Manhole Explosion at Texas Tech University Causes Fires, Outages and Cancels Classes

A Department of Public Safety trooper walks into Flores Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona
A Department of Public Safety trooper walks into Flores Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona
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Manhole Explosion at Texas Tech University Causes Fires, Outages and Cancels Classes

A Department of Public Safety trooper walks into Flores Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona
A Department of Public Safety trooper walks into Flores Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, US, September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona

An explosion on the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock set off fires and power outages Wednesday, leading school officials to issue evacuation orders for several buildings and cancel classes for the rest of the week.
An alert sent to the campus community around 8:45 p.m. described the explosion as occurring at a substation but a later update said it was at a manhole. No injuries were reported, Lubbock Fire Rescue Capt. Jon Tunnell said, according to The Associated Press.
Videos circulating on social media and local TV stations showed a heavy presence of firefighters on campus and fire and smoke coming out of at least one manhole cover.
It wasn’t clear what might have caused the explosion.
Power will be shut down to the entire campus in Lubbock, Texas, while repairs are underway, said Caitlynn Jeffries, a spokesperson for the university's police department.
“You can go ahead and go home for Spring break. We are closing school down for the next couple days," Jeffries said.
The school also instructed faculty and staff to work remotely if possible until further notice.
Lubbock Fire Rescue responded to a possible gas leak around 7 p.m. local time and found “multiple manhole covers with smoke and fire issuing from them,” Tunnell said.
“This remains a very active scene as crews continue to assist Texas Tech University in mitigating this emergency," he said.
There are more than 40,000 students at Texas Tech and the school sits on 1,800 acres in West Texas.



70 South African White Rhinos Relocated to Rwanda

 White rhinos have been the targets of a poaching epidemic that has largely wiped them out. (AFP)
White rhinos have been the targets of a poaching epidemic that has largely wiped them out. (AFP)
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70 South African White Rhinos Relocated to Rwanda

 White rhinos have been the targets of a poaching epidemic that has largely wiped them out. (AFP)
White rhinos have been the targets of a poaching epidemic that has largely wiped them out. (AFP)

Rwanda said on Tuesday that 70 white rhinos had been successfully relocated to the Great Lakes nation after a two-day journey of some 3,000 kilometers (over 1,800 miles) from South Africa.

It was the largest ever relocation of rhinos, which can weigh up to two tons, Rwandan officials said.

Once abundant across sub-Saharan Africa, rhino numbers have dramatically fallen due to hunting by European colonizers and large-scale poaching.

The animals were transported in two loads of 35 -- first aboard a Boeing 747, then by road -- from South Africa's Munywana Conservancy to Akagera National Park in Rwanda, or about 3,000 kilometers as the crow flies, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

A "dedicated veterinary team will closely monitor their health and behavior for several weeks to ensure proper adaptation to their new environment and management of any stress associated with the move", it said in a statement.

The move was part of African Parks' Rhino Rewild Initiative, supported by The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and aims to support population growth and secure a new breeding stronghold in Rwanda.

According to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), rhino poaching in Africa rose by four percent from 2022 to 2023, with at least 586 rhinos poached in 2023.

The southern white rhino, one of two subspecies, is now listed as "near threatened", with roughly 17,000 individuals remaining, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The northern white rhino has all but vanished, with only two females left alive.