World in brief: Oil spills into sea after pipe rupture
Crude oil gushed through a Vancouver-area community and flowed downhill to the sea Tuesday after an accident broke open a pipeline, officials said.
The oil blackened lawns and left a widening sheen on Burrard Inlet, which connects to the Straight of Georgia that flows into the Pacific Ocean.
The pipeline was ruptured by city crews working on a road upgrade, said Derik Corrigan, the mayor of the community of Burnaby.
Officials said residents of about 100 homes in the area were warned they might have to evacuate, but it wasn’t immediately clear if anyone had left.
The pipeline is owned by Kinder Morgan Canada and carries crude oil from Alberta to Burnaby, where it is stored before distribution.
Havana
Americans finish Cuban education
Eight American students graduated from a Cuban medical school Tuesday and said they planned to put six years of education paid for by Fidel Castro’s communist government to use in hospitals back home.
The four New Yorkers, three Californians and a Minnesotan, all from minority backgrounds, began studying in Havana in April 2001. They are the first class of Americans to graduate from the Latin American School of Medicine since Castro offered free training to U.S. students seven year ago following meetings with members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I’ve learned that medicine is not a business,” said Toussaint Reynolds, a graduate from Massapequa, New York. “I will be a better doctor in the United States for it.”
Paris
4 climbers’ bodies found in Alps
Four climbers died of cold and exhaustion after losing their way on snow-capped Mont Blanc in the French Alps, police said Tuesday.
The bodies – women from New Zealand, France and Chile, and a man from Britain – were found at 13,120 feet, police said.
“The group had no tent and failed to dig a hole to protect themselves from 120 km/h winds and falling snow,” said Olivier Kim of the regional police force.
Another group of climbers was rescued Monday near the summit of the 15,771-foot Mont Blanc, the highest peak in western Europe, after digging a shelter in the snow.