UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, November 20, 1996
9A
Chunnel fire traps 34 under sea
All passengers survive trip
The Associated Press
CALAIS, France — It was the Channel builders' nightmare — intense flames and deadly fumes choking the 31-mile tunnel used to whisk passengers and freight beneath the English Channel.
Eight people, including a pregnant woman, were overcome by smoke when fire broke out Monday night on a truck being hauled to Britain on the freight train Le Shuttle. It took eight hours to put out the fire. The cause has not been determined.
It was the first serious accident since the tunnel linking Britain and France opened two years ago. Full restoration could take three weeks.
None of the injuries were life-threatening. But the fire was an example of what can happen in the engineering wonder beneath the sea.
"Another five or 10 minutes longer, we'd have all been carried out in bags," said truck driver Brian Shilton, one of 34 people evacuated from the tunnel.
"It just filled up with smoke so quick it was just unbelievable," he said. "Everyone was vomiting and choking, and we all thought it was going to be the end. It was like being in a tomb."
a third of the way through the trip from Coquelles, France, to Folkestone, England.
The fire started at 9:45 p.m. 11 miles into the westbound tunnel and about
"There was panic, and we waited in the club car," said Beniot Ringaud, a French trucker who had left his truck cab for the club car. "We couldn't leave."
The freight train was carrying 29 trucks, 31 passengers and three crew members. It was the only train in the tunnel at the time, and rescuers quickly evacuated the passengers.
Eurotunnel officials said that they hoped to reopen partial service sometime today. Eurotunnel was using ferries and planes to provide alternate service for passengers yesterday.
A lengthy shutdown could prove financially devastating to the company, which is $14 billion in debt. The company's stock fell nearly 4 percent yesterday in London.
The Channel opened more than a year late in summer 1994 at much higher costs than projected, and Eurotunnel has been losing money ever since.
Le Shuttle, the train that hauls passenger cars and freight, is distinct from the high-speed Eurostar trains, which whoosh 16,000 passengers a day from London to Paris or Brussels in three hours. But both services use the same tunnels, often at the same time.
The fire forced officials to consider the specter of such a blaze aboard a Eurostar, which can carry several hundred passengers.
Andv Rohrback/KANSAN
Bombs, threat don't stop Miss World pageant plan
The Associated Press
BANGALORE, India — A previously unknown group that has directed four small bombings at the Miss World beauty pageant threatened to strike again during the final event this weekend, police said yesterday.
Critics of the pageant, which is being held for the first time in India, have staged often-violent protests for nearly a month, saying the pageant dehumanizes women and promotes the use of cosmetics and plastic surgery.
A court ruled yesterday that the pageant's final competition could take place this weekend as scheduled, but only under the watchful eye of a civil servant charged with ensuring there is no obscenity.
A group calling itself Indian Tigers has claimed responsibility for four bombings in the last two weeks that have caused little damage. The bombs have blown up at sites connected to the pageant, including a bus that was
to transport Miss World contestants and a car parked outside a store that develops photographs for the pageant.
City police chief Sharat Chandra Burman said yesterday that nothing was known about the group but that the threat was real.
Last week, a protester fatally burned himself while shouting slogans against the pageant in Madural, 200 miles southwest of Bangalore, the southern city where the beauty contest is being held.
In October, protesters broke into the showroom of one of the contest's corporate sponsors and smeared cow manure and coal tar on its products.
Contestants have been confined to two floors of a hotel during most of their stay. About 200 police officers have been guarding the area. Also, hundreds of police officers have been guarding the cricket stadium where the finals will be.
Tickets to the contest have been
selling well, and a two-judge bench refused yesterday to cancel the show. The court did, however, order a local official to ensure that no participants indulged in obscenity and nudity, Indian news agencies reported. Pageant organizers also were barred from serving liquor to the audience during the show.
The judges did not define obscenity, and there are varying views in India about appropriate dress. For instance, miniskirts are common in Bombay, but women in Bangalore wear traditional long dresses that don't show their legs.
Despite the protests, promoters hope the pageant, which has been held for the last four years in Sun City, South Africa, will boost India's image abroad.
Organizers tried to defuse the demonstrations by moving the contest's swimsuit competition to the Seychelles Islands. Next year, the Indian organizers plan to have the entire event in the Seychelles.
Oregon rainstorm causes mudslide; four people killed
The Associated Press
ROSEBURG, Ore. — A rain-soaked hillside broke loose in southern Oregon yesterday, swallowing a home and killing the four people inside. A newspaper delivery man swept down the hill by a wall of mud and debris survived.
Flooding closed roads, stranded motorists and forced people from their homes in a less-severe replay of last winter's catastrophic flooding. The rain began Monday and was tapering off yesterday. Forecasters said an approaching weather system appeared weaker.
The deluge was caused by a pineapple express — a weather pattern that brings moisture-laden tropical storms to the Northwest, said National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Todd in Portland, Ore.
An early winter storm blanketed Washington with as much as two feet of snow, a result of the moist air from Oregon colliding with cold air from British Columbia. The snow snarled traffic, closed roads, knocked out power and closed schools.
