WEEK OF TEARS, BLOOD IN US

IT HAS been a dark week for The United States of America (USA). From Monday a trail of odd and bloody incidents have made the week one of the most eventful and dangerous in the country's history. 

On Monday two bomb blast ripped through the crowd at the finish line of the two century-old Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring over 170 persons.

But the US president, Barack Obama's emphatic reaction to the evil doers: “Make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this,” seems to have propelled the momentum of the security services quest for pepetrators of the carnage. 

As at press time, security  operatives have narrowed down to two suspects, reported to be two brothers of Chechnia origin, killed one in a gun battle while the other is on the lose and there is a city-wide manhunt for the second. 

“Yes, we will find you, and yes, you will face justice,” Obama told a special service in Boston city, on Thursday.

“We will find you, we will hold you accountable,” he added in a keynote speech on a special visit to show national solidarity with what he called “one of the world’s great cities.”
Continuing Mr Obama said: “If they sought to intimidate us, to terrorize us, it should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it.”

The US leader was given several ovations by the 2,000-strong congregation in Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, which included relatives of the dead, rescuers who helped victims and political leaders.

Scores of victims remained in hospitals; many with grievous injuries in the twin explosions near the marathon's finish line. Several amputations and many critical cases. An 8-year-old boy was among the dead. A 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed in critical condition according to information.

Information has it that, the bombs exploded 10 or more seconds apart, tearing off victims' limbs and spattering streets with blood, instantly turning the festive race into a hellish scene of confusion, horror and heroics. 

At Massachusetts General Hospital, all four amputations performed there were above the knee, with no hope of saving more of the legs, said Dr. George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery. The blasts killed 8-year-old Martin Richard, of Boston and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell, of Medford. The Shenyang Evening News, a state-run Chinese newspaper, identified the third victim as Lu Lingzi.
She was a graduate student at Boston University. 

But the Boston horror was not all that made a bad week for the US. The country also lost its gun control legislation proposal forwarded by two senators from different sides of the nation's politics. They proposed expanding the background check system to include the guns that are bought at gun shows and also those over the internet. But their proposal was defeated in the Senate. It fell well short, 54-46, as a handful of Democrats, people from within president Obama's own party, opposed the amendment. The development was very disturbing to both the nation's presidence, Obama dubbed the loss a disgrace to Washington

Another odd event came up on Tuesday with the discovery that a rescin poison-ladden mail has been sent to Obama and some members of the US Senate, reminiscent of after 2001, after the terrorism attack of the US when anthrax was sent to several Democratic senators and also to various companies.

But the horrors of one week did not end as indeed the dark week darkened further for the USA Wednesday night as a fertilizer plant in West, North of Waco in the State of Texas exploded on killing as many as 15 people and injuring more than 170 others, and laying waste over a dozen buildings.

According to Sergent Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department: “businesses were leveled in the normally quiet town of West, just north of Waco, and there was widespread destruction in the downtown area.”

“At least five people were killed and scores were being treated at area hospitals, Sergeant Swanton.' he added.

He also, emphasised that the early estimates of casualties could change as more casuualties were likely, and that three to five firefighters were missing. He noted that mostly first responders from a volunteer fire department who rushed to the scene before the blast were involved. 

“They were actively fighting the fire at the time the explosion occurred,' he said.
He also said that the fires were still smoldering at the plant and that there is nothing out of control”

As many as 75 homes have been damaged, along with several businesses and a 50-unit apartment complex.

He said that there is no evidence indicating criminal activity though he is not ruling it out.
According to Bill Flores,United States Representative, the disaster began with a smaller fire at the plant, West Fertilizer, just off Interstate 35, about 20 miles north of Waco. The fire spread and hit some of these tanks that contain chemicals to treat the fertilizer and there was an explosion which caused wide damage.

Nevertheless, D. L. Wilson, a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety argued that the explosion was compared to the destruction to Iraq war scenes and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. He noted that it is most likely an act of terrorism. 

In his words: “this is an act of terrorism using explosives made from fertilizer.

“I can tell you, I was there, I walked through the blast area, I searched some houses earlier tonight. It was massive, just like Iraq, just like the Murrah building in Oklahoma City.”

Tommy Muska, the mayor of West, said in brief televised remarks that 50 to 60 houses in a five-block area were heavily damaged, and that search-and-rescue teams worked through the night. A nursing home, with 133 residents was among those hit. The fate of those within it was, like so much on the scene, not immediately clear.

'We’re a little bit in the fog of war right now”' Mr. Flores said.

Mr. Wilson and other local officials told reporters that half the town had been evacuated because of fears of toxic fumes being spread by heavy winds. First responders continued to search house by house. 

A statement issued by the White House from President Obama on Wednesday captured the enormity of the havoc. “Today our prayers go out to the people of West, Texas.”
He pledged that the “Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies would join state and local efforts to make sure there are no unmet needs as search and rescue and response operations continue”

Governor Rick Perry of Texas describeded the explosion as a truly nightmare scenario, and said that information about death and injury is very preliminary” he added that because West is so small, the tragedy has most likely hit every family and has touched practically everybody in that town. Mr. Obama, he said, had phoned him from Air Force One, on his way to Boston, to offer his support.

A few miles to the north of West, the school gymnasium in the town of Abbott was converted into an emergency shelter for evacuees who lived near the plant. But at 3 a.m. Thursday, the nearly 100 cots were empty, and dozens of volunteers, including faculty members and teenage students, waited for a rush of people that never came. Bottles of water sat in bundled packages outside the school, untouched.

West is a small country town of just 2,700 people. Its name refers not to its location on the state map, in northern central Texas, but to its first postmaster, T. M. West.

WRITTEN BY CHIOMA OBINAGWAM AND ISAAC OGUNTOYE