As blast victims are named, Nevada military town grieves - Los Angeles Times

HAWTHORNE, Nev. — As investigators continued Wednesday to examine a training accident that killed seven Marines and wounded eight other servicemen, this remote military town struggled with its grief and strived to help the victims.

"We've lost seven members of our military family who were helping defend our country," said Glenn Carns, general manager of El Capitan Lodge & Casino. "It's the same as if they had died in battle."

A 60-millimeter mortar round exploded in a mortar tube during live-fire training maneuvers Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, about 90 miles southeast of Reno. The incident is under investigation, and use of the 60-millimeter rounds has been suspended.

The Marine Corps identified the dead Wednesday night as Pfc. Joshua M. Martino, 19, of Clearfield, Pa.; Lance Cpl. David P. Fenn II, 20, of Polk City, Fla.; Lance Cpl. Roger W. Muchnick Jr., 23, of Fairfield, Conn.; Lance Cpl. Joshua C. Taylor, 21, of Marietta, Ohio; Lance Cpl. Mason J. Vanderwork, 21, of Hickory, N.C.; Lance Cpl. William T. Wild IV, 21, of Anne Arundel, Md.; and Cpl. Aaron J. Ripperda, 26, of Madison, Ill.

The identities of the injured — seven Marines and a Navy corpsman — were not released. All the victims were from the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The unit's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Andrew J. McNulty, praised the Marines and sailors who provided first aid immediately after the explosion, calling it "nothing short of heroic."

"There were numerous acts of selflessness as our injured cared for each other and directed corpsmen to care for more severely injured before being treated themselves," McNulty said in a statement.

Confusion about the death toll had arisen Tuesday night, when a memorial speaker erroneously said an eighth person had died.

On Wednesday night, the Marine Corps said the Navy corpsman was seriously injured, five Marines were seriously injured, and two Marines had been treated for minor injuries and released.

The grim news shook the Mineral County seat of Hawthorne, a hodgepodge of modest homes, small businesses, casinos, veterans organizations and one stoplight.

At the Tuesday night memorial, hundreds of people crowded into a park around a towering American flag. Veterans showed little children how to place their hands over their hearts. Many people held flags or candles and pinned red artificial "buddy poppies" to their lapels or shirt pockets. Poppy sale proceeds were to go to loved ones of those killed and injured.

"Hawthorne is a unique place that has adopted a sense of patriotism that speaks to a bygone era," Mineral County Atty. Sean Rowe said later.

Cassie Dore, owner of the Refinery Restaurant, agreed: "Our sense of community comes from a powerful military link."

Dore was planning "a good old-fashioned Hawthorne-style spaghetti feast" for Wednesday evening, with proceeds going to the families of the dead.

"The feast will also make us a little bit stronger," she said. "We are a family in good times and bad."

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

david.zucchino@latimes.com

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NI bomb blast 'was attempted murder'

10 March 2013 Last updated at 19:50 ET

The area was sealed off while searches were carried out by police and bomb disposal experts

Police are treating a bomb attack near police officers on patrol in north Belfast as attempted murder.

Three officers escaped injury in the blast in the Hazelbank area near the M5 on Saturday evening.

The area was sealed off for more than 24 hours as searches were carried out by police and bomb disposal experts.

Ch Supt Henry Irvine, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said it was "only by good fortune" that nobody was killed or badly injured.

The incident happened as officers, responding to a call, made their way along the Duncrue towpath.

A PSNI spokeswoman said: "Police can confirm that an explosive device detonated.

"It is believed that the target was police officers and police are now treating it as attempted murder."

The spokeswoman said the officers were left badly shaken but were not injured.

'Complete disregard'

Ch Supt Irvine condemned those behind the attack, and appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

"This is a well-known area that is used every day by members of the local community," he said.

"It is only by good fortune that police officers and members of the public were not killed or seriously injured last night.

"Those who carried out this attack have shown complete disregard to the safety of the local community and the police officers serving this community."

The M5 reopened on Sunday night although the towpath remained closed between Dargan and Fortwilliam.

The remains of the device have been taken from the scene for forensic tests.

Also on Saturday, Glenmachan Street in Belfast and surrounding streets were closed while experts dealt with a suspicious object.

It was declared a hoax after a controlled explosion was carried out.

There were traffic problems on the Westlink for several hours as the Broadway off-slips were closed in both directions.

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Hong Kong Grapples With Aftermath of Deadly Balloon Blast - New York Times

HONG KONG - Hong Kong officials were headed Wednesday to the site of a balloon crash in Egypt that took the lives of nine Hong Kong residents when the balloon exploded into a fireball while preparing to land.

The five women and four men from Hong Kong who died in the accident Tuesday were part of a group that was on a 10-day visit to Egypt, and they were taking the balloon for a tour over the ancient temples of Luxor when it burst into flames, killing 19 people in all.

“I extend my deepest condolences to their families,” Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong’s chief executive, said after the accident Tuesday. “The embassy has set up a four-member team to follow up on this,” he said of the Chinese embassy in Cairo.

Immigration officers from Hong Kong had also been dispatched to Egypt to follow up on the accident and were traveling with the families of the victims to Luxor.

The disaster unfolded in just minutes as the pilot was pulling a rope to stabilize the balloon when a gas hose ripped and a fire started, security officials said. Besides the nine people from Hong Kong who were killed, the accident took the lives of four Japanese, two French, two Britons, a Hungarian and an Egyptian.

The bodies of the victims were strewn about the field where the balloon exploded.

The victims from Hong Kong were from three families who took the tour, which cost roughly $1,400 per person. The travel agency that handled the excursion, Kuoni Travel, said it was considering extra compensation for the families in addition to the $7,000 they are already eligible to receive.

The accident has posed a new challenge to Egypt’s already struggling tourism industry, which has only begun to recover from the turmoil that followed the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian state media reported that some of the dead had been “cremated” in the fireball. The Health Ministry said it would use DNA testing to identify the remains, although Kuoni Travel itself released the names of the Hong Kong victims, identifying them only by their family names.

Raymond Ng, a general manager for Kuoni Travel, said the agency had used the company the handled the balloon tour, Sky Cruises, regularly in the past.

“We have a set of criteria when it comes to which hot-air balloon company we use,” he said. “Most importantly, the company needs to be well known, and has taken enough safety procedures.”

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Japanese victims were two couples in their 60s from Tokyo, but the ministry did not release their names.

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