“Eye of fire” in Gulf of Mexico after underwater gas leak – National & International News- MON 5July2021

“Eye of fire” in Gulf after underwater gas leak. Miami condo demolished (video). Ransomware hackers demand $70 million. 100+ missing in Japan mudslide.

NATIONAL NEWS

Miami condo demolished; 3 more victims found

Just before 10:30pm last night, a demolition crew brought down the still-standing portion of Champlain Tower South. The demolition went off without a hitch. Last Friday, city officials were considering a piece-by-piece demolition of the building over several days to improve safety for rescue workers onsite. By late Friday, fears that incoming Tropical Storm Elsa could cause the remainder of the building to topple against a neighboring high-rise had convinced officials to take more urgent action.

After the demolition, rescue crews resumed their work. With the search area newly expanded, crews quickly recovered the remains of three more victims, bringing the death toll to 27. At least 115 people are still missing.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava acknowledged fears that anyone still trapped in the rubble could be endangered by the demolition. However, she noted that victims’ families understood that after so many days, the prospects of finding anyone still alive had waned considerably.

Opening up the search area also means that more rescuers can work on the site safely at any given time. This will significantly speed up search and recovery efforts.

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Ransomware hackers demand $70 million

A ransomware attack this weekend by Russia-based hackers has brought thousands of businesses around the world to a standstill. The target this time was the US company Kaseya which provides IT servers to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Kaseya claims that fewer than 40 of its customers. But those customers supply services to other businesses, who in turn supply services to yet other businesses, etc. As a result, the hack has indirectly impacted the supply chains of about 36,000 businesses globally.

REvil, the hacker group behind the attack, is the same group that targeted US meatpacking giant JBS last month. In that case, JBS paid $11 million in ransom to recover control of their data. This success seems only to have emboldened REvil, and the group is now demanding a colossal $70 million in BitCoin to restore Kaseya’s files.

Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity official Eric Goldstein told Congress last month, “It is the position of the US government that we strongly discourage the payment of ransoms”. However, there is no official US policy prohibiting the payment of such ransoms.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

“Eye of fire” in Gulf of Mexico after underwater gas leak

Mexican state oil company Pemex says they have brought an enormous fire on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico under control. Pemex said that a gas leak from an underwater pipeline was responsible for the inferno. Videos show a hellish fiery whirlpool blazing and boiling away next to one of Pemex’s offshore oil rigs. Two ships can also be seen spraying water and chemicals in an effort to extinguish it.

Pemex has a long history of deadly and destructive industrial accidents.

It took five hours to put out the fire, and no injuries have been reported. Angel Carrizales of Mexico’s oil safety regulator ASEA tweeted that the incident “did not generate any spill.” This statement does not explain what was burning on the water’s surface.

A Pemex incident report does shed much further light. It states that “The turbomachinery of Ku Maloob Zaap’s active production facilities were affected by an electrical storm and heavy rains”.  Ku Maloob Zaap is one of Pemex’s most productive facilities, accounting for about 40% of the firm’s daily crude oil output.

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More than 100 missing in Japan mudslide

A deadly mudslide took place in Atami, Japan, on Saturday after days of torrential rain. Atami is a hot spring resort about 60 miles south-west of Tokyo in Shizuoka prefecture. It’s near the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park in the shadow of Mount Fuji.

So far, three people are confirmed to have died in the disaster. Initially, relying on missing persons reports, officials estimated that about 20 people were missing as a result of the mudslide. That figure has shot up to 113 after a review of residential records in the area.

Officials had already urged residents to evacuate the surrounding area due to the extreme weather. About 300 homes were affected by the landslide.

The prefecture’s governor said officials would investigate whether building projects in the area had destabilized the mountain’s surface and triggered the mudslide.

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