|
Firefighting around the world |
|
|
|
Philip Mason provides a roundup of major activity and incidents tackled by firefighters around the globe
RUSSIA
Disasters Plague Russia
A series of disasters – resulting in the loss of over 150 lives – devastated the people of Russia in March.
The first occurred on March 17 when a plane crashed killing seven and injuring over 20 at the airport in the city of Samara in the centre of the country. Emergency services were mobilised following an occurrence during the plane’s descent to the runway of the airport, resulting in an imperfect landing. The Tu-134 airliner was carrying 57 people, having just completed the journey from Surgut.
Previous to the Samara incident, the most recent Russian airliner disaster took place in August of 2006, when a crash took the lives of 170 passengers in the Ukraine which in turned followed the deaths of 123 people in a runway incident in Irkutsk the previous month.
Monday March 19 of this year witnessed the deaths of at least 108 people in what has been reported as the worst mining tragedy in the country’s modern era. The event took place at the Ulyanovskaya mine in Siberia following a methane blast at an estimated depth of around 270 metres.
Fire and rescue services called to the incident reported that the situation within the mine was enormously treacherous, describing collapsed mine shafts and flooding. Despite this, over 90 people of the more-than-200 that were underground at the time of the explosion were rescued.
The next day saw over 60 die and 30 hospitalised following a fire in a home for the elderly and disabled in Kamyshevatskaya in the southern part of the country. According to sources, a large number of those that died were confined to their beds at the time, literally unable to flee from the effects of flames and smoke. Casualty ages ranged from mid-40s to mid-80s. Following the disaster, President Putin led the nation in a televised silence and declared Wednesday a national day of mourning to commemorate those that had died in the three tragedies.
Lastly, on the 25th of the month, fire and rescue services were called when a fire broke out at a striptease club in Moscow in the middle of the night. The fire at the 911 Club near Pushkin Square in the city killed ten through suffocation, and hospitalised four, while a total of 150 people were evacuated. Emergency services sealed off the area surrounding the club following the incident, and an investigation has been launched regarding the events.
The incident at the Moscow club, alongside the one at the disabled and old people’s home specifically highlights Russia’s recent problem with fire deaths. It is estimated that around 17,000 people died in fire-related incidents in the last year alone.
INDONESIA
Indonesian Aircraft Combusts
Indonesia witnessed another transport-related disaster on March 7 when one of the country’s airliners burst into flames as it attempted to land on the island of Java. At least 22 of the 140 passengers were killed following the plane’s descent to Yogyakarta airport, 270 miles south-east of Jakarta, at around 0700 local time. Approximately 60 of the survivors were taken to hospital for treatment for severe injuries or burns. According to eye-witnesses some passengers were able to get out through the plane’s emergency doors, with some making their escape into a nearby rice field.
The blaze gutted the vehicle, and took a reported two hours to extinguish. No cause has as yet been attributed to the disaster. The incident is only the latest in a line of occurrences related to Indonesia’s transport system. Two of the most recent significant events took place at the end of last year, when 400 died when a ferry sank on the Java Sea and a passenger plane was lost in the mountains of Sulawesi.
NIGERIA
Fuel Terror in Nigeria
At least 100 people were killed in a disaster involving a petrol tanker in Nigeria on March 26. Emergency services were mobilised to the remote Katugal village in the north west of the country when the 33,000-litre tanker crashed, spilling its contents. Despite warnings from the driver, immediately following the crash residents of the village began to scoop the petrol from the stricken vehicle, subsequently getting caught in a massive explosion. Nigeria has witnessed numerous incidents involving fuel-related explosions in recent times, largely due to the practice of ‘scooping’.
Previous to the disaster in March, two incidents in Lagos in December and May of 2006 killed 260 and 150 respectively when people attempted to salvage petrol from leaking fuel pipelines. The most devastating disaster meanwhile came in 1998 in the village of Jesse, which saw the loss of 1,200 lives.
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh Slum Blaze
Fire and rescue services attended a large fire in Chittagong in Bangladesh on March 6. The blaze took four hours to extinguish and killed at least 21 people – including ten children – and injured a further ten as it spread through the Boubazar slum in the centre of the city. The majority of the victims were asleep when the fire broke out.
Boubazar is a crowded area of one of the largest and most heavily-populated cities in Bangladesh. According to reports, alongside the loss of life suffered in the fire, 100 huts were also destroyed, leaving more than 500 people without a place to live. Reports from rescue workers suggest that the rescue effort was hampered by the slum’s narrow streets, which served to delay the arrival of fire appliances at the scene. The cause of the fire is not known at the time of writing, and an investigation has been launched.
|
