MEC&F Expert Engineers : 04/04/15

Saturday, April 4, 2015

FIERY TWO VEHICLE HEAD-ON CRASH INJURES 4 KIDS, 2 ADULTS IN AUSTIN, TEXAS. FEMALE DRIVER WAS DISTRACTED BY CIGARETTE ASH THAT SHE HAD DROPPED AND CRASHED HEAD-ON.





APRIL 4, 2015

AUSTIN, TEXAS (KXAN) 

A head-on crash between two vehicles left six people injured along FM 973 Saturday afternoon.

The Department of Public Safety’s spokesperson Robbie Barrera said a female driver heading northbound was distracted by cigarette ash that she had dropped and crashed head-on into a 2000 Chevy.

DPS received the call to assist at 12:33.

Austin-Travis County EMS said there were four pediatric patients. One of the children were transported via StarFlight of Dell Children’s Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. The other children were said to have serious injuries and were also transported.

Barrera said a one-year-old and a teenager were in the vehicle responsible.

The adults received non-life threatening injuries and were transported to UMC Brackenridge.

SMALL SEA PLANE CRASHES IN LAKE ORIENTA, FL WHEN PILOT DIDN’T BRING UP THE PLANE’S LANDING GEAR, CAUSING THE NOSE OF THE AIRCRAFT TO GO UNDER WATER




APRIL 4, 2015

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA

Altamonte Springs police are investigating after a small sea plane crashed in Lake Orienta Saturday.

Police said the pilot didn’t bring up the plane’s landing gear, causing the nose of the aircraft to go under water, partially submerging the plane.

The pilot wasn’t injured and got out of the lake safely.

A boater in the area helped pull the plane to shore.

The Seminole County Fire Department pumped water out of the plane and got it out of the water.

Fire officials responded to the scene about 11 a.m.

The identity of the pilot has not been released.


WARNING BELL AT BROKEN ARROW: BLUE BELL TEMPORARILY SHUTTING DOWN PLANT OVER ICE CREAM LISTERIA CONTAMINATION





APRIL 4, 2015, BY CNNWIRE 

BROKEN ARROW, OK 

Blue Bell ice cream has temporarily shut down one of its manufacturing plants over the discovery of listeria contamination in a serving of ice cream originating from that plant.

Public health officials warned consumers on Friday not to eat a specific 3-ounce serving of Blue Bell ice cream commonly sold to institutions. The containers are marked with the letters O, P, Q, R, S or T behind the coding date.

The warning by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not affect other Blue Bell ice cream, including other 3-ounce servings, but Blue Bell has recalled other products.

The company is shutting down the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, plant “out of an abundance of caution” to search for a possible cause of contamination.

It is the third time Blue Bell has taken action in light of a listeria outbreak at a Kansas hospital that served the company’s ice cream.

Listeria monocytogenes was recently found in a cup of ice cream recovered from the hospital.

The cup contaminated with the bacteria was produced at the Broken Arrow plant in April 2014, Blue Bell said. And, according to the CDC, listeria bacteria was found in additional samples of the same product that were recovered from the plant.

The bacteria in the hospital sample and the factory sample appeared to match each other genetically, the CDC said. But they did not appear identical to listeria samples taken from patients infected in the Kansas outbreak.

In a separate outbreak in Texas, the CDC did find that listeria samples taken from patients who came down with listeriosis between 2010 and 2014 in a hospital that served 3-ounce Blue Bell cups matched the listeria in recovered samples.

None of this means the ice cream is the source of either spate of the infections.
“Investigation to determine whether these illnesses are related to exposure to Blue Bell products is ongoing,” the CDC said.

In early March, in light of the Kansas listeria outbreak, Blue Bell recalled a group of products that were made at a plant in Texas. It later added 3-ounce cup servings to the recall.

Five people were infected and three died in the past year in Kansas from listeria that might be linked to Blue Bell Creameries products, according to the CDC.
All five of them were hospitalized at the same hospital before developing listeriosis, the CDC said. At least four of them had consumed milkshakes made with Blue Bell ice cream before developing the infection.

“We are devastated and know that Blue Bell has to be and can be better than this,” Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president, said in a statement. “Quality and safety have always been our top priorities. We are deeply saddened and concerned for all those who have been affected.”

The CDC advises that individuals and institutions should check their freezers for the recalled products and throw them away.

In a statement on its website, Blue Bell said “this recall in no way includes Blue Bell ice cream half gallons, pints, quarts, 3 gallons or other 3 oz. cups.”

