January 10, 2015 - CHINA - Driver Li Hung had to quickly open his door and scramble to safety as the lorry was dragged back into the cavernous expanse
This is the incredible moment a yawning hole opened up and swallowed a truck.
Chinese driver Li Hung lived up to his name when he found himself
hanging over the edge of a huge sinkhole that had opened up behind his
lorry.
Li, 35, had been driving back to work in Nanning City, China, when he started to feel his vehicle slipping backwards.
He said: "It almost felt as if I hadn't put the brake on and I had
started to roll downhill, but I had my foot on the brake and I realise
that I was tipping back not because I was moving, but because of the
sinking."
He told local TV he opened the door and jumped out just as the lorry disappeared into the huge hole. - Daily Mirror.
November 5, 2014 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic
animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and
the appearance of rare creatures.
36 stranded pilot whales die in New Zealand
About 36 pilot whales that had become stranded in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in New Zealand have died.
Two whale pods beached themselves in the Ohiwa harbour on the north-east coast on Monday.
Wildlife conservationists launched a rescue operation and helped one
pod to be refloated on Tuesday, while 21 more whales were successfully
herded out to sea on Wednesday.
The reasons for mass pilot whale strandings are not well understood.
Pilot
whales are particularly prone to stranding behaviour. The largest known
pilot whale stranding involved an estimated 1,000 whales at the Chatham
Islands in 1918, according to the DOC.
Steve Brightwell from
the DOC said the whales came into Ohiwa harbour after one of them was
unwell and beached itself, reported Radio New Zealand.
Eleven
of the whales were euthanized on welfare grounds on Tuesday, the
Department of Conservation (DOC) said. About 25 pilot whales were found
dead early Wednesday morning.
Those pilot whales still alive were guided through the harbour to the ocean
The reasons for mass stranding are not well understood
Volunteers who have been trained as medics sprang into action on Wednesday
Scientists think individual whales beach themselves when they are reaching the end of their life
'Great effort'
At about 05:00 local time on Wednesday (16:00 GMT Tuesday) volunteer
medics from Project Jonah, a non-profit organisation, along with the DOC
began an operation to guide those whales that were still alive back out
to sea.
"We did it! All 22 whales were shepherded through the
mouth of the harbour to the ocean and were last seen heading towards
deeper water," Project Jonah said on Facebook.
New Zealand on average has more whales stranding themselves than any
other country in the world, Daren Grover, general manager of Project
Jonah told the BBC.
"It's something we have lived with and we are quite geared up to respond to," he said. WATCH:Volunteers save pilot whales beached in New Zealand.
"Today was a great effort - all those that were alive were refloated."
Scientists believe individual whales strand themselves because they have a disease and are coming to the end of their life.
However, there are numerous theories around mass stranding including
their highly sociable behaviour. One theory is that as one whale becomes
stranded the other members of its pod try to help and become stranded
themselves.
Pilot whales are the largest member of the dolphin
family. They get their name from the fact that researchers believe that
each pod follows a "pilot" in the group.
Their distinguishing feature is a large bulbous forehead, which protrudes beyond the mouth and small beak. - BBC.
A second tropical pufferfish washes up dead in Europe within a week
The poisonous Oceanic pufferfish - Lagocephalus lagocephalus is a delicacy in Japan but they rarely enter British waters
A Beach walker was stunned when he found a deadly pufferfish - washed up in Dorset.
At first glance the bizarre-looking fish appeared to be a large bloated mackerel.
But it soon became apparent it was a deadly pufferfish,normally only found in sub-tropical waters.
It appears to have died while in full defensive mode, with its stomach fully inflated.
The species is well-known for ballooning in size by filling their
bodies with water or air to deter predators from attacking them.
The 12 ins long specimen was found by Richard Fabbri, having been swept on to Chesil Beach in Dorset.
But had any beach forager picked up the silver fish and taken it home
for their supper they would have been in for a nasty and fatal shock.
All pufferfish are poisonous and carry a toxin in their internal organs that has no known antidote.
Deadly: The Oceananic pufferfish
Rare sight: The pufferfish
There have been several incidents of people who have died after consuming a pufferfish believing it to be a harmless species.
Oceanic pufferfish - Lagocephalus lagocephalus in Latin - are very rare visitors to UK waterswhich is usually too cold for them.
Only a very small number have been recorded before, all off the south west coast.
