Man killed in wildfire caused by Russian spacecraft launch in Kazakhstan

Man killed in wildfire caused by Russian spacecraft launch in Kazakhstan

15 June 2017

Kazakhstan – ALMATY (Reuters) – One man has died from burns in a wildfire caused by a discarded part of the Russian booster rocket launched on Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan’s emergency situations committee said.

Another man, who along with the dead man had been collecting the rocket debris on the steppe in central Kazakhstan, has been hospitalized after also suffering burns, it said in a statement on Thursday, without naming the men.

An uncrewed Russian Progress cargo ship blasted off towards the International Space Station on Wednesday. During the launch, parts – or stages – of the booster rocket separate and fall, with some landing in Kazakhstan, where Baikonur itself is located.

Russia leases the launch facility from the Central Asian ex-Soviet republic.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Tropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-peatlands-dwindling-losses.html#jCpTropical peat swamp forests, which once occupied large swaths of Southeast Asia and other areas, provided a significant “sink” that helped remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But such forests have been disappearing fast due to clear-cutting and drainage projects making way for plantations. Now, research shows peatlands face another threat, as climate change alters rainfall patterns, potentially destroying even forested peatlands that remain undrained.

15. June 2017/by GFMCadmin