Russian Government Covers-Up Details of Deadly Fire in Vladivostok

 

Sberbank Building in Vladicostok, Russia

On Monday, January 23, 2006 at approximately 11:45 AM (local time) a fire broke out inside a 9-story building in the city of Vladivostok, located on the Russian Pacific coast. The fire began on the 7th floor and affected the floors above; The 7th floor was occupied by Sberbank where the majority of employees were women 20-30 years of age. When firefighters arrived, they were instructed to enter the side of the back of the building which was not on fire and evacuate the bank’s top management staff.

 Meanwhile, lower-level employees on the top floors of the front side of the burning building were unable to escape the flames due to gates which were blocking the stairwells. Chief Regional Prosecutor, Alexander Anikin stated, “Some of the stairwells were barred… The evacuation was hindered.”. The evacuation was hindered further by the presence of a commercial parking lot located on the front side of the building. This parking lot was in violation of safety regulations and prevented firefighters from reaching employees in time. The building had no fire escape, emergency exits or other means of evacuation.

 At least fifteen employees jumped from the building to escape the fire; Three jumpers died. Bystander Ivan Petrov who witnessed three women jump from the building to escape the fire told NTV, “They waited until the very last moment. One woman was hanging beneath a window. She hung on and on… and then she let go.”. Although criminal cases were opened following the fire to investigate the blatant violation of fire safety regulations and lethal negligence, ultimately, no one was held responsible. The Russian government withheld information about the incident from the public and originally denied the incident altogether telling the public via official Russian media that the fire was a “rumor”.

 The official death toll, according to the Russian government was nine; Six died on the scene (including one person whose body was discovered inside the building hours later) and three who died after being rushed to the hospital. An additional fifteen were reported to have been hospitalized due to injuries.
But survivors of the event tell a very different story; According to employees who were rescued, the corridors of the building were filled with dead bodies and the death toll was much more significant than Russian officials will admit.  One of the building’s maintenance employees who wished to remain anonymous stated, “I know at least about thirteen dead inside …Not to consider those who’ve dropped down … Eight of them dropped, looking at the three already dead on the ground, but they went through the windows without hope to be rescued … They collected and hid the dead bodies inside.” On the evening of January 23, after the fire was extinguished, several employees were allowed into the building to recover documents.

 One of these employees, who had worked on the 6th floor of the building shared what he had seen inside with his sister, Lelya, “My brother worked in that building, on the 6th floor… After the fire they visited the building to collect the documents… They saw how workers transported the dead bodies. He said, there were 50-60 [dead bodies]”.

A resident of Vladivostok spoke out following the fire, claiming, “The cops, whom I know, say that they’ve been loading the dead bodies all night long.”. It is believed approximately 70 people were killed in total. Lelya, and many like her, have been working to piece together the story of what actually happened.

 Unfortunately, when new information regarding the incident emerges on the internet is is quickly edited or removed by the Russian government making it difficult for citizens to share their evidence with one another. Despite the government’s best efforts to cover-up the truth, Russian citizens know the information they have been told regarding the fire is false and they are speaking out.

One Russian woman asserted, “My daughter worked in a justice department. She said that there were actually much more dead- up to 70. She went on [about] the dead bodies, getting out from the building… Some of them were so scorched, that it was impossible to identify them… Nine victims? That’s a lie!”

Due to lax enforcement of safety regulations in the country, Russia’s rate of death by fire is ten times that of the United States.
The following video is of the Sberbank Fire in Vladivostock, Russia on January 23, 2006. It contains graphic, disturbing images and depictions of death. Please use discretion.

Photos courtesy News.VL.ru
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Who Killed Kendrick Johnson?

Kendrick Johnson with parents, Kenneth and Jaquelyn.

