NATO chief falls off bike, breaks arm

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen fell off his bicycle and broke his arm at the weekend, forcing him to call off a planned visit to the Baltic states this week, a NATO spokeswoman said.

“He was biking in the woods in Brussels on Sunday and crashed,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said today.

Chaos on the interstate as huge dust storm blinds Arizona drivers and causes multiple pile-ups as one driver dies

A blinding dust storm rolled across the Arizona desert Tuesday, causing three pile-ups involving dozens of vehicles on a major interstate. A 70-year-old man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured, authorities said.

The first two crashes occurred just after noon as a dust storm suddenly covered Interstate 10 near Picacho, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Those collisions involved 16 vehicles and led to the fatality.

Video showed dust roiling over dozens of cars, tractor-trailers and ambulances pulled over or strewn about the highway. Authorities were unable to transport injured motorists by helicopter because of the heavy dust.

One man was killed and at least 15 other people were injured in the accident, authorities said.Arizona Department of Public Safety officers and other emergency personnel make their way around vehicles involved in a crash on Interstate 10
The pile-ups involved a number of larger vehicles as well as cars
State public safety officers brave the dust storm to help in the massive clear-up operation






'It looked like a war zone,' Patrick Calhoun, one of the first rescuers to responder to the scene, told The Associated Press. 'This has been one of the worst pileups we've had on the I-10.'

Calhoun, with the Avra Valley Fire District, said the man who died was in the passenger seat of a car driven by his wife. Their car had slammed into the back of a semi and was lodged underneath it, killing the man almost instantly and leaving the woman critically injured in a semiconscious state of shock.

Calhoun said it took 45 minutes to hook up winches to the vehicle, pull it out and then cut the woman out of the car to take her to a hospital.

A second vehicle also was lodged under a semi, Calhoun said, and two people were extricated in a similar manner before being taken to a hospital.

A third pileup occurred almost two hours later on I-10 just north of Casa Grande and involved eight vehicles. No one was killed in that collision; two people had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Graves said.

Katie Maass, a spokeswoman at University Medical Center in Tucson, said the hospital was treating 12 patients involved in the collisions. Three were listed as critical and the other nine were in serious condition as of Tuesday evening.

Authorities closed the interstate for most of the afternoon. They reopened the eastbound lanes around 5:45 p.m., and Graves said officials hoped to have westbound lanes reopened by 10 p.m.

Two other crashes later in the day likely were the result of dust, authorities said. A crash involving two tractor-trailers and a small car on I-10 near the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix seriously injured two people. Another crash on I-10 near Tonopah, west of Phoenix, didn't involve major injuries, authorities said.

Dust storms are common across Arizona during dry and windy conditions, and walls of dust more than a mile high can blanket an area in a matter of seconds, sometimes reducing visibility to zero.

Winds from the southwest were gusting at up to 40 mph throughout Arizona on Tuesday, said Jessica Nolte, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

"These winds have accumulated so much that when they move through the region they start to pick up the dry top soil," she said. "It can be a very rapid development."

The Phoenix area was enveloped in a beige haze for much of the day, obscuring the view of the mountains that surround the metropolitan area.

The winds should taper off Tuesday evening and into Wednesday, Nolte said. Another weather system was expected to move into Arizona on Thursday, and Nolte said it could generate gusts as strong as Tuesday's.

Nolte said the weather service did not issue a dust storm warning before it occurred but did warn people about the strong winds.

Although it was still early to evaluate the extent of Tuesday's damage, Graves said dust storms have created worse crashes.

One strong winter storm wreaked havoc in 2009 near Casa Grande, killing three people dead in a series of fiery crashes caused by thick, blowing dust on I-10. One of those killed was a man whose vehicle was rear-ended by his father's truck. Two teenage siblings also died.

'We did not have that, fortunately, in this situation,' Graves said. 'While it's sad there's a fatality and it's serious, it could have been a lot worse.'

Motorcyclists Praises Those Who Saved Him

Lorry driver who plunged 80ft off a mountain top and lived to tell tale

*Colin Tandy broke eight ribs, fractured both hips, split his pelvis and needed nearly 40 stitches in his face after accident
* Now hopes to represent Britain in new TV series, World's Toughest Trucker

A truck driver who cheated death after plunging more than 80ft off a mountain top in a freak accident has made a miraculous recovery and now hopes to represent Britain in a bid to become the world's toughest trucker.

Colin Tandy broke several bones in his body and suffered horrific internal injuries when the 16-ton logging truck he was driving plummeted off the edge of a cliff in Marlborough, New Zealand.

He broke eight ribs, fractured both hips, split his pelvis and needed nearly 40 stitches in his face after his truck skidded off the road and rolled more than four times down the drop on the aptly named Tumbledown Bay Road.

