Monday 31 December 2012

Eight die in East China road accident


Eight people have died and four others were injured after an overloaded car collided with a truck in East China's Shandong province early Monday morning, local authorities said.

The accident happened around 2:50 am, when a five-seater car carrying 12 people slammed into a truck loaded with sand in the city of Zibo, a fire control official told Xinhua.

The official said seven passengers were killed at the scene and one died in hospital after medical treatment failed.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-12/31/content_16073116.htm

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Four killed in Bengal road accident


At least four people were killed and 16 others were injured when a pick-up van, in which they were travelling, overturned in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district Monday, police said.

"Four people have been killed and 16 others have been admitted to two hospitals with serious injuries after their van overturned at Nagrakata," said Jalpaiguri Superintendent of Police Amit Javalgi.

The vehicle was carrying nearly two dozen people.

Six of the injured are in a critical condition.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/four-killed-bengal-road-accident-123031139.html

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Natural disaster throws children into the arms of pedophiles


It was the morning of December 26,2004, and a quiet calm rested over the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. A short distance away, pristine beaches decorated the coast of this traveler’s paradise as they cradled myriads of tourists soaking in the splendor of the tropical haven.

A sudden collective gasp arose from the beach goers as they turned their eyes to the horizon and saw the massive wall of water was headed for the beach, its crest loomed skyward like a giant hand reaching out to grasp the sun. Locals and tourists scrambled to find sanctuary from the unstoppable force of nature that had appeared without warning.

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake had arisen from the floor of the Indian Ocean to trigger one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history. The impact of the Tsunami took an incredible toll on human life.

Beneath this human tragedy, an even more horrifying tragedy lurked within the shadows. As relief workers and supplies began to flow into the torn and ravaged countryside, customs officials made a shocking discovery. Twenty pedophiles were apprehended as they attempted to board a plane. Their destination included the countries of Indonesia and Thailand where sick and injured children wandered alone and separated from their families. Nature had created a paradise for child molesters whose only intention was to target young children for fulfillment of their deepest perversion while shrouded by the chaos around them. Had it not been for the child sex offender registry, these twenty predators would have found themselves in fertile hunting grounds where no one was trained to stop them.

The aftermath of every natural disaster is mixture of chaos, despair and confusion. Aid workers struggle to meet even the basic needs of those affected, and even the workers themselves can be traumatized by the tragedy unfolding before them.

In the twisted mind of a pedophile this is the perfect environment for a child to disappear and be labeled as a casualty of nature’s fury. The World Health Organization and the United Nations have tracked the increase of sexual violence associated with natural disasters since the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines. The United States is not immune to this travesty, as evidence from the eruption of Mount Saint Helens has shown. The South Asian Tsunami of 2004 is the first event that drew the media spotlight to bear on this despicable practice.

Unfortunately, pedophiles preying on childre are not the only evil to fear in times of disaster, for they have competition of an equally dark nature. Human traffickers also descend on areas struck by natural disaster, kidnapping women and children to sell for sex and cheap labor. Mentally and physically disabled children are easy prey for the predators that cloak themselves in the guise of savior.

In the aftermath of these disasters, infrastructures are destroyed and lines of communication severed. Victims are hungry, confused, alone and helpless and consumed by fear. Governments struggle to bring order to areas sometimes completely leveled by the forces of nature, and aid workers are often not properly screened when they enter a country in disarray.

The situation becomes even more horrific when those sent to protect the helpless end up preying upon them. The 2002 Report of the Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crisis found that humanitarian and peacekeeping personnel could become part of the problem. In the 1990’s the United Nations sent a peacekeeping mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help stabilize the region after the second Congo war and the conflicts that followed. Personnel were found to have traded food and supplies for sex with girls as young as thirteen.

As a child, I was sexually trafficked by a pedophile ring and I am one of the lucky few who survived. At the age of twelve, I attempted suicide after I tried every means to escape, including telling doctors, teachers, and running away numerous times. Ending my life seemed the only option, and when I awoke in the emergency room to a group of wide-eyed doctors, I had been clinically dead for three minutes.

I am speaking from experience when I tell you that a child can disappear in a public place in this country in a matter of seconds, never to be seen again. The people who kidnap children for their own personal sexual purposes or to sell them to others with that perversion are as skilled as any special operations personnel both here and abroad. They are driven by forces that transcend any logic society possesses.

Once you are a prisoner of sex traffickers or pedophiles you are shackled with chains of fear that include daily death threats, that as a victim I have seen carried out in front of me. Once these individuals have you, it is all over, and unless these stopped before they first lay their eyes on a victim, children will continue to disappear both domestically and globally.

How do we bring an end to the global targeting of innocent children following natural disasters? By working with the United Nations (http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/), World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/violence/med_leg_guidelines/en/index.html), UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/protection/index.html ) and others to put policies and resources in place that eliminate the vulnerabilities that make children targets.

EPCAT International (http://www.ecpat.net/EI/index.asp) is an organization that embraces a deep passion for ending child prostitution, child trafficking and child pornography. In 2006 EPCAT published, “Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation & Sexual Violence in Disaster & Emergency Situations. A guide for local & community based organizations.” It offers solutions to the hard lessons learned from the 2004 South Asian Tsunami and its aftermath that left vulnerable children exposed. One of the main premises that echoes within its pages is, “Children who are involved in a disaster are much less likely to experience sexual exploitation and sexual violence if the community they are from already has a high level of appreciation of the need to protect children and places importance on this.” This calls for a worldwide effort to bring the level of how we care and protect our children as the front line of defense against their victimization following a natural disaster.

EPCAT also makes the following recommendations in its report:

1.) Immediate identification, registration and documentation (done by or under the supervision of government, where the government is still able to perform this function), involving the careful identification of unaccompanied and separated children who may not be readily visible and may already be in the company of other adults.

2.) Provision of immediate safe care – preferably with extended family members. Where this is not possible separate shelters should be set up for unaccompanied minors which are centrally located, near basic camp facilities, with safe and secure access to washing and toilet facilities, and which are well lit with proper security and supervision.

3.) Placing a ban on adoptions and removal of unaccompanied and separated children without government permission, except for emergency medical treatment. 4.) Coordinated steps for tracing and reunifying family members should begin as soon as possible as valuable information and sources can be lost.

5.) Staff should have training in advance as to appropriate ways to work with children who have been sexually abused, including interviewing skills.

6.) It is essential that the circumstances of all incidences are considered and countermeasures taken to ensure that the child is not victimized again or other children abused in the same way.

7.) Staff and managers, in particular, need to be held accountable for abuses they could have prevented. Increasing female relief workers, the proper monitoring of relief distributions by senior managers, and regular staff rotation between camps and sites can all help to prevent a pattern of abuse taking hold. “

The EPCAT manual is a wealth of information that spearheads a strong effort to make sure that child victims of natural disasters are protected. I hope you will all join me in the fight to protect children around the world from the hell that I suffered as I child. Together we can set an example that resonates around the world and speaks loudly that out children are off limits to predators.

Every one of us should lend our support to organizations fighting for children around the world. If we can all just take some time to educate ourselves and then educate the world on how to protect the most precious gift of all, we can stop the next child from falling into the hands of a predator. We have some idea of the number of children who have fallen victim to natural disasters, but we have no clue of how many in that number fell prey to those intent on doing evil. Let’s not let the screams of those lost to the unnatural disaster of child predators echo in silence. Make a difference in this world by getting involved, and maybe the next child will have a chance to know a life where suffering does end.

Monday 31 December 2012

Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/heart-without-compromise-children-and-children-wit/2012/dec/31/natural-disaster-throws-children-arms-pedophiles/#ixzz2GehKazOT

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Mastung bus attack: Bodies shifted to Rawalpindi

Twelve dead bodies of the people killed in a terrorist attack on a bus of pilgrims in Mastung, Balochistan, transferred to Rawalpindi through a special flight.

The bodies of nine persons were kept at the Holly Family Hospital and three bodies shifted the district headquarters hospital, Rawalpindi.

The body of a deceased was identified, who was a resident of Khayaban-e- Sir Syed in Rawalpindi.

Other bodies will be handed over to the families of deceased after their identification through DNA test.

In an attack on a pilgrims bus in Mastung 19 persons lost their lives.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://www.arynews.tv/english/newsdetail.asp?nid=68352

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In storm-devastated areas, hope for 2013


Slowly walking over logs and boulders while carrying two water containers, 56-year old Tessie Jentapa fetches water in the same river where her husband died when Typhoon “Pablo” battered Barangay Andap here.

“We have already evacuated at around 4 a.m. of Dec. 4. But my husband asked me if I can return to our house to get dry clothes,” Jentapa narrated.