-This article contains GRAPHIC IMAGES which may not be suitable for some-
On the evening of January 10, 2013, 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson, a sophomore at Lowndes High School did not return home from school. The following day at 9AM, his body was discovered inside a rolled up wrestling mat in the gym of his Valdosta, Georgia high school. The grisly discovery was made by two sisters, daughters of the Superintendent, Wes Taylor. The girls were sitting in the gym near an area full of rolled up mats when they noticed a pair of feet inside one of them. The mat was moved from its vertical position to the floor, horizontally, by teachers at the school. The cause of death was determined to be accidental/positional asphyxia (AKA postural asphyxia), meaning Kendrick’s body was in such a position within the mat that he was unable to breathe and eventually led to his death. According to the medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the boy went into the mat head-first to retrieve his shoe, was unable to get out, and eventually died with a pair of headphones still in his hand; However, Kendrick’s parents, along with the majority of the population do not believe what investigators claim happened. The Johnsons hired a private pathologist who easily came to the conclusion after exhuming the young man’s corpse that Kendrick Johnson died due to blunt force trauma to the neck and was rolled into the mat following his death in an attempt to hide the body. Students at Lowndes High School said Kendrick had shared a pair of Adidas for gym class with another student who stated Kendrick would, “Go to the mats, jump up and toss the shoes inside the middle of the hole.”, but the question remains; Why would anyone go inside the mat to retrieve the shoe? Yes, teenagers do dumb things, but the fact is the evidence does not add up. Aside from evidence of blunt force trauma noted in the second autopsy, which was blatantly obvious even to the casual observer in crime scene photos, the shoes he was last seen wearing were found on him, next to his feet.

Kendrick Johnson’s feet and the shoes he was last seen wearing inside gym mat where his body was discovered.

 

Crime scene photo of Kendrick Johnson, postmortem.

If Kendrick Johnson went into the mat after his shoes as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims, how did the shoes end up on him? It doesn’t take an FBI agent to figure out there is absolutely no way the GBI’s version of the story is correct. Someone would have had to have placed Kendrick’s shoes inside the mat after Kendrick was inside it. Not to mention, Kendrick Johnson’s shoulders measured 19 inches across, whereas the opening of the mat was only 14 inches wide when the body was discovered. Although signs of postmortem bloat were evident, this was not the cause for the 5 inch difference as his shoulders measured 19 inches across in life. As we know, it is physically impossible for a 19 inch object to fit inside a 14 inch opening; Also, it does not take an FBI agent to figure that one out. During the second autopsy, it was also discovered that Kendrick’s organs had been removed and disposed of, his body was stuffed with newspaper. The funeral home which prepared the boy’s body claims his organs were removed by the GBI’s coroner because they had been, “Destroyed through natural process” and were “Discarded by the prosecutor before the body was sent back to Valdosta [to the funeral home]”. It was determined that while the funeral home did no wrong-doing in filling his body with newspaper, they had not followed the “best practice” (while it is not unusual for organs to be removed from a corpse due to liquefaction of organs, usually the body is stuffed with sawdust, cotton, or some other material less disrespectful to the deceased than old newspapers). The State of Georgia claims, however, they did turn over Kendrick’s organs to the funeral home in question. This is only one of a laundry list of inconsistencies in the case. On the morning Kendrick Johnson’s body was discovered, investigators requested the surveillance video from the school’s motion detecting cameras. These videos were supposed to be handed over that very morning but were not given to police until five days later. In November 2013, 290 hours of surveillance footage from 35 cameras in the vicinity of the school’s gymnasium were released to the public. It was discovered that two of the cameras were missing footage; One had one hour and five minutes cut, the other was missing two hours and ten minutes. Although these cameras were motion activated, the footage was cut out of the tapes, as opposed to the camera failing to record at that time. This is obvious evidence that the tapes were tampered with by the school before being handed over to investigators. What is seen on the tapes is a Lowndes High School student crisscrossing through the hallway outside of the gym on the day of Kendrick Johnson’s murder. Kendrick had previously suffered racial harassment from this student seen erratically crossing the hallway outside the gym, who is even changes his clothing at one point on the video. Complains of harassment were ignored by the school, despite the fact that this student had attacked Kendrick on a bus trip to a football game earlier in the year and on one occasion prior to that. It is said the student in question “had a history of provoking and attacking” and most interestingly of all, this student, Brandon Bell, is the son of a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There were also rumors that Kendrick had a sexual relationship with Brandon Bell’s older brother, Brian’s, ex-girlfriend; Allegedly, this prompted GBI member Rick Bell to encourage his two sons and six of their friends to attack Kendrick Johnson on the bus during their football trip. The investigation into Kendrick Johnson’s death was nothing short of corrupt, to say the least and Sheriff Chris Prine has been nothing short of an utter asshole (to put it as nicely as possible) in speaking with those who question the “accidental death” B.S. Police did not wear protective footwear during the investigation, which are worn not to protect the officers’ shoes, but to protect the crime scene from potential contamination. Law enforcement did not allow Kendrick’s parents to ever identify his body, which is routine, and the coroner was not called to the scene for six hours. In investigations led by… anyone, ever, who is not corrupt and trying to hide information, the coroner is called immediately. The coroner who worked the case said the scene had most definitely been compromised, adding that the report they had written on Kendrick’s death was changed by law enforcement. Both failing to wear protective footwear and failing to call the coroner are illegal in the State of Georgia. The coroner also asserted that despite the fact police were notified that the scene should be sealed off as a murder investigation due to signs of bruising on Kendrick’s face and neck, it was ignored and foot traffic in the surrounding area continued as usual. A pair of shoes and Hollister hoodie not belonging to Kendrick was discovered in the gym next to the mat his body was inside, but the items were not taken into evidence and were all but ignored.

