Domestic LPG cylinder fire and explosion, building collapse

Gas leak from LPG cylinder kept under stairs led to explosion in a building that houses a sari dyeing unit in ground floor and apartments in three floors above. 30 minutes after the LPG explosion, another explosion occurred, said to be involving chemicals of the dyeing unit and caused collapse of the building. Two persons died in the incident. Four fire fighters involved in rescue operations were buried and rescued subsequently. The LPG cylinders belong to the adjacent marriage and convention hall, that also got damaged partially during the incident. Police and Fire Services asked for shifting of the mobile phone tower at the top of the marriage hall which developed cracks after the incident.
Case has been registered against owners of marriage hall and the residential building under provisions of section 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), section 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304-A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and also under the provision of The Explosive Substances Act.


http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_bangalore-cylinder-blast-crowds-please-learn-how-to-respond-to-tragedies_1590143
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/day-after-disaster-cops-scout-for-clues/186675-60-119.html
http://zeenews.india.com/news/karnataka/bangalore-building-collapses-after-cylinder-blast_732741.html

Explosion and fireball incidents at Canberra and Oklahoma

There were reports of chemical factory fire and explosions in Australia in leading  about 200 m fireball, temperature of 1000 deg.C. As the fire could not be controlled, the firefighters were asked to move back by 300 m distance. It took 22 hours to control the fires involving combustible chemicals.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/biggest-fireball-ive-ever-seen-superintendent/2295464.aspx
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/massive-chemical-fire-after-series-of-explosions-rock-canberra/story-e6freuy9-1226138503397
http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=662748&vId=
http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/biggest-fireball-ive-ever-seen-superintendent/2295464.aspx&hl=en&geo=us


In another incident of gas rig fire and explosion at Oklahoma, more than 100 ft high flames were seen, lighting an area of about 60 mile distance. People in 2 mile radius were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sheriff-warnings-helped-workers-reach-safety-before-okla-gas-rig-blast-homes-evacuated/2011/09/20/gIQAFo2DiK_story.html
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44589618/ns/us_news-life/
http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sheriff-warnings-helped-workers-reach-safety-before-okla-gas-rig-blast-homes-evacuated/2011/09/20/gIQAFo2DiK_story.html&hl=en&geo=us

Gas leak kills FOUR

4 died (factory employees) and 11 were injured in an incident of a toxic hydrogen sulphide gas leak on 20.09.2011 (Tuesday) at 1915 hr in a pharma factory plant operations, located in Tarapur, India. The gas spread 5 km around the plant. The residents in the nearby area were evacuated after the incident. The leak was arrested. The plant did not request fire services as they thought that they can handle the situation and that there is no fire.
The nearest railway station is about 1 km from the factory. Three persons of the factory were booked for the incident, as per reports.  The plant is located in an area along with about 1250 factories and few residential areas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&v=HbP_BmhpmaI
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-21/mumbai/30184327_1_gas-leak-fire-brigade-plant-officials
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/thane-gas-leak-3-company-officials-booked/1/152110.html
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_tarapur-power-plant-gas-leak-kills-4-workers_1589638
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2473702.ece

Large reservoir of water in the universe

Scientists found huge water body in the universe around a black hole at 12 billion light-years distance. It contains 140 trillion times the water in the earth oceans. Is there any possibility of this water body coming closer to the earth or Sun any time in the future. Definitely a fiction movie can be made on such story. The web link containing the details is given below.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/universe20110722.html

Apartment first floor collapse

There was an incident of partial collapse of a 5-storey apartment in which the first floor sank and rested on the parking floor (cellar) below. 10 persons were injured during the incident. Some girls practicing dance in the cellar were rescued. It is reported that the building was constructed 3-4 years ago in the area which was used as sewerage tank earlier. The area was filled and the apartment was raised. On visit, the Civil Engineering experts observed shallow waters in the area and opine that the soil has become weak.

Following are few reports appeared in the media.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article2461744.ece
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/regions/rajahmundry/police-security-post-symala-sadan-apartment-573
http://www.crimenews.co.in/building-collapses-cmorders-help/

DGCA removes its top safety officer - Home - livemint.com

DGCA removes its top safety officer - Home - livemint.com
The above article is about removal of safety in-charge working for The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for delay in investigations and not producing reports in time.If the officer is inefficient, the action is warranted. But, in the same article it is mentioned that only 14 officers monitor over 1000 flights on Indian skies. With the increase in number of air craft, no. of incidents/accidents and other activities, the staff will be stressed to perform. And the issues are concerned with safety of invaluable human lives. Under stress, the performance will deteriorate over a period of time and the quality will dive to the bottom. After all, they are also human beings and not machines to generate output automatically after keying in certain parameters. If the problem i.e delay in reports, persists for long time, then the system needs to analyzed for problems. The issue of man-power and other issues like training need to be addressed before holding safety personnel as responsible. Airlines too should be held responsible for engaging persons with fake certificates, for incidents and accidents, instead of blaming one man. It may be a management principle taught to accept additional work, but will not help the organization in the long run when limits of human beings are exceeded.

Proposal of amendments to Factories Act 1948 by Government of India

The Ministry of Labour and Employment proposes 52 amendments to The Factories Act, 1948. The proposed amendments were uploaded at http://labour.nic.in/main/dgfasli.pdf and comments/suggestions were invited at http://labour.nic.in/main/AmendmentsAct,%201948.pdf within 45 days from 06.09.2011.