When she returned to the village chapel where they were seeking temporary shelter, her husband, Luciano, was already missing.

“The ravaging waters took him away. It happened so fast,” Jentapa said.

Jentapa narrated that the flash flood, which carried huge logs and boulders, dumped her husband kilometers away from their home.

“When I went to the town gym a day after the storm, I quickly scanned the dead bodies lying in the ground to search for Luciano. It felt like everything was in slow motion when I saw his ring. I knew it was him. He was covered in mud and one of his legs was missing,” said Jentapa.

“It is really painful for me and our children. I really cannot describe the pain I am feeling right now. This would really be a silent New Year’s celebration for us,” Jentapa said.

She said nothing special would be prepared in their house, which was also heavily damaged by Pablo, on New Year’s Eve.

“We really have no plans of preparing anything. We only have canned sardines, instant noodles and a few grams of rice left in our rations,” Jentapa said.

Despite the tragedy, Jentapa said she is praying really hard that 2013 would bring good health for her five children.

“I know that we should not yield over the trials that we are facing right now. I am worried about what will happen in 2013 considering that my husband is now dead,” she said.

“But we only need good health and we will be able to work hard in rebuilding our lives,” Jentapa said.

For 55-year old Elia Sayayad, the year 2013 offers hope for a good harvest that would allow farmers to recover.

Living in a small peasant community in Sitio Boston in Barangay Andap, Sayayad had to walk four hours just to get relief goods and medical assistance.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/332961/in-storm-devastated-areas-hope-for-2013

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26 Somali, Eritrean migrants found dead in Libya


At least 23 Somali and three Eritrean migrants died in an overturned truck accident in Libya, Kenya's Africa Review reported Saturday (December 29th).

The migrants were reportedly heading to Tripoli with the ultimate goal of reaching Europe by sea, when the truck they were being smuggled in went off road to avoid checkpoints.

Trucks carrying illegal migrants often use roads without checkpoints, which are less safe, Somali Ambassador to Libya Abdigani Mohamed Wa'ays said. The truck was carrying about 120 migrants, mostly Somalis, he said.

Fifty-eight of the surviving migrants are being held in Libyan jail, while the injured passengers are receiving treatment in hospital, Wa'ays said.

Initial reports indicate the truck was also carrying cement. Shabelle Media Network correspondent in Tripoli Mohamed Abdi Nahar said human traffickers have started smuggling migrants under a cement cover, increasing the chance of casualties in the event of an accident.

"Since the police noticed the use of grass as a cover, smugglers turned to hiding the people being smuggled under a ceiling of cement and other goods," he said.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/hoa/articles/newsbriefs/2012/12/30/newsbrief-03

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Nine people dead in bus crash near Pendleton


Nine people are dead and at least 39 people injured after a tour bus crashed down a steep, snow-covered embankment near Pendleton on Sunday morning.

Emergency responders described a precarious scene, with rescuers using high-angle techniques and an all-terrain vehicle to carefully maneuver injured passengers and bodies up Cabbage Hill along Deadman Pass.

"'Organized chaos' is how I would describe it," said Pendleton Fire Chief Gary Woodson, who was on scene just minutes after the accident.

The number of fatalities and injuries rose as emergency crews worked through the afternoon to extricate bus passengers.

Preliminary reports from Oregon State Police cited icy conditions as a contributing factor, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and send the bus skidding off the road, through a guardrail and down the nearly 100-foot embankment.

The agency was more cautious late Sunday, saying the cause of the accident was still under investigation.

The bus driver survived the accident but was unable to give information about the crash Sunday because of the severity of the injuries they sustained, according to Oregon State Police.

Local hospitals went into "disaster protocol," with St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton taking in 26 passengers, according to hospital spokesman Larry Blanc. He could not confirm the nature of the injuries, but five patients were transported to other hospitals.

Additional staff was brought in to help handle the rush of patients and the hospital has been doing a lot of X-ray imaging, Blanc said.

An Oregon Health & Science University spokeswoman said four patients from the crash had been transported there as of Sunday night.

In total, at least four hospitals treated patients from the crash: St. Anthony Hospital, OHSU, Walla-Walla General in Washington and Good Shepherd Health Care System in Hermiston.

Meanhwhile, the Umatilla County Office of Emergency Management set up a secondary shelter Sunday night for passengers who were not hospitalized. Red Cross officials were called in to assist.

Few details were known about the tour group Sunday, with most passengers hospitalized.

The bus is owned by Mi Joo Tour & Travel in Vancouver, Canada. An employee at Mi Joo Tour & Travel, Ryan Choi, said the company rents out its tour buses to travel companies.

The group was on the final day of a nine-day tour, Choi said, returning to Canada after stopping in Las Vegas.

At the scene of the crash, investigators worked through the afternoon and into the night trying to piece together precisely what happened.

The area surrounding the narrow road that traverses the pass is shrouded in deeply packed pine trees. The embankment was covered in about a foot of snow.

When emergency responders arrived on scene, the guardrail was smashed and almost a hundred feet down the snow-covered embankment, the bus "was intact, but definitely what you would expect from a fall like that," Woodson said.

Monday 31 December 2012

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/12/nine_people_reported_dead_in_b.html

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Colombia landslide kills five in Neiva with 25 missing

Rescue teams in Colombia have been searching for at least 25 people missing after a landslide cut off a road near the south-western city of Neiva.

Five people were killed in the accident, which happened on Saturday.

The Colombian authorities believe at least six cars are buried under tons of mud and rocks.

Hundreds of fire-fighters, paramedics and army troops have been sent to help the rescue operation in Huila province.

There are fears of a new landslide in the same area, along the road between the cities of Neiva and Florencia.

Operations will be suspended if the mountain slope becomes unstable, the authorities said.

Rescue workers on the Neiva-Florencia road Several vehicles are trapped under the earth and rocks

One of the five victims was a heavy machine operator who was clearing the road from a previous landslide.

"It is a very difficult situation as the landslide was very big," said National Rescue Director Cesar Uruena.

"We will need many heavy machines to clear the road," Mr Uruena told RCN radio.

Rescue operations were suspended on Saturday night due to safety concerns for the teams involved in the operation.

Red Cross teams and police with sniffer dogs are searching for bodies or survivors, disaster relief official Jesus Gomez told the AFP news agency

Monday 31 December 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20872242

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Sunday 30 December 2012

‘Quinta’ death toll rises to 20


Philippines–Eight more bodies have been recovered from flood-hit villages in Western Visayas, bringing to 20 the official death toll from Tropical Storm “Quinta,” the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Sunday.

Undersecretary Benito Ramos, NDRRMC executive director, said that except for the three members of a family in Eastern Samar who died when a tree fell on their house, all the victims had died from drowning.

“The rains brought by the storm caused four major rivers in Western Visayas to swell swamping a large portion of the region,” Ramos told the Inquirer over the phone.

The council identified the latest fatalities as Benedicto Castor, Jezel Superio, Nilo Icawalo, Romeo Idorita, Jaymar Egamino, Joel Jimenea, Edwin Farinas and Osot Sabdane.

It said three persons were injured and four others were still missing in 44 incidents triggered by the weather disturbance.

According to the NDRRMC, the 17th storm to ravage the country in the past 12 months also damaged P225 million worth of infrastructure and agricultural products.

The NDRMMC chief said floods damaged agricultural lands and residential communities located in low-lying areas.

Ramos, who flew to Iloilo on Saturday to oversee the government’s relief efforts, said some areas of Passi City, the municipalities of Calinog and Zarraga in Iloilo province, and the towns of Dumarao, Dumalag, Cuartero and Dao in Capiz province were still under two feet of water.

The NDRRMC said 4,290 families composed of 23,337 individuals were still in 60 evacuation centers in Western Visayas.

“But the floodwaters are now subsiding continuously. We expect those displaced by the floods to return to their homes in the next few days,” Ramos said.

Besides food supplies and clothing, he said the flood victims needed construction materials to rebuild their houses.

“Most of the people who lost their houses were living along the riverbanks. Their homes were washed away when the rivers overflowed,” Ramos said.

The council said the storm destroyed a total of 5,097 houses on Panay island and two nearby regions.

According to Ramos, it may take at least three months to repair the damaged infrastructure and bring the flood-hit communities in the Visayas back to normalcy.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/332259/quinta-death-toll-rises-to-20

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Bomb kills 19 Shiite Muslim pilgrims in Pakistan


At least 19 Shiite Muslim pilgrims were killed when a car bomb destroyed three buses in southwest Pakistan.

The attack comes as security forces searched for the killers of 21 kidnapped troops in the troubled northwest, officials said.

The remotely-triggered bomb hit a convoy of three buses carrying about 180 pilgrims to Iran and set one of the buses ablaze in Mastung district, they said.

