Disaster

The Guardian reports: At least 20 people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in a crush during a church service at a stadium in northern Tanzania, a government official said. Hundreds of people packed a stadium on Saturday evening in Moshi town, near the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, and were crushed as they rushed to get anointed …

The Guardian reports: A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck in the sea south of Cuba, triggering a tsunami warning for Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, but tsunami warnings were quickly issued. The quake also hit the Cayman Islands, leaving cracked roads and what appeared to be sewage spilling from …

The Associated Press reports: The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and eight others that crashed into a rugged hillside outside Los Angeles was flying in foggy conditions considered dangerous enough that local police agencies grounded their choppers. The helicopter plunged into a steep hillside at about 9:45 a.m. Sunday with an impact that scattered debris over an area the size of …

The New York Post reports: A fire tore through an apartment building on the Upper East Side early Tuesday, injuring 26 people, including a 1-week-old baby and four firefighters, officials and reports said.  The fire erupted in a kitchen on the 24th floor of the 41-story building at 515 E. 72nd St. just before 2 a.m., officials said. The residents …

Agence France-Presse reports: Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people crashed on Wednesday, just minutes after taking off from the Iranian capital’s main airport, turning farmland on the outskirts of Tehran into fields of flaming debris and killing all on board. The crash of Ukraine International Airlines came hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi bases housing U.S. …

CNN reports: A woman has died after an explosion at a gender reveal party in Iowa, authorities say. The 56-year-old woman, unnamed by authorities, was pronounced dead at the scene Saturday in the city of Knoxville, according to a press release from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. The subsequent investigation found “a gender reveal announcement resulted in the explosion” — …

San Diego’s Fox News affiliate reports: 34 people are dead following a boat fire off the Ventura County coast early Monday morning, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. Initial reports said the U.S. Coast Guard had launched multiple rescue assets in conjunction with local agencies to assist more than 30 people in distress on a boat near Santa Cruz …

The New York Times reports: After the plane skidded to a stop on Sunday at Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russian news media reported that some passengers had insisted on grabbing their carry-on bags before leaving the burning wreckage — a violation of basic emergency protocol that would have slowed the evacuation. Videos posted online showed people walking away from the jet …

The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Australia’s aviation safety authority has banned all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from flying to or from the country in the wake of two deadly plane crashes involving the brand new aircraft in the past five months. In what is a major blow for the aerospace giant and an unusual split from American aviation regulators, the …

Business Insider reports: The US’s top air-safety regulator has said the plane model involved in Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, the second such disaster in five months, is safe to fly. The Federal Administration said in a Continued Airworthiness Notification to the International Community (CANIC) on Monday evening that Ethiopian’s crash, which killed all 157 passengers on board, cannot yet be …

CNN reports: Airlines in multiple countries have suspended the use of Boeing’s new 737 MAX 8 aircraft over concerns about its safety, after an Ethiopian Airlines flight of the same model crashed Sunday killing all 157 people on board. Flight ET302 to Nairobi had just taken off from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa Sunday when it reported technical problems …

The BBC reports: An Ethiopian Airlines jet has crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board. The airline said 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya. It said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, eight Americans and seven British nationals were among the passengers. The crash happened at …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Sarah Palin and her family are safe following two intense earthquakes in Alaska, however, as she tweeted Friday, her residence is not. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 7.0 magnitude quake near Anchorage, Alaska, at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Five minutes later, another, measuring at 5.8, struck again nearby. According to seismologists, both earthquakes had “epicenters …

The Arizona Daily Star reports: The Sawmill Fire is shown erupting from an exploding target — with blue smoke curling off the fire’s fringes — in a video just obtained by the Arizona Daily Star. The 49-second video clearly shows the fire starting in yellow grassland near a stand of mesquite trees from the exploding target on state land in …

The Associated Press reports: At least 63 people are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the victims of the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century. The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and don’t …

The New York Times reports: It is a measure of how frequent and deadly wildfires have become in California that identifying badly burned remains has become an area of expertise. Once again cadaver dogs have been summoned, forensic dental experts will follow and coroners and anthropologists are using their experience from previous wildfires to locate the victims. At least 48 …

Forbes reports: Residents of the city of Malibu, Calif. are under mandatory evacuation orders Friday as the Woolsley Fire heads for populated areas along the Pacific Coast Highway (aka U.S. Route 101) and the Pacific Ocean. The Woolsey Fire jumped the 101 freeway early Friday as one of three massive wildfires that ignited in the Golden State in just the …

The Sacramento Bee reports: An uncontrolled wildfire raced across the Butte County community of Paradise Thursday afternoon, destroying a large swath of downtown and sending residents fleeing on foot past burning homes, businesses and a local church. “The whole town’s on fire,” said Scott Lotter, a town councilman who evacuated with his family. “It’s pretty grim.” By Thursday evening, the …

The Associated Press reports: Search-and-rescue teams began finding bodies in and around Mexico Beach, the ground-zero town nearly obliterated by Hurricane Michael, an official said Friday as the scale of the storm’s fury became ever clearer. But he gave no details on the number of dead. The death toll across the South stood at 13, not counting any victims discovered …

The Albany Times-Union reports: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the limousine involved in Saturday’s deadly crash in Schoharie failed an inspection last month. Cuomo, talking to reporters Monday at New York’s Columbus Day Parade, also said the driver did not have the proper license to operate the vehicle. The limousine failed a state inspection last month and was not supposed to …