This has been the first product recall in the 108-year history of Blue Bell Creameries, the company said.

Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with listeria, and primarily affects the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of a listeria infection are fever and muscle aches, sometimes associated with diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.

In the United States, an estimated 1,600 people become seriously ill each year; approximately 16% of these illnesses result in death. Cervical infections caused by listeriosis in pregnant women may result in spontaneous abortion during the second or third trimesters or stillbirth.

TWO-ALARM ELECTRICAL FIRE ON THE COMMUTER RAIL AND AMTRAK TRACKS NEAR FOREST HILLS STATION SATURDAY MORNING IN MASSACHUSETTS




APRIL 4, 2015

MBTA employees are directing passengers at Forest Hills and Needham stations to shuttle buses that have temporarily replaced trains after the fire stopped the rails’ signals from working, according to Leslie Aun, spokeswoman for Keolis, the company that operates the commuter rail system. She said passengers on the Franklin and Providence lines are being diverted onto the Fairmont line, and 10- to 20-minute delays are to be expected. 

She recommended that “anyone seeking to travel between Forest Hill and [the] Back Bay plan to take the Orange Line or consider another form of transportation.” 

According to Boston fire spokesman Steve MacDonald, firefighters arrived at the scene of the electrical vault fire about 150 yards away from the Forest Hills station at 6:44 a.m. 

Working with commuter rail staff to shut down the power to the vault. Cannot extinguish until power off.

— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) April 4, 2015
Standing by with dry chemical extinguishers to use once that happens.
— Boston Fire Dept. (@BostonFire) April 4, 2015
FIRE PHOTO: BOSTON 2nd Alarm #MBTA #Amtrak at Forest Hills station MT @bostonnewsnow #PFFM_ALERT pic.twitter.com/cgCN7fFyY1
— Fire Fighters of MA (@THE_PFFM) April 4, 2015

Firefighters battled the blaze with air bottles and dry chemical extinguishers as they waited for power to the vault to be turned off so water could be used to knock it down, MacDonald said. 

It took roughly an hour and a half to cut power off to the electrical unit while the blaze continued, burning the insulation off wiring within the vault, he said. This created a “toxic environment” for the firefighters, said MacDonald, who explained that as a result of the toxic gases being let off, the department’s fire chief rang a second alarm for more manpower. 

MacDonald said no injuries related to the fire were reported, and the fire was extinguished with water by 8:15 a.m. 

The Orange Line near Forest Hills station runs alongside the commuter rail and Amtrak tracks affected by the fire, which MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said was delayed for six minutes during the fire.

Aun said that officials suspect a lightning strike during an early morning storm may have caused the fire, but the cause is still under investigation.

HELICOPTER DEATH OF CHINESE BILLIONAIRE RULED PILOT ERROR: THE PRINCIPAL REASON FOR THE ACCIDENT WAS FLYING AT TOO LOW AN ALTITUDE, WHEN DARKNESS HAD NEARLY FALLEN AND VISIBILITY WAS LIMITED





BORDEAUX , FRANCE (AFP) 

French justice officials have concluded that pilot error caused a helicopter crash near Bordeaux in December that killed a Chinese billionaire and his son as they flew over his newly-purchased wine estate.

Christophe Auger, prosecutor of the southwest city Libourne, said an inquiry into the crash that killed 46 year-old tea magnate Lam Kok and three others had uncovered "no technical or maintenance problems."

"It was caused by human error by the pilot, and the principal reason for the accident was flying at too low an altitude," Auger told the regional paper Sud Ouest Saturday.

The fatal crash occurred December 20 during a helicopter tour of the prestigious Chateau de la Riviere estate that was to be followed by an elite tea- and wine-tasting retreat. 

Kok was accompanied by his 12-year-old son, his financial advisor and the chateau's former owner James Gregoire when the helicopter crashed into the nearby Dordogne river.

The child's body was found in the submerged helicopter shortly after the accident, while the other victims were swept down river by currents and their bodies located in following weeks.

Auger noted the flight had taken off late on a winter afternoon, when darkness had nearly fallen and visibility was limited.

There had been concerns that the pilot had been drinking. Augur said that his alcohol consumption was "a contributing but not principal factor."

Kok finalised purchase of the 65 hectare estate for 30 million euros ($33 million) the day before the accident.

He was the latest Chinese investor to acquire a vineyard in Bordeaux's Fronsac wine-producing region, close to the prestigious Saint-Emilion domain.