"At least 19 people have been killed and 25 injured," said Tufail Baluch, a senior district government official. "All of them were Shiite pilgrims."

Most of those killed were burnt to death, he said. "The bomb was planted in a car. The condition of some of the injured is critical."

The injured included four women and some children but medics were having trouble identifying the dead bodies, many of which were burnt beyond recognition, said Akbar Harifal, a top official in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing at Mastung, some 30 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Investigators recovered broken parts of a car and were investigating the possible involvement of a suicide bomber, Mr Harifal told AFP.

The province has become an increasing flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites, who account for around a fifth of the country's 180 million people.

Baluchistan is also rife with Islamist militancy and home to a regional insurgency which began in 2004. The insurgents demand political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil and gas resources.

It was the country's second mass killing to be reported in less than a day.

In the northwest, security forces were hunting the killers of 21 security personnel whose bodies were discovered not far from two camps outside Peshawar where they had been kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban.

Around 200 militants, armed with heavy weapons including mortars and rocket launchers, stormed the government paramilitary camps before dawn on Thursday, killing two security personnel and kidnapping 23.

Officials said Sunday the 21 men had their hands tied with rope before they were shot. Two others - one wounded and one unhurt - were also found.

Peshawar is the main city in northwest Pakistan and close to the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, which are regarded as havens for Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

"We found 21 bullet-riddled bodies of security personnel... in an uninhabited area," local government official Naveed Akbar told AFP.

"One was found alive but wounded and admitted to hospital while another managed to escape unhurt."

The bodies were handed over to families for burial as security forces cordoned off areas around Peshawar and began a search.

Mr Akbar said the troops were killed after the breakdown of negotiations between a local council of tribal elders and Taliban militants.

Mohammad Afridi, a Taliban spokesman from the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, earlier claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. The Taliban have not yet commented on the killings.

In August the Pakistani Taliban released a video showing what appeared to be the severed heads of a dozen soldiers, after the military said 15 troops had gone missing following fighting with militants in the Bajaur tribal district.

There has been a surge in attacks in northwest Pakistan in the past two weeks, including a suicide bombing on a political meeting in Peshawar that killed Bashir Bilour, the second top politician in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, saying Mr Bilour, an outspoken critic of the militants, was assassinated in revenge for the death of one of the movement's "elders".

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb killed two soldiers in Pakistan's lawless tribal zone near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The improvised explosive device was planted along the route of an army convoy in a village some 25 kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town of strife-torn North Waziristan tribal district.

Pakistan has lost more than 3,000 soldiers in the fight against homegrown insurgents but has resisted US pressure to do more to eliminate havens used by those fighting the Americans in Afghanistan.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.news.com.au/world/bomb-kills-19-pakistan-pilgrims/story-fndir2ev-1226545464362

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Four Die, 20 Missing As Mudslides Hit Pokot


4 bodies have been recovered and atleast 20 people said to have gone missing following yet another case of raging floods and mudslides in pokot on Saturday.

Efforts are currently ongoing in the area to recover and retrieve all the missing persons.

Several homes are also said to have been washed away with local residents and leaders said to be currently involved in frantic efforts to find the missing persons, most of whom are said to be young boys who had just been involved in the annual traditional circumcision practice.

The ongoing rains have been wrecking havok across the country with 10 people killed in similar circumstances in Elgeyo Marakwet o Saturday and tens of families displaced in parts of South Nyanza after River Nyando broke its banks.

Residents of Kapsokom, Kabore in Kaptarakwa and Kocholwa villages have been forced to move higher up to temporary shelters that have been set up by the Kenya Redcross.

The Meteorological department says the rains will continue into the new year and urged those living in flood and mudslide prone areas to move to higher grounds.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.citizennews.co.ke/news/2012/local/item/6752-four-die-20-missing-as-mudslides-hit-pokot

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5 children, 1 adult killed in Mississippi car crash


Five young siblings and one adult died early Saturday when a sport utility vehicle went off an eastern Mississippi road and plunged into a rain-swollen creek, authorities said.

Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said the victims appear to have drowned after their Dodge Durango left a county road 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia just after midnight Saturday.

Deputy County Coroner Marshall Prince identified the five children who died as 9-year-old Dasyanna John, 8-year-old Duane John, 7-year-old Bobby John, 4-year-old Quinton John, and 18-month-old Kekaimeas John. Family friend Diane Chickaway, 37, also died. The sheriff said all were members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and lived in the Pearl River community east of Philadelphia, where the tribe operates a large casino complex.

The father of the children, Dewayne John, escaped the vehicle and remains hospitalized for hypothermia and water inhalation. The children's mother, Deanna Jim, and Chickaway's husband, Dale Chickaway, also survived. The group was traveling to Conehatta, another Choctaw community, with Dewayne John driving. Waddell said he has been tested to see if he was under the influence of alcohol, though he said official results aren't in. If officials decide to file charges, Waddell said they probably wouldn't act until Wednesday.

It appears none of the nine occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts or were in child restraints, the sheriff said.

"It's always sad to hear of the death of a tribal member, but today our tribe experienced a great tragedy with the loss of six beautiful Choctaw souls. I cannot begin to imagine what the friends, relatives and loved ones are feeling," Tribal Chief Phyliss J. Anderson said in a statement. "There are no words that can express our sincere condolences to such a horrific accident. I join many of you in the outpouring display of love and support shown to the families during this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

The crash happened on County Road 107, in a rural area near the Neshoba-Newton county line. Heavy rains have deluged the area in recent days, raising the water level of what Waddell described as a normally small creek. The SUV ran off the left side of the road into the creek near the Kitchner community.

The sheriff said it wasn't raining and there was no ice on the road. "This accident is not weather related at all," he said.

Divers from the Philadelphia fire department had to be called to find the submerged vehicle. Prince said the vehicle was pulled from the water after 3 a.m. In addition to the 30 emergency workers, about 20 Choctaw tribal members gathered at the site, he said.

"It looked like he has just run off the road and went into the water," Prince said. "It was deep and swift. The vehicle was completely submerged."

Waddell said the bodies have been sent to Jackson for autopsies. The Mississippi Highway Patrol will reconstruct the accident starting Sunday to learn more.

Tribal spokeswoman Misty Dreifuss said funeral arrangements would likely be made Sunday. She said the children are expected to be buried together. Dreifuss said word of the deaths spread quickly through the 10,000-member tribe and that members "definitely have been hit pretty hard."

Waddell said that he can't recall a deadlier accident in the county in his 26 years of law enforcement.

Sunday 30 December 2012

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/5-children-1-adult-killed-mississippi-car-crash-article-1.1229762#ixzz2GYfQ2nJ1

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Chile Lowers Death Toll in Andes Car Crash


The governor of the Chilean province of Los Andes, Edith Quiroz, has lowered the number of fatalities to four in the collision of a bus and a truck on the route connecting Chile and Argentina through the Los Libertadores mountain pass in the Andes.

At noon Friday reporters were told that five had died and 25 were injured, two of them “very seriously,” but later Quiroz said that one person who was presumed dead and taken to a medical center “was finally stabilized.”

The four fatalities were the bus and truck drivers, and two workers of the Chilean construction and engineering company SalfaCorp, both of whom were on the bus.

The accident took place at 7:30 a.m. at kilometer 20 (mile 12) of the highway linking Los Andes, Chile, with the Argentine city of Mendoza.

According to police, the truck with an Argentine license plate and loaded with wheat apparently had a brake failure and crashed head-on into the bus full of SalfaCorp workers.

The highway, which at this time of year has more traffic than usual as a result of the Christmas and Southern Hemisphere summer vacation seasons, is the main border gateway between Chile and Argentina.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/chile-lowers-death-toll-in-andes-car-crash/20785/

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9 killed in Narsingdi crash


The death toll in the road crash that occurred on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway in Shibpur upazila in Narsingdi on Sunday rose to 12 as three more people died of fatal injuries at the hospital.

The accident happened around 12:30pm when the microbus collided head-on with an oncoming bus at Chaitanya of the upazila, leaving eight people, including the micro-bus driver, dead on the spot.

"The microbus was on its way to the Shahjalal International Airport when a Dhaka-bound bus of the Haor Bilash Paribahan collided with it head-on at around 12:30pm," Sergent of the Highway Police in the Narsingdi zone Nazrul Islam said.

Another died on his way to hospital.

The deceased were identified as Faruk Hossain, 30, and his son 'Arif', 8, of Jamalpur district, 'Safiullah', 65, of Anandapur in Feni district, 'Rafique', 40, and his daughter 'Brishti', 8, of Sahebganj in Chandpur district, Moyez Uddin, 42, and his son 'Anik', 8, Ibrahim Mia, 70, Nannu Mia, 45, Masudur Rahman, 45, 'Solaiman', 50, of Kishoreganj Sadar upazila. The identity of another dead could not be ascertained.

