Over 150 dead as overturned fuel truck explodes in Pakistan
BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan (AP) — Alerted by an announcement over a mosque’s loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck had sprung a leak, scores of villagers raced to the scene with fuel containers Sunday to gather the oil. Then the wreck exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror.
At least 153 men, women and children were killed, with dozens more in critical condition, hospital and rescue officials said.
“I have never seen anything like it in my life. Victims trapped in the fireball. They were screaming for help,” said Abdul Malik, a police officer who was among the first to arrive on the scene of horror in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
When the flames subsided, he said, “we saw bodies everywhere. So many were just skeletons. The people who were alive were in really bad shape.”
About 30 motorcycles that villagers had used to rush to the site of the highway accident lay charred nearby along with cars, witnesses said. Local news channels showed black smoke billowing skyward and army helicopters taking away the injured.
UK: All samples from high-rise towers fail fire safety tests
LONDON (AP) — The list of high-rise apartment towers in Britain that have failed fire safety tests grew to 60, officials said Sunday, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.
All of the buildings for which external cladding samples were so far submitted failed combustibility tests, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said. As of late Sunday, that includes 60 towers from 25 different areas of the country— double the figure given a day earlier.
The number of buildings at risk is likely to grow as owners and local officials provide more samples for safety tests.
The national testing was ordered after an inferno engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on June 14. The tower’s cladding — panels widely used to insulate buildings and improve their appearance — was believed to have rapidly spread that blaze, which killed at least 79 people.
In north London, officials trying to avoid another fire disaster sought to complete the evacuation of hundreds of apartments in four towers deemed unsafe. They faced resistance as some 200 residents refused to budge.
Air bag maker Takata files for bankruptcy in Japan, US
UNDATED (AP) — Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and the U.S., overwhelmed by lawsuits and recall costs related to its production of faulty air bag inflators that are linked to the deaths of at least 16 people.
The company announced the expected action Monday morning Tokyo time. Takata confirmed that most of its assets will be bought by rival Key Safety Systems, based in suburban Detroit. Key will pay about $1.6 billion (175 billion yen), according to an announcement by the two companies.
Takata’s defective inflators can explode with too much force when they fill up an air bag, spewing out shrapnel. Besides the fatalities, they’re also responsible for at least 180 injuries, and touched off the largest automotive recall in U.S. history. So far 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide including 69 million in the U.S., affecting 42 million vehicles.
Under the agreement with Key, Takata’s manufacturing of inflators will be kept separate in order to keep manufacturing inflators used as replacement parts in recalls. The recalls, which are being handled by 19 affected automakers, will continue.
Key also said it won’t cut any Takata jobs or close any of Takata’s facilities.
Gay pride parades sound a note of resistance — and face some
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tens of thousands of people waving rainbow flags lined streets for gay pride parades Sunday in coast-to-coast events that took both celebratory and political tones, the latter a reaction to what some see as new threats to gay rights in the Trump era.
In San Francisco, revelers wearing rainbow tutus and boas held signs that read “No Ban, No Wall, Welcome Sisters and Brothers” while they danced to electronic music at a rally outside City Hall.
Frank Reyes said he and his husband decided to march for the first time in many years because they felt a need to stand up for their rights. The couple joined the “resistance contingent,” which led the parade and included representatives from several activist organizations.
“We have to be as visible as possible,” said Reyes, wearing a silver body suit and gray and purple headpiece decorated with rhinestones.
“Things are changing quickly and we have to take a stand and be noticed,” Reyes’ husband, Paul Brady, added. “We want to let everybody know that we love each other, that we pay taxes and that we’re Americans, too.”
Man catches teen falling from park ride: ‘It’s OK to let go’
NEW YORK (AP) — Matthew Howard Sr. was just leaving a New York amusement park Saturday evening with his family when he heard someone screaming for help.
He looked up to see a young girl dangling about 25 feet (about 8 meters) off the ground from a slow-moving gondola ride as the sun was setting. Her little brother sat next to her in the green two-person pod, crying hysterically, saying he couldn’t hold on.
Howard, 47, and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, ran over and positioned themselves under the girl as the ride stopped and security came running. A crowd of onlookers gathered, many filming, others calling for help.
“I said: ‘It’s ‘OK! It’s OK to let go, I’ll catch you, honey,’” said Howard.
The girl lost her grip and fell down where Howard and Winchell, arms outstretched, waited with a few other good Samaritans. The two took the brunt of the girl’s fall, tumbling to the ground themselves after the catch. She was lifted up and carried to a golf cart where emergency workers arrived to help her, witnesses said.
9 dead, 28 missing after tourist boat sinks in Colombia
GUATAPE, Colombia (AP) — A tourist boat packed with about 170 passengers for the holiday weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving nine people dead and 28 missing, officials said.
Rescuers including firefighters from nearby cities and air force pilots were searching for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where the four-story El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.
Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise and yellow trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it began sinking into the water.
“Those on the first and second floors sank immediately,” a female survivor who wasn’t identified by name told Teleantioquia. “The boat was sinking and all we could do was scream and call for help.”
Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said that according to a preliminary report 99 people were rescued and another 40 managed to find a way to shore on their own and were in good condition. Speaking to reporters from the reservoir, she said nine people had been killed and around 28 are still missing.
‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ debuts to a franchise low
NEW YORK (AP) — The hulking machines of “Transformers” are no longer box-office behemoths in North America. But they’re still big in China.
Michael Bay’s “Transformers: The Last Knight,” the fifth installment in the Hasbro series, scored a franchise-low domestic debut with an estimated $43.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend and a five-day total of $69.1 million since opening Wednesday. All previous “Transformers” sequels opened with $97 million-plus.
But Paramount Pictures’ “The Last Knight,” the second “Transformers” movie to star Mark Wahlberg, still showed its might overseas. It took in $196.2 million internationally, including an impressive $123.4 million in China.
Future business will tell whether those grosses are enough to cover a hugely expensive movie: $217 million to make, plus nearly as much to market. Studios reap a smaller percentage of ticket sales from Chinese theaters. And reviews — though never much of a factor in “Transformers” land — were worse for “The Last Knight” than the earlier films. Audiences gave this one a B-plus CinemaScore.
Yet “Transformers” has been increasingly skewing international. The previous film, 2014’s “Age of Extinction,” made $858.6 million of its $1.1 billion global haul abroad.
