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AT A&M UNIVERSITY
College Station, Texas
Volume 106 * Issue 59*16 Pages
MIIIMlINNRIIIMMIMMiMIIIIIMIIIMMIMN
)ni Ime Russian-occuit
Chechnya
BONHRE TRAGEDY
Stack falls killing at least 4, students still trapped
1994-96 Chechen
s claim thousands
:ul beaten at such
no from other qui
toil of Churches
i Orthodox Patriarcl
ispmportionateand
iployed by the Rut
contributing to
ost seriousness.'
anyers fork
iborers thm
uilk outonti
BONN, Germany
ivvyers for Nazi-era
irers were threatet
n of talks on a coi
tt lenient yesterd
any raised its offer,
orneys said.
There were
hi Id boost the $37
ered with someoftltfi
gest companies, Ed'
e of 12 lawyers
iple forced to workl
my (.luring World V
A settlement figurej
.3 billion was pr<
an that would not sai
neys' denimds, FsgjM
vters, but he dd not e(V
"ThemajornyoithelA
ready to walk out
ks," he said
This sixth round oft,
dishing a fund to pay fi
• victims has stalled o'
ch money survivoi
A German envoy
tight there was
BY BATTALION STAFF
t feast four students were
d early today when the
fire stack-collapsed into a
gerous heap of heavy wire
logs.
J1 Mbout 2:20 a.m., a crane lift-
fla log hit the stack too hard,
„ ,.,, JRarently cracking the center-
>day talks, whichbegijff^ k asej witnesses said,
.would result m a settl^gg^j^ pyj suddenly, trapping
1 am certainly notp : -|k ers on an d near the stack,
istic, Germangoven:-*] | iear d a snap, centerpole
lator Otto Lambsdoii a( ^p e d an d all of stack came
11 know what will coi.M n f as t e r than anyone could
end, how wecan ji^” /^deen Dryden, a
other we can procee pL omore g enera y studies
anibsdortt,speakingijjUj. w ] 10 was working at the
■man Radio, called on p4] <ers > re f res hment stand,
compromise. Bm nex t thing I knew, peo-
yers said they woii||^ ere p 0 ing crazy, and tnere
ir demands for reh re bodies on the ground.”
n higher. Police confirmed that four
Vleanwhile, German. J( jents were dead and at
I the government iihsi four were trapped under
i over who shouldo% fallen logs,
ney. A College Station Medical
German companiesMer spokesperson said 12
compensation fundi|(|ents were hospitalized,
under the piressureoi-ree of which were in critical
i lawsuits in the Unitt® ition.
Hie companies wants-Officials reported that Corps
lent to protect themis Cadets Company K-2 was
e lawsuits in tteirking on the collapsed side
light on behalf of ikBonfire.
e and forced labored Other Corps units and resi-
fut as the negotiaiknce halls on the stack site
gged on, lawyerssifife the FHK Complex,
ht be better just to||
?s in court.
•agan yesterday bn
ay’s settlement pro]
terous,” even after
nent said Mondayi 1 !
? its part of the offer'
to $1.6 billion.
’he companies
billion but saidthi
e trouble raising
Hint.
awyers unveiled an
t study Mondays|
nan industry ma’
-day equivalent
) billion using Na
forced labor.
-ambsdorff disn
y, saying it was":
doesn’t get us an;
he fund, so farind 1
nan firms, aims to
about 235,000 slave]
leople whom
led to work to
ration campsbutsl
Iso eligible for coi '
Id be the hundred:
Is of forced labored
Jews from Eastern
igh those numbers
ute.
rorn 1.5 million
)le ultimately
'ayment.
Moses Hall, Aston Hall, Com
pany D-2, Company C-2,
Company K-2, Squadron 16
and Squadron 17.
Bonfire officials said at least
24 workers were on the stack
when it collapsed.
Hillary Jones, a University
Police Department (UPD) se
curity officer, said the UPD
critical-incident response
team, urban search-and-rescue
teams and communty fire de
partments and emergency
medical-response teams re
sponded to the collapse.
She said an off-duty officer
witnessed the collapsed.
Michael Guerra, hall council
president for the FHK Com
plex, was escorting a worker
from the site to her residence
hall when the stack fell.
“I was in complete disbelief,”
Guerra said. “I nad just seen it
standing; then it was down. It’s
something that should never
have happened. It’s something
that you never expect.”
Guerra said more than 30
people from the FHK Complex
were at the site, and at least two
were unaccounted for more
than three hours after the fall.
About 4 a.m., redpots
called for assistance to trans
port logs and rescue trapped
workers. Guerra said precau
tions taken by Bonfire orga
nizers had saved lives.
“By the time I was able to
get back to the site, the rescue
efforts were being coordinat
ed,” he said. “One good thing
about Bonfire is there is a line
of command that went into ac
tion tonight.
The situation was handled
as best as it could be under the
circumstances.”
No one officially comment
ed on the plans for this years’
and future Bonfires.
Clockwise from top to bottom:
Bonfire collapsed around 2:20
a.m.; (top rightt) Students
were trapped beneath the fall
en stacks; (immediate right,
immediate below) Students
gather to pray; (bottom right)
Students raise thier pots vol
unteering to help rescue oth
ers from the stack; (bottom
left) Emergency personeel help
those that were injured by the
fallen stack.
Students bind together
Several thousand A&M stu
dents gathered Thursday morning
to find Bonfire stack collapsed
onto itself.
Questions like ‘Why’ and
“How’ largely went unanswered
as thousands of students pulled
themselves out of bed and
streamed onto the Polo Fields.
Most students were forced
merely to observe and wait impa
tiently outside police lines.
Shouts of frustration and con
fusion, as well as anger and sad
ness, moved through the assem
bled student body, but the most
common expression was one of
blank disbelief.
Most of the students who stood
in the cold, also stood in the dark
with only rumors and second
hand stories.
A number of students talked
hurriedly on their cell phones,
some calling to check on friends’
whereabouts, others to tell their
parents, who soon would be re
ceiving news reports back home.
Many of those who worked on
this year’s Bonfire came out
dressed in work clothes and pots.
These students moved anx
iously from one area to the next,
looking for an opportunity to
help. Others sat silently staring at
the pile of logs that hours ago was
Bonfire stack.
Students were seen sobbing
see React on Page 2.