All the victims were the passengers of the microbus.

Sergeant of the Narsingdi Highway Police Outpost Nazrul Islam told reporters that the

Eighteen people were injured in the accident and they were admitted to the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital.

Doctors said the condition of one injured was critical.

Officer-in-charge of Shibpur Police Station KM Firoz said the bodies were sent to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsies.

Labour and Employment Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu, Narsingdi district Deputy Commissioner (DC) Obaidul Azam and Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohiuddin went to the hospital to see the injured and inquired about their treatment.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=239109&cid=2

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10 killed in Marakwet landslides, Kenya


At least 10 people among them three children have been killed after landslides hit Elgeyo Marakwet County following heavy rains.

The landslides occurred in Kocholwo, Simit, Kapsokom, Kaptarkom and Toroplongon areas of the county that have been prone to the earth movements.

The areas lie along the Keiyo escarpment and numerous efforts have been made to move families living in the area to safer places in vain.

According to preliminary reports by the Kenya Red Cross, one of the landslides engulfed a house with three children sleeping in it. They were all killed.

Screams rent the air from 1 p. Friday night when the landslides struck as villagers sought to save their lives and those of their family members.

By 8am Saturday, at least seven other bodies had been recovered in addition to the three children while several villagers were still missing and feared to be buried in the mud.

Red Cross and Government personnel with assistance from villagers made frantic efforts to look for survivors, some of who were rushed to nearby medical centres for treatment.

Rescue efforts are still on despite ongoing rain in the affected areas.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000073887&story_title=Kenya-10-killed-in-Marakwet-landslides

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7 injured, 20 missing in Colombia landslide


At least seven people were injured and some 20 others went missing in a landslide reoccurred Saturday in southern Colombia, relief agencies said.

The incident occurred when a bulldozer was removing earth that blocked a driveway below the Andes Mountains in the aftermath of a previous landslide, and about 20 cars were waiting in a queue to pass at the time, said the Risk Management Department.

The injured have all been sent to the University Hospital of Neiva.

Due to the unstable terrain, light and weather conditions, rescuers have decided to wait until Sunday to resume the search for the 20 missing persons.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2012-12/30/content_27550681.htm

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Bodies of Moscow Air Crash Victims Identified


December 30 (RIA Novosti) – The bodies of all the victims in an air crash at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport have been identified, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Sunday.

A Russian Tupolev Tu-204 medium-haul airliner overshot the runway while landing at Russia’s third busiest airport and caught fire on Saturday evening, killing four. A fifth person died in hospital on Sunday. Three other people remain in grave conditions.

Russia has set up an inter-governmental commission comprising the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Transport Oversight Service to investigate the causes of the air disaster. Pilot error is currently being viewed as the probable cause.

“The bodies of all the victims have now been identified. As soon as the state of the crewmembers injured in the air crash stabilizes, they will be questioned. An additional inspection of the crash site is being conducted,” the Investigative Committee said.

The crew commander, the second pilot, a flight engineer and two stewardesses were killed in the crash, the Red Wings airline that owned the plane said.

“A video material made by an air crash eye-witness will be attached to the investigation materials,” the Investigative Committee said.

The flight recorders from the Tu-204 wreckage have been found and delivered to the Inter-State Aviation Committee for study.

There were eight people on board the plane, all of whom were crewmembers, flying from the Czech Republic.

Red Wings is a Moscow-based airline that operates 8-10 Tu-204 planes, each with capacity to carry up to 210 passengers.

The Moscow city transport prosecutor's office has launched a criminal probe into the airline's compliance with Russian aviation safety regulations.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20121230/178498199.html

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Saturday 29 December 2012

Kenya: Baragoi Officer Buried in Teso


A victim of the Baragoi bandits attack was buried on Wednesday at Osuret village in Teso South after nearly two months.

A DNA test released a few days before Christmas enabled the identification of AP constable Emmanuel Emaide Orachi's body.

Chief Inspector Onyango Opiyo represented Acting AP Commandant Samuel Arachi at the burial that saw Emaide honoured with a 21-gun salute.

Based at Rumuruti, Emaide, 26, was among officers deployed in Baragoi who were killed while pursuing cattle rustlers at Suguta valley.

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://allafrica.com/stories/201212281042.html

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Remains of Operation Condor''s Uruguayan Victim Delivered


The remains of Uruguayan fighter Alberto Mechoso, a victim of military dictatorships' Operation Condor, were delivered to his family today in the presence of President Jose Mujica.

The urn with the remains of Mechoso, arrested in 1976 in Buenos Aires by Argentine and Uruguayan repressive forces, was handed over to his family, who held a vigil and buried him in the capital cemetery of El Cerro.

Coordinator of the Presidency's Human Rights Department, Graciela Jorge, described the moving and contradictory moment, which mixed sorrow and joy. Mechoso, she said, returned home and had a proper burial.

Mechoso, who was a member of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation and the People's Revolutionary Organization 33 Orientales, was last seen as a prisoner in the clandestine detention center known as Automotores Orletti.

Mechoso's identification was made by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team from genetic samples sent in May to Buenos Aires by the Human Rights Department of the Uruguayan Preside

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=848941&Itemid=1

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Azazi’s kinsmen threaten to boycott burial


Some members of the Peretorugbene community in Bayelsa State, the hometown of the late former National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, have warned against burying him in Yenagoa, capital of the state.

Azazi died in a helicopter crash on Dec. 15 alongside Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State and four others, on his way from the funeral of the father of an aide to President Goodluck Jonathan, Oronto Douglas.

The Bayelsa State Government had pledged to give him a befitting state burial in Yenagoa after a compromise was reportedly reached between the Nigerian Army and family of the late NSA.

But Azazi’s kinsmen, led by Chief A. Ebikake and Tubereoke Azazi, demanded that he should be buried in Peretorugbene in line with the tradition of the people, adding that the entire community would boycott the burial ceremony if the state government went ahead with its plan..

Ebikake said the late general’s kinsmen were trying to avoid a repeat of the misfortune that befell their community when the grandfather of the deceased was wrongfully buried in a neighbouring community without due consultation with the extended family some years ago.

He said Azazi personally supervised the exhuming of his grandfather’s remains for proper burial when it was apparent that the wrongful burial was responsible for the disaster that befell the community.

Ebikake said, “We are afraid of what will happen if our illustrious son is buried in Yenagoa. We were witnesses to the calamity that befell our community after Pa Azazi, Owoeye’s grandfather, was buried in Egbeme-Angalabiri. Even the late general himself participated in the cleansing of the land by personally exhuming the body when he was a major in the Nigerian Army.

“He (Azazi) respected the tradition of his people. So we cannot fold our hands and watch few individuals ruin our land.

“The Ijaw nation has traditions and culture, which we hold in very high esteem. In Ijaw tradition, the larger family, the community and the bereaved have the right to determine the final resting place of the dead.

“But these people violated our tradition and went ahead to tell the world that our illustrious son would be buried in Yenagoa without consulting us. We won’t be a part of such arrangement.”

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://www.punchng.com/news/azazis-kinsmen-threaten-to-boycott-burial/

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100 bodies in Durango mass grave identified since January


Less than 30 percent of victims found in Durango's mass graves have been identified, according to Mexican news accounts.

A news report posted on the website of El Siglo de Durango news daily, Durango state Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or attorney general, Sonia Yadira de la Garza Fragoso, released information that since the final report on the mass graves in Durango state in March, 2012, 100 bodies have been identified by family members, and then returned to them.

Starting in mid 2011, 331 total dead were found in a series of mass graves discovered in Durango state, primarily in Durango city, the capital. Other sites found were as far away as Gomez Palacio in the extreme western part of the state around the La Laguna area and in Santiago Papasquiaro municipality in the north.

Late July another nine dead were found in Cristobal Colon sector of Durango city, bringing the total to 340 dead.

Many of the victims had been killed as far back as 2007, and 77 percent of those had been strangled or asphyxiated, mainly by being buried alive.

de la Garza Fragoso said relatives such as grandparents and cousins were providing DNA samples to help with identification, a much less accurate means of determining the identity of the victims. Some remains, however, are so decomposed that DNA samples are impossible to obtain, so, according to de la Garza Fragoso, other means are being used.

The mass graves in Durango are cumulatively the worst mass grave find in the Mexican Drug War to date. That said, those murders occurred over a six year period. The mass murders and graves in San Fernando municipality in Tamaulipas state are by far the worst mass grave in the Mexican Drug War to date, standing at 193 dead. Those deaths took place between August 2010 and May 2011.

