Small Single-Engine Airplane Hit by Train After Going Down on Tracks in Pacoima
Source: KNBC
A small single-engine airplane went down in Pacoima on Sunday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The plane went down on or near train tracks next to the Whiteman Airport around 2:09 p.m., the LAFD said.
The only person in the plane was the pilot, who was pulled from the plane by bystanders before fire officials arrived.
Those bystanders pulled the pilot from the plane just before an incoming train hit the wreck, which was on the tracks, according to the Los Angeles Police Department Valley Bureau.
Biden Notes Benefit of Recently Passed Infrastructure Funding Bill After Visiting the Site of Collapsed Bridge in Pittsburgh bySarah Kolinovsky,Alisa Wiersema,Libby Cathey, and Ben Gittleson
January 28, 2022
(ABC News) Just hours ahead of President Joe Biden traveling to Pittsburgh to stress improvements needed for the nation's infrastructure, a bridge in the area collapsed on Friday morning, coincidentally providing Biden an opportunity to tout how his bipartisan infrastructure law provides funding for badly needed repairs.
Before his scheduled afternoon remarks at Carnegie Mellon University, Biden stopped by the collapsed bridge near Pittsburg's Frick's Park. Ten people were reported injured in the collapse, according to local authorities.
He said the collapsed bridge was a prime example of one of the thousands of bridges in need of repair across Pennsylvania -- bridges that would benefit from the billions of dollars in his infrastructure law, including $1.6 billion for Pennsylvania to repair bridges.
"It had been rated in poor condition for the past 10 years," Biden said in prepared remarks. "What you all know, if you don't you should know, there are another 3,300 bridges here in Pennsylvania, some of which are just as old, and just as decrepit -- decrepit condition as that bridge was, including here in Pittsburgh, the city of bridges."
"We've got to get it on with it," Biden added. "We got to move. The next time, we don't need headlines saying that someone was killed when the next bridge collapses."
(Axios) Roughly a third of the nation's 620,000 bridges — 36% — need major repair work or replacement, a new report finds.
Why it matters: Deferred maintenance, climate change and heavier-than-anticipated traffic are causing bridges to wear out earlier than expected, and engineers say not enough is being done to keep drivers safe.
Driving the news: More than 43,500 U.S. bridges are in poor enough condition to be deemed "structurally deficient," according to the report by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Those bridges are crossed 167.5 million times a day.
Chunks of concrete fall from bridges with some regularity, and routine inspections often reveal problems that prompt authorities to shut down lanes of traffic or close off a bridge to heavy vehicles, to reduce the weight burden.
At least nine dead in Texas bus collision involving student athletes
Source: BBC
At least nine people are dead after a vehicle carrying members of a New Mexico university's golf team collided with a pickup truck in Texas, the school said.
Nine passengers including the team's coach were on the bus involved in the fatal crash, the University of the Southwest said in a statement.
Two passengers from the bus are in critical condition.
A driver and passenger in the pickup were also both killed.
...
"For unknown reasons, the Dodge pickup- drove into the northbound lane and struck the Ford passenger van head-on," Mr Blanco said. "Both vehicles caught fire and burned."
China Eastern Airlines Boeing jet crashes in China, state media says
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) aircraft with 133 people on board crashed in mountains in south China on Monday while on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, state media reported.
The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said. Rescue was on its way, it said.
There was no word on the cause of the crash of the plane, a 6-year-old 737-800 aircraft, according to Flightradar24.
The China Eastern flight from Kunming to Guangzhou departed at 1:11 p.m. (0511 GMT), FlightRadar24 data showed. The flight tracking ended at 2:22 p.m. (0622 GMT) an altitude of 3225 feet with a speed of 376 knots.
Boston parking garage under construction partially collapses
Source: Associated Press
BOSTON — Several floors of a downtown Boston parking garage that was under construction collapsed Saturday evening, fire officials said. Officials did not immediately confirm whether there were any injuries.
The garage, located in the Haymarket area, came down after a crane on the top part of the structure collapsed on areas that were under construction, crews on scene told WCVB-TV.
The collapse caused multiple floors of the garage to fall, the television station reported.
Boston police officers, firefighters and emergency service personnel, and state police troopers all responded to assist.
Snow Squall Leads to 50-Car Pileup on Pennsylvania Highway
Source: NY Times
By Neil Vigdor and Johnny Diaz
A blinding snow squall led to a fiery pileup on a Pennsylvania interstate on Monday morning that involved at least 50 vehicles, including several tractor-trailers, the authorities said.
The chain reaction happened around 10:36 a.m. on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County about 50 miles northeast of Harrisburg, Pa., where an early spring burst of wintry weather overwhelmed drivers in the northbound lanes.
About 20 people were taken to hospitals, John Blickley, a spokesman for the Schuylkill County Office of Emergency Management, said on Monday. He did not know of any fatalities and did not have information about the severity of the injuries.
