Tag Archives: disasters

The New York Times reports: Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision. The controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were …

The Hill reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has grounded the Army battalion involved in the operation of the Blackhawk helicopter with three soldiers that crashed into a passenger plane with more than 60 people on Wednesday night. Hegseth, in a video released by the Defense Department Thursday morning, said the 12th Aviation Battalion had been conducting an annual …

The Associated Press reports: The search for the missing submersible on an expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic neared the critical 96-hour mark Thursday when breathable air is expected to run out, reaching a vital moment in the intense effort to save the five people aboard. The Titan submersible was estimated to have about a four-day supply of …

Bloomberg News reports: President Joe Biden instructed federal agents responding to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, to go door-to-door to conduct health surveys with impacted families, a White House official said Monday. Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited approximately 350 household over the weekend, according to …

NBC News reports: The Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping enforcement action against Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, compelling the rail company to conduct and pay for cleanup actions associated with the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. “The Norfolk Southern train derailment has upended the lives of East Palestine families, and EPA’s order …

Bloomberg News reports: The catastrophic structural failure that led to the collapse of the Champlain Towers condominium outside Miami in June was linked to construction of a luxury high-rise development next door, according to a lawsuit filed by families of people killed in the disaster. Developers of the Renzo Piano-designed Eighty Seven Park were improperly allowed to build higher and …

The New York Post reports: Fans injured in the Astroworld tragedy, along with the families of some of the dead, have filed more than 100 lawsuits against Travis Scott and Live Nation. Nine people died and more than 300 were hurt, including a 9-year-old boy who was left in a coma, when the first night of what was to be …

The BBC reports: Officials have blamed a gender reveal party for one of several wildfires raging in the US state of California. A “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device” at the event sparked the El Dorado fire, which has now spread over 7,000 acres. It is one of more than two dozen blazes across the state. California is currently experiencing a record heatwave, …

USA Today reports: The Ukrainian jet that crashed after taking off from a Tehran airport probably was shot down by an Iranian missile, a London-based global information firm says. “Photographs purportedly taken near the site of the crash and circulated on social media appear to show the guidance section of an SA-15 Gauntlet short-range, surface to air missile, which landed …

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 …

Reuters reports: An Aeromexico plane crashed in the northern state of Durango on Tuesday, television images showed, with the state’s governor saying the accident happened close to an airport. The Mexican airline wrote in a post on Twitter that it was aware of reports of a crash in Durango and was seeking to verify the information and obtain details. Governor …

The Associated Press reports: The state’s top prosecutor on Friday charged a speeding Amtrak engineer with causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and other crimes in a deadly 2015 derailment that came after he accelerated to 106 mph on a 50 mph curve. Prosecutors said they were in talks with engineer Brandon Bostian’s attorney to have him surrender on the charges. …

NBC News reports: A massive fire caused a bridge to collapse Thursday night on Interstate 85 in Atlanta, one of the busiest stretches of roadway in America, backing up rush hour traffic for several miles and creating what the mayor called a long-term “transportation crisis.” The huge fire was reported at 6:21 p.m. ET underneath the bridge on the northbound …

NBC News reports: Two juveniles were arrested Wednesday on aggravated arson charges in the Tennessee wildfires that killed 14 people, and more charges are possible, authorities said Wednesday. The suspects weren’t identified because they’re minors. Authorities would say only that they are residents of Tennessee but not of Sevier County, where the fire caused significant damage and forced the evacuations …

Oakland fire officials have begun identifying some of the victims in Friday’s warehouse disaster. Erin Rook reports at LGBTQ Nation: Transgender musician Cash Askew, 22, of dream-pop band Them Are Us Too was one of 11 victims identified by authorities as of Monday morning. According to Scout Wolfcave, founder of the Trans Assistance Project, two other trans women are also …