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/12/less-than-100-bodies-in-durango-mass.html

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6 killed, 50 injured in Pakistan blast


At least six persons were killed and nearly 50 others injured when a powerful explosion ripped through a bus a short distance from the Pakistan Army chief’s official residence in the southern port city of Karachi on Saturday.

The bus had just left a terminal near the Cantonment Railway Station when the bomb went off, witnesses and police officials said.

The incident occurred at a spot located less than a kilometre from Army House, the army chief’s official residence when he visits Karachi.

TV news channels reported army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was in Karachi and had stayed at Army House on Friday night.

Officials at Jinnah Hospital said they had received six bodies, including one which was in pieces, and 48 injured people. Eight of the wounded were in a serious condition.

Women and children were among the injured, they said.

Witnesses said they had seen body parts lying at the site.

One man told reporters a young boy was torn in two by the explosion.

Several police officials claimed soon after the incident that the blast was caused by the CNG cylinders of the bus.

However, the cleaner of the bus told the media that the vehicle ran on diesel and had no CNG cylinders.

Police officials later acknowledged the incident was an act of terrorism and that a bomb had been planted in the bus.

The explosion hit several nearby shops, buildings, motorcycles and cars. A fire erupted in the bus, which was reduced to a heap of mangled and blackened metal.

Footage on television showed the bus on fire as a thick column of smoke rose into the sky.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast.

Security forces cordoned off area soon after the explosion.

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/6-killed-50-injured-in-pak-blast/article4253232.ece

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An-72 crash investigation well under way


Forensic experts have identified nine persons killed in the Antonov An-72 airplane crash occurred near the South Kazakhstan city of Shymkent.

A spokesman of the Kazakh Prosecutor's General Office made a corresponding statement at a media briefing on Friday. According to Nurdaulet Suindikov, relatives of the late officers identified Colonels Aitmanbetov, Dosybekov, Shukanov, and Vyacheslav Rakhman, Majors Ibrayev and Golubev, Staff Sergeant Konakbai, Sergeants Dolanbayeva and Vyazikov. Also, the official spokesman confirmed that the identification was under way.

The remains of bodies with significant injuries are scheduled to undergo a genomic examination in Astana.

Specialists promise to announce results in the near future.

As for the investigation into the plane crash disaster, Nurdaulet Suindikov reported that seven UkrSpetsExport specialists and experts from the Ukrainian aircraft repair plant already arrived in Kazakhstan from Ukraine to take part in the investigation of the causes of the Antonov An-72 crash.

In November this year, the aircraft underwent repairs in Ukraine, where it was actually produced at the Antonov Experimental Design Bureau.

So far, investigators have found out that on December 25, a 50 kilometre radius above the airport of Shymkent had severe icing at height from 300 meters up to 7,600 meters.

Thus, it is confirmed that the crashed AN-72 plane was descending to land in bad weather, said Nurdaulet Suindikov.

The investigation is continuing and experts are looking into every possible version of the incident, he added.

An interdepartmental commission is now operating at the scene to investigate aviation incidents.

A Shymkent garrison military prosecutor opened a criminal case under article "violation of flight regulations and training". Saturday 29 December 2012

http://caspionet.kz/eng/general/An72_crash_investigation_well_under_way_1356763899.html

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Four dead as passenger jet crashes into highway after landing at Moscow Vnukovo Airport


A passenger jet crashed after making a hard landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. At least four people were killed and four critically injured, says the Interior Ministry. Officials believe the cause could be pilot error.

Two people were reportedly found dead at the scene, while a 27-year-old woman died on the way to hospital. Whether the fourth person died at the scene or in the ambulance remains unclear. Those killed are the captain, the co-pilot, the flight engineer and a flight attendant, the Emergencies Ministry declared.

Four people taken to Moscow hospitals – two flight attendants, a technical staff and unidentified staff – remain in a critical condition. They have sustained traumatic brain injuries, say medical officials.

The plane was flying in from Pardubice, the Czech Republic, and was carrying eight people. Vnukovo Airport says that everyone onboard were the crew. Pardubice Airport confirms that:

“There was only the crew aboard. No Czech nationals were among them. Before taking off the operating company checked all the plane’s systems and said they were functioning normally,” Pardubice's press-service told Gazeta.ru. The service added the plane had taken tourists to Pardubice and was going back without any passengers.

Two more people might have been onboard the crashed plane; they have not been found yet, reports Interfax citing sources.

A criminal case over possible flight safety violations has been opened in connection with the Vnukovo plane crash, the official spokesman of Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said. The preliminary cause of the TU-204 accident is pilots’ error, Markin added.

The incident took place at around 16:35 local time (12:35 GMT). Preliminary reports say the jet, which belongs to Russian low-cost airline Red Wings, crashed after taking a second landing attempt. It rolled out from the runway into Kievskoye Highway, fell into three pieces and caught fire. The fire area of 100 square meters was extinguished by firefighters, officials said.

Media allege that Vnukovo firefighting cars were on repair so the first emergency crews appeared on the scene no earlier than 50 minutes after the blaze broke out.

The circumstances of the incident are being clarified. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to set up a special investigation group to look into the accident.

Earlier, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry confirmed that the plane had to make a forced landing.

Witnesses say smoke from the crashed plane was seen from far away.

“There was a front part of the plane lying on half of the highway, the right wing attached to it was on fire,” one driver told Interfax.

Another driver said the plane appeared to be almost empty.

“The body of the plane was off the road. It grasped my attention that the plane body was not much damaged and inside, where the passengers should sit, there was nobody, the seats were empty.”

Part of the crashed Tupolev-204 blocked the highway; a huge traffic jam developed at the scene. At least 18 Vnukovo-bound flights were diverted to Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. Vnukovo resumed work three hours after the incident.

Red Wings is a Russian airline that specializes in charter flights to Russia and Europe. In 2012 the company began to operate regular flights throughout Russia. The company is the largest buyer of Russian-made Tu-204 airplanes.

Red Wings is owned by the Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev. In November 2012, a company leasing planes to Red Wings filed eight lawsuits demanding some $65 million in debts. However, it was reported that lawsuits were just a formal procedure and the dispute between the two companies would be resolved out of court.

The medium-range Tupolev TU-204 airliner was introduced in the late 1980s to replace the ageing TU-154 jet. TU-204, is referred to as the Russian equivalent of the Boeing 757, and until now has not been involved in any fatal accidents. In 2010 a TU-204 plane with 8 crew members crash-landed near Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, injuring 4 of the crew.

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://rt.com/news/plane-vnukovo-airport-moscow-073/

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Families of plane crash victims received 1 million tenge each, ask for burial rituals


Akim (Governor) of South-Kazakhstan oblast Askar Myrzakhmetov has transferred 1 million tenge ($6,700) to the families of each officer who died in the plane crash near Shymkent, Tengrinews.kz reports.

The Akim met with the families of the crash victims. He expressed condolences and said that this money did not come from the budget. These were the funds collected by the oblast's residents, including entrepreneurs, opinion leaders and ordinary citizens. “People just came to the administration quarters and said that they were ready to help with whatever they could,” the Akim said.

The families of the crash victims asked the Akim not to put the remains of the bodies of the victims into zinc coffins straight away, but to allow them to perform burial rituals. Myrzakhmetov promised to grant the wishes and invite a priest and a mullah.

The AN-72 military plane of the Border Control Service of Kazakhstan National Security Commission crashed at 06:55 p.m. on December 25, 20km from Shymkent airport. The plane had 7 crew members and 20 militarymen onboard, including the acting head of the Border Control Service of Kazakhstan National Security Commission Turganbek Stambekov and his wife.

Saturday 29 December 2012

For more information see: http://en.tengrinews.kz/emergencies/Families-of-plane-crash-victims-received-1-million-tenge-each-15609/

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Update: Scores feared dead after boat sinks off Bissau


Twenty-two people died and more than 75 were missing after an overloaded boat sank off the coast of Guinea-Bissau on Friday, hospital and port officials said.

The narrow wooden boat was ferrying 97 passengers and their luggage to the West African nation's capital Bissau from the island of Bolama when it began taking on water and sank around 11 a.m. (1100 GMT), Bissau Port Director Mario Domingos Gomes said.

Hospital sources said 22 bodies had arrived at the morgue in Bissau. Domingos Gomes said rescuers were searching for survivors from the pirogue, a hand-built vessel most often used for fishing across West Africa.

Tiny Guinea-Bissau is among the world's least developed nations and has been plagued by political turmoil since independence from Portugal in 1974.

As in much of the region, travel by land and sea is difficult and dangerous due to poor infrastructure and weak regulatory oversight.