“The road conditions when the squall came through contributed to the accident,” Mr. Blickley said.
Philadelphia firefighter killed in building collapse; 5 other people rescued
Source: CNN
A Philadelphia firefighter has died Saturday morning in the collapse
of a building following a fire, a city fire official said.
Five others who were trapped -- four firefighters and a licensing and
inspections worker -- were rescued from the collapse, 1st Deputy Fire
Commissioner Craig Murphy said.
"So far, several were rescued and transported to hospitals," reads the
Philadelphia Fire Department's tweet, posted at 6:05 a.m. ET. The
department still was working to rescue others, it added.
The collapse at 300 W. Indiana St. in the city's Fairhill neighborhood
happened during a fire response, the department said. Details about a
fire, the collapse or what the building housed weren't immediately
available.
At least 50 injured and multiple people killed when Amtrak train derails in Missouri
Source: CNN
(CNN) There are multiple fatalities and at least 50 people who were injured after an Amtrak train derailed Monday in Missouri, Eric McKenzie, the superintendent with Chariton County Ambulance Service, told CNN. Amtrak said in a statement the train collided with a dump truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at about 1:42 p.m. CT.
Eight cars and two locomotives left the track "after striking a truck that was obstructing a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri," company officials said in an updated statement. Amtrak had said earlier that there were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members onboard the train. Three people are being taken to University Hospital in Columbia, according to a hospital spokesperson. The conditions of the patients is unknown.
Robert Nightingale, a passenger with a sleeper car, said he was taking a nap when he heard something. "It all happened like slow motion. It started to rock and, and rock, and then flicker, and then it just all of a sudden -- all this dust was through my window," Nightingale, who is from Taos, New Mexico, told CNN. He said the train fell over on the side that his compartment was on.
Nightingale, who was not injured, said he couldn't get through the window, which was blocked by dirt, so he grabbed his backpack and climbed into the hallway. Then he moved into a neighboring room where he found a way to climb out and onto the side of the train.
He said some people helped others reach the ground where he and others walked to the front of the train. He said the truck looked like it had big boulders in it. "It hit something major to cause ... every car to go off," he said. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City. The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago.
Searchers rescue 4th person from China ship, 12 bodies found
Source: AP
By ZEN SOO
HONG KONG (AP) — Rescue teams searching for missing crew members from a Chinese engineering ship that sank over the weekend saved a fourth person on Monday and recovered 12 bodies, Chinese maritime authorities said.
Officials said the crew member rescued by a Chinese navy ship on Monday was in stable condition. Three other members of the 30-person crew were rescued on Saturday.
The bodies were found about 50 nautical miles (90 kilometers) southwest of the area in which the vessel Fujing 001 sank, authorities in the southeastern province of Guangdong said. Officials were attempting to identify the bodies.
The search for the remaining crew members was continuing.
Copter crashes, kills 4 during severe New Mexico fire season
Source: AP
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Evidence indicates that a helicopter that crashed in northern New Mexico after helping fight a wildfire over the weekend descended at a fast rate, with the craft ending up mangled and in pieces after first hitting the ground upright, the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.
The agency has completed its initial documentation of the deadly crash, but it will likely take weeks for investigators to determine the cause. Authorities were in the process of removing the wreckage from a remote area south of the community of Las Vegas to a secure location where it could be examined further.
The helicopter was carrying three people with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and a county firefighter when it went down Saturday evening while returning from its firefighting mission. County officials on Monday called the four men heroes.
“It is with a sad and broken heart that we think of the heroes we lost this weekend,” Sheriff Manuel Gonzales and Fire Chief Greg Perez said in a joint statement. “The reality is that we will likely grieve this loss forever. Each of these heroes died doing what they loved, serving others. They paid the ultimate price, and we are forever grateful to these men for the love and passion they had as first responders.”
5 killed, 9 injured in fiery crash as car runs light, slams into cross traffic in Windsor Hills
Source: ABC 7
WINDSOR HILLS, Calif. (KABC) -- Five people were killed and nine others were injured in a violent, fiery crash involving multiple vehicles Thursday in Windsor Hills, officials say.
The crash was caused by a Mercedes coupe that was speeding south on La Brea Avenue and ran a red light, slamming into several cars at Slauson Avenue around 1:30 p.m., according to the CHP.
Surveillance video from a nearby business shows cross traffic on Slauson moving west through the intersection as the Mercedes speeds into the frame at full velocity, with no indication it slowed down at all before slamming into multiple vehicles. Flames immediately break out as the mangled vehicles are still skidding through the intersection, coming to a halt in front of a gas station.
At least six vehicles were involved in the crash and three of them burst into flames after the impact.
