Six killed in snowmobile crash

Six Russians have been killed and two others were injured when their snowmobile slammed into a fence and flipped over into a ditch during a night run down an Italian ski slope.

RAI state radio reported that the crash occurred on an unlit slope late yesterday on Mount Cermis in north-east Italy.

The Russian consul general in Milan, Alexei Parmonov, said on Russian state television that he was in contact with Italian investigators, who he said suspect the crash was caused by excessive speed. They also were checking the possibility of a mechanical malfunction.

Russian news reports said the snowmobile was pulling a sled, which is where most of the passengers were sitting.

Mr Parmonov identified the four men and two women who died in the crash. Five of them and also one of the injured men were tourists from Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia that includes Sochi, which is preparing to hold the 2014 Winter Olympics.

One of the dead women and the other injured man worked in Italy in the tourist industry.

The Russian diplomat gave the names of the dead as Denis Kravchenko, Irina Kravchenko, Vyacheslav Sleptsov, Yulia Yudina, Lyudmila Yudina and Rafilya Pshenichnaya. The injured, he said, were Boris Yudin and Azat Agafarov.

Mr Yudin's 17-year-old son, who stayed behind in the hotel, lost his mother and sister in the accident, while his father was taken to hospital with multiple fractures, Mr Parmonov said.

In 1998, a US Marine jet, flying low on a training run from a nearby air base, accidentally sliced a ski gondola's cable on Mount Cermis, sending the cable car crashing to the ground and claiming 20 lives.

Sunday 6 January 2013

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/368907/Six-killed-in-snowmobile-crash

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13 feared dead as tanker rams into bus

No fewer than 13 persons lost their lives in a multiple auto crash along Ogbomoso-Oyo-Ibadan road on Sunday morning. The accident which specifically occurred at Odo-Oba village few kilometres to Ogbomoso, according to eyewitnesses involved a fully loaded petroleum tanker coming from Oyo/Ibadan end road and an 18-seater commercial bus coming from Ilorin/Ogbomoso.

The tanker was said to have collided with the commercial bus at a sharp bend along Odo-Oba village, resulting in the auto crash. The eye-witnesses added that the impact of the collision made the tanker to upturn and spill its inflammable cargo which eventually led to an explosion. The explosion was compounded as another fully loaded tanker had broken down at the same scene for the past one week. The driver of the commercial bus, the eyewitness added, lost control of the vehicle and the passengers were flung out of the vehicle. Only three of the passengers were lucky to escape.

The dead bodies of the victims of the accident were later taken to Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. As a result of the accident, there was heavy traffic jam along the Ibadan/Ogbomoso/Oyo expressway. Men of the State Fire Service, police, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) had hectic time controlling the traffic.

Officers of the Nigerian Army and the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) were also on hand to join in the rescue operation and ensured that the property of the victims were not stolen by hoodlums. The spokesman of NEMA in the South-West, Alhaji Ibrahim Farinloye described the accident as very unfortunate, adding that the scene had to be cordoned off and traffic diverted to another routes around the area. As at the time of filing this report, men of the FRSC were still struggling at the scene controlling traffic.

Sunday 7 January 2013

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/15-die-in-petrol-tanker-bus-accident/

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