yes. and what's your position wesley have you lost your home in this if you've been os vacuum what she'll position well i haven't logged on but we have a business and the windows were knocked out of it for the one worker boarded up the windows. you know one of boarded up tonight we're also hearing the post that the great concern is about the toxins that are being released from this plant and he can you smell it in the air there any respect problems that you can see people are suffering. no not from where i'm standing knocking small anything in the course for a plan which is a good thing but i don't know anything or what are the emergency services advising you today. what are the emergency services telling you to deny what what is that advice to you. well i mean like

if it were just your boarder but there's a lot of folks are driving are. mirchi crews here in town but i have a doctor you need to merge the kurds and in terms of the failing in the community the devastation presumably would only become very clear when daylight breaks but it's resends that you can ever recover from something like this. it's going to be tough for. you to approach. it will never forget it. but it's going to be tough but yes we're strong community and we will recover and is there anything you can do anything you are doing now to try and help those that have been affected ill or you help us at the moment. right now we're just trying to get to know protect our property in. the. area

you cannot go into an area where the blast or. ok all right well thank you very very much for your time mr. wesley gatlin an eyewitness from the town of west which has been affected by the huge huge blast which blew apart a fertilizer plant causing great devastation flattened literally flattened many many buildings in the surrounding area many people are still trapped in the rubble police and emergency services are going door to door to try and pull people out from the rubble this is what we've been hearing from a police sergeant just a few moments ago from the police department of waco so a scene of great devastation there's also concern now about the toxins that are being released by this fertilizer plant this is a developing story here in r.t. we've been following it for the last few and of course we'll bring you more updates as soon as we get there now i'll be back with more just after a quick break. wealthy

british. media. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then. you hear or see some other part of it and. welcome to the big picture. if you.

allow welcome back off the top story this hour a huge blast ripped through a fertilizer plant in the ton of west just north of waco texas police say that at least eight emergency service people have been killed by this and many more fatalities are expected the local media reporting at the time to be explosion that up to seventy people had been killed there's not concern about the toxins that are being released from this plant and people are being evacuated also a huge number of casualties have been taken to surrounding hospitals. in this part

of texas well to talk more about this is sean thomas a correspondent who's lived in the states for many years and his is very familiar with with texas. we have talked over the last few hours about the response of the emergency services meet heard that this is still very much ongoing and we still don't know the full scale of this disaster but. you've praised the response of the emergency services. it has been coordinated the police authorities have said there's been a coordinated response from many counties and this is something that they would have prepared for isn't it indeed and we even heard when we talked to keep hopkins from the hospital there who had they'd seen sixty five people admitted twelve of these people with different types of injuries they might not know of what a specific event might be whether it's a chemical event or a fire or what have you but they say that they train every single day in some way

to prepare for something like this and that's just one look into those but you know you have your initial response you have your wider response then you have you know emergency command units being set up that each have their own roles to play and in fact if you look at the wide shots when we see this this emergency scene which is pretty much the entire town you have this huge fire with these winds blowing these impressive looking flames and then a short distance from there you see this football field lit up with emergency vehicles surrounding this football field which is where they're bringing people to be triaged to look at what types of injuries they have so that they can be sorted into what hospitals that they need to go to so massive corded effort and that's because these people trained for the unknown and trained for this emergency response that's what they do they're professionals and let's just have a quick look at the footage again if we can of the splosion i hope you can see that in the next couple of minutes an incredible footage taken i wouldn't. as with his

mobile phone it was an initial far you'll see in a second there you are and shortly after there was a massive explosion. and sure there should be any second i was in the mitchell fire at the plant and then a huge line from there you are not going off with faith as you can see in the process many many pilgrims were flattened by that we've also heard from a. police sergeant at the scene and he's been describing what the police are doing hopefully we can hear from him and hey have. they are now going house to house india and you can also hear in that one clip that you just pointed to the the initial panic and chaos of that nurse and you can hear i cannot hear i can't hear i can't hear and then an adult voice so a kid a child and an adult taking a picture of this scene and then that panic oh my gosh this has affected us as well so imagine that on the scale of the entire town yes ok well we can hit

