Jumbled wreckage complicates U.S. chocolate factory blast probe
CTV
Investigators looking for the cause of a deadly explosion that levelled part of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory faced an even more difficult task Monday as they combed through wreckage that was extensively picked apart and moved around during the intensive weekend search for victims and survivors.
Investigators looking for the cause of a deadly explosion that levelled part of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory faced an even more difficult task Monday as they combed through wreckage that was extensively picked apart and moved around during the intensive weekend search for victims and survivors.
Seven people were killed and several others wounded in the powerful blast at the R.M Palmer Co. plant in West Reading, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles (96 kilometres) northwest of Philadelphia. One survivor was pulled from the rubble hours after the explosion rattled windows and shook houses.
With the recovery effort now over, attention turned to identifying the cause -- a task complicated by the jumbled wreckage.
"The No. 1 goal of this, once the fire was out, gas stopped, is to look for the victims," Pennsylvania State Police Master Trooper David Beohm said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "So with that, when they picked the building apart with the excavator, yes, it makes it really hard then to try to figure out things. ... It makes it really difficult to try to come up with a cause."
Authorities declined to address reports that plant workers had detected an odor of gas before the explosion. The gas utility UGI said it had received no reports of a gas leak at the family-owned candy company.
"Everything's on the table at this point because we're still not done with the investigation. To say it's one way or another, I would not say that at this point," Beohm said. Two state police fire marshals are working to determine the cause and origin of the blast, he said.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which regulates workplace safety, was also at the site.
The Bucharest court of appeals ruled on Thursday against sending internet personality Andrew Tate to trial on charges of human trafficking and sent the case back to prosecutors.
Elon Musk derided a Republican-backed government spending bill that if not passed by Friday night would lead to a government shut down.
A teen charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England this summer remained silent in court Wednesday as not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.
Wrapping up their own investigation on the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol attack, House Republicans have concluded it's former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney who should be prosecuted for probing what happened when then-President Donald Trump sent his mob of supporters as Congress was certifying the 2020 election.
Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii woman whose disappearance last month sparked a weekslong search complete with grainy surveillance images and tearful family, says she was unaware of 'everything that was happening' while she was out of touch.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is escalating his legal campaign against media outlets by suing renowned pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett.
A teenage student opened fire with a handgun Monday at a Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and another teenager during the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday, putting the European Union's most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February.
Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 30 people including several children.
Planned face-to-face peace talks between Congo and Rwanda have been unexpectedly canceled, the Congolese president said.
The commander of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk group of forces has been replaced following Russian advances in the region, a military official said Saturday.