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Bulgaria
Tourist Bus Crash Kills 46
A tourist bus in western Bulgaria caught fire Tuesday and crashed, killing 46 people, including 12 children. The bus had North Macedonian license plates and was on its way back from a trip to Istanbul. Seven people escaped the fiery bus and were taken to the hospital with burns. The cause of the fire and the crash is still not clear. Bulgarian officials are still figuring out how the bus swerved off the road and tore through the 50 m (164ft) section of the crash barrier and whether that was before or after the bus caught fire. No other vehicles were involved in the incident.
This map depicts route E79 and the site of the bus crash in Bulgaria. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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Democratic Republic of Congo
Militants Kill Displaced Civilians
Fighters from the CODECO (Cooperative for the Development of the Congo) militia attacked the village of Drodro in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province on Sunday night. A national government spokesperson first reported 12 civilians had been killed, including 6 children. Further reports from various sources indicate the final death toll could reach upwards of 35 victims. The CODECO militia spokesperson denied the group killed any civilians, stating their fighters clashed with another militia in Drodro but only after civilians had fled the area. Attacks by CODECO in the Djugo territory of Ituri have killed hundreds since 2017 and forced around 16,000 people to seek the protection of peacekeepers.
This map depicts the Djugu territory of the Ituri province where CODECO militia staged attacks since 2017. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Barron’s
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Space
Russian Test Feeds Debris Cloud
Scientists are sounding the alarm about the growing mass of “space junk” in orbit around Earth following a Russian anti-satellite missile test last week. Russia launched a missile at its own defunct 4,410 pound (2000 kg) Cosmos 1408 spy satellite last Monday, producing a debris cloud of over 1,500 trackable objects. The mass of debris prompted an emergency warning on the International Space Station, with occupants heading to the escape pods as the station’s orbital path crossed about 10 miles (16 km) beneath the debris field’s. Over 60 years of rocket launches have produced a cloud of functionless debris around the Earth that is growing faster than the objects are falling from orbit, presenting a growing hazard to currently-operating satellites, space stations, and spacecraft. Some scientists predict the objects will coalesce into ring-like orbits around the Earth unless something can be done to address the problem.
This map depicts the timeline of Russia’s anti-satellite test that produced a large debris field that eventually crossed orbital paths with the International Space Station, prompting an emergency response onboard. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Perhaps the most famous of the 583 known species of carnivorous plants, the Venus Fly Trap has been cultivated around the world. Where in the world is this unique plant’s native range?
A: The Carolinas
The Venus Fly Trap’s native range is actually limited to a 75 mile (120 km) radius around Wilmington, North Carolina. Carnivorous plants have generally evolved independently around the world as an adaptation to survive in poor-quality soils low in nitrogen and phosphorus. They are capable of photosynthesis, but to obtain the requisite nutrients to grow, they use a variety of tricks to attract insects which they trap and digest. Venus Fly Traps grow in wet, open longleaf pine savannas, which require regular fires to remain open and allow sunlight to penetrate to the ground where the Venus Fly Traps grow. Habitat loss has reduced the longleaf pine savannas to only 3% of their former range in the Carolinas’ coastal plains.
Source
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Q: Where in the world has La Niña, a phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern that brings cooler temperatures, just begun?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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