Saturday 29 December 2012

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/Scores_feared_dead_after_boat_sinks_off_Bissau.html?cid=34615688

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Friday 28 December 2012

11 dead as boat capsizes in Ivory Coast lake


Eleven people perished and one was missing after a boat capsized in a lake in central Ivory Coast, the captain said on Friday.

The accident occurred on Wednesday in Lake Kossou, near the village of Dangakora, about 400 kilometres north of the west African country's main city Abidjan, the boat's captain told AFP.

The boat was carrying a total of 24 passengers, he said, adding: “Eleven bodies were plucked out of the water and buried in the village, and one passenger is missing.”

The other 12 survived.

The boat was just 300 metres from shore when it “struck a piece of wood, which pierced the boat and it capsized,” the captain said.

Witnesses and local authorities confirmed his account.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/11-dead-as-boat-capsizes-in-i-coast-lake-1.1445915#.UN39etf3TUI

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Families still in pain over killings of kin


Mary Muthoni is still in deep anguish over the fate of her 28-year-old son who went missing in the operation to recover stolen cattle in Suguta valley.

Tired of waiting for answers from the police force since the November incident, Muthoni has travelled from Kerugoya to Baragoi, Samburu district.

When The Standard On Saturday investigation team visited the market town, Muthoni was readying herself to search for her son Anthony Maina in the dreaded Suguta Valley, where even police fear to tread.

It has been six weeks of heartbreak for the single mother as her family of two daughters, a daughter-in-law and a two-year-old granddaughter search for her only son. Worse could come as she scours the hyena and bandit-prone Suguta Valley, which forms part of the hilly terrain in Samburu County. This is an area where the police have reported the highest fatalities, where some officers posted at the nearby Baragoi police station vow never to go.

It is also the place that Maina is thought to have been last seen alive, as one among the contingent of over 100 policemen and reservists that came under ambush from heavily armed raiders. About 50 policemen and reservists were killed in the attack that also left many others injured and maimed.

After several fruitless visits to the Chiromo Mortuary and Police headquarters, Muthoni is taking the search for his missing son to Namelok, the exact location within the dreaded Suguta Valley where the attack occurred.

“All I want is to find any of his remains, I would be glad to get a single bone of his body,” said Ms Muthoni when we met her at the Baragoi police station where she expected to be directed to the place that has been christened as the Valley of Death. She has no guarantee of ever finding her son or his remains, but would rather search the dangerous grounds herself, even though she is alive to the level of insecurity there and the possibility of losing her own life.

Ms Muthoni had been at the Baragoi police station for the second day when we met her pleading for directions and just possibly, a police vehicle to take her and her family on the recovery effort.

Meanwhile her family was all tears when it became clear to them that the police would not facilitate their transport and security in the search for Mr Maina who is a father, a son, a husband and a brother.

She expects to find closure on her missing son would help her and her family heal and move on, rather than wait for his return even when her gut feeling is that he is still alive somewhere, perhaps kidnapped by Turkana militia.

The police were, however, either not willing or too afraid themselves to go to the area where dozens of their colleagues had been killed weeks before.

The few we talked to admitted to still being traumatized after seeing the mutilated bodies of their fallen peers in the recovery operation two days after the November ambush.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000073874&story_title=Kenya-Families-still-in-pain-over-killings-of-kin

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22 die, 69 missing as Atlantic boat sinks


AT least 22 people died and 69 are missing after their overloaded boat sank off the capital of Guinea-Bissau, rescue workers said.

A total of 97 people were aboard the boat en route from the Atlantic Ocean island of Boloma to Bissau.

"Twenty-two bodies were recovered and six survivors were rescued," a rescue worker said, adding that a search was under way for the remaining missing.

The accident was blamed on the overloading combined with high ocean swells off the west African country.

Boloma is among about 100 tiny islands, most of them uninhabited, in an archipelago off the capital of the former Portuguese colony.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/die-69-missing-as-atlantic-boat-sinks/story-fn3dxix6-1226544884432

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7 killed in Kollam van-bus collision


In a head-on collision between a van and a fast passenger bus of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation at Nilamel on Friday morning, seven persons were killed. Seventeen of those critically injured have been admitted to the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram and another four to the Gokulam Medical College Hospital, Venjarumoodu.

All those killed were travelling in the van and are natives of Bharathannur in Thiruvananthapuram. They were returning after a pilgrimage to Mookambika and were on the way to a relative’s house at Kadakkal. Police said the accident occurred at about 6.40 am.

Those killed were identified as Swanesha (40), Vijayamma (55), Rukmini (48), Usha (45), Ajit (35), Unnikuttan (7), and the van driver Shaji (35). Four bodies have been kept at a hospital in Kadakkal, two at the Thiruvananthapuram MCH and one body at the Gokulam MCH.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will visit Nilamel and Kaddakkal on Friday to assess the situation. The van suffered heavy damage in the accident and Fire and Rescue Force personnel along with the police and locals had a tough time rescuing those trapped in side.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/7-killed-in-kollam-vanbus-collision/article4248327.ece

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Fire erupts in hutment: 6 die


Fire erupted in the huts resulting six children dead in the Goath Umar Manjothi area of the city on Thursday.

Sources said that late night fire stretched in the hutment. At least six children succumbed to burn injuries, said sources.

Rescue teams recovered three dead bodies. All victims were between ages of four to eight year, sources added.

Sources further said that there was risk of more deaths. Fire brigade trying to control over fire but rescue efforts were hurdled by darkness.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.thenewstribe.com/2012/12/28/fire-erupts-in-hutment-6-die/

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Cyborg Cockroaches May Be Future Emergency Responders


Researchers say they've figured out a way to create cyborg, remote-controlled cockroaches, hoping one day the resilient creatures could be steered into disaster zones to gather information and look for survivors.

Video footage from the experiments at North Carolina State University shows the part-robot roaches being directed along a curving path via remote control. The researchers say they attached a lightweight chip with a wireless receiver and transmitter onto Madagascar hissing cockroaches and wired a microcontroller to the insects' antennae and cerci — the sensory organs on the bug's abdomen that cause it to run away from danger.

With electrical signals, the researchers stimulated the cerci to trick the roaches into thinking they needed to scamper away from a predator. Once moving, charges sent to the antennae controlled the insects' direction. A signal sent to one antenna could make a roach think its feeler was touching a wall, sending it in the opposite direction, a statement from NC State explained.

Researchers were able to precisely steer the roaches along a curved line.

"Building small-scale robots that can perform in such uncertain, dynamic conditions is enormously difficult. We decided to use biobotic cockroaches in place of robots, as designing robots at that scale is very challenging, and cockroaches are experts at performing in such a hostile environment," NC State researcher Alper Bozkurt said in the statement.

"Ultimately, we think this will allow us to create a mobile web of smart sensors that uses cockroaches to collect and transmit information, such as finding survivors in a building that's been destroyed by an earthquake," Bozkurt added.

The researchers reported the results of their experiments late last month at the annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society in San Diego, Calif.

Other researchers have floated the possibility of technologically enhanced roaches. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University demonstrated how the insects could be outfitted with an implantable biofuel cell powered by a sugar the bugs make from their food. Electricity from such a cell then could be used to power sensors on the insect or to manipulate it by remote control.

Video footage can be found here

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.livescience.com/23016-remote-controlled-cyborg-roaches.html

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In New Bataan, they buried the dead, finally, but temporarily


They finally buried the dead three weeks after super typhoon Pablo hit this town on December 4, but only temporarily.

At the public cemetery in Purok 4, Barangay Cabinuangan on Thursday afternoon, the caskets had been placed in individual niches and the body bags in compartments, but the tombs had not been sealed.

Cemetery caretaker Faustino Tawaay said workers were not able to seal the tombs because they ran out of hollow blocks.

A total of 324 bodies were reported buried here between December 21 and 26.

But even if the hollow blocks were delivered and the workers sealed the tombs by Friday, these will remain temporary until the National Bureau of Investigation’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams return on January 4 to exhume the remains and take their DNA samplings.

Assistant Health Secretary Romulo Busuego told MindaNews he could not understand why the NBI took a break from getting DNA samples from the victims’ remains. Busuego came here Wednesday afternoon with regional health director Abdullah Dumama and provincial health officer Renato Basanez to ensure that the bodies, already in an advanced state of decomposition, were buried.

Fr. Edgar Tuling, parish priest of the San Antonio de Padua church, also wondered by the NBI left. He said he thought the NBI teams would return immediately after Christmas.

Municipal sanitary inspector Bernardita Pebujot said the NBI is coming back on January 4.

In last year’s Typhoon Sendong disaster, the NBI’s DVI teams worked continuously to get DNA samplings from an even bigger number — some 1,200 victims in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan – before the bodies were buried.



