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By Alejandro Rincon BOGOTÁ, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – Colombia appealed on Thursday for international aid as it battled dozens of forest fires burning vast swathes of the country and encroaching on homes in the capital. For four consecutive days, hundreds of firefighters and volunteers have fought the inferno tearing through the forested mountains above Bogota, some armed with little more than water bottles and face masks. The fires have blanketed the capital in smoke, […]
BOGOTÁ, Jan 25, 2024 (AFP) – Colombia has declared a state of emergency in two regions as dozens of forest fires burned wide swathes of the country and left the capital choking on smoke during record temperatures linked with the El Nino weather phenomenon. Colombia has already extinguished hundreds of fires this month, but 25 continue to burn, according to data from the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD) on Wednesday. In the departments of […]
BEIJING, Jan 24, 2024 (AFP) – At least 39 people died and nine were receiving treatment for injuries Wednesday after a fire broke out at a store in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi, state media reported. “At 3:24 pm (0724 GMT) on January 24, a fire broke out on the below-ground level at a store… in Xinyu, Jiangxi,” the country’s state broadcaster CCTV reported. “Up until now, the accident has resulted in the death […]
MOSCOW, Jan 22, 2024 (AFP) – The Kremlin on Monday blamed Ukraine for an attack that started a fire at gas terminal at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga over the weekend. A gas facility belonging to Novatek, Russia’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), was set ablaze on Sunday in the western port town, close to Russia’s border with Estonia. “The Kyiv regime continues to show its bestial face. They are striking civil infrastructure, […]
MOSCOW, Jan 21, 2024 (AFP) – A blaze at a natural gas terminal in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga on Sunday was caused by an “external factor”, said Novatek, Russia’s biggest exporter of liquified natural gas. The operator said there were no victims and the fire was “currently localised”, at the site 110 kilometres (70 miles) west of St Petersburg near the Estonian border. Neither Novaktek nor the authorities gave further details about the […]
By Jing Xuan TENG YANSHANPU, China, Jan 21, 2024 (AFP) – Authorities in central China’s Henan Province were on Sunday looking into the cause of a night-time fire that killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory. The inferno, which took place at the Yingcai School in Yanshanpu village, was reported to the local fire department at 11:00 pm (1500 GMT) on Friday and was put out around 40 minutes later, official news agency […]
TOKYO, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – A Japan Airlines plane burst into flames on the runway of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after apparently colliding with a coast guard aircraft, media reports said. Images on broadcaster NHK showed the plane moving along the runway before a large explosion of orange flames exploded from beneath and behind it. All 367 passengers and 12 crew onboard the Airbus plane were evacuated, NHK reported. Those onboard included eight […]
CAPE TOWN, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – South African firefighters on Friday battled two major wildfires on mountains near Cape Town that have forced the evacuation of scores of families, authorities said. Authorities closed access to the Cape of Good Hope, one of the country’s most visited tourist attractions, because of the fires. Fierce summer winds have fanned flames toward resorts around Cape Town as it braces to receive tens of thousands of visitors for […]
By Jenn CAIN, with Romain FONSEGRIVES in Los Angeles SANTA CRUZ, United States, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – In a forest in northern California, a line of people spread out through the trees, setting fire to shrubs and fallen branches in an act of intentional arson aimed at making the woodland better able to cope with future conflagrations. The operation near Santa Cruz is part of a growing number of prescribed burns intended to reduce […]
BOBIGNY, France, Nov 25, 2023 (AFP) – A fire broke out Saturday in a building in a northern Paris suburb, killing three people and injuring eight, including a child who is in a critical condition, officials said. Police said the fire started at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) on the ground floor of the building in Stains, an immigrant-majority town about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Paris. Twenty-four fire engines and 88 firefighters battled to douse […]
BEIJING, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Twenty-six people have died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China’s Shanxi province on Thursday, state media reported. The fire started at a four-storey building belonging to the Yongju coal company in Luliang city at around 6:50 am local time (2250 GMT on Wednesday), state media said, citing local authorities. Twenty-six people were confirmed dead, state news agency Xinhua reported. […]
SYDNEY, Nov 1, 2023 (AFP) – Helicopters buzzed over bushfire-scarred swathes of eastern Australia on Wednesday, assessing the damage left by “shocking” blazes that raged overnight. Water bombing aircraft swooped on fires smouldering in Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), while fire crews raced to dig containment lines as conditions eased on Wednesday morning. Firefighters toiled through the night to repel bushfires on the border between the two states, while more than 50 houses have […]
