DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least seven people were killed and another 50 people were injured after a powerful explosion ripped apart a three-storey building in central Dhaka on Sunday, Bangladeshi officials said, citing a gas pipeline as the likely cause. Police said the explosion was so forceful that it broke the windows of at least four moving buses, injuring dozens of passengers on board. Dhaka police chief Shafiqur Rahman said at least seven people […]
Tag: explosion
Iran explosives factory blast injures 9: authorities
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — At least nine people were injured in a blast on Sunday at a plant producing explosive materials in Iran’s central province of Isfahan, ISNA news agency reported. The blast occurred at Sepahan Nargostar Chemical Industries at 4:00 am local time (2330 GMT) due to “unclear reasons still being investigated,” said Mansour Shisheforoush, head of the province’s crisis management organization. Nine factory workers were injured and transferred to hospital, he added. He […]
Child killed in house collapse in northern England
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — One child died and four adults were injured early on Sunday after two houses collapsed in a suspected gas explosion in northwest England, police said. Police in the county of Lancashire said they were called to the row of terraced houses at 2:40am (0140 GMT) where they evacuated other residents and set up a safety cordon. “We remain at scene of a suspected gas explosion on Mallowdale Ave Heysham which […]
Indonesia cathedral rocked by suicide bombing
by Andi Hajramurni Agence France Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — An Indonesian cathedral was rocked by a suicide bombing on Sunday with body parts littering the chaotic scene as Christians inside celebrated the start of the Catholic Church’s Holy Week. The powerful blast at the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island happened around 10:30 am local time (0330 GMT) and left at least 14 church officials and congregants injured by debris, police said. […]
SpaceX rocket explodes after seemingly successful landing
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded on the ground Wednesday after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing. It was the third straight flub involving the prototype of the Starship rocket, which SpaceX hopes one day to send to Mars. The last two test flights ended in crashes. “A beautiful soft landing,” a SpaceX commentator said on the live broadcast of the test flight, although flames […]
Strong explosion rocks building in central Madrid: witnesses
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — A strong explosion rocked a building in central Madrid on Wednesday, witnesses said, with images from Spanish television and the emergency services showing the street covered in debris. “Nine fire crews and 11 ambulances have gone to Calle Toledo following an explosion in a building,” local emergency services tweeted. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear. © Agence France-Presse
10 hurt in Lebanon gas depot blast
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — At least 10 people were injured Sunday when an explosion rocked a warehouse storing gas canisters near Lebanon’s border with Syria, the Lebanese Red Cross and the army said. The Red Cross said it dispatched several teams of rescuers to the village of Al-Qasr in the eastern Hermel region where the explosion occurred and rushed the injured to hospitals. “We have responded to an explosion in a warehouse that stores gas […]
China jails 53 for deadly factory blast
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese court jailed 53 people on Monday after convicting them on charges including bribery and negligence over a massive chemical factory explosion in eastern China last year that killed 78 people. The blast in Jiangsu province in March 2019 was one of the worst industrial accidents in the country in recent years, and led to the closure of the plant. Executives and employees of Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical company received sentences […]
Russia evacuates thousands as munitions explode in fire
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Wednesday evacuated more than 2,000 people from nearby villages after a wildfire set off explosions at a munitions depot in the Ryazan region southeast of Moscow, officials said. More than 400 firefighters were battling into the evening to extinguish a blaze that broke out at the depot on Wednesday afternoon, with the authorities saying five people were injured but no one died. The fire was sparked by a wildfire […]
From window to jug: Lebanese recycle glass from Beirut blast
by Susannah Walden Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP) — Standing in a pile of broken glass in northern Lebanon, a man heaved shovel-loads of shards — retrieved from Beirut after the massive explosion at its port — into a red-hot furnace. Melted down at a factory in the second city Tripoli, they re-emerged as molten glass ready to be recycled into traditional slim-necked water jugs. The August 4 port explosion ripped through countless glass doors and windows […]
Explosion in western Iran injures more than 200
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — The explosion of a chlorine gas canister being transported by a truck in western Iran has injured 217 people but caused no deaths, state news agency IRNA reported. The blast struck late Friday in Chardavol county in Ilam province, the news agency said. The head of the province’s medical university, Mohammad Karimian, told IRNA driver “carelessness” was suspected. The incident is the latest in a series of fires and explosions that […]
Desecrated: blast leaves old Beirut’s heritage gems in ruins
by Hashem Osseiran Agence France-Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The monster explosion that levelled Beirut’s port darkened the Lebanese capital’s future but also blasted its past into oblivion, ravaging many beloved architectural and cultural treasures. Gems of the city’s heritage, including some of the region’s most elegant Levantine villas with their triple-arch windows, were damaged beyond repair. Many of old Beirut’s remaining colonial-era and earlier landmarks had already been damaged by 15 years of civil […]