I survived: Colin Tandy lies recovering in hospital after his miraculous escape and (right) the mangled wreckage of his lorry after falling 80ft down a mountainside in Marlborough, New Zealand

 

Near-fatal: Colin Tandy's truck lies at the bottom of a bank after plunging 80ft

The 43-year-old, originally from Corby, Northamptonshire, and now living in Blenheim, New Zealand, also tore all of his lower back muscles and pulled five vertebrae leaving him unable to feel anything below his waist.

He said: 'It was about 6.30am and the sun was just coming up. I was going round a corner with sheer drops either side when the sun completely blinded me.

'I have never known anything like it before. My initial reaction was to slam on the brakes which I did and then the truck seemed to get sucked down into the drop.

'I actually remember rolling about four times. I was holding onto the steering wheel and was petrified of what was about to happen.

'I knew the sea was somewhere down below and my first reaction as I was rolling was to rip my seatbelt off as I didn't want to drown.

'When the truck finally stopped rolling I somehow managed to climb out of the passenger side. The adrenaline was pumping through me and I was in a lot of pain. I just clung onto the stalk of a branch and wondered what would happen next.

'My hopes were lifted when I heard my colleagues - who has been driving behind - talking about the accident over the radio.

'I had to keep myself awake to survive. I wanted to pass out but I was so scared. Your whole life flashes before you, you hear people say that in the movies, but you don't believe it until it happens to you.

'It sounds crazy but I remember just looking up and staring at a leaf, it gave me something to focus on.'

Colin was airlifted to hospital and later medics broke the devastating news that he was unlikely to walk again.

But just days later and without a single operation the feeling in his legs started to return and Colin defied doctors by walking again.

The father-of-four, who served in the British Army for more than ten years before launching his own haulage business, spent just five weeks in hospital undergoing physiotherapy and has now made a full recovery.

Lucky Colin is set to return to work next week and also hopes to represent Britain in a new television series called The World's Toughest Trucker - a challenge which will see truckers taking on some of the world's hardest routes in a competition of skill, pace and mental strength.

He has reached the second heat of the challenge - created by Dragonfly TV - and hopes his brush with death will help him beat of stiff competition from around the world.

He added: 'The doctors were as surprised as I was at how quickly I recovered.

'My injuries were very severe and I have been told most people would need operations to put bolts and plates into them. I guess I am just very very lucky.

'I don't consider myself special in any way but it takes something like this to give you a new outlook on life.'

Raw Video Car runs over by bicycle.

Sickening moment motorist ploughed through 40 cyclists in road horror (but amazingly no one was killed)

Broadway 'Spider-Man' stunt double falls to stage

Hundreds stranded on crippled train line

Hundreds of travellers were stranded on trains as damage to overhead power lines brought one of the country’s main rail lines grinding to a halt today.

All East Coast train services between London and the northeast were suspended.

The disruption is the latest to hit transport in Britain during a bitter cold snap, with snow and ice also grounding flights and slowing road traffic.

A spokesman for the train company told BBC television that several hundred passengers were stuck on six trains in different locations between London and Peterborough.

Disruptions have left thousands of train passengers frustrated.



A passenger who was briefly trapped on one of the trains near Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire described how he had to clamber out of the stranded train in freezing conditions.

“We’re going to have to climb down a ladder from the train on to the trackside, where they’re going to evacuate us in groups of 20,” Ian Dormer told BBC Radio.

The company said in a statement all train services to and from London King’s Cross station on the busy line had been suspended for the rest of the day.

“East Coast is also advising all passengers who have arrived at King’s Cross to go home and restart their journeys tomorrow,” it said.

The company runs 136 weekday train services along Britain’s east coast, linking London and Scotland.

Broadway 'Spider-Man' stunt double falls to stage

The troubled Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" was plagued by its fourth accident since it began previews last month when an actor performing an aerial stunt fell about 30 feet, fire officials said.

Firefighters were called to the Foxwoods Theatre at about 10:45 p.m. Monday after the 31-year-old actor fell near the end of the latest preview performance. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, police said.

Police did not release the actor's name, but a performer in the show identified him as Christopher Tierney. The performer spoke on condition of anonymity because the performer was not authorized to speak publicly about the accident.

A nurse at Bellevue Hospital said that a Christopher Tierney was admitted and was in stable condition, but would not provide details.

Tierney is the show's main aerialist and performs stunts for the roles of Spider-Man, and the villains Meeks and Kraven.


The cable to Tierney's harness snapped during a scene in which Spider-Man rescues his love interest, Mary Jane, the performer said. It was unclear if Tierney was properly harnessed when the cable snapped. The performer said the show's actors are responsible for hooking themselves up to harnesses used for aerial stunts.




Mariana Leung, a fashion blogger wrote on the website NearSay.com that she witnessed the accident from the front row of the balcony.

"There was a scream," Leung wrote. "A voice yelled, `Someone call 911!' Then there was a silence. A minute later, the stage was still dark. Then there was an announcement that the show would be delayed. A few minutes later, a second announcement that the performance would not continue. The lights came up."

Leung said the "shocked audience" exited the theater slowly and many stayed to see if the actor was OK. She said he was carried out to the ambulance still in costume.