that panic i believe now this would have been tell us let's just this one more time about the faith from these eyewitnesses. but you know. i think you're. going to hear and you can you can feel about panic in their voice and that those are people who are close to this town and they have loved ones who are affected by this and so imagine this is what this town is going through on a very emotional level and at the same time they're dealing with it on a professional level as well so it's very interesting to watch it all play out on the police officer he gave his interview to the media just in our survey kawhi describe the scene when he arrived this devastation many many buildings were flattened and he also mentioned the process now apart from being concentrated on the fire which continues that the fertilizer plant is one of trying to rescue the victims from that building so i know we can listen to that police officer. at this

time we are still trying to take away some of the home we're going out of house business to business we're seeing quite a bit of devastation in that area what they're trying to do is move people away still they're having to be very cautious because the trucks through they meet their homes. we have to be very cautious because. they're being gaslighted gas or you kill the systems or here they enter the building off the main flow of gas natural gas they're cutting off power for we don't have security fire from electricity for fires things along. the currently we are still there. many agencies were here shifting west p.d. i can tell you that the mayor and has been to you earlier tonight he is also a firefighter for this ship it is taking

a toll on him because he knows that if you leave you flossy fire but i can confirm that there may be firefighters that are on the county for them potentially along for the mall for sure but we're still trying to determine that obviously they were there on scene break i think being fighting the fire and helping with the exactly what we do and we don't know what hard numbers the love of how the sooner we can get them we get their families. well since he gave that interview it was confirmed that six firefighters were killed along with two missions he service workers and one police officer. and it's it is fair that both there will be many many more fatalities as the hours pass by but another concern talks in is that the being released from this plan and he told me earlier as an hydrous ammonia what are the potential problems with the well the the most severe of course is death and hundred

simonyan is very. pungent very dangerous gas as described by the c.d.c. in the united states and that's what they're worried about it is a fertilizer and you know with a fire of this type it is a worry that it could be a cloud it could escape and affect people in fact we have even been told and have heard that some of the people who have been admitted to the hospitals have actually been treated for and ammonia inhalation but we did speak to somebody a doctor out one of those most bottles and hopefully we might be able to quickly hey from him as he's called keep hope he is a spokesperson for the providence medical center in week out. and our facility we are one of two facilities receiving the the the patients from the from the blast right now we have seen sixty five patients one of which is critical the majority of the ones we've seen have had a variety of broken bones head injuries and a lot of them have had an hydrous ammonia inhalation from the from the fertilizer

plant we have had a massive response from our medical our doctors our nurses our respiratory therapist and they have been able to treat in release most of the ones who have who have had the the exposure to the to the ammonia we have had twelve admissions of the sixty five patients we have seen prepare. every day for disasters i will say i've been here for thirty years i have never seen anything to the to this magnitude but i've been very thankful that that we planned for this day and again we do this on a routine basis we have automated call system where where when we see a disaster and automatically bring phones of our staff and our staff who

responded in a matter of minutes we train for chemical. spill we train train for you know trauma automobile we train for of a variety of different things whether scenarios which is probably the biggest thing we look for in central texas but yes we train for chemical up chemical disasters we remain on on the full full staff waiting for anything that that else that might come through. we do know that there was a nursing home. it was pretty much destroyed we have gotten some very elderly folks who had been since transferred out of their nursing homes in our area. and in other words like could not go back where they were so. there is plenty of good place to be on on alert for the rest of the evening and on into tomorrow. because that was the voice of key talking to spokesperson for

a local hospital we hear their concerns they have about the toxins now that are being released in this great concern because there are strong winds we've heard from our correspondent at the scene and that could blow these toxins further north from your knowledge of the job for you this area what sort of problems with that course well there's good news and bad news the good news is that with high winds and with a cloud it can dissipate rather quickly over an open area and this is an open area we're talking wide open vast fields we're not talking hills and crooks and crannies where this gas can get caught and get trapped and that's the good news but we've seen the pictures of these these very high winds fanning these flames and right now they're from the south and there is a worry if you look at the weather patterns that that's expected to shift from the south to from the north so it's so they're worried about changing weather conditions so that could be pushing it all right back into the same exact location where it came from that's exacerbating the situation. so that's the same on the

