Buenos Aires -- Argentina
Fire in nightclub kills at least 175
More than 600 injured

Dec 31 2004 -- A flare lit by a concert-goer ignited the foam ceiling of a Buenos Aires nightclub, sparking an inferno that killed 175 people and injured 619, officials said Friday. Investigators were looking into survivor accounts that one of the building's emergency exits was locked.

Full Story  Disasters Part-28

 

Rockledge
Fireworks explosion kills one

Fatal fire. Rockledge police and emergency personnel work the scene of a fatal accident Friday near Eyster Boulevard and U.S. 1 in Rockledge. Robert Buddington, a passenger in the pickup, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Steven Gies, who was driving, was hospitalized with burns.

2005 -- A large batch of fireworks -- possibly Roman candles -- exploded inside a truck and set it on fire Friday afternoon on U.S. 1, killing a Rockledge High senior and injuring his classmate.

Robert Buddington, a passenger in the pickup, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Steven Gies, who was driving, was hospitalized with burns.

The crash happened about 3:40 p.m. just south of Eyster Boulevard.

Sgt. Chet Johnson of the Rockledge police said the teens were heading south in a forest green 2002 GMC Sierra when the explosives somehow ignited, Johnson said.

"Witnesses saw fireworks going off in the vehicle as it was going down the street," he said.

The driver lost control and veered off the right side of the highway into the grass, striking a concrete light pole. By the time Rockledge firefighters arrived, the cab and front end of the truck were engulfed in flames.

The fiery accident snarled U.S. 1 traffic for hours. Police sealed off the perimeter of the crash scene while fire investigators examined the wreckage, forcing southbound motorists to detour onto Barnes Boulevard. The truck's interior was burned ash-gray.

Johnson said the pickup was carrying a large box filled with fireworks. Police found long tubes in the charred remains of the cab.

Johnson said Buddington was trapped in the wreckage, and Gies tried to rescue his friend but couldn't manage it."He was apparently trying to get out, and his buddy got out (of the truck) and was trying to get him out. But the flames were too bad."

In June, two Melbourne men in their 20s died on Carver Drive after hundreds of fireworks went off inside their Toyota Corolla.

Police said the men were lighting fireworks with cigarettes and shooting them out car windows as they drove.

 

Girl injured after fireworks

2005 -- A 13-year-old girl was shot during a New Year'S Eve celebration in the Bohlokong area close to Bethlehem, police said yesterday. Captain Motarafi Ntepe said Felicia Maseko and her friends were shooting fireworks on the street when she got shot in her chin.

Maseko apparently rushed into her house to investigate and found that she was bleeding on the chin. She immediately thought that she was injured by the fireworks. She was rushed to Phekolong hospital, where the doctor established that the girl had not been hit by fireworks but that she had been shot with a gun. They later found a bullet on the T-shirt, which Maseko had been wearing at the time of the incident.

In a statement issued yesterday, eastern Free State provincial police commissioner, Eric Nkuna said: "We are appealing to the parents not to let the children celebrate in their yards rather that on the street. There are bad elements out there who are too excited to care about human life"

Fireworks explosion injures two

2005 -- A friendly card game in an apartment near 16th and William Streets burst into chaos about 3 a.m. Saturday when a large fireworks device unexpectedly exploded.

Police Officer Chris LeGrow said a commercial pyrotechnic device "similar to what is used at a fireworks show" detonated in the living room of the apartment at 1255 S. 16th St.

Machala Quinones, 27, was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition. No further information on her condition was available.

Debra Resendiz, 47, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

The explosion blew out a first-floor window in the two-story wood frame residence. The building contains two apartments.

Resendiz, who lives at the apartment where the explosion occurred, said she was playing cards with some friends when Quinones stopped by carrying a box with the fireworks.

"She said she had some kind of fireworks," Resendiz said. "She was showing it off, and the next thing that I knew, it exploded. My ears are still ringing."

Resendiz said Quinones was smoking a cigarette, but she didn't know if that set off the device.

Mike Kelly of 1257 S. 16th St. heard the blast and rushed next door to assist. He said his neighbor's living room was "pretty much destroyed."

"I got there before the fire department, and (Quinones) was sitting in the hall trying to talk to 911," Kelly said. "Her (left) foot was hanging by the skin. I could see the bone."

Kelly noticed that Quinones had been burned and her sweater was smoldering. He managed to get the sweater off her.

