Zombie Apocalypse; Mail Mishap Vexes Gellert; Rhein Tanker Spills Oil

News For 31 October 2023

Last Saturday, Basel hosted the 12th annual "Zombie Walk Basel".  Horror fans from all over Switzerland descended on the city three nights before the actual Halloween Holiday, to parade their costumes along the route from Gundeli to the city center.  According to organizers, approximately 200 people took part in this year's festival.

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Residents of Basel's Gellert neighborhood are complaining after long-standing postal misdeliveries go unresolved. It seems that junk mail as well as invoices and official notifications often end up in neighbors' mailboxes, leaving residents relying on the good graces of one another to get their mail.  Worst of all, it also seems the Post office is aware of the problem but doesn't have an official explanation for why the errors keep happening.  The official position of the Post is that it takes customer complaints seriously, and has made efforts to "sensitize" delivery personnel to the importance of accurate mail deliveries. 

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Last Friday, a tanker ship loaded with fuel oil was involved in a maneuvering accident causing it to leak into the Rhein near the Birsfelden powerstation.  The authorities were immediately notified and the local fire station was dispatched to remediate the situation.  The Birsfelden and Basel fire departments later assessed the situation and released a statement saying that the small amount of leaked fuel oil was not a danger to the environment or animals.