explosion

Nov. 4 (UPI) — Two male suspects were arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly setting off an explosive device inside a Harvard Medical School building early Saturday morning.

The two suspects are Logan David Patterson, 18, of Plymouth, Mass., and Dominick Frank Cardoza, 20, of Bourne, Mass., each of whom is accused of conspiring to damage, by means of an explosive, the Harvard Medical School Goldenson Building at 220 Longwood Ave. in Boston, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

FBI special agent Erin O’Brien submitted a criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in which she says there is probable cause that Patterson and Cardoza conspired to damage by fire or explosive device a building owned by an institution that receives federal financial assistance and is used in interstate commerce or in any activity affecting interstate commerce.

O’Brien said surveillance cameras at the intersection of Huntington and Longwood avenues at 2:23 a.m. EDT Saturday recorded two people walking toward the HMS campus.

One was wearing a blue/gray balaclava, a “distinctive” brown sweatshirt, tan sweatpants and white Crocs, while the other wore a blue mask, dark hooded jacket, dark plaid pajama pants and black sneakers.

Surveillance video also shows them lighting what appears to be a Roman candle firework at 2:24 a.m. before video from another camera shows them climbing over a chain-link fence and entering a construction area surrounding the Goldenson Building.

They climbed scaffolding next to the Goldenson Building to access its roof at 2:36 a.m., and Harvard University Police responded to a fire alarm on the building’s fourth floor at about 2:45 a.m.

The suspects exited the building via its first-floor emergency exit that leads to a courtyard, where each fled on foot in opposite directions, O’Brien said.

Harvard police found evidence of an explosive device detonating inside a wooden locker in the building’s fourth-floor research lab, which an FBI bomb technician said likely was a large commercial firework after inspecting its remains.

Soon after the alarm alerted police, a surveillance camera recorded one of the suspects removing clothing while sitting on a bench and depositing them in a garbage bin near Longwood Avenue and Autumn Street.

Footage recorded by a security camera at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, which is near the Goldenson Building, shows the other suspect on the campus at 3:09 a.m., entering a residential campus building and charging his phone and then using it to talk to someone at 3:23 a.m.

That suspect had removed his brown sweatshirt and tan pants and left the building soon after, met the other suspect and another individual, and the three walked to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design campus at 3:49 a.m., according to O’Brien.

Several Wentworth students identified Patterson and Cardoza as the suspects and said Patterson told them of his participation in the incident.

The witnesses said the pair told them that they allegedly placed an explosive cherry bomb firework in a locker and shut it before it exploded.

O’Brien said images of the two suspects match those that are posted on social media and that are maintained by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Each faces up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine if convicted of conspiring to damage the university building.

An arraignment hearing for each suspect had not been scheduled as of Tuesday afternoon.

Nov. 1 (UPI) — The FBI, local and university police are investigating an “intentional” explosion that occurred early Saturday morning on the fourth floor of the Harvard Medical School building in Boston.

The explosion occurred at 2:48 a.m. EDT in the medical school’s Goldenson Building and triggered a fire alarm that alerted university police, The New York Times reported.

A Harvard University Police officer responded to the building at 220 Longwood Ave. and saw two individuals running from it.

The officer tried to stop the individuals but could not and then found evidence of an explosion on the fourth floor, according to The Boston Globe.

The Boston Fire Department and its arson unit also responded to the alarm and determined the explosion likely was intentional.

Boston police searched the building for explosive devices but found none.

No one was injured during the incident, and the FBI is assisting with the investigation.

University police released video stills of the two suspects, who appear to be young, white males wearing light-colored masks while fleeing the building.

One wore a brown sweatshirt with a hood and what looked like “NYC” printed on the front, khaki pants and gray Crocs.

The other wore a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark plaid pajama pants, according to university police.

The university police released images of each suspect that were captured by surveillance cameras.

Anyone who has information regarding the incident or suspects can contact the Harvard University Police Department’s detective bureau by calling 617-495-1796.

Oct. 28 (UPI) — Two people were killed and at least one was injured Tuesday in an underground blast at a silver mine in New South Wales, Australian authorities said.

NSW Police, in a news update, said the body of a man had been recovered from the mine near Cobar, 450 miles northwest of Sydney, and an injured woman who was rescued subsequently died. A second injured woman who was brought to the surface was airlifted to a hospital.

The police department said it had launched an investigation.

Superintendent Gerard Lawson said the three victims were working the night shift at the mine, which is owned by Polymetals Resources.

“It is tragic for the families and our employees and the Cobar community and the wider Polymetals family,” said executive chairman Dave Sproule, who added that about 30 people were working when the blast occurred in the early hours, local time.

The incident was the first fatal mine blast in the country in 10 years.

NSW Resources, the watchdog for the state’s mining sector, said operations had been suspended at the facility, which also mines zinc and lead, pending its own full investigation.

The state’s natural resources minister, Courtney Houssos, said the regulator had dispatched inspectors and investigators to the scene, calling it a “heartbreaking day” for Cobar and the mining industry.

“While safety protocols and procedures have greatly improved in mining, these deaths are a sobering reminder of why we need to always remain vigilant to protect workers,” she said.

Cobar Mayor Jarrod Marsden said the tragedy would impact the entire community.

“The most valuable thing to come out of a mine are the miners, and two families don’t get to see their loved ones anymore. Cobar is a small mining community. It’s very tight-knit and I’m sure everyone’s going to be thinking of their families today,” said Marsden.

Reports in Australian media said the accident was caused by explosives that had been set at the rockface detonating before they were supposed to.

Bob Timbs, president of the local branch of the Mining and Energy Union, said it was a “catastrophic failure” in the explosion system.

“In this day and age, that type of accident just should not have happened. We will do everything in our power — once we’ve dealt with and supported the families and mine workers in the community — to find out what happened and make sure that it never happens again.”

At the request of Polymetals, trading in the firm’s shares on the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney was paused and then halted through the start of Thursday’s trading session, or pending an announcement from the company, ASX said in a notice.

A car exploded outside a shopping mall in Ecuador’s largest city Guayaquil, killing at least one person and injuring several more. Authorities say the blast was a deliberate act by criminal groups as police hunt for those responsible.

Authorities in the southern US state have called the blast ‘devastating’, with many of the missing presumed dead.

An explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant has left 19 people missing and feared dead, authorities said.

The blast occurred on Friday at Accurate Energetic Systems, a manufacturer in rural Tennessee, a state in the southern United States. People reported hearing and feeling the explosion miles away.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said it was one of the most devastating scenes he’s ever seen. He did not specify how many people were killed, but referred to the 19 missing as “souls” and said officials were still speaking to family members.

The company’s website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about 97 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of Nashville.

The cause of the explosion, which Davis called “devastating”, was not immediately known, and the investigation could take days, the sheriff said.

Aerial footage of the aftermath from the news channel WTVF-TV showed the explosion had apparently obliterated one of the facility’s hilltop buildings, leaving only smoldering wreckage and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.

There’s no further danger of explosions, and the scene was under control by Friday afternoon, according to Grey Collier, a spokesperson for the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone. He didn’t have any details on casualties.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday morning.

“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email. He referred further comment to a county official.

Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, said they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.

“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said by phone. “I live very close to Accurate, and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

State Representative Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighbouring town of Dickson, was worried about the possible economic impact because the plant is a key employer in the area.

“We live probably 15 miles [24km] as the crow flies, and we absolutely heard it at the house,” Barrett said. “It sounded like something going through the roof of our house.”