Category: Transport Watch

Buses carrying more than 50 people fell into the Trishuli river which was overflowing after days of rain as the monsoon season raged. Conditions made it difficult to see the wreckage. Rescuers in Nepal were able to recover the first body the next day after a landslide swept the two buses into the raging river. Rescuers then began to find bodies in spots along the riverbanks. The incidents occurred on the highway that connects Nepal’s capital to the southern parts of the country.

A man tried to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into China by placing them in canvas bags and then hiding those bags in his trousers, custom officials said. The man was stopped after passing through a gate stating he had “nothing to declare” at the crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, according to officials. Upon searching him, the officers found he had 104 snakes in six canvas drawstring bags inside his pants, a statement from China Customs said. “Each bag was found to contain living snakes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors,” it added. Video released by Chinese customs shows agents holding up plastic bags filled with live red, pink and white snakes.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry discovered 4.62 pounds of fentanyl powder, 7.71 pounds of black tar heroin, 2.46 pounds of brown powder heroin, and 2.11 pounds of cocaine concealed within the muffler of a vehicle. CBP officers conducting primary operations encountered a 28-year-old man driving a 2003 sedan applying for admission into the United States from Mexico. During the course of the inspection, a CBP K-9 team alerted to the presence of narcotics. CBP officers referred the traveler and the vehicle to secondary inspection for further examination. A non-intrusive inspection was utilized to conduct a full scan of the vehicle. After examination, CBP officers observed irregularities within the muffler located in the undercarriage of the vehicle. CBP officers discovered and extracted 10 packages from the muffler containing fentanyl powder, black tar heroin, brown powder heroin, and cocaine. The narcotics weighed a total of 16.9 pounds.

During a traffic stop, U.S. Border Patrol agents from the El Centro Sector seized a cache of weapons, magazines, and ammunition hidden within a vehicle. Late in the evening on July 1, Indio Station agents conducted a vehicle stop on Interstate 10 in Chiriaco Summit. After a Border Patrol K-9 team trained in detection alerted to the vehicle, a search revealed weapons and ammunition concealed in two duffle bags, one in the vehicle’s trunk and one in the vehicle’s backseat. Upon further inspection, it was determined the duffle bags contained 28 rifles, one handgun, 30 high-capacity magazines, and 2,210 rounds of ammunition of various calibers. Agents arrested the driver, an adult male United States citizen.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations officers at Pharr International Bridge this weekend seized more than $5.1 million in methamphetamine in a single enforcement action. “Our frontline CBP officers continue to deploy a strategic combination of inspections experience coupled with technology and that effort yielded this significant methamphetamine seizure,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Laredo Port of Entry. “These types of seizures illustrate CBP’s efforts to protect our communities from the spread of hard narcotics.” The seizure occurred on June 30 at the Pharr International Bridge when a CBP officer referred a tractor trailer hauling a shipment of cucumbers and bell peppers for secondary inspection. CBP officers conducted a secondary examination that included utilization of a non-intrusive inspection system and CBP canines. Upon further physical examination, CBP officers discovered 360 packages containing a total of 577.61 pounds of alleged methamphetamine within the trailer. The narcotics had a street value of $5,163,496.

A gunman hijacked a commuter bus in Atlanta, Georgia on June 12. There were 17 people on board the bus. The hijacker shot one of them with the passenger’s own gun, according to local authorities. Other passengers frantically texted loved ones and called 911 for help. 39-year-old felon Joseph Grier was identified as the gunman. He held the bus driver at gunpoint and forced him to drive away, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. A rush-hour police chase zig-zagged across busy highway lanes and suburban streets as the bus led authorities across at least two counties, at times careening into other cars and crossing into opposing traffic. In the bus, a passenger surreptitiously stayed on the line with 911, allowing authorities to hear the commotion, Chief Schierbaum said. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the chaos sounded like a movie scene as the suspect had “a gun to the head of a bus driver saying, ‘Don’t stop this bus or else worse will happen.’” When the bus finally ground to a halt on a tree-lined street in the suburb of Stone Mountain, passengers streamed out and Grier was arrested without incident, police said. The passenger that was shot aboard the bus was taken to a hospital, where they later died, officials said.

March 26, a ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse and killing six construction workers. On Monday, May 13, a demolition crew broke apart chunks of the collapsed bridge. The scheduled demolition was delayed by several days due to bad weather. The cargo ship Dali, which lost power and veered off course, rammed into the bridge and it collapsed. The large container ship Dali has remained at the scene since the accident and is covered in scrap metal from the bridge. Twenty-one crew members are still on board the Dali, maintaining the vessel. Crew members stayed aboard the ship while the demolition explosion took place. Authorities said the demolition went according to plan.

Prosecutors in Utah filed an aggravated murder charge against a truck driver who is accused of intentionally killing a police officer during a traffic stop. The Utah County attorney’s office said it has not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty for the capital offense. Michael Aaron Jayne, 42, is additionally charged with offenses including two counts of attempted aggravated murder for allegedly trying to run over another Utah Highway Patrol trooper and a woman who he is charged with kidnapping. Jayne allegedly stole other vehicles and broke into a house while fleeing officers following the May 5 traffic stop.

Four zebras broke free from a trailer they were being transported in, near Bend, Washington, on Sunday, April 28. Kristine Keltgen purchased the zebras from a farm in Washington State and was transporting them on Interstate 90 to a petting zoo she runs in Anaconda, Mont. She became aware that the latch on the zebras’ trailer was loose. She stopped to fix the latch and the zebras “bolted out.” The escape occurred near a highway exit, and nearby residents, police officers and volunteers rallied to corral them back to safety. One person had specific expertise in wrangling loose animals. He is David Danton, of Mount Vernon, Wash., who worked for 15 years as a rodeo clown. Danton and his wife, Julie, were driving home from a cattle drive in eastern Washington when they stopped to assist in the recapture of the zebras in North Bend, Wash., 30 miles east of Seattle. “It was kind of divine intervention — we happened to be in the exact spot and had the knowledge,” Julie Danton said in a story in the New York Times. “Animal control showed up to help, police showed up and every neighbor showed up to help — or just look at the zebras — because it’s not every day you get zebras in your neighborhood,” said Megan Dammann, a North Bend resident. Dammann said she raced to the area after seeing a post about the zebras on a community Facebook page. Former rodeo clown Danton said he built makeshift gates out of rope, metal panels and a garden hose, and got two of the zebras to run into a pen on a horse farm. Then, he said, he helped build an “alleyway” out of metal panels to usher the zebras safely into a large trailer. While the Dantons helped corral two of the zebras on a horse farm, residents nearby helped shoo a third zebra into a fenced-in yard and then shut the gate. The fourth zebra had not been captured as of Monday, April 29.