Richard, who works at Weymouth Watersports, said: "It looked very odd.
It had this big puffy belly that was under its throat but the rest of
its body looked more like a mackerel."
Peter Tinsley, of the
Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "It is an oceanic pufferfish. We know of
one that was actually caught off Chesil Beach in the 1980sso it is very rare to see them here.
"The waters of the west coast of England are a bit warmer than the rest
of the country, mainly due to the effects of the Gulf Stream.
"It is quite a slender fish and they only inflate their bellies when they feel threatened."
Most pufferfish are found in sub-tropical and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
They have four large teeth which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey. - Daily Mirror.
Python emerges from toilet, bites Thai woman and tries to drag her back to its nest
A Thai woman was nearly killed by a python that crawled out of her toilet Monday.
A Thai woman claims that she was nearly killed by a python that crawled out of her toilet Monday.
Rampeung Onlamai, 57, of Samkok, Thailand, was taking a shower at her apartment north of Bangkok when the huge snake sank its fangs into her right hand and attempted to drag her down the drain,Metro reports.
Rampeung grabbed a nearby broom to fend the animal off and called out
for her daughter, who jumped in to save her and pull the python's head
off her hand, Metro reports. The python then returned to its toilet nest.
Rampeung was taken to a local hospital, where she needed 20 stitches to close the wound.
Khaosod
reports that Samkok district officer Metha Taweekunchai ordered his
officers to capture the snake, so the family can start using the toilet
again.
Lesson learned: In the future, always check to make sure
a giant python doesn't suddenly emerge from the toilet before you start
doing your business. - Opposing Views.
Hundreds of dead fish found floating in a lake in Zigong, China
"White
hemp on the water full of dead fish floated, at least several hundred
pounds, is it a problem with the water quality?" Yesterday morning,
people call our news hotline 96111 Liu claimed that he Zigong West
Railway Station next morning West Wetland Park while running and found a
large number of dead fish floating on the lake.
West within Zigong dead fish floating wetlands
Staff salvage of dead fish
It is understood, of the Park from noon on the 3rd of dead fish began
to appear one after another, the staff has already scooped four or five
hundred pounds. WAB Gongjing District
relevant staff analysis, the emergence of dead fish and water and
weather upheaval caused by hypoxia less body water, and reminded the
public not to eat dead fish salvage privately to avoid stomach upset and
so on. - China News. [Translated]
Mass die off of fish in a lake in Nanning, China
Cause of death unknown fish, Nanning environmental protection department under investigation
Guangxi
News Network - Nanning, southern China Morning Post (Reporter intern
Luochao Yu Zou Lin Choi) the evening of November 2, Nanning citizens She
has an after dinner when passing folk lake, thick stench so she turned
to the lake, in front of the patch drift lake full of dead fish
shocking. The next day, the relevant departments to clean up the dead
fish folk lake, the staff said the dead fish phenomenon is the case of
the most serious one this year, the specific reasons yet to investigate.
November
3 at noon, two fishing boat back to seven-string folk Lake bridge, the
ship filled with dead fish, large and small, both palm-sized pomfret,
there are small fish finger Aberdeen, there are many up to half a meter,
weighing a few kilograms of Egypt Tong Kok fish. Crowd of people their
noses and said: I did not expect so rich folk Lake nutrition, raising so
many big fish.
Field staff responsible for the salvage of dead
fish, said: "Today we begin salvage 7:00 clean-up operations, and now
only about a quarter of the work completed, the estimated needs cleaned
of dead fish in the lake two days." And only two ships salvaged dead
fish, there are nearly hundreds of kilograms. After lunch, more than 20
staff in the presence of dead fish began to continue fishing. Red raft
upstream, there are a lot of dead fish floating in the lake to folk
come.
Folk large number of dead fish lake overnight, what is the
reason? Some netizens asked, they would not be cool these days because
of the cold dead, right? Reporters from the experts at the Guangxi
aquaculture industry has learned that the day before the big plunge
temperatures are unlikely to cold dead fish, but will make the fish
hypoxia. In the above temperature 4 ℃, density and inversely
proportional to the temperature of the water, a sharp decline in the
seasons when the temperature of the water, the water density difference
will float underwater nutrients, substances causing eutrophication
following the fermentation to produce biogas ammoniated material make
the water destroyed, resulting in reduced oxygen content in water. A
salvage crew also said that this year there are several large-scale
phenomenon of dead fish, and is followed by a long time after a heavy
rain, no rain weather appears. Import large amounts of rain suddenly
rushed the raft, the mud embankment flips, it makes the water body
severe hypoxia, which may be a cause of the emergence of a wide range of
dead fish.