Shoe NOT belonging to Kendrick Johnson found in gym. Blood splatter is visible on the toe.

Blood on the scene was also looked past by investigators. Blood could be clearly seen beneath the mat in which Kendrick’s body was discovered and blood was on the shoe he had supposedly dove in to retrieve. More blood was found on a vertical beam inside the gym and a trashcan in the gym’s restroom was full of bloody paper towels. Investigators and school employees dismissed the blood saying it had come from a female student who had injured herself in the gym the day before. The blood in the trashcan was tested and found to not be Kendrick’s, yet there was no further investigation into who the blood did belong to. No female student ever came forward to say she was this “female” who had reportedly injured herself.

Blood on vertical beam in gym, evident in crime scene photos.

Regardless of whether or not the blood belonged to Kendrick, when blood is present at a crime scene, in actual investigations, those sort of things are not overlooked, no matter how inconsequential they may end up being to the investigation. Police on the case claim 25 students from the wrestling team, including Brandon Bell, were not at the school when Kendrick went missing due to a competition in Macon, Georgia. They claim the wrestling team members were excused from classes at 11:32 AM on January 10th to make the 152 mile trip, which would have taken approximately 2 hours and 11 minutes. However, there is video evidence that at least some of these 25 wrestlers, including Brandon Bell, were at the school cafeteria from 11:32-12:02 and three separate school documents show evidence that the wrestling team actually departed at 4:00pm. The school did eventually admit the bus was running late and did not leave for the wrestling competition until 12:30 PM (noon) on January 10, which confirms they had, for some reason, attempted to convince police and the public that the bus had departed immediately following lunch, one half hour prior than it actually did (according to their story now, which may be subject to change as most the information from LHS on this case has). According to police, the wrestling coach’s cell phone records indicate the team was in Cordell, Georgia at 1:53pm, which is 85 miles north of the school and more than an hour away. Quite frankly, all that indicates is that the wrestling coach’s cell phone was in Cordell, Georgia at 1:53pm, or perhaps that the investigators working on this case pulled that out of their ass like much of the “evidence” presented in an attempt to validate the offensively false claim that Kendrick’s death was accidental.

