fire

Seven dead after explosion and fire on France's south-west coast

Several buildings were set ablaze on both sides of a street in the seaside town of St Laurent-de-la-Salanque after a blast was heard at 01:30 local time (00:30 GMT) on Monday.

Firefighters are still searching for victims in two small blocks of flats damaged by the fire.

The cause of the original explosion is not yet known.

France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who visited the scene of the accident on Monday afternoon, said the current death toll of seven was only provisional while emergency services continued to search for survivors.

Fire rips through South Africa's parliament building

Video footage showed a plume of black smoke filling the sky, with huge flames coming out from the roof of the building.

President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the scene and called it a "terrible and devastating event".

A 51-year-old man was being held and questioned by the authorities, police said.

The blaze, which began shortly after 6am local time came the day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu's state funeral at St George's Cathedral, near Parliament.

Narrow escape from blaze

The group of Asian shops, popularly known as “12 Door”, had black smoke and flames billowing out from every crevice at around 10am yesterday.

Isaac Samson was working with three of his female colleagues and their boss, of Asian origin, when they heard noises coming from the top floor of the building.

Assuming that some form of maintenance was going on upstairs, the staff continued with what they were doing until another male boss called out to them to escape, saying there was a fire and it was already spreading. 

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Lae Homestate’s second blaze

While there were no casualties, the Fire Service will establish the cause of the incident, pending preliminary investigations.

Acting superintendent, Dennis Hase, said they received a call at 5.21pm yesterday regarding the incident at Macdhui St, market area.

Despite heavy traffic, the fire team managed to make good time with the help of police.

“It was an old building so the fire just raced through it,” said acting supt Hase.

Fortunately, the owners of the rice wholesaler were on the opposite side of the fire.

Fire at world's largest vaccine producer kills five

The blaze started at a building which was still under construction at the Serum Institute of India's facilities in Pune on Thursday afternoon.

Footage showed thick plumes of smoke billowing from a building on the company's sprawling site.

The company said vaccine production would not be affected. The cause of the fire has not been identified.

The fire was later brought under control, but the city's mayor confirmed that five people had died.

Investigation into Chinese shop blaze resumes

Police initial investigation into the fire on September 22nd, 2017, was not completed due to funding constraint.

However, this matter was raised by Manus Governor Charlie Benjamin on the floor of National Parliament on the outcome of police investigation into the incident, which Police Minister Bryan Kramer gave the assurance that police will reopen.

The investigation team is currently on ground with two AFP officers who will be assisting them.

Major fire breaks out in SkyCity convention centre in central Auckland

SkyCity has decided to evacuate its entire Auckland precinct, because of smoke from the fire.

That means people will need to leave the Sky Tower, casino, all SkyCity hotels and restaurants and corporate offices.

The company said police were onsite to help with evacuations.

People who were intending to visit SkyCity venues this evening - including restaurants on Federal Street - should make alternative arrangements.

Crew abandon burning Chinese fishing vessel

A New Zealand Defence Force Orion located the vessel about 400 nautical miles west of Tuvalu earlier Friday.

The Orion dropped communications equipment, fresh water and lights to the crew of the Jin Xiang 6.

Now the Fiji Maritime Surveillance Rescue has reported there are 16 crew with the vessel and that life boats are in the water, as the vessel takes on seawater.

Fiji is connecting with nearby resources to help the crew.

 

Photo: New Zealand Defence Force

 

     

Pokies club catches fire

Angry black smoke could be seen rising high into the air sometime after 8am today.

Police and the fire service immediately arrived on scene, with the latter attempting to prevent the fire from spreading across to Maggie Seafood Restaurant and the Coordination Office for Bougainville Affairs (NCOBA) building.

Police are currently keeping opportunists at bay while firefighters are trying their best to contain the flames.

No casualties have been reported while details to the cause of the blaze will be established later.

Waigani shops go up in flames

The fire started around 7pm however, the cause is yet to be established.

Police presence was high in the area, to prevent opportunists from looting the City Pharmacy, Boroko Motors showrooms and other business houses.

Fire Service was on the scene to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby properties.

Chief of Fire, Bill Roo, says an investigation team has started looking into the incident to determine whether this was accidental or a deliberate ploy to claim insurance.

(Picture: Nelson Kopunye)