ground at the moment let's talk about the longer term implications to all this week earlier we also spoke to a chap called robert jacobs he's from the hiroshima peace since cheat he said chemical contamination is a very real possibility let's just say what he said. where fertilizer as we know is extremely combustible so it's been used in bombs and so it's manufacture is extremely delicate and can easily if handled wrong or if handled in safely can lead to explosions so we have to assume at this point that it's such a chemical explosion that happened there plant when you're handling chemicals like this there is a possibility that there can be chemical contamination that could that would need to be cleaned up in the aftermath of the explosion so they'll undoubtedly be extensive monitoring of the areas around the plant in order to make sure that whatever chemicals have been spread around can be cleaned up to reduce future

toxicity to the residents with the kinds of winds that blow in such big intense fires there will be airborne distribution. so there's nothing that can be done while the event is happening what will be done is is assessment and cleanup in the aftermath currently people are being evacuated because of the dangers to for further explosions for fire to spread and also for spread around of some of the chemicals from the plant however those will almost certainly be deposited close to the plant and it will be possible to get in there make assessments and to clean up some of the area in the future so those are the primary dangers. you're watching are to remind us of our breaking news this hour deaths are confirmed as the blast ripped through a fertilizer plant in the u.s. state of texas also leaving over one hundred injured the blast took place at eight pm local time officials are now saying that the fire has been contained local authorities confirmed deaths at the fertilizer plant the number of casualties is

still unclear the number of firefighters are missing local residents have been advised to evacuate from the area in the town of west just north of waco u.s. geological survey says the blast registered as a point one magnitude seismic event that is the blast caught on camera by an eyewitness firefighters ambulances and helicopter support a still at the scene eyewitnesses said that the fire took hold of apartment complexes and schools and houses some of which collapsed there's also an old person's home which collapsed one hundred thirty three people are believed to be inside houses this material is also spewing from the fertilizer plant and specialist teams have been dispatched to tackle the aftermath of the explosion local media reports that a u.s. chemical safety board or the u.s. chemical board are also heading to the site of the explosion to vest to investigate all local hospitals or coordinating efforts to deal with the inflow of patients many of which are believed to be in

a critical condition the cause of this blast is not yet know where the explosion took place on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the waco siege of thor between authorities and a militant religious group more than eighty people died during the fifteen day standoff. the social media sphere is now bursting with comments on the tragedy eyewitnesses have been posting some of their footage and snapshots of the blast seen these images of twitter which uses are of course actively using to discuss the disaster the massive smoke cloud from the blast as pictured by several people and images of the mayhem in the surrounding area and the plant also being made available you can see more on our website to collapsed and burning buildings is shown people needing attention people severely injured also pictures of survivors but that is the plume of smoke just erupted over the plant as exploded at around seven thirty pm local time and these pictures of the devastation

that it cost. with news from the u.s. a malicious scare has gripped america off the letters laced with poison were sent to president obama to officials that the packages were intercepted by authorities and the man has been arrested in mississippi in connection with the case officials say the suspect is well known as a frequent letter wrong to lawmakers several offices across the u.s. have been looked down over the suspicious packages comes just days after the deadly boston bombing and the post nine eleven attacks which killed several people authorities say video footage from boston was help pinpoint to potential suspects but they have not been identified and no arrests have been made and. what we know

so far and what the f.b.i. and secret service has disclosed is that a letter addressed to president barack obama contained substance rice and that is considered a poisonous substance that according to preliminary tests the letter that was addressed to him. was opened intercepted on tuesday it included that poisonous toxin some would argue that all this these increased levels of security and and encroaching on civil liberties which critics say the u.s. does has been a waste of money we should also remember that when u.s. president barack obama addressed the nation and finally called the boston marathon bombings a terrorist attack he said he doesn't know who is behind the attacks and why they would they would execute such an attack by a suspect in