A hunter was killed when a large pine tree snapped from the weight of heavy snow and crushed the motor home where he was sleeping near Naches in south-central Washington, the Yakima County Sheriff's department said.
In southern Oregon, Douglas County sheriff's deputies recovered four bodies from a rural home 30 miles northwest of Roseburg. The house was buldozed by a huge mudslide Monday evening. The rain created a river of mud that demolished the house, sheriff's Capt. Robert Stratton said.
Killed in the mudslide were Rick Moon, 46, and his wife, Susan Moon, 44, neighbor Sharon Marvin, 40, and an unidentified woman.
The Moon's children were not hurt. Their daughter, Rachelle, who is in the 11th grade, reportedly was sent from the house by her father. The Moon's son, Justin, a seventh-grader, was helping a neighbor clear mud and escaped injury when someone shouted a warning.
Arnold Ryder, 70, who was delivering evening newspapers in the
area said he had heard a man shout to the bow to. "Run! Run! Run!"
Ryder said he had been walking back to his car when he heard four or five trees crack as the mudslide roared toward him.
Ryder came to a stop about 150 feet down the hill.
"My mouth was filled with gravel and dirt, and I had to dig it out," he said. His leg was pinned under a tree, and paramedics eventually freed him. He suffered abrasions, broken ribs and hypothermia.
Almost five inches of rain fell along the central Oregon Coast and in the southern Willamette Valley in the 24-hour period ending at 4 a.m. yesterday.
Gov. John Kitzhaber declared a state of emergency in rural Lane County, where flooding along the Willamette and Mohawk rivers forced the evacuation of several hundred residents, including occupants of a nursing home.
Numerous road closures were reported in the mountains because of downed trees, slides and high water, said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Ed Schoaps.
NATURAL WAY
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LAWRENCE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS
APARTMENT & SUBLEASE GUIDE
1 bedroom near 6th and Kasold available Dec. or Jan.
$355/month. AC, pool, heat.
Peter @ 749-9639 or 864-4075.
STUDIO Sublease! Close to campus, laundry on site,
PETS OK! Jan-May,
$310/mo + utilities. 841-3316.
Across from Yellow Sub on the hill. Quick walk to campus. 1BR, high ceiling, large windows, large porch, fireplace, off-street parking. $335/month. Call 841-3374.
2 bedroom apartment for
sublease Jan. 1. Pets
allowed. 12th and Tenn.
$500 a month. Call 331-0367
We provide you with information on availability of:
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841-5454
13 1/2 East 8th St.
downtown Lawrence
Sublease opportunity in great location. 2BR,DW, WD hookup, backyard and more. $520. Call 843-8854.
Sublease 2 bedroom apt. for 2nd semester. $420/month plus utilities. Close to campus. 24th & Alabama. Call Liz or Michelle at 331-0583.
2BR apt. on Westside.
$420/mo. On KU bus route. H₂O/tash paid.
749-6797.
(downtown Lawrence)
Two BR unfurnished on KU Bus Route. Water paid. $390/month + deposit. Dec., Jan. PAID. Leave message 841-2684. Nocats, no dogs.
SPRING SUBLEASEI2BR. Room for 4 = CHEAPI 1 block from campus, D/W, blcny, laundry on site, wd floors. 832-2401.
842-8665
2858 Four
Wheel Dr.
Introducing your new roommates...
Sublease adorable 2BR apartment on 11th & Tenn. (Just down the hill from campust) $240/month + utilities. Good neighbors. Perfect location. Unfurnished. Come have a look! Call us at 749-7904.
2nd semester lease available! 4BR with loft. Orchard Corners. Furnished, 2 bath, pool, on bus route,AC microwave, dishwasher, cheap rent, Dec. paid. Call!! 749-0293.
Shannon Plaza Apartments
2100 Heatherwood Drive A2
Lawrence, Kansas
(913) 841-7726
CALL LANOWI
M-F:8:30-5:30
EHO
*1 Bedrooms only $485
*W/D Included
*Water/Trash Paid
*Microwave Included
*Deposit Equal To 1 Month's Rent
*On KU Buit Route
*Our Location
*Small Pets Welcome
*Tennis and Game Court
*Available Dec. 1
*6 Month Leases Available
Roommate needed! Male, N/S wanted for energy efficient apt. On KU bus rt. 3BR w/1BR open, 2Bath, W/D, Dishwasher. $250/mo. Call 331-2581.
Available NOW for N/S Female.
New 3R2/Bath Apartment, W/D,
deck, on bus route, $250/mo.
plus 1/3 utilities. Call Ashley
331-310, leave message.
koommate wanted. January
1st. 4bedroom/2bath. Washer/
Dryer. Walk to campus.
$210/month. Call 842-9286.
Need 2 female roommates starting Jan.1st. Fully furnished 3BR/2Bath apt. Central air. Washer/Dryer. Dishwasher. Call 749-7251.
Townhomes, brand new,
1900 sq. ft., 3BR, 2.5 bath,
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garage/opener, patio, Pella
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749-2850(leave message).