A spokesman for "Spider-Man," Rick Miramontez, said an announcement would be made later Tuesday regarding the refund/exchange policy for Monday night's aborted performance. There is no performance Tuesday night, which had always been scheduled as a dark night, Miramontez said.

Actress Natalie Mendoza, who plays Spider-Man's evil love interest Arachne and herself was injured during the show's first preview last month, posted a Twitter message asking people to pray for the actor.

"Please pray with me for my friend Chris, my superhero who quietly inspires me everyday with his spirit. A light in my heart went dim tonight."

Miramontez said the fall happened about seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped.

"All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation," Miramontez said.

Maria Somma, a spokeswoman for Actors' Equity, said the union was told about the accident shortly after it happened Monday night. "We are working in cooperation with the state and city Department of Labor on this situation," Somma said.

On Friday, the show's lead producer Michael Cohl delayed the show's official opening for the second time, pushing it back 27 days, from Jan. 11 to Feb. 7.

In a statement that day, Cohl said, "The creative team is implementing truly exciting changes throughout the preview process. Due to some unforeseeable setbacks, most notably the injury of a principal cast member, it has become clear that we need to give the team more time to fully execute their vision."

The $65 million musical was conceived by Tony Award-winning director and co-writer Julie Taymor and U2's Bono and The Edge, who wrote the music. More than eight years in the making, delays and money woes have plagued the show's launch. Three other accidents have injured actors, including one who had both his wrists broken while practicing an aerial stunt.

The show's massive costs — a 41-member cast, 18 orchestra members, complicated sets and 27 daring aerial stunts, including a battle between two characters over the audience — mean the 1,928-seat theater will have to virtually sell out every show for several years just to break even. The weekly running bill has been put as high as $1 million. (Tickets are priced from $67.50-$135 for weekday performances and $67.50-$140 for weekend performances.)

The first preview on Nov. 28 did not go well. The musical had to be halted five times because of technical glitches and Mendoza was hit in the head by a rope and suffered a concussion. Her injury would eventually keep her sidelined for two weeks.

The show — whose costs easily dwarf Broadway's last costliest show, the $25 million "Shrek The Musical" — may be about a comic-book hero, but it has now itself become easy fodder for comics.

Online, where parodies by "Saturday Night Live" and "Conan" poking fun of the musical's early technical problems had recently been eagerly passed around, the tone shifted Tuesday from jokey schadenfreude to mild outrage.

"Becoming a bit of a joke — a bad one — but a joke," wrote Dan Truong, a Toronto photographer, on Twitter.

An actor from TV's "Modern Family," Jesse Tyler Ferguson, used sarcasm to hint at the grisly nature of the accident-prone production.

"I'm torn between wanting to see `Spiderman' on Broadway and not wanting to see someone literally die doing musical theater," he said.

TV personality Dave Holmes said if "Spider-man" makes it out of previews, "it will be the leading cause of death in the state of New York."

The reactions to the cast's apparent physical peril suggested the musical may have more than opening kinks to work out if it to continue. "I'm going to see Spiderman and I'm scared," said Kathleen Nolan of New York.

Still, a trickle of ticket-buyers appeared at the Foxwoods box office Tuesday morning. The accident did not stop Yumeho Asai, 20, of Gifu, Japan, from buying a ticket. She is studying musical theater herself. "I'm just so interested in the technical aspects," she said.

Justin Waldman, 17, of Toronto, hadn't heard about the show's accidents, but said it wouldn't affect buying a ticket.

"I like Spider-Man and I like U2, so I think the combination of the two would be a good mix," he said.

Millionaire Segway owner dies in cliff fall

The British millionaire businessman who owns the firm Segway has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff with one of the two-wheeled electric scooters near his body, police said yesterday.

Jimi Heselden, 62, who bought the US-based firm, and who was also chairman of Hesco Bastion, was discovered in a river near Leeds, northern England, on Sunday.

The incident, described as a freak accident in the media, was not being treated as suspicious. A Segway was found near his body, a police spokeswoman said. “It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that Jimi Heselden has died in a tragic accident near his home in West Yorkshire,” Hesco Bastion said in a statement.

Heselden, who owns the firm Segway is seen in this undated handout photograph received in London on September 27, 2010.





A family spokesman said speculation about the cause of his death had been deeply upsetting.

“There is absolutely nothing to suggest it was anything other than a tragic accident,” he said in a statement.

Invented by Dean Kamen, the self-balancing Segway scooter was made famous by then US President George W. Bush when he took one for a spin, only to jump off after losing control.

Heselden, a former miner who left school at the age of 15, became a wealthy businessman, donating millions of pounds to charity. This month, he gave £10 million (RM48.94 million)to a community project which helps disadvantaged areas.

He made his fortune with Leeds-based Hesco Bastion, which developed a flat-pack wire mesh “blast wall” container, replacing the traditional sandbags, used by British and coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Media reports said Heselden was one of Britain’s richest men, with a fortune put at £166 million.