Two workmen at the residence Saturday morning said the apartment would be uninhabitable until repairs can be made.

Red Cross workers arranged for a motel room for Resendiz, her wheelchair-bound son, who was uninjured, and an uncle who lives with them.

A couple and their three children, who live in the upstairs apartment, were also evacuated by the Red Cross.

"The Red Cross is putting us up for a couple days," Resendiz said. "After that, I don't know."

 

Soccer coach hospitalized

2005 -- The coach of Energie Cottbus was hospitalized after fireworks were thrown his way as more hooliganism erupted in three German stadiums during second division matches.

Police arrested 25 people, while two police officers and an unknown number of spectators were injured when several hundred violent fans clashed with police and each other Friday night in Aue, Essen and Aachen. Stadiums and nearby gardens were also vandalized.

Cottbus coach Petrik Sander collapsed on the field during his team's 2-0 loss in Aue after witnesses heard a loud explosion. He laid there for several minutes before being taken to the hospital. There was no immediate word of the extent of his injury.

 

Naples
Easter Fireworks Cause Fatal Scooter Blast

2005 -- One person was killed and several others were injured in an explosion in the southern Italian city of Naples Friday, apparently caused by fireworks being carried by two people on a motor scooter.

Dismissing initial fears that the explosion might have been a car bomb in a city racked by gangland violence, police said the man driving the scooter appeared to have crashed into a parked car.

He died and a 13-year-old boy who was also on the scooter was injured. Several others were hurt by the exploding fireworks which police said were probably intended to be used during Easter celebrations.

 

Fireworks blamed for deadly blast

ONE person died and at least three others were seriously injured in an explosion at a neighbourhood market in the southern port city of Naples, Italian media reported today.

The blast was probably caused by fireworks, which ignited after the motor scooter they were being carried on was involved in an accident, the ANSA news agency said. The dead person died while being taken to Naples' San Paolo hospital.

A 13-year-old pillion passenger and several passers-by were injured in the explosion, which happened in the Fuorigrotta area of the city.

The fireworks were to be used in an Easter celebration honouring the Virgin Mary, the agency said.

Fireworks are an important part of celebrations in southern Italy.

 

D'Iberville
Three airmen charged in arson

2005 -- Three U.S. Air Force airmen have been accused of setting a D'Iberville business on fire by throwing fireworks into a storage unit.

The fireworks started a blaze March 11 that damaged 12 storage units and their contents at A&K Mini Storage. No one was injured in the fire, authorities said.

Harrison County Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. said Friday that each of the three is charged with second-degree arson, which is punishable on conviction by one to 10 years in prison.

Payne identified the suspects as Joseph Anderson, 21, Cocoa, Fla.; Clinton Phifer, 20, Maryville, Tenn.; and Johnathan Clark, 19, of Bristol, Tenn.

Payne said sheriff's fire investigators determined the fire was not an accident.

Officials at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi declined to release information about the airmen, but said they are cooperating with authorities, a base spokesman said.

The airmen were arrested Tuesday and released from the Harrison County jail on $2,500 bonds each.

Rockledge -- Florida
Florida teen dies when fireworks explode in pickup

2005 -- A high school senior was killed and a classmate was injured when fireworks exploded inside their moving pickup truck.

Robert Buddington was pronounced dead at the scene yesterday. Police Sergeant Chet Johnson says the driver -- Steven Gies -- was briefly hospitalized with burns after the explosives somehow ignited inside the cab. Gies lost control and struck a concrete light pole.

Buddington was trapped in the wreckage, and Gies was unable to rescue his friend. By the time firefighters arrived, the cab and front end of the truck were engulfed in flames.

Police say they found long tubes, possibly Roman candles, in the truck's charred remains.

Man who sold fireworks pleads guilty in bombing

2005 -- A man who allegedly sold sparklers to a teen and then told him and another youth how to turn them into a bomb has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson.

David Galyean, 23, who authorities said gave the advice at a Patriotic Fireworks store in the 8100 block of Pendleton Pike, will be sentenced June 1.

According to court records, Galyean told the teens how to transform the sparklers into a powerful explosive. The pair reportedly followed the advice and blew up a mailbox in Lawrence.

The blast destroyed the brick that encased the mailbox and blew the box's lid about 65 feet across the street, a court affidavit said. No one was injured.

The teens were both charged. The older suspect, who was 19 at the time of the incident, is being tried as an adult.