crash

Footage that will stop you texting while driving

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:41:47 +0200

"It's all about Cassie Cowan - a nice girl from a nice Gwent valleys family - who kills four people on the road because she used her mobile phone and lost her concentration for a few seconds."

It's with these words that the police force from Gwent, a region of south Wales, introduce their mini horror film. Directed by local lecturer Peter Watkins-Hughes and acted out by amateurs, the scene from a 30 minute educational video for school children, is soon to be broadcast on BBC Wales as an advert.

The somewhat radical strategy comes in response to evidence which proves that 18-24 year-olds' reaction times are 35% slower when reading or writing a text message, meaning that the effects are therefore potentially just as fatal as drink or drug driving. And half of young drivers do it. The message is not falling on deaf ears - the video has already got almost 1.5 million hits on YouTube.

Warning, you may find the video upsetting.

Junior judo team killed in Iran crash

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:51:56 +0200

A Caspian Airlines plane crashed in north-west Iran this morning, killing all 168 people on board. Among them were the eight members of the country's national junior judo team.

This photo was sent to us by blogger Saeed Valadbaygi.

The teenagers were on their way to a training camp in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, in preparation for the world championship in Hungary in August. This photo was taken during their last training session in Iran. We see the eight athletes and their two coaches." [There are 11 people in the photo, we haven't been able to confirm precisely how many of the judo team were killed - foreign news agencies say 10, while Iranians tell us that it was 11].

Doomed Yemenia Airways flight: “For us this was inevitable”

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:46:45 +0200

One of our Observers from the Comoros Islands tells us about his experiences as a frequent flyer with Yemenia Airlines — the company whose plane crashed en route to the Comoran capital on Monday morning.

The A310 Airbus was travelling from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to the Comoran capital, Moroni, when it crashed with 153 people on board. In light of the accident, Yemenia Airways has been severely criticised for its maintenance standards. The airline says that it carries out "regular checks" on its fleet.

Tokyo plane crash

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:15:38 +0100

This CCTV footage shows the moment when a FedEx cargo plane burst into flames attempting to land at Tokyo's Narita airport. The plane, travelling from Guangzhou in China, is thought to have crashed because of high wind speeds of up to 72 kmh. Pilot and co-pilot, who were both American, died. The accident happened just before 7am on Monday morning (22.50 Sunday French time).

Amsterdam plane crash – photo on Twitter minutes later

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:53:29 +0100

A Turkish airline plane has crashed while coming in to land at Schiphol airport. The number of victims is yet to be known. Minutes after, a Twitter user posted this photo of the aircraft:

Credit @diederikm.

Amateur photos of train crash carnage

Julien — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:40:28 +0200

These amateur photos, taken after the fatal train crash in Shandong, eastern China, were posted online just hours after the carnage occurred. The collision happened early Monday morning when a coastal-bound passenger train jumped the rails and struck a crossing overnight express train. Seventy people have been confirmed dead and over 420 injured.