Nanning Watertown office said a staff member, before
there have been a result of the discharge of sewage to nearby shops folk
lake, causing the lake's fish swarms case of death, after rectification
has improved the water quality of the lake. The large area of dead fish
is unprecedented, in order to investigate the cause, Watertown Office
has made contact with the Nanning Municipal Environmental Protection
Bureau, the date of the existing staff to the folk lake water quality
survey results have not yet come. - Oeofo. [Translated]
A total of 355 students at a village in Nanning, capital of Guangxi
Zhuang autonomous region, have been evacuated after sinkholes opened up,
local authorities said Friday.
The biggest collapse pit Hang Hau area of about 300 square meters, the naked eye can not see the bottom of the pit. Reporter Tang Huiji photo
The affected students from Tanluo No.2 Middle School were relocated
to other schools or taken back home after five fissures were found at
Tanluo village, Xixiangtang district, Thursday night and Friday morning,
including a 300-square-meter sinkhole, an official with the district
government said. Land subsidence also affected four villages in Xixiangtang district
on June 1 with 844 people evacuated. The subsidence caused one building
to collapse and damaged six others. - China News Center.
At 1:30 on the
8th, reporters rushed to the town of Tanluo Tanluo village, collapsed
near the dark, nearby residents have been evacuated.
New collapse pit 3, the first one in Tanluo town (hereinafter referred
to as "in Tanluo II") in front of the Hang Hau area of about three
square meters, about 0.5 meters deep. By the collapse affect the pit of the school walls also appeared in the cracks of about 2 m.
On-site monitoring personnel according to their most recent two or
three hours of observation, the pit depth continues to increase.
The collapse pit distance Tanluo, two in front of the original collapse
of the pit is only 23 meters, old collapse pit backfilling is completed
just in the afternoon of the 6th. Addition, two new collapse pit in the paddy fields Tanluo two diagonally opposite, about 300 meters from the school gates.
First discovered in the village cadres, the collapse pit 9:30 the
evening of 7 Xu, his inspections to the sound of water to rice paddies,
paddy fields to hear constant reports "crashed".
Village cadres raised his flashlight according to the paddy fields, the
scene before he was surprised by a large seedlings disappeared, and two
dark hole appear in the the middle of the paddy fields.
Who heard Tanluo town party secretary Ma significantly ball barefoot
into the field, walked a few meters from the pit only position when he
suddenly heard the pit came a burst of thunder sound. He thought that the new collapse, and quickly turned out of the paddy fields. As the lights dim, he failed to see the pit size and pit.
At 2:00 on the 8th, the reporter stood about 100 meters from the
collapse pit 005 County Road, you can clearly hear the pit came the
sound of water. From time to time there is a similar thunderous sound came out, chilling. - SOHU [Translated].
A sinkhole in Southern China has caused 844 people to evacuate their homes, which have been deemed unsafe.
The Huffington Post reports that the sinkhole, which is about 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep and 2.5 meters (8 feet) wide, has already caused one building to collapse, It has also caused six buildings to tilt and one to crack, although no injuries have been reported. The Xinhua News Agency, the official news, reported that the sinkhole occurred on Saturday near a middle school in Nanning city's Xixiangtang district after the school dug a well in hopes of easing a water shortage in the area. According to The Washington Post, more than 800 villagers had to be evacuate in China's Guangxi province. Sinkholes have been fairly commong in china in recent years, which is known for its karst topography.
The sinkholes and land cracks have been common because of intense construction and mining activities in the past years, along with insufficient geological regulation. The last documented sinkhole in China opened in the middle of a street in April of this year, and a girl, who was walking along the street while talking on her phone, walked into it. Gawker reports that the girl fell into a sinkhole which was about 6 meters deep in China's Xi'an city. A cab driver who was passing by and saw the collapse helped rescue here, climbing down the hold using a loose cable, which was hanging beneath the walkway. Firefighters showed up, bringing a ladder with them, and helped her out. According to Gawker, cabbie Wang Wei recalled: "The ladder kept moving about, it's a little flimsy and the girl kept screaming out of fear. So I told her to go first and I'll be right behind her. Finally we managed to get out." - Inquisitr.