Wealthy Chinese have developed a taste for fine French wines, and their buying power has been credited with pushing prices for certain vintages to record levels. They are also now acquiring French vineyards.

 //------------------------------------//

Chinese billionaire killed in helicopter crash as he tours newly-acquired French vineyard


A Chinese billionaire and a French wine maker have been killed in a helicopter crash after going on a flight to celebrate the sale of an historic Bordeaux chateau. 

Lam Kok, 46, a hotel magnate who had diversified into the upmarket wine trade, was killed along with his 12-year-old son when the helicopter plunged into the Dordogne River near the town of Lugon-et-l’ile-du-Carnay. 

The helicopter was being piloted by James Gregoire, who had sold Mr Kok the 150-acre Chateau de La Riviere just hours earlier on Friday. A further body, believed to be that of an interpreter, was recovered during police searches that continued yesterday. 

Mr Lam’s wife, Liu Xiangyun, who had posed for photographs with the two men earlier in the day, pulled out of the flight at the last minute, saying she was “scared of helicopters”, according to eyewitnesses. By an unusual twist of fate, a previous owner of the Chateau de la Riviere was also killed in an aircraft crash in 2002. 

Mr Gregoire’s helicopter was on a short tour of the vineyard and the grounds of the chateau, which dates back to the 8th century and is associated with Emperor Charlemagne, also known as the King of the Franks. 

Earlier in the day, Mr Gregoire had introduced Mr Lam to the chateau staff and hosted a dinner for him, as well as putting on a press conference for local media. When the helicopter flight did not return after 20 minutes, other people at the event contacted emergency services, who launched a search using emergency helicopters, police dogs and around 100 officers on foot. Witnesses to the crash said that shortly afterwards, they saw two people struggling in the river, which was in full winter flow. 

Michel Galardini, 58, a local duck hunter, told the local newspaper, Sud Ouest: “The helicopter was flying very low, only 10 or 15 metres over the water. I thought that was a bit strange.” 

A few minutes later, he added, he heard a “deafening crash”. “There was a huge amount of foam and I could see two people struggling in the water.” 

Officials from the French gendarmerie said that mangled parts of the chopper’s fuselage had been retrieved, but that strong currents in the icy waters were complicating the search for the three missing. 

Hong Kong-based Mr Lam and his wife were chief executive and president respectively of Brilliant Group, which originally specialised in rare teas and luxury hotels in China. Their purchase of the chateau was the biggest Chinese investment to date in Bordeaux wine, reflecting a growing taste for luxury vintages in newly-affluent China that has pushed wine prices to record levels. 

Chinese entrepreneurs have already snapped several dozen other French chateaux in Bordeaux, where well-known vintages such as Pétrus are now hugely in demand among status-conscious businessmen in Shanghai and Beijing. As Mr Gregoire, who bought the Chateau de la Riviere in 2003, remarked in an interview in 2007: “A bottle of Pétrus or a Château d’Yquem can sell at any price in China. It is a symbol of wealth.” 

The Chateau de La Riviere was also regarded as a highly prized piece of real estate in its own right. Built in the 16th century on the remains of a fortified tower constructed by Charlemagne, it has turrets, gargoyles and commanding views of the Dordogne valley, a region known for its spectacular gorges and fine foie gras. 

The chateau also has nearly 20 miles of tunnels running underneath it, which are used to store nearly a million bottles of wine, which sell at around £30 a time. Mr Lam and his wife, who are believed bought the Chateau de La Riviere for around £25 million, planned to turn it into a high class tea and wine tasting centre, and also build a hotel near its vineyard. 

Mr Lam had also twinned his home town in China with the town of Libourne, 20 miles from the city of Bordeaux itself, and the regional centre for the Saint-Émilion and Pomerol vineyards. 

Otherwise, relatively little was known about him and his wife, who, like many Chinese plutocrats, guarded their privacy jealously. Mrs Liu grew up in the south western Chinese province of Yunnan, where she was also a helped advise the local Communist party. That also made her well-placed to trade in the province’s speciality, Pu’er tea. Together with her husband, she created a series of luxury resorts nestled in the tea plantations, with rooms at £400 a night complete with an English-speaking butler for foreign guests. 

In a rare interview with Hong Kong’s New Weekly business magazine, Mrs Liu said of her husband: “He is in charge of managing the money. I know how to make the money.” Her husband added: “She sets the vision, I am more rational.” 

A Chinese consular delegation was expected at the chateau yesterday to assist Mr Lam’s surviving relatives.