Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
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.
Natural gas wasn't the only possible cause.
Chocolate companies and other food manufacturers must take steps to mitigate the risk of fire and explosion from flammable dust produced by ingredients like cocoa powder and corn starch, said Holly Burgess, technical lead for industrial and chemical safety at the National Fire Protection Association, a non-profit group that produces hundreds of codes and standards.
Burgess said smaller particles that stay aloft pose a greater danger than bigger particles that quickly fall to the floor. Food manufacturers are supposed to determine the combustibility of the dust, perform a hazard analysis and then take steps to manage it.
"Each batch is different, so the chocolate material in cocoa that I'm getting from one place might have a bigger particle size or a smaller particle size. So that's where they usually need to do their own testing," said Burgess, speaking generally and not about the situation at Palmer.
Commercial ovens and furnaces, and commercial refrigerant using ammonia, are other primary explosive hazards at food plants, she said.
Records from OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, show only one violation at the West Reading plant over the past five years. In 2018, an employee lost the tip of a finger during the cleaning of a pneumatically pressurized ball valve. The company agreed to pay a US$13,000 fine.
In January, records show, OSHA levied a penalty of more than US$12,000 after an inspection at R.M. Palmer's plant in nearby Wyomissing. Details of that case were not immediately available.
R.M. Palmer said in a weekend statement that everyone at the company was devastated, and it was reaching out to employees and their families through first responders and disaster recovery organizations because its communication systems were down. "The tragic events that occurred on Friday have had a profound impact on all of us at R.M. Palmer, and we appreciate the outpouring of support as all of us continue to deal with the loss of our friends and co-workers," the company said on Facebook Sunday.
The company has not commented further. It did not respond to questions from The Associated Press on Monday.
The Berks County coroner's office identified two of the victims as 49-year-old Amy Sandoe of Ephrata and 60-year-old Domingo Cruz of Reading and said "additional forensic medical examinations" would be needed to positively identify the other five victims. Autopsies were expected to be completed by the end of week, officials said.
Rescue crews had been using heat-imaging equipment and dogs to search for possible survivors after the blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighbouring building. Crews were using heavy equipment to methodically and carefully pull debris from the site, according to police Chief Wayne Holben.
Three buildings around the site were condemned as a precaution until further examination by structural engineers to ensure their safety.
Officials said they had no update on the condition of a woman pulled alive from the rubble early Saturday. Mayor Samantha Kaag has said she had apparently been on the second floor and was found in a "hopeful circumstance," calling out to rescuers despite her injuries after a dog found her.
Reading Hospital said it received 10 patients and transferred two to other facilities, while two others were admitted in good and fair condition, respectively, and the others had been discharged. Dr. Charles Barbera, the hospital's president and CEO, said one of the admitted patients was discharged Monday.
UGI spokesperson Joe Swope said the utility detected leaks at a few street-level locations some distance from the plant after the gas was turned back on, and completed repairs. "The company believes these are unrelated to the explosion at Palmer," he said.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
With carriers' flight volumes above the 60th parallel hovering below pre-pandemic levels, Canadian North’s first Inuk CEO now bears the task of balancing those financial and logistical challenges with the needs of communities for which she feels a deep affinity.
One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world's highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday.
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
Homicide investigators in B.C. say murder charges have been laid against a fourth Indian national in connection to the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara last year.
Past left-leaning presidents who enacted some of the most socially liberal policies on the continent have given way to a self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" whose fiery appraisals of social justice and efforts to dismantle diversity and equity programs have made him into a global far-right icon.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.