a perpetrator will be brought to justice what that indicates is the fact that the united states at this point can't pinpoint an enemy it's not like how it was in the aftermath of the aftermath of the september eleventh attacks there is no osama bin ladin anymore that u.s. officials point of finger at and between september eleventh and. now the u.s. has waged two very long wars also participated in military interventions and many experts would argue has created many many enemies all over the world so now at this point the u.s. can't pinpoint its enemy they do not know if the person or people behind the boston marathon bombings is someone that is located domestically is someone that's working with of foreign organizations they do not know and i think that puts many would argue that that puts the united states at a major disadvantage elsewhere bahrain is getting ready for its top motor racing event of the year the formula one grand prix set for friday but the race will be

taking place under the shadow of massive social unrest that has and go for the nation for over two years the authorities are continuing their crackdown on pro-democracy protests last week human rights watch said mass police officers detained twenty opposition activists in towns near the f one circuit without warrants security forces raided the high school this week reportedly firing tear gas it's too long with allegations of widespread prisoner abuse across borrowing the government has promised to push ahead with reforms but opposition protesters say the monarchy is on its way to becoming a dictatorship a case of rights campaign in the be a good job reason joe for participating in illegal rallies highlights the problems facing the country as artie's reports we've seen protests in the run up to this formula one grand prix for quite some time thousands of protesters have been denouncing both the king and the prime minister as the image of him it. is the biggest sporting event that is hosted by the u.s.

allied countries and what protesters are complaining is that the race brings money to the regime which in turn uses this money to buy weapons that it uses against its own population now the bahraini government is hoping for a big turnout despite the ongoing protests and demonstrations on the streets. although many of the companies that helped to finance the formula one are limiting based sponsorship and involvement often of the participated in the julian assange show that was board cost here on r t he was captured and imprisoned and that imprisonment hasn't lessened the protests in bahrain if anything it's only intensified the anger and dissatisfaction on the streets of that small country in many cases his imprisonment is actually inflaming the protests and what we see now in the regime is a struggle for freedom on a huge scale from all classes of society the doctors in the country have been accused of betrayal students are feeling the brunt of the regime their whole villages that have been arrested ahead of this weekend's similar one where shop has

been a leader of the pro-democracy protests since two thousand and eleven and he's one of the most well known activists in the arab world with some two hundred thousand followers on twitter he's serving a prison sentence for peacefully calling for the release of political prisoners and for sending tweets that are critical of his government we continue to receive reports that he is being seriously mistreated in prison that he's being kept in solitary confinement and this of course is causing concern amongst many in the international community. for how they brought him from the gulf center for human rights work closely with the jump he says the prominent activists plight has only given more strength the democracy movement in bahrain. the movement of the people about it is to get in the nuts and think he's yes because when you go out. of your own woman you know you well it's like do you wait until you meet as

a member of the peaceful organisation i wish that there always day one he was a peaceful means but the end the government has to be to get political but they have to meet the demands of the people the other way to get out of a fuel down to blindness something that we'll once up for but the other way it helpless people will do. that and things so i quote from here on that the roof and who'll listen to the demands of the people do if you will meet at those a peaceful protest to leave then do you want us there then that's some activists this is the record macro up of we have a problem and but if. you're watching out say i'm back with more news for you in my company.

wealthy british style it's time to. find. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. in his secret laboratory to mccurdy was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which on fortunately doesn't.

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at a meeting that is not a managers who change their name and strategy but just tell the same budrus. high ranking suspects give no comment where you have to say about that mr president goes . to president putin. but the media. i won't give an interview i'm sorry but no. investigation is a dead. end and he says sick stuff your bullshit and keep quiet or else you'll suffer the consequences. even if they're your bodyguards to watch themselves because the same goes for them. recruits from sick i've never heard of such a case as ours were so much money in gold scope and so many gifts. for all the gold in colombia.

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