March 3 [ 2007-03-05 17:15 ]
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Rescue workers soon
arrived at the crash site - but there was no-one to
rescue |
1974: Turkish jet crashes killing
345 |
England have
A Turkish Airlines DC10 has crashed near Paris killing all 345 people
on board.
The plane was on a regular flight from Ankara to London via Paris. It
came down just minutes after take-off at 1235 GMT, scything a mile-long
trail through the forest of Ermenonville.
Among the victims were 200 passengers, many of them British, who had
been transferred from British Airways flights cancelled because of a
strike by engineers at London airport.
No-one was killed on the ground, although the forest is popular with
walkers.
Only blackened stumps of trees remained where the pilot had probably
attempted a crash landing. Bits of clothing and other wreckage from the
plane were strewn across the whole area.
Hundreds of rescue workers, from the Red Cross, Protection Civile as
well as fire and ambulance crews, were on the scene within half an hour.
But there was no-one to be rescued. All that remained to be done was to
collect the bodies and take them to the church of St Pierre at Senlis.
From there, soldiers transferred the bodies onto army vehicles during
the night to be driven to the medical centre in Paris, where they will be
examined by forensic scientists.
Eyewitnesses in the nearby village of St Pathu said they heard an
explosion and saw flames coming from the plane long before it plunged into
the forest.
Some bodies were found close to the village, about six miles from the
crash site, which also suggests the plane may have exploded in mid-air.
Crash investigators looking for clues to the world's worst air disaster
to date will start by studying the jet's engines. They are also looking
for the black box flight recorder.
The possibility of sabotage
has not been discounted.
Among the victims were 17 members of Bury St Edmunds rugby club,
returning from a trip to Paris. |
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Olof Palme shunned
bodyguards and preferred to dress
informally |
1982: Queen opens Barbican
Centre | Artificially 1969: The The Queen
has opened the new ?53m Barbican Centre for Arts and Conferences in the
City of London.
The centre, which has been 15 years in the making, is the largest arts
centre in western Europe and covers five-and-a-half acres of Cripplegate,
which was destroyed by Nazi bombers in World War II.
The new multi-million pound building will provide a new home for the
Royal Shakespeare Company and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Both have performed inaugural concerts for the Queen this evening.
The centre also houses a concert hall for 2,000 people, two theatres, a
cinema, a library, a conference centre and several galleries.
'Wonder of the modern world'
The Queen was welcomed by the administrator of the centre, Henry Wrong.
She officially opened As she unveiled a plaque commemorating the
opening of the Barbican, the Queen said: "What has been created here must
be one of the wonders of the modern world."
More than 3,500 people arrived for the opening night celebrations which
culminated in a spectacular fireworks display over the centre's lake.
Plans for a new arts centre at the Barbican were originally given the
go-ahead in 1971 when it was proposed that construction would cost ?7m and
would take six years to complete. |
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Vocabulary:
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sabotage: a deliberate act of destruction or
disruption in which equipment is
damaged(阴谋破坏)
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