At least 1 dead, 6 injured in San Francisco fire

Jan. 28, 2015: San Francisco Fire Department members fight a four-alarm fire at 22nd and Mission Street in San Francisco, Calif., (AP)

A massive four-alarm fire in San Francisco at a residential building has left one dead and six others injured, fire officials say.

A man was pronounced dead at the scene as a blaze engulfed a building in the city’s Mission District Wednesday night. Four people were taken to San Francisco General Hospital with smoke inhalation and burns, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Firefighters rescued 12 people from the burning building, including six people struck on a fire escape. Others were rescued after hiding from the flames and the smoke in interior stairwells, the paper reports.

The smoke started at around 7 p.m. with more than 100 firefighters responding to the call. The smoke could be seen for miles.

A neighbor told The Associated Press that families live on the third floor of the building, while offices occupy the second floor. The ground floor houses restaurants, including a Popeye’s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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At least 1 dead, 6 injured in San Francisco fire

At least 57 people killed in fiery Pakistan bus-oil tanker crash

Sunday, January 11, 2015 | 2:04 AM    

KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) – At least 57 people including women and children were killed when their bus crashed into an oil tanker, igniting a fierce blaze in southern Pakistan early Sunday, officials said.

Authorities fear the death toll could rise, with most of the bodies burnt beyond recognition. Initial reports said the oil tanker was travelling in the wrong direction along the dilapidated stretch of road, police said.

“We have received more than 57 dead bodies but the death toll may rise as most of them are completely burnt and stuck to each other,” Doctor Semi Jamali at Karachi’s Jinnah hospital told AFP.

Jamali said the bodies of at least six children were stuck to women who may have been their mothers, adding it was impossible to separate the remains.

“They are beyond recognition, they can only be identified by DNA test,” she said.

The overloaded bus, carrying more than 60 passengers, was en route to the town of Shikarpur from the southern port city of Karachi when the collision occurred.

Television channels showed live footage from the fiery crash site where rescue workers were busily evacuating dead bodies and any injured.

Earlier, senior police official Rao Muhammad Anwaar said the bus “hit the oil tanker, which according to initial reports was coming in the wrong direction” and caught fire.

Another senior police official, Aamir Shiekh said an investigation has been launched but it appeared the poor condition of the single track road also contributed to the cause of the accident.

“We are trying to ascertain if the driver of the oil tanker was solely at fault or whether the bus driver also showed negligence,” Anwaar said.

A few passengers escaped unhurt after they jumped out of the bus windows, police official Muhammad Jan said.

It was the second major fatal crash in Sindh province in less than three months.

Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

At least 57 people, including 18 children, were killed in November last year when a bus collided with a goods truck loaded with coal near Khairpur town, 450 kilometres (300 miles) north of Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province.

Police blamed the poor condition of the road and the lack of warning signs to alert drivers to the danger, and said they would investigate the government department responsible — the first time such an investigation has been launched in the country.

Last April a bus smashed into a tractor-trailer in a high-speed collision in Sindh, killing 42 people, while in March a horrific crash between two buses and a petrol tanker left 35 dead, with many burned alive when the fuel ignited.

The recovery equipment available to Pakistani emergency services is often basic, and when crashes happen away from major towns, rescue efforts can take some time, often reducing injured passengers’ chances of survival.

The mountainous areas of Kashmir and the north, where drivers career around narrow hairpin bends over deep ravines with scant regard for safety, are particularly prone to accidents, while the condition of roads in the south can also be dangerous.

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At least 57 people killed in fiery Pakistan bus-oil tanker crash

At least 12 dead in eastern Ukraine despite cease-fire

Activists dismantle Ukraine’s biggest monument to Lenin at a pro-Ukrainian rally in the central square of the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Igor Chekachkov) (The Associated Press)

Activists dismantle Ukraine’s biggest bronze monument to Lenin at a pro-Ukrainian rally in a central square of the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Igor Chekachkov) (The Associated Press) An activist dismantles Ukraine’s biggest monument to Lenin at a pro-Ukrainian rally in the central square of the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept.28, 2014. (AP Photo/Sergey Kozlov) (The Associated Press)

KIEV, Ukraine –  Eastern Ukraine has suffered the worst violence in more than a week as fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government troops in the region killed at least 12 people and wounded 32, officials said Monday.

Col. Andriy Lysenko told journalists in a briefing in Kiev on Monday that at least nine troops had been killed in a day and 27 had been wounded.

Meanwhile, the city council of Donetsk said in a statement published online that at least three civilians were killed and five wounded in overnight shelling of a residential area in the northern part of the city, where fighting has centered on the government-held airport.

Violence has continued despite a cease-fire declared on Sept. 5. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been at pains to insist to a skeptical audience at home that his peace plan is working.

Since fighting began in April, the conflict has claimed at least 3,500 lives. On Sept. 20, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the rebels signed another agreement that would require both sides to remove all heavy artillery from the frontline, creating a buffer zone that would allow the cease-fire to be better enforced.

On Sunday, in the second-largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv, nationalists tore down an enormous statue of Vladimir Lenin to cheers from the crowd. Across Ukraine, people have torn down statues to the former Communist leader in a symbolic display of anti-Russian sentiment.

The authorities in Kharkiv supported the move. Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and a Kharkiv native, wrote on his Facebook page: “Lenin? Let him fall… As long as nobody gets hurt.”

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At least 12 dead in eastern Ukraine despite cease-fire

Honduras shootout kills at least 10

6 August 2013 Last updated at 04:56 ET At least 10 people have been killed in a clash between rival drug gangs in Honduras, the country’s deputy defence minister says.

The shootout happened in La Mosquitia, a remote region on Honduras’ Atlantic coast.

The area is the main transit route for cocaine being transported from South America to the United States.

Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, much of it blamed on gang violence and drug traffickers.

Deputy Defence Minister Carlos Funez said one of those killed was a gang leader from neighbouring Nicaragua.

He said the body of drug lord Victor Centeno had been taken across the border by members of his gang.

Nicaraguan and Honduran gangs have been fighting for control of the sparsely populated Gracias a Dios province, from where they launch speedboats smuggling cocaine to the United States.

Mr Funez said navy and army personnel had been despatched to the area to investigate the incident and to establish the exact number of casualties and their identity.

Local authorities said the number of dead could be as high as 16, with women and children among the victims.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Honduras in the fist six months of 2013, according to government figures.

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Honduras shootout kills at least 10