Shoe which Kendrick Johnson allegedly went into the rolled up gym mat to retrieve, covered in his blood.

Following his death, many African-American students at Lowndes High School were instructed by school staff to not speak with police. These students were threatened that if they did, they would not be allowed to graduate, despite the fact that most Caucasian students at the school were required to speak with police regarding their memories of that day. In fact, Brian Bell and his brother Brandon, a graduate of Lowndes High School, were the only Caucasian students who were forbidden from speaking with police due to their FBI daddy, Rick Bell, swooping in and threatening hell and high water if anyone made his spoiled brat boys do anything they didn’t want to do- like speak to police about a murder in which they appear incredibly suspicious. Luckily for Brian, Brandon, Rick, and mother, Karen Bell, being a spoiled brat with racist tendencies is not a crime, but as more information is uncovered in this case, there may only be so much having a father in the FBI can do to protect you. Afterall, take a look at Robert Durst; Money and Power can take you a long way in America, but there’s only so far you can go until enough of the public takes notice and begins to demand law enforcement does the dame instead of turn a blind eye.

Wounds and blood clearly visible on Kendrick Johnson’s fingers.

One person who has most certainly not turned a blind to this case is Adam Floyd, who was a teacher at Lowndes High School when Kendrick Johnson was murdered and left the school shortly afterwards to work at the Valdosta Daily Times has become the lead writer on the Kendrick Johnson story. Jaquelyn and Kenneth Johnson, Kendrick’s parents, filed a $100 million dollar civil suit on January 12, 2015 against local and state federal officials, Wes Taylor (School Superintendent of Lowndes County), Valdosta-Lowndes crime lab, Police Chief of Valdosta and multiple Sheriff’s deputies, state medical examiner, Georgia Bureau of Investigations and its five agents, FBI agent Rick Bell, and three of Kendrick’s classmates [names undisclosed, most likely the Bell Brothers and a friend involved in the bus trip attack]. Quite frankly, the investigation (or lack thereof) into the BLATANTLY OBVIOUS MURDER of Kendrick Johnson disgusts me in ways I cannot express. I sincerely hope Kenneth and Jaquelyn Johnson are successful in their lawsuit against any and everyone involved in their son’s death and the coverup which followed it. Hopefully in the process, the true story of what happened to Kendrick Johnson will come to light and he will receive justice.

Photos courtesy The Valdosta Daily Times, New York Daily News and CNN.
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7,759 People Confirmed Dead in Nepal Earthquake

 On Saturday, April 26, 2015 shortly before noon (local time) Nepal and its bordering countries suffered a 7.8 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter just 50 miles northwest of Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu. It was classified as a IX violent earthquake and lasted approximately 20 seconds,

 Thus far, 7,759 deaths have been confirmed, with 1,209 in Kathmandu alone; 3,000 deaths were reported in Sindupalchowk, the district of Nepal which suffered the most damage. In addition to the 7,652 deaths reported in Nepal, 78 died in India, 25 in China and 4 in Bangladesh. There were a total of 80 foreign casualties in Nepal from the countries of India, France, China, Germany, Italy, The United States, Canada, Russia, Australia, Estonia, The United Kingdom, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zeland and Spain. Due to the seismic activity, Mount Everest experienced avalanches on Saturday which killed 19 people and made April 26, 2015 the most deadly day on Mt. Everest in history. Bodies of the deceased were able to be recovered by helicopters from base camps.

 A powerful aftershock occurred in the region on Sunday, which could be felt in Nepal, India and Bangladesh and led to more avalanches atop Mt. Everest. Twenty-nine districts throughout the area have been declared crisis zones and approximately 900 of the 1,000 homes in the Nepal villages of Laprak and Barpak were completely destroyed.

