One dead, dozens injured in Pennsylvania steel plant explosions
"Injured employees have now been transported to local hospitals to receive care, and search-and-rescue efforts remain active at the plant," he added.
At least two people were believed to be missing, said Allegheny County Police, which confirmed on Facebook there had been one fatality.
It added that "multiple individuals have been treated for additional injuries. The status of those individuals is not known at this time."
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania posted on X that "dozens" had been wounded.
US Steel said the incident happened at around 11:00 am (1500 GMT) on Monday and that emergency teams were immediately dispatched to the scene.
"During times like this, U.S. Steel employees come together to extend their love, prayers, and support to everyone affected," David Burritt, CEO of the company, said in a statement.
Some US media outlets reported that people were still trapped under the rubble of the explosion.
Videos on social media, not verified by AFP, appeared to show firefighters battling the blaze in front of a gutted industrial building, under a thick plume of white smoke.
The Clairton Coke Works is the largest coking factory in the United States -- a facility where coal is processed to produce coke, a key fuel in steelmaking.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
19 minutes ago
- France 24
Trump and Putin: a strained relationship
Their complicated relationship will be put to the test at a summit in Alaska on Friday, where the two leaders who claim to admire each other will seek to outmaneuver one another over how to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While the two were close to a bromance during Trump's first term (2017-2021), their relationship has grown strained during his second term. The US president has expressed anger with Putin for pressing on with his brutal three-year-old war in Ukraine, which Trump calls "ridiculous." Trump describes the summit as "really a feel-out meeting" to evaluate Putin's readiness to negotiate an end to the war. "I'm going to be telling him, 'You've got to end this war,'" Trump said. The two leaders notably have radically different negotiating strategies: the Republican real estate magnate usually banks on making a deal, while the Russian president tends to take the long view, confident that time is on his side. 'Face to face' Referring to Trump's meeting with Putin, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Trump needs "to see him face to face... to make an assessment by looking at him." Trump praised Putin for accepting his invitation to come to the US state of Alaska, which was once a Russian colony. "I thought it was very respectful that the president of Russia is coming to our country, as opposed to us going to his country or even a third place," Trump said Monday. It will be only the second one-on-one meeting between the men since a 2018 Helsinki summit. Trump calls Putin smart and insists he's always "had a very good relationship" with the Kremlin leader. But when Russian missiles pounded Kyiv earlier this year, Trump accused him of "needlessly killing a lot of people," adding in a social media post: "He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" For his part, Putin has praised the Republican billionaire's push to end the Ukraine war. "I have no doubt that he means it sincerely," Putin said last year when Trump was running for president. Since returning to the White House in January, the American president has forged a rapprochement with Putin, who has been sidelined by the international community since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Trump and Putin, aged 79 and 72 respectively, spoke for 90 minutes by phone in February, both expressing hope for a reset of relations. But after a series of fruitless talks and continued deadly Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities, Trump has appeared increasingly frustrated. "I am very disappointed with President Putin," Trump told reporters last month. "I thought he was somebody that meant what he said. And he'll talk so beautifully and then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that." The memory of Helsinki Trump and Putin have met six times, mostly on the sidelines of international events during Trump's first term. In his recent book "War," Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote that Trump spoke to Putin seven times between leaving the White House in 2021 and returning there earlier this year. The Kremlin denies this. But the defining moment in their relationship remains the July 16, 2018 summit in the Finnish capital Helsinki. After a two-hour one-on-one meeting, Trump and Putin expressed a desire to mend relations between Washington and Moscow. But Trump caused an uproar during a joint press conference by appearing to take at face value the Russian president's assurances that Moscow did not attempt to influence the 2016 US presidential election -- even though US intelligence agencies had unanimously confirmed that it did. "I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said. "He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be." Given this history, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen is worried about what could happen at the Trump-Putin summit. "I am very concerned that President Putin will view this as a reward and another opportunity to further prolong the war instead of finally seeking peace," she said.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
For Trump, Putin summit presents the ultimate test of dealmaking
