In brief: Violence closes Chinese mosques
URUMQI, China – A Chinese official said mosques in riot-hit Urumqi have been ordered to stay closed today in the wake of ethnic violence that left 156 dead, and another city in Xinjiang province has suspended visits by foreigners.
The official who identified herself as a government worker but refused to give her name said today that the decision to close mosques had been made for public safety and that “people should stay at home today and pray.”
Separately, officials in Kashgar in southwestern Xinjiang have told visiting journalists that they and other foreigners had to leave the city.
The city’s foreign affairs office said that although the city has had no unrest, the decision was made to ensure the safety of the visitors.
Five die when train hits car
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Amtrak passenger train carrying about 170 people struck a car that had skirted a gate at a road crossing near Detroit on Thursday, killing all five people in the sedan, authorities said.
The crossing has a gate and flashing lights that apparently were working when the car approached, said Sgt. Mark Gajeski, a police spokesman. Based on witness accounts, “it looks like they probably did go around the arm. They went around the gate,” Gajeski said.
The crash occurred around 12:30 p.m. in Canton Township, about 20 miles west of Detroit, police Sgt. Craig Wilsher said. The train typically travels 67 mph at the site of the crash, Gajeski said.
The victims were a 14-year-old girl and four young men: an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old from Taylor, a 19-year-old from Woodhaven, and a 21-year-old from Stafford, Va., according to police.
No one aboard the train was injured, an Amtrak spokesman said. Passengers were being bused to Ann Arbor to catch a later train to Chicago.
Wind gusts likely downed Fossett
Strong downdrafts that overpowered the climbing ability of Steve Fossett’s airplane probably caused the wealthy adventurer to crash in mountainous terrain west of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., almost two years ago, federal accident investigators announced Thursday.
Fossett, 63, a record-setting balloonist and pilot, disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off for a pleasure flight from a ranch in Yerington, Nev. His single-engine plane failed to return, setting off an aerial search that lasted a month and combed 10,000 square miles.
Based on weather and wind conditions on the day of his disappearance, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that Fossett probably encountered moderate turbulence with gusts up to 35 mph and downdrafts of at least 400 feet per minute, which forced him into the mountains.
Investigators said that downdrafts likely surpassed the plane’s maximum rate of climb of 300 feet per minute at an altitude of 13,000 feet and 370 feet at 12,000 feet. Fossett was flying in a part of the Sierras where the mountains exceed 13,000 feet in elevation.