Indian police file homicide charges, arrest 9, as bridge toll passes 134
Source: Washington Post
NEW DELHI — Indian officials filed homicide charges Monday against the operators of a suspension bridge and arrested nine people after at least 134 people died when the recently renovated footbridge collapsed, sending tourists plunging into the Machchhu River in western Gujarat state.
In addition to the dead, there are still a number of people missing as of midday Monday, Ashok Yadav, a Gujarat police official, told The Washington Post. Some outlets, citing unnamed officials, reported the death toll could be higher, exceeding 140. The accident took place in Morbi, a riverside town known for its Victorian-era bridge and old town, and came amid a holiday rush. Tourists have been celebrating Diwali as well as the Gujarati New Year, which fell this year on Oct. 26.
Videos from the scene showed a crowd snapping smartphone photos from the crowded bridge on Sunday evening when it began to sway violently before collapsing. Some officials estimated up to 400 people were packed onto the bridge — far more than the safe limit — when the suspension cables buckled and the 760-foot span gave away.
Faruk Aadam Sandhi, who lives in Morbi and lost his 18-year old cousin Riyaz Rehman Bhatti in the accident, arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the bridge collapsed. Some visitors were still clinging onto the crumpled bridge barely above the waterline, crying out for rescue. Others crawled along its railings back to shore. More were lost in the water.
Investigation underway over midair crash at Dallas air show
Source: AP
By JUAN A. LOZANO, JOSH FUNK and LM OTERO
DALLAS (AP) — A national transportation official probing the cause of a midair crash of two historic military planes during an air show that left six people dead said Sunday that one of the key questions for investigators is why the aircraft were seemingly sharing the same space just before impact.
A World War II-era bomber and a fighter plane collided and crashed to the ground in a ball of flames on Saturday, leaving crumpled wreckage in a grassy area inside the Dallas Executive Airport perimeter, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the city’s downtown. Several videos posted on social media showed the fighter plane flying into the bomber.
“One of the things we would probably most likely be trying to determine is why those aircraft were co-altitude in the same air space at the same time,” Michael Graham, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference.
The crash came three years after the crash of a bomber in Connecticut that killed seven, and amid ongoing concern about the safety of air shows involving older warplanes. The company that owned the planes flying in the Wings Over Dallas show has had other crashes in its more than 60-year history.
Crews rescue 2 from plane caught in power lines in Maryland
Source: AP
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — Two people were extricated from a small plane early Monday in Maryland, several hours after they crashed into power lines, causing widespread outages in the surrounding county.
Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said the plane was secured to the tower at 12:16 a.m. and the first occupant was removed from the plane at 12:25 a.m. The second occupant was out at 12:36 a.m.
Goldstein did not say which of the men, identified by Maryland State Police as pilot Patrick Merkle, 65, of Washington, D.C., and passenger Jan Williams, 66, of Louisiana, were rescued first from the plane that was stuck about 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground.
He said both men suffered “serious injuries” from the crash and that hypothermia was also an issue. Both men were transported to local trauma centers with non-life threatening injuries, Goldstein said.
6 die in 3-vehicle crash on Texas highway, authorities say
Source: Associated Press
Authorities say a three-car crash in southern Texas has killed six people and injured five others. Authorities say the crash happened about 6:20 p.m. Friday near George West. That’s about 60 miles northwest of Corpus Christi. An official says a minivan tried to pass in a no-passing zone and crashed head-on into an SUV. A sedan then crashed into the SUV. The van’s 39-year-old driver and a juvenile passenger were killed. Also killed were the driver and two passengers in the SUV and a passenger in the sedan.
Three dead after scaffolding collapse at construction site near Uptown Charlotte
Source: Charlotte Observer
BY MARY RAMSEY UPDATED JANUARY 02, 2023 4:38 PM
Three construction workers are dead after falling about 70 feet when scaffolding collapsed at a construction site near Uptown Charlotte and Dilworth on Monday morning, MEDIC and Charlotte Fire said.
Charlotte Fire said on social media just after 9 a.m. that it was responding to an “industrial accident” at a construction site in the 700 block of East Morehead Street, at Euclid Avenue. CFD said in a later statement the accident was “a scaffolding collapse.”
MEDIC has confirmed there were three fatalities, and CFD Captain Jackie Gilmore said at a press conference all three died at the scene.
Two additional construction workers were rescued by firefighters and were taken to a hospital with “minor injuries,” Gilmore said.
A passenger plane with 72 people on board has crashed in Nepal, killing at least 32
Source: NPR Radio
KATHMANDU, Nepal — A 72-seat Nepali passenger aircraft crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the central resort town of Pokhara on Sunday, killing at least 32 people, an official said.
Rescuers were scouring the crash site near the Seti River, which is nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from Pokhara International Airport, and were expecting to find more bodies, said Tek Bahadur K. C., a senior administrative officer in the Kaski district.
It was not immediately clear what caused the plane to crash.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, and four crew members, Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
