Blast in Port of Spain, Trinidad

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news_2.html
An explosion this afternoon shut down activities in downtown Port-of-Spain. Early reports say the blast originated from a garbage can on Frederick Street near Queen Street. Six people are reported injured.

Update 3:26pm: At least one person reported dead in the aftermath of the explosion in downtown Port of Spain.
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WE are all safer...NOT

[maddezmom]

1. a tad more:

Bomb Explodes in Trinidad Capital

The Associated Press
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad
A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown Port-of-Spain on Monday, killing one person and wounding six, the mayor said.

Police searched the commercial district for other explosives and evacuated the area, Mayor Murchison Brown said on the radio.

A witness reported seeing one woman with her hand blown off and a man whose foot was partially severed. There were no suspects and no one had been arrested, Brown said.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050711/API/507110903

[maddezmom]

2. Bomb Wounds 14 in Trinidad's Capital

~snip~
Local media reported that a man was seen placing a package in the garbage bin shortly before the explosion around 2 p.m. on the corner of Frederick and Queen streets, a major intersection in the capital city of the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The site of the blast is two blocks from the national Parliament, which was meeting at the time.

Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning called the incident a "dastardly act," and said he directed the national security minister and police to use all resources to catch those responsible.

Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown called for extra security precautions. "It is something I think we will all be concerned about and I am sure the security forces have already started putting things in place," he said in a radio interview.

The former British colony of 1.3 million people, located off the northern coast of South America, is the most prosperous member of the 15-member Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits. In recent years, it has become the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 percent of imports last year.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050711/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/trinidad_explosion_3

[malaise]

3. I spoke with some friends

Three of the injured have life threatening injuries. It is still chaotic on the streets of the city as many people left their offices and headed home.
Meanwhile in London, a Jamaican family of five is still missing after the London bombings.

[daleo]

4. An interesting detail

"...is the most prosperous member of the 15-member Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits."

A short hop from Venezuela too, I think.

[geek tragedy]

5. Sounds like a place that needs some Bush-style freedumb. eom

[silverpatronus]

9. yes from our south western tip you can see venezuela.

we have border fishing disputes with them all the time. and we're in the process of getting in with chavez on petrocaribe.

we have had a lot happen in trinidad, but in my lifetime, never a bomb. i'll admit it, i was scared out my skin today.

[daleo]

12. I hope Trinidad is spared neo-con machinations

Unfortunately, geography is not in your favor. I have a colleague who hails from Guiana and have always heard nice things about Trinidad.

[silverpatronus]

13. it hasn't been guiana since its independence!

it's guyana now, and it's beautiful. very raw. not exactly my thing, since i'm a city girl and all, but i appreciated it very much while i was there. there's something untouched about guyana. it hasn't been concretised to death.

[daleo]

15. Sorry, I just picked the name off the spell check

My original phonetic spelling wasn't close to either. I understand getting the correct post-independence name is a sensitive topic.

[silverpatronus]

16. yeah it kind of is...

colonialism is still close enough historically to be a sensitive topic here in the caribbean. i didn't mean to jump on you, i'm sorry.

[Jersey Devil]

6. Question: Is Trinidad among the "coalition of the willing" in Iraq

Granted, most of the "willing" have merely lent their names to Bush for the war in Iraq, but is Trinidad among them?

[malaise]

7. No n/t

[IndianaGreen]

10. here is the list

Full list of coalition countries:

Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.

Source: US State Department

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2862343.stm

[silverpatronus]

11. we only have a defence force and a coast guard...

and our own oil, so we didn't feel the need to jump into bush's oil war TYVM.

[silverpatronus]

8. my mother and sister were downtown when this happened...

my mum's office is only about 3 blocks away from where the bomb went off. my office is uptown, but they sent us home anyway.

1 dead, 2 critical, 13 injured. investigations ongoing, but no leads yet. people here are angry and shocked and want answers.

[JohnyCanuck]

14. Might be coincidence but pseudo FBI agents were reported in Barbados

to be poking around a Barbados hospital asking suspicious questions about their ability to handle mass casualties. (Barbados is a neighboring island about 250 miles from Trinidad). I sure hope this is not a sign that the "war on terror" will also be taking up residence in the Caribbean. Between increasingly fierce and more numerous hurricanes due to global warming and terrorist attacks those islands (most, unlike Trinidad, very dependent on tourism) would be in a world of hurt.


From the Barbados Nation News July 11:

SPY PROBE
Published on: 7/11/05.

by TIM SLINGER

POLICE have launched a major probe into reports that two Caucasian men posing as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were spotted last week scrutinising the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH).

They reportedly enquired about the ability of the hospital to handle mass casualties.

According to other reports, the men were seen writing notes and referred to files which carried the names of certain members of a local organisation, before heading off to a South Coast hotel.

Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin confirmed that the Special Branch Unit was probing the matter but declined to go into details.

"The matter is under investigation," he told the DAILY NATION yesterday. "We can't leave it there with the heightened state in law enforcement's response to deal with terrorism. Of course, these are matters that interest us."

http://www.nationnews.com/story/283738559233173.php (free registration required)

[malaise]

17. That's very interesting

because the region will be hosting the cricket world cup in 2007 and England and Australia aren't particularly happy. The men may just have been ICC scouts checking out facilities but you never know these days.

Here are reports about the bombing from the T&T papers.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=88782248

http://www.guardian.co.tt/