The Dharara Tower, a landmark which was constructed during the 19th century by rulers of Nepal, was also reduced to rubble by the earthquake, killing at least 180 people who were inside or nearby the tower when the earthquake struck. Many centuries-old building were destroyed, including several temples and churches which collapsed, killing those inside.

While rescue workers did all they could, many living and inured citizens remained trapped beneath crumbled buildings for several days. Rescue workers found survivors buried in the rubble as long as one week after the initial earthquake. Four men who were trapped beneath close to 10 feet (3 meters) of debris for several days were found alive thanks to new NASA technology known as ‘FINDER’, a heartbeat detection device. It is capable of detecting a human heartbeat through as much as 30 feet (9 meters) of rubble, 20 feet (7 meters) of concrete or 100 feet (30 meters) of open space.

  Countless have been left homeless in the wake of this natural disaster and are seeking shelter in refugee camps.

In the immediate aftermath, corpses were left lying on the street, covered by sheets, waiting to be identified or placed onto ferries traveling to hospitals in Kathmandu. Unfortunately, these hospitals struggled to keep up with both caring for the injured, and housing victims’ bodies.

Helicopters managed to retrieve injured climbers on Mount Everest that were able to make it to a base camp. Several roads paved across the base of the mountain have either cracked open or were buried in the avalanche and made routes impassable for rescue personnel. The April 2015 earthquake caused the most devastation this region has experienced since the Bihar-Nepal Earthquake in 1934 which killed 8,500 people.

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Fire Escape Collapse

‘Fire Escape Collapse’ July 22, 1975 Diana Bryant and Tiare Jones falling from a fire escape in Boston, Massachusetts

 

 

On July 22, 1975 a fire raged in one of the apartment buildings on Marlborough Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Nineteen-year old Diana Bryant and her two-year-old goddaughter, Tiare Jones were trapped and awaiting rescue on a fire escape.

One firefighter, Robert O’Neil, was shielding Bryant and Jones from the flames as a ladder approached, ready to lower them to safety. O’Neil would be the first to step onto the ladder and instructed Diana Bryant to pass Tiare Jones to him once he was in place. Robert O’Neil had just begun to pull himself onto the ladder when the fire escape collapsed, taking Diana and Tiare down along with it.

 Diana Bryant died from her injuries but Tiare, who had fallen on Diana’a body survived the fall. ‘Fire Escape Collapse’ is one in a series of photos taken by Stanley Forman, photographer for the Boston Herald, at the scene of the fire. When the photo was originally released in his publication there was an overwhelmingly hostile reaction from the public. As the pictures quickly spread around the world, media was accused of pandering to sensationalism and invading Diana Bryant’s privacy. Despite the controversy surrounding the photo, the series by Stanley Forman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1976 and additionally, was named The World Press Photo of The Year. It also prompted the city of Boston, as well as many other cities across the United States, to revise laws on fire escape safety. Today, the photo is still used by fire safety groups to promote their efforts. In 2005, photographer Stanley Forman gave his account of the tragic events he witnessed on that day in an interview with BBC:
“It was 22 July 1975. I was about to leave the offices of the Boston Herald for the day. A call came in about a fire in one of the city’s older sections of Victorian row houses. I rushed to the house and followed one of the engines to the fire. I ran to the back of the building, because on the way there they kept yelling for a ladder truck because there were people trapped in the building on the fire escape.
I ran to the back of the building and when I looked up there was a woman and a child on the fire escape and they were basically leaning at the furthest point from the building because of the heat of the fire behind them. In the meantime, a firefighter called Bob [Robert] O’Neil had climbed on to the front of the building on the roof and saw the pair on the fire escape. He lowered himself on to the fire escape to rescue them.
I took a position where I could photograph what I thought was an impending routine rescue. The ladder went up to pick them up – they were about 50ft (15m) up. Mr O’Neill had just told Diana Bryant that he was going to step onto the ladder and asked her to hand the baby to him. Mr O’Neil was reaching out for the ladder when suddenly the fire escape gave way.

