MEC&F Expert Engineers

Monday, September 19, 2016

a hang glider died after he lost control of his aircraft and smashed into a rock face in Dunlap, California






Investigators are trying to figure out how a hang glider lost control of his aircraft and smashed into a rock face and died. (KFSN)

Sunday, September 18, 2016 11:54PM
DUNLAP, Calif. (KFSN) -- Investigators are trying to figure out how a hang glider lost control of his aircraft and smashed into a rock face and died.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said a 69-year-old man died from his injuries after crashing in Dunlap. He somehow crashed into the hillside on his way down.

At this point, it appears to be an accident.

Deputies said he had 30 years of experience hang gliding and was with a large group of trained people at the time.

Up to 5 People in FBI Custody in Connection With NY Bombing, Following Traffic Stop. No one has been charged with any crime





AARON KATERSKY
Updated 14 mins ago

As many as five people were taken into FBI custody Sunday night in connection with Saturday's explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, following a traffic stop on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, just off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island, law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

The FBI's New York field office said a traffic stop had been conducted, but did not elaborate. "We did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation. No one has been charged with any crime. The investigation is continuing," read a tweet.

According to The Associated Press, the individuals were taken to an FBI building in lower Manhattan to be questioned.

The FBI may be looking for additional suspects, the sources tell ABC News.

As ABC News previously reported, multiple law enforcement officials tell ABC News that investigators are exploring the possibility the two explosions in New York and New Jersey are linked to the same bomber or bombers by what appear to be similar types of cell phones.

And on Sunday night, multiple law enforcement officials also told ABC News that police would like to talk to a male seen on surveillance images recovered from both 23rd Street in Manhattan, where the explosion occurred, and a few blocks uptown on 27th Street, where a secondary device was found.

Police have not identified the aforementioned man, as they are seeking to figure out who he is since he appears in videos from both locations. He also has not been characterized as a person of interest. It is also unknown if that male is related in anyway to those taken into custody Sunday night.

The explosive device in New Jersey and the one that caused the blast in New York City were both set off with cell phones, according to two law enforcement officials who have been briefed on the case. The other, possible explosive device found near the blast site in New York City also had a cell phone connected to it.

Authorities cautioned that this is only a line of inquiry and not a conclusion. The probes remain "separate investigations," the FBI and officials in New York said.

"Just because you have one thing in common, doesn't mean the devices are similar," one official told ABC News.

In fact, the explosive devices looked very different: the one used in New Jersey was pipe bombs and the one in New York was not.

The video below was posted by Terri Restaurant, located at West 23rd Street, 176 yards east of where the explosion took place. A loud boom is heard.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference Saturday that there was at that point no specific evidence linking the Saturday night blast in the city's Chelsea neighborhood to the explosion earlier in the day in Seaside Park, New Jersey, at the site of a planned 5K charity run for military service members. But, he said, the possibility of a connection "will continue to be considered ... [We] are not taking any options off the table."

"We know there was a bombing," in the city last night, the mayor said. "We will be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here.

"Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation? What was it? We do not know that yet," de Blasio said

The New York City explosion, which injured at least 29 people, occurred on West 23rd Street around 8:30 p.m. in an area frequented by shoppers and diners. All of those injured have been released from hospitals, de Blasio said.

In the block-by-block search after the New York blast, two former state troopers found a possible secondary device a few blocks away on 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, said James O'Neill, the city's police commissioner. The second device, a pressure cooker, was in a white plastic bag with tape, wiring and a cell phone or other electronic device.

That second device was sent to the NYPD's bomb squad facility in the Bronx, and on Sunday around 7:45 p.m., the NYPD spokesman J. Peter Donald tweeted, "NYPD and FBI Bomb Technicians rendered the device safe. A forensic examination of the device and its components will be conducted at the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia."

"We have two separate crime scenes," O'Neill said, adding that the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are involved in the investigation.

O'Neill said officers have recovered video from both scenes and are continuing to canvas for witnesses and additional video.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said earlier today that the explosion, which injured at least 29 people, was not likely an international act of terrorism.

Cuomo said evidence has been sent to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, for examination.

The governor added that while no international group had claimed responsibility for planting the explosive device, any bomb exploding in New York was terrorism "generically."

Surveillance video from the site of the blast on West 23rd Street shows the explosion and indicates to investigators that an object containing the explosive device was intentionally left next to a construction trash container.

In one video obtained by police, a man is seen crossing the street in the vicinity of where the explosive device appears to have been left. The trash container was blown clear into the street by the force of the blast.

The New Jersey blast took place in Seaside Park on Saturday morning along the route of a planned 5K charity race to benefit U.S. Marines and sailors. Because of delays to the start of the run, the explosion occurred in an area without many people in it.

ABC News' Edison Hayden contributed to this report.

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates.

A fast-moving and massive fire destroyed the abandoned Up the Creek restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware







A fast-moving blazed destroyed the abandoned
Up the Creek restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware. (WPVI)

Updated 7 mins ago
WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) -- A fast-moving blazed destroyed an abandoned restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware.

The fire started after 6 a.m. Monday at the Up the Creek restaurant on the 1100 block of East 7th Street.

Officials say the restaurant was closed and abandoned after being open for several years.

Firefighters arrived to flames shooting through the roof.

Crews had to deal with water issues with the hydrants.

A Wilmington fire boat was called to the scene to help put out the flames.

There were no injuries reported.

So far, no word on what caused the blaze.

Multiple people were injured in a crash involving an overturned vehicle on Interstate 95 near the Philadelphia International Airport.





Multiple people were injured in a crash involving an overturned vehicle on Interstate 95 near the Philadelphia International Airport.

Sunday, September 18, 2016 10:58PM
ESSINGTON, Pa. (WPVI) -- Multiple people were injured in a crash involving an overturned vehicle on Interstate 95 near the Philadelphia International Airport.

It happened around 8:40 p.m. Sunday.

Police say the crash involved two vehicles with one, a Honda CRV, overturned, leaving three to five people injured.

Fire officials confirm four people were taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

No details on other injuries at this time.

No further injuries have been reported.

A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot









Device near NJ train station explodes while FBI investigates; Amtrak delays



Updated 1 hr 31 mins ago
ELIZABETH, N.J. -- A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said.




A suspicious device found in a trash can near a New Jersey train station exploded early Monday as a bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with a robot, officials said. 


Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said that the FBI was working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which was discovered in a trash can by two men around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, near the Elizabeth train station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor rail line. The men had reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package, Bollwage said.

There was no immediate report of injuries or damage. A message left with the FBI wasn't immediately returned. The mayor warned that other explosions were expected.

NJ Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New York Penn Station, officials said, while New York-bound Amtrak trains were being held in Trenton.

Train passengers reported being stuck on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains for hours Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations. Amtrak said 2,400 passengers were affected and that trains were being brought into other stations for people to get other transportation. It wasn't clear when the Elizabeth station would be open, a threat to cause major issues on the Monday morning commute into New York.

The discovery of the suspicious package comes a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people, and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away. Also Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn't appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren't ruling anything out.

Investigators didn't immediately comment on whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to either of the two blasts.

Bollwage said that he wasn't willing to say that Elizabeth had become a target, and that it was possible that someone worried about the authorities was trying to get rid of the package.

"I'm extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt," Bollwage said.