In brief: Tornado show accident injures 13
RENO, Nev. – A demonstration about the science of tornadoes went awry Wednesday at a Nevada museum, injuring 13 people, several with minor burns or smoke inhalation.
Emergency crews responded to a report of a possible explosion at 4:10 p.m. at the Terry Lee Wells Discovery Museum in downtown Reno.
City of Reno spokesman Matthew Brown told the Associated Press that a preliminary investigation indicates it was not an explosion but a chemical flash, which is “similar to if someone threw gasoline on a fire.” He said he couldn’t comment further on the distinction.
Eight children and one adult were transported to a Reno hospital for minor burns or smoke inhalation, Brown said in a statement. Four other people were treated at the scene, but their ages were not available, he said.
Norbert reaches hurricane strength
MIAMI – Norbert has become a hurricane in the Pacific well off the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Norbert reached hurricane strength on Wednesday, packing top sustained winds of 80 mph. It is centered about 205 miles south of the Baja peninsula.
Forecasters said Norbert is headed northwest at 8 mph and expected to approach the southern tip of the peninsula today and trek nearly parallel to the Pacific Coast Friday.
Forecasters said a tropical storm warning is in effect from La Paz to Cabo San Lazaro, while a tropical storm watch is in effect north of Cabo San Lazaro to Puerto San Andresito and north of La Paz to San Evaristo.
Two uninjured after shark attack
PLYMOUTH, Mass. – Authorities said two women in kayaks taking photographs of seals were attacked by what appeared to be a great white shark off Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were not injured.
WCVB-TV reported the women, both in their 20s, were about 150 yards off White Horse Beach in Plymouth Wednesday night when the shark bit one of the kayaks. Both kayacks overturned and the women swam away, as did the shark.
The Plymouth harbormaster rescued the women after a bystander called 911.
Missing soldier’s remains found
NEW YORK – The remains of a soldier missing in action since World War II have been identified and will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery, a Department of Defense office said Wednesday.
Army Pfc. Bernard Gavrin, who was from Brooklyn, was 29 when he was reported missing on July 7, 1944, the Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office said.
Gavrin was declared dead in July 1945, and his remains were deemed non-recoverable in 1948. But in recent years, excavations on Saipan by a Japanese nonprofit group have turned up the remains of American and Japanese soldiers.
Last year, the group found remains and personal items of some American soldiers, which were turned over to the American government. Testing using a family member’s DNA confirmed Gavrin was among them.