I was shooting pictures as they were falling – then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn’t want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.
It transpired that I wouldn’t have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn’t see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety. They say the woman broke the child’s fall. The woman died later that night.

I was shooting pictures as they were falling – then I turned away. It dawned on me what was happening and I didn’t want to see them hit the ground. I can still remember turning around and shaking.
It transpired that I wouldn’t have seen them hit the ground as they fell behind a fence where the bins were. When I did turn around I didn’t see them but I saw the firefighter still clinging onto the ladder with one arm, like a monkey, with all his gear. He hoisted himself back up the fire escape to safety.

Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up

They say the woman broke the child’s fall. The woman died later that night.
At the time, I didn’t know that the picture was going to be so big or have such an impact. When I started looking at the negatives I was looking at the rescue picture, where they were holding on to each other. I didn’t even look at the next frame, I didn’t know exactly what I’d got. I knew I had shot them coming down, I didn’t realise how dramatic it was until I had developed the film.The picture was first published in the Boston Herald and then picked up and published in newspapers all over the world. There was much debate about showing such a horrific picture.
I was never bothered by the controversy. When you think about it, I don’t think it was that horrific. The woman at the time was not deceased; we didn’t show a dead person on the front page. She did die, which is a horrible thing. I didn’t think it was that bad, but then I am the photographer, so I’m biased.
Any time there are stories about fire safety issues or issues such as those people went through with the hurricane in New Orleans, it wakes people up.
My photograph prompted people to go out and check their fire escapes and ushered in a law that meant that the owner of the property is responsible for fire-escape safety. It was also used in many fire-safety pamphlets for many years.
Thirty years later it’s nice to know that I did the right thing. I haven’t seen anything like it since. I’ve seen pictures that I wish I’d made but I haven’t seen anything as dramatic as that, and I’ve seen some pretty good pictures.When you say a picture tells a thousand words, this one certainly told 10,000.”

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Turkey’s Deadliest Workplace Disaster

529731602On Tuesday, an explosion at a coal mine in Soma, Turkey created a fire which trapped hundreds of workers underground. With as many as 200 still trapped inside, any hope of finding more survivors is beginning to diminish. So far, 245 have been confirmed dead, and all autopsies performed up to this time show carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause of death. One of the victims is believed to be a fifteen year old boy which has, among other things, raised concerns about the conditions in Turkish coal mines. It is speculated the explosion was caused by a faulty power transformer. The Labor and Social Security Ministry of Turkey insists the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, the last inspection being in March of this year. Although no safety violations were reported, there are claims workers’ complaints to management regarding conditions in the mine have been ignored for quite some time. The mine is owned by Soma Holding and today, protests provoked by the disaster have erupted outside its headquarters in Istanbul. Protestors have also gathered in Ankana, the capital, to express their extreme disapproval of the country’s safety regulations and of the actions of their Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After a previous mining disaster in Turkey killed 30 workers in May 2010, Erdogan was less than sympathetic when he stated it was the “profession’s fate”.

Prime Minister Erdogan

Prime Minister Erdogan

It is unclear how many have been rescued as reports from news sources vary wildly; However, at least 88 rescues have been confirmed. The exact number of workers in the mine at the time of the explosion is also unknown, as it took place during a change in shifts, but is estimated to be 787. Rescue at this point is nearly impossible due to high levels of carbon monoxide, the possibility of fire still raging in the mine, and power outage caused by the explosion which has made the elevator useless. Until the gas disperses and the fire is extinguished, rescue efforts can not continue. In the meantime, rescue crews are pumping oxygen into the mines in an attempt to sustain survivors until help arrives. The mines are equip with emergency chambers that are stocked with gas masks and oxygen. It is possible some of the workers unaccounted for have sought refuge inside. No matter the fate of those still missing, this has now become Turkey’s deadliest workplace disaster.