Trump will speak to his Russian counterpart about the Ukraine war on Friday in Alaska, the two presidents' first standalone summit since a 2018 meeting in Helsinki where Trump's cowed appearance haunted him long afterward. US officials said that Putin himself suggested the meeting. Trump agreed to invite him despite publicly saying how frustrated he has been with Putin's refusal to accept any proposal to halt the war. Trump's invitation to Putin, who is under indictment by the International Criminal Court, effectively ends the West's shunning of the Russian president since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, whose leader Volodymyr Zelensky has called the Alaska trip a "personal victory" for Putin. Trump and his aides have quickly tried to play down the significance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a radio interview that a meeting "is not a concession" and that Trump wants to "look at this guy across the table" and see if he is serious. Trump, voicing uncharacteristic humility about his diplomacy, said it was a "feel-out meeting" that would not in itself lead to a deal on Ukraine. He said he would speak immediately after the summit with Zelensky and other European leaders, who have all insisted that Ukraine not be excluded from talks on its fate. "European leaders, in the past, had the experience that whoever talks to Donald Trump last makes the most important impressions," said Liana Fix, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. There is "a very strong urge in Donald Trump to be the one who brings peace to Ukraine -- even for a fleeting moment of time, to have the picture of him agreeing with Vladimir Putin to a ceasefire," she said. Latest swing in strategy Trump had vowed to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands, within 24 hours of returning to the White House. But he has found the path difficult -- and his tactics have swung drastically. Trump berated Zelensky during a heated on-camera meeting at the White House where Vice President JD Vance accused Ukraine of ingratitude for US support, which Trump briefly shut down. Ukraine quickly realized it had to stomach Trump's approach and signed on to his ceasefire bid. When Putin did not, Trump threatened sanctions on Russia, only to agree to meet Putin. "The mere fact of holding such a summit will be a victory for Putin," Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev said. "Putin has not offered Trump anything significant, and Trump is already inviting him to Alaska," he added, also calling the lack of new US sanctions by Trump an "unconditional victory" for Russia. Trump has rejected criticism that he is soft, noting that he ramped up tariffs on India, a key buyer of Russian oil. But Trump has also pushed for concessions from Zelensky, who has refused to surrender any land that Russia seized by force. George Beebe, the former director of Russia analysis at the CIA who is now director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute, which supports military restraint, said that Trump could begin to work out the outlines of a deal to end the war. Russia could begrudgingly accept eventual European Union membership for Ukraine if it in turn, stays out of NATO, the transatlantic military alliance, Beebe said. "As long as that relationship is limited to political and economic ties rather than military commitments, I think that's something that they can live with," Beebe said of Russia. But he said that such a short-notice summit at the presidential level raised expectations that may not be met. "Trump is tackling an issue that is fraught with political danger, and there's absolutely no guarantee that this is going to be a success," Beebe said.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Soft US inflation boosts Asia markets
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh highs Tuesday after US data showed a tamer-than-feared impact on prices from President Donald Trump's tariff blitz. That boosted hopes among some investors that the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chief Jerome Powell will cut interest rates next month. "Jerome 'Too Late' Powell must NOW lower the rate," Trump said on Truth Social, while also threatening a "major lawsuit" over renovations to Fed buildings. "Stocks... took the (inflation) number as confirmation that September is shaping up to be the long-anticipated 'insurance cut' in an economy still treading water above the break-even line," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: "This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for." Early afternoon, the Nikkei 225 index was at 43,359.03, up 1.5 percent, having already hit a new intraday record high of 42,999.71 the previous day. Oil prices edged lower after OPEC raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year. Investor focus was also on a summit in Alaska on Friday between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the three-year-old Ukraine war. In corporate news, AI firm Perplexity offered Google $34.5 billion for its Chrome web browser, which it may have to sell as part of antitrust proceedings. Intel rose 5.5 percent on Wall Street after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who praised the executive after previously calling for him to step down. Key figures at around 0300 GMT Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 43,359.03 Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 25,234.90 Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,683.79 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1684 from $1.1677 on Tuesday Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3505 from $1.3501 Dollar/yen: UP at 148.04 yen from 147.77 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.52 pence from 86.45 pence Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $66.01 per barrel