384 buried; 426 bodies “found”

Pebujot told MindaNews a total of 324 bodies of unidentified victims were buried in the public cemetery between December 21 and 26: 55 on December 21; 46 on the 22nd and 223 on the 26th. Sixty others were earlier claimed and buried by their relatives, placing the total number of buried victims at 384 as of December 26.

Of the 324 bodies, the NBI’s DVI managed to process only 55, Pebujot said. The remaining 269 victims await exhumation for DNA sampling before their tombs are finally sealed.

The white board at the Incident Command Center here listed 426 as the “number of casualties (dead) found” as of 1:26 p.m. of December 27, up by five more from 421 on December 23, as the clean-up operations in the town continue to unearth more bodies.

Marlon Esperanza, municipal information officer, acknowledges that the figures don’t tally.

If a total of 426 bodies were found, as the Command Center’s listing shows, and a total of 384 had been buried, where are the remaining 42 bodies?

Esperanza told MindaNews on Thursday afternoon that they are still validating the list. But he noted that some relatives apparently claimed to have identified their loved ones from among the remains even if they did not, so that death certificates could be issued. Death certificates are required to avail of government’s financial assistance or claim insurance benefits.

Isolated cemetery

Pebujot said they buried the 55 victims already processed by the NBI on December 21, tried to bury the 46 on December 22 but fled the cemetery without sealing the tombs because “dako na ang sapa” (the waters in the new river were fast rising).

Since the super typhoon, the cemetery has been isolated, the road leading to it destroyed by the flashfloods or debris flow of rocks and boulders that carved a hundred meter-wide river course that cut across the road and swept away houses, banana plants and cornfields and portions of the cemetery.

Busuego’s team was not able to cross to the cemetery but from across the river at around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Dumama was informed by phone by the provincial sanitary inspector from the side of the cemetery that 119 bodies had been buried that day – 103 adults and 16 children – and that weather-permitting, they would be able to bury about a hundred more.

In the evening, Pebujot said a total of 223 bodies were buried and that there were no remaining bodies lying on the cemetery grounds anymore.

She said government workers constructed 108 individual niches and 12 compartments at 30 each that could accommodate a total of 468.

Esperanza explained they tried to bury the dead the following week but the intended graves that took two days to dig for the supposed mass burial on December 12, were not approved by the NBI.

He said the NBI told them to construct individual niches and compartments.

Esperanza said the bodies were initially laid down on the tennis court fronting the command center, the same site where now lie a hundred donated white caskets that arrived on December 22.

Pebujot said they could not use the caskets anymore because the waterlogged bodies wouldn’t fit and the decomposed remains were better off inside body bags.

As more bodies turned up, Esperanza said the NBI asked for a holding area, which was later identified to be the DA nursery. But Esperanza said the NBI asked for another holding area, so they moved the dead to the cemetery, to await DNA sampling and burial.

He said the NBI asked the town to provide them gloves, face masks and disinfectants but later informed them they would return “January 4 or 15.”

Looking for the missing

Esperanza said entire families were killed but they have yet to determine exactly how many. In Barangay Andap, barangay officials particularly at the purok level, had been asked to list down the missing in their areas. The Command Center lists 419 missing as of December 26.

Pebujot recalled that as soon as bodies were retrieved, they would immediately announce so that relatives of the missing could come to identify their loved ones. But as the days passed, fewer people would come to open the body bags.

She said she understands the situation not only because the stench of decayed flesh is unbearable but also because relatives complain they can’t identify their kin, anyway, from among the decomposing remains. Also, she added, time spent trying to identify a missing loved one from among the body bags, would be time spent away from ensuring the remaining members of the family can eat three meals a day.

Identifying the victims include checking on the thumbmarks, dental records and DNA sampling but getting the thumbmarks is no longer possible given the state of decomposition and only a few have dental records so the only option left is through DNA matching.

Emily Mulit, who lost 15 relatives in the hardest hit village of Andap, among them her mother-in-law, said her husband had tried to identify their loved ones from among the decomposing remains in body bags, but failed.

Mulit said those who had death certificates already received assistance from the government. She said their relatives remain listed under “missing” even if they were seen to have been swept away by the floods.

Esperanza said survivors whose loved ones have remained missing have repeatedly asked them when the NBI would take their DNA samplings.

He said the NBI has yet to finish taking samplings from the victims before samplings are taken from the surviving relatives

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2012/12/28/in-new-bataan-they-buried-the-dead-finally-but-temporarily/

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Chasnala mine disaster victims remembered


Rich tributes were paid to 375 miners who met their watery grave at Chasnala colliery on this day way back in 1975.

The deafening sound of siren broke the eerie calm at around 1.35pm and hundreds of heads bowed to pay homage to the departed souls. The pain of being separated from their near and dear ones was writ large on the faces of women who lost their husbands and children who lost their parents in the worst-ever mine accident of the country.

Family members of the miners who died in the accident paid homage by offering puja at the Shaheed Smarak built in their memory. General manager J K Bhowmik led the team of colliery officials in laying the wreaths.

CITU leader S K Bakshi along with trade union leaders, mining staff and workers followed suit.

At 1.35pm on December 27, 1975, there was a blast in the joint horizon of pits 1 and 2 in the deep mines of Chasnala colliery that damaged the barrier separating the mine from the water body lying just above the pit. Nearly 5 crore gallons of water gushed in the mine and all the 375 mine personnel, both officials and workers, met their watery grave inside the mine.

Pumps were brought in from Poland, Russia and US to drain out water from the inundated mine but to no avail. Ministers from the Centre and state kept camping at Chasnala to expedite rescue operation. But the first dead body could come out only on the 26th day of the accident with the help of Russian pumps. Many bodies were rendered beyond recognition and many of them were identified with the cap-lamp allotted to them for entering the mine.

A case of criminal negligence was lodged against the colliery officials but most of them got acquitted for want of proper evidence and many of them died during trial.

GM Bhowmik said, "The company was taking all measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents and ensure safety of the miners. We are monitoring the gas level and temperature in the mine round the clock with the help of sensors and all the miners are provided with safety gears before entering the mine."

JVM MLA and AITUC leader Dhullu Mahto who arrived late demanded the colliery management to clear the pending cases of appointment to the kin of those who lost their lives in the accident within a month and threatened of a chakka-Jam if the management failed in complying with the demand. He also demanded the colliery management not to lodge cases against villagers lifting coal for their personal use. Instead, cases should be lodged against racketeers lifting coal through trucks and wagons, he added.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Chasnala-mine-disaster-victims-remembered/articleshow/17792691.cms

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Nine killed, 11 injured in Osun in auto crash


Nine persons were killed and eleven sustained severe injuries on Thursday in an auto crash which occurred along Gbongan-Ife Express Road, Osun State, South west Nigeria.

It was gathered that the accident, which took place around 1.30pm, at kilometer 2, opposite Gbongan Community High School involved a white coloured Toyota Hiace commuter bus marked XA 477 MAP and a Man Diesel Truck, with registration number XA 585 ALK.

Eye witness account revealed that the accident was allegedly caused by over speeding of the two vehicles involved as the impact of the crash created panic around the area.

Frantic efforts made by sympathizers to rescue the victims failed to yield positive results as some of the victims died on the spot, while others had their head severed from the mangled bodies.

When contacted the sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Osun State command, Imoh Etuk confirmed the development, saying that “Preliminary investigations showed that the accident was caused by over speeding”.

According to him, “People involved in the accident are 20. They are 12 females, five males, one male child and 2 female children. The number of people who died is nine, which include six female adults, two male adults and a child”.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2012/12/nine-killed-11-injured-in-osun-in-auto-crash/

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At least 13 people killed in Nepal bus accident


A bus has veered off a mountain road and plunged into a river in western Nepal, killing at least 13 people and leaving 19 others critically injured.

Police official Binod Ghimire said the bus veered off a road near Dhasrathpur village and rolled 50 metres before plunging into the Gam river Friday morning.

The area is about 400 kilometres northwest of the capital, Katmandu.

Police and army personnel were helping rescue efforts, but details were sketchy.

Traffic accidents are common in Nepal, and are generally blamed on poorly maintained roads and vehicles.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed no foreigners were among the casualties.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://dawn.com/2012/12/28/at-least-13-people-killed-in-nepal-bus-accident/

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Truck crash kills five in central Cuba


Five people, including three children, have been killed and seven others injured when a truck overturned in the central province of Villa Clara, local media reported on Friday.

The truck of the state-run sugar group Azcuba overturned on a highway in the municipality of Quemado de Guines on Thursday, official daily Granma said, adding that the seven injured, including two children, have been taken to the main health centers in the province.

