and that explosives might have been used to cover up the crime.

    Still, she would not exclude that the building could have faced an “intentional” attack.

    The news outlet wPolityce.pl said, citing anonymous sources, that a woman had been decapitated some time before the building crumbled.

    Earlier Monday, firefighters found the body of a fifth victim in the rubble and rescued a little dog. Rescuers with trained dogs have been searching in sub-freezing temperatures through the debris since the building collapsed.

    Mazur-Prus said three women and two men had died in the destroyed building. Forensics experts were performing post-mortems.

    The explosion of a gas cylinder was considered to be a possible reason why the building was destroyed. Gas service to the site was cut off and the remaining part of the building was closed.

    City authorities said 21 people were injured in the blast, four of whom remain hospitalized.

    Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki sent his sympathies to the families of the victims and wishes of a quick recovery to the injured.

  • Plan to open drilling off Pacific Northwest draws opposition

    The Trump administration’s proposal to expand offshore drilling off the Pacific Northwest coast is drawing vocal opposition in a region where multimillion-dollar fossil fuel projects have been blocked

    SEATTLE (AP) – The Trump administration’s proposal to expand offshore drilling off the Pacific Northwest coast is drawing vocal opposition in a region where multimillion-dollar fossil fuel projects have been blocked in recent years.

    The governors of Washington and Oregon, many in the state’s congressional delegation and other top state officials have criticized Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s plan to open 90 percent of the nation’s offshore reserves to development by private companies.

    They say it jeopardizes the environment and the health, safety and economic well-being of coastal communities.

    Opponents spoke out Monday at a hearing that a coalition of groups organized in Olympia, Washington, on the same day as an “open house” hosted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

    Attorney General Bob Ferguson told dozens gathered – some wearing yellow hazmat suits and holding “Stop Trump’s Big Oil Giveways” signs – that he will sue if the plan is approved.

    “What this administration has done with this proposal is outrageous,” he said.

    Oil and gas exploration and drilling is not permitted in state waters.

    In announcing the plan to vastly open federal waters to oil and gas drilling, Zinke has said responsible development of offshore energy resources would boost jobs and economic security while providing billions of dollars to fund conservation along U.S. coastlines.

    His plan proposes 47 leases off the nation’s coastlines from 2019 to 2024, including one off Washington and Oregon.

    Oil industry groups have praised the plan, while environmental groups say it would harm oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life.

    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee met with Zinke over the weekend while in D.C. for the National Governors Association conference and again urged him to remove Washington from the plan, Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee said Monday.

    There hasn’t been offshore oil drilling in Washington or Oregon since the 1960s.

    There hasn’t been much interest in offshore oil and gas exploration in recent decades though technology has improved, said Washington’s state geologist David Norman.

    “It’s a very active place tectonically. We have a really complicated tough geology. It’s got really rough weather,” Norman said.

    There’s more potential for natural gas than oil off the Pacific Northwest, said BOEM spokesman John Romero. A 2016 assessment estimates undiscovered recoverable oil at fractions of the U.S. total.

    Proponents have backed the idea as a way to provide affordable energy, meet growing demands and to promote the U.S.’s “energy dominance.” Emails to representatives with the Western States Petroleum Association and the American Petroleum Institute were not immediately returned Monday.

    Sixteen members of Washington and Oregon’s congressional delegation last month wrote to Zinke to oppose the plan, saying gas drilling off the Northwest coastline poses a risk to the state’s recreational, fishing and maritime economy.

    Kyle Deerkop, who manages an oyster farm in Grays Harbor for Oregon-based Pacific Seafood, worried an oil spill would put jobs and the livelihood of people at risk.

    “We need to be worried,” he said in an interview, recalling a major 1988 oil spill in Grays Harbor. “It’s too great a risk.”

    Tribal members, business owners and environmentalists spoke at the so-called people’s hearing Monday organized by Stand Up To Oil coalition.

    The groups wanted to allow people to speak into a microphone before a crowd because the federal agency’s open house didn’t allow that. Instead the open house allowed people to directly talk to staff or submit comments using laptops provided.

    ___

    AP Photographer Ted S. Warren contributed to this report.