An investigation into the cause of the accident was underway, the report said.

Traffic accidents are the fifth leading cause of death on the island and the first among people aged between 15 and 49, official data showed.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.nzweek.com/world/truck-crash-kills-five-in-central-cuba-39981/

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10 dead, 10 injured in S China road accident


Ten people, including five children, were killed and 10 others injured after a minibus fell into a mountain valley Friday morning in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

A nine-seat minibus carrying 20 people plunged into the valley around 6 a.m. while en route from the regional capital of Nanning to Dahua, a Yao ethnic county, said a spokesman with the county government.

Eight passengers died at the scene, while one died on the way to hospital and another after arriving at the hospital.

The 10 injured are receiving treatment, including a three-month-old infant who is in critical condition, the spokesman said.

The infant's mother, 24-year-old Wei Yuefang, said she and her family were in the minibus heading for the home village of Bahaotun in Qibainong township to attend a wedding.

She said she was carrying her sleeping daughter when the accident happened, adding that they were thrown out of the vehicle while it was falling into the valley.

"Passengers who were still conscious shouted for help. Nearby villagers came and saved us," said Wei.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-12/28/c_132069640.htm

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Quinta death toll rises to 11


The death toll of tropical storm Quinta was raised to 11 as more bodies were found after the flooding in Visayas, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRM) said on Friday, December 28.

Two people are still missing in Batangas and Capiz.

In its 6 am situation update, the NDRRMC noted most of the victims drowned in the floods and 5 came from Iloilo, while Eastern Samar registered 4 and Capiz and Leyte one each.

Three of the fatalities in Eastern Samar belonged to the same family and perished when a tree fell on their hut and crushed them near Maydolong.

The death toll from the latest storm was relatively low as the public, alarmed by the huge number of fatalities left by typhoon Pablo, were quick to take precautionary measures, NDRRMC chief Benito Ramos told AFP on Thursday.

"They were all aware that a typhoon was coming. They were all aware of what happened with [Pablo]. The deaths are minimal compared to [Pablo]," he said.

As of Friday, the total number of affected population has topped 28,000 in regions V, VI, VII and VIII, and about 15,600 people have been evacuated.

Quinta made landfall on Tuesday and has now virtually dissipated over the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) after being downgraded first to a tropical depression and finally to a low pressure area.

It is the 17th and presumably last storm to affect the archipelago in 2012.

Friday 28 December 2012

http://www.rappler.com/nation/18692-quinta-death-toll-rises-to-11

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Thursday 27 December 2012

China, Philippines on top of Asian countries worst hit by disasters in 2012


The Philippines is placed second only to China in the list of countries in Asia worst hit by disasters during the year, according to a report released recently by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

The UNISDR said the Philippines had the second most number of disasters in the first 10 months of the year with 16 recorded disasters, next only to China with 18 recorded calamities.

The report, however, covered disasters that struck the region only from January to October this year and did not include typhoon "Pablo" (international code name "Bopha") that devastated a wide swathe in the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines on Dec. 4 and left more than 1,000 dead and another 800 missing.

According to the report, the toll on the economy of the calamities that occurred in Asia in 2012 exceeded 10 billion U.S. dollars and that future disasters may represent a serious threat to the region's otherwise healthy economies.

A total of 83 disasters hit Asia from January to October of this year, leaving some 3,103 people killed and some 15.1 billion U.S. dollars in damages. About 64.5 million people were affected by these disasters across the region.

The UNISDR said Asia accounted for more than half the total disaster-related deaths in the world, 74 percent of affected people and a third of the economic toll due to natural calamities in the first 10 months of the year.

The report said that in 2012 floods were the most frequent disaster occurring in Asia (44 percent) and had the highest human and economic impact. Floods accounted for 54 percent of the death toll in Asia, 78 percent of people affected and 56 percent of all economic damages in the region.

According to the report, Pakistan suffered large-scale loss of life from floods for the third successive year as 480 people died in floods between August and October. Floods in China (June-July) affected over 17 million people and caused the highest economic losses of 4.8 billion U.S. dollars.

In southern, south-eastern and eastern Asia, 83 disasters caused 3,103 deaths, affected a total of 64.5 million people and triggered 15.1 billion U.S. dollars in damages in 2012, the report said.

Globally, the UNISDR said, these three regions accounted for 57 percent of the total deaths, 74 percent of the affected people and 34 percent of the total economic damages caused by disasters in the first 10 months of 2012.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which was hit by severe flooding in July, topped the count with 13.3 million affected residents while Sri Lanka, which suffered quakes and storms this year, had 8.6 million people exposed to disasters.

British risk consultancy Maplecroft, in its assessment of 197 countries worldwide, also said that the Philippines, Bangladesh and Myanmar headed the list of 10 countries whose economies were most vulnerable to catastrophes or having "extreme risk" category.

Only one other country, the Caribbean state of Dominican Republic, falls into this category.

The other countries in the top 10 were India, Vietnam, Honduras, Laos, Haiti and Nicaragua.

Maplecroft's "Nature Hazards Risk Atlas" looks at the impact of natural disasters on a country relative to its economy, taking into account preparedness to deal with such events and social ability to rebound.

The ADB has also released its own study saying that Asia must act now to pave the way for green, resource-friendly cities or face a bleak and environmentally degraded future.

Thursday 27 December 2012

http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2012-12/27/content_27531101.htm

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Czech investigation of post-war violent events in Dobronin closed


The Czech police have closed their more than two-year enquiry into the alleged post-war violence of Czechs against local Germans in the Dobronin village near Jihlava, the police told CTK today, adding that only those harmed in this case will be acquainted with the results.

Pavel Penaz, from the regional police directorate, said the police cannot comment on the course or the result of the investigation.

"The regional state attorney has reserved the providing of information on the case for herself," Penaz said.

The police checked the case of human remains uncovered in the Budinka and U Viaduktu localities near Dobronin for more than two years.

In Budinka, the remains of local Germans who allegedly fell victims to Czech violence at the end of WWII, were taken out from a mass grave in August 2010. Anthropologists then said the bodies of at least 13 people, aged from 30 to 60, were buried in Budinka.

The cause of their death is unclear. According to some information, they were beaten to death by shovels and hoes, but anthropologists have not confirmed this.

The police investigated the case on suspicion of murder.

Remains of another three people were uncovered in Dobronin's U Viaduktu locality.

All remains were sent for an analysis to the Anthropological Institute in Brno and for DNA tests to the Criminology Institute in Prague.

The uncovering of the human remains stirred strong emotions in Dobronin. The remains were ceremonially buried at the Jihlava cemetery this September.

According to the media's previous information, the last possible witness of the Dobronin May 1945 events died in the hospital in the regional centre Jihlava in early 2011. According to the police, the witness was questioned but his information could not be taken for relevant in view of his high age and the way he presented his testimony.

Thursday 27 December 2012

http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-investigation-of-post-war-violent-events-in-dobronin-closed/882226

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Gipuzkoa wants to exhume Basque fighters killed in Spain´s Civil War


The city of Donosita-San Sebastian and the Diputacion (provincial government) of Guipuzkoa want to exhume the bodies of around 100 gudaris, or Basque fighters, who were killed in the Spanish province of Asturias in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War.

The plan, presented by the mayor of Donostia-San Sebastian Karlos Izagirre and Guipuzkoa provincial deputy Martin Garitano, both from the pro-independence coalition Bildu, is part of a 50,000 euro project to remember Basque victims of the Spanish Civil war 1936-1939.

Historians says tens of thousands of victims of the Civil War and the repression under General Francisco Franco that followed still lie unidentified in mass graves around Spain. The matter of exhumations is still controversial in Spain more 70 years after the Civil War.

The project unveiled by Izagirre and Garitano includes the exhumation of fighters of a Basque brigade killed by Franco´s troops while they fought under the orders of Candido Saseta, whose remains were found in the village of Areces in Asturias.

The remains of Saseta, commander in chief of the Basque militias, were exhumed in 2008 and reburied with honours in his hometown of Hondarribia.

Izagirre said more than 100 fighters are believed buried in mass graves in Areces, most of them from Guipuzkoa. About 20 are from Donostia-San Sebastian, he said.

Most of them belonged to the Eusko Indarra battalion and were members of the ANV party who "dreamt with the freedom of Euskal Herria," he said.

Marina Bidasoro, director of Gipuzkoa´s Historic Memory and Human Rights department, said they have been in touch with local authorities in Asturias, and said the exhumations could start in February.

Thursday 27 December 2012

http://www.eitb.com/en/news/politics/detail/1210722/spanish-civil-war--gipuzkoa-wants-exhume-basque-fighters/

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