Thursday 7 June 2012

Helicopter missing in Peru with 13 foreigners

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- A helicopter carrying 14 passengers, most of them from South Korea, was missing in Peru's highlands on Thursday, police said.

The last communication with helicopter owned by Cuzco-based Helicusco was late Wednesday afternoon as it headed for Cuzco from the town of Mazuco in neighboring Madre de Dios state, said police Gen. Hector Dulanto.

It was carrying 11 South Koreans, two Austrians and a Peruvian passenger in addition to an undetermined number of crewmembers, he said.

The chopper was flying near Huallahualla, a town located at about 13,200 feet (4,000 meters) when communications were lost, said Dulanto, who was in charge of rescue operations. He said Helicusco provided a helicopter to assist in the search, but bad weather was preventing it from taking off.

The company issued a brief statement saying "operations on the ground with the search brigade have been going on since yesterday but it has not yet been possible to locate the helicopter."

An official at the Korean Embassy in Lima said those aboard were not tourists, but were involved in commercial operations. The official, Kristel Veliz, said no more information was immediately available.

South Korean media quoted a foreign ministry official saying the passengers could not be contacted through their mobile phones but there was no automatic signal indicating a crash either.

The Yonhap report did not name the official.

Thursday 7 June 2012

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/helicopter-missing-peru-13-foreigners-183012795.html

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Gravelooters Invade Awudome Cemetery

The activities of some daring grave looters at Awudome public cemetery in the Greater Accra Region is fast becoming a bother to residents in the area, as they continue exhuming dead bodies which have been buried at the western part of the cemetery with impunity.

According to some reliable sources, that portion of the cemetery is full up and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has left it to fallow to enable it reclaim the land for construction of a graveyard that is befitting for the Millennium city.

Activities of the grave looters according to THE HERALD’s impeccable sources are carried out in collusion with some of the care takers and grave diggers stationed at the cemetery.

It was, however, not clear what the body parts of the exhumed bodies are used for but the sources are speculating that they are in high demand among malams and fetish priests who have resolved to advertise their activities on public radio, calling people to visit their shrines to have their spiritual problems solved.

The paper was also hinted that the upsurge of ‘SAKAWA’ business among the youth of today, who want to be rich by foul means, in recent times, has contributed largely to the rampant exhumation of the mortal remains of the ancestors of the land in the last months.

The source said, hitherto, these unscrupulous young men could use their computer savyness to lure thier foreign counterparts to wire huge amounts of monies to them, but now the situation had changed because a vast majority of counterparts had been warned about the cyber fraud industry, so the young ones have resorted to the practice of vodoo which demands that some particular items such as human body parts are presented to a shrine to enable them hypnotize their foreign counterparts anytime they made any demand.

Briefing The HERALD, Mr. Philip Lamptey, head of Rapid Response Unit (RRU) said the Assembly was aware of the havoc the gravelooters were causing to the cemetery and some unconfirmed reports had it that some Assembly staff working at the cemetery were in collusion with the gravelooters.

He said the Assembly had commenced an investigation into the activities of these actions and very soon the culprits would be named, shamed and subsequently sacked from the Assembly. He told this paper that the cemetery in question were full and the city authority had left it to fallow to enable it conduct a mass burial to reclaim the land for subsequent new burials.

He denied rumours making the rounds that the Assembly had tactfully left the cemetery unattended to, enable the Assembly sell the land to a private developer in the city.

He explained that the Assembly had plans to develop the cemetery into an ultra-modern cemetery befitting the status of Accra as a millennium city.

He was worried about the state of affairs at cemetery and gave the assurance that the Assembly would reverse this trend rearing its ugly head in the area.

Thursday 6 June 2012

 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=241204

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Burial of crash victims to wait for two weeks

None of the dead victims of Sunday’s Dana plane crash will be buried until another two weeks. The Lagos State Government said on Wednesday that it would need the period to validate the identity of the dead victims and conduct an autopsy.

Though 103 of the victims were said to have been burnt beyond recognition, 52 bodies had been identified as of Wednesday. But the relations who have expressed a desire for quick burials would have to wait for the state government to process the necessary paperwork in line with its coroner law.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who said this at a briefing, said the two weeks would also enable the government to work out victims’ compensation with the Dana Airline’s insurer, Lloyds Underwriters of London, United Kingdom. Lloyds meanwhile has announced that it would pay compensation of $30,000 to each of the victims within the next 30 days. The compensation totals N693m.

Ipaye led top state officials, Dana Airline personnel, representatives of the insurance companies and other stakeholders to the media briefing to give an update on developments after the crash. He said, “You must understand that the government is working to protect the interest of the victims and their relatives. “We are discussing with Dana Airline and its insurer to make sure that the bodies are properly identified and matched with relatives that claim the bodies. “But that is not enough; we must conduct autopsies for each one of the recovered bodies.

Fifty-two identifiable bodies were recovered, 97 were charred remains (to be taken) for further scientific probe. The total number with us is 149. “We concluded autopsy on 12 bodies yesterday (Tuesday). We have done 18 today (Wednesday).

By tomorrow (today), we will finish autopsy on 52 identifiable bodies. By Friday, work will start on the 97 charred remains. “We also have to keep a detailed file for future references. We must issue Death Certificates. It is expected that all these would have to be done in the next two weeks when the autopsy will end.”

Ipaye said the state had liaised with embassies of the foreigners on the ill-fated flight for pre-mortem record to match its pathological investigation.

The Nigerian solicitor for Lloyds, the lead insurance company for the airline, Chief Yemi Oshikoya, said in line with the insurance policies that operate in Nigeria and globally, families of each victim were entitled to an initial compensation of $30,000 and a substantive payment of not more than $100,000. He added that the insurance firm would comply with the initial payment within 30 days. “The law says in a case of an accident which leads to death or injury, the claimant is entitled to an initial payment of $30,000 and substantive payment of $100,000. “But all this compensation comes with litigation. We want to reassure the families that we won’t go below the international standards.”

Oshikoya explained that the company would also be compensating families of the victims who were not on board but lost their lives in the crash. He added, “We have already asked our surveyor, who is also a Nigerian, to access the crash site and evaluate the value of the houses that were affected. “It is the report that would determine the compensation. We will be discussing with every claimant. We do not want families to suffer additional hardship. It may be faster than we think but it has to do with litigation.”

The Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State, Prof.Oladapo Obafunwa, said that the forensic team would ensure that all bodies were identified and that the team would open an identification file for each of the 149 bodies for future reference.

Obafunwa noted that the two weeks wait was to ensure that thorough scientific examinations were carried out on both identifiable and unrecognisable bodies. According to him, when a body comes into the mortuary for examination, some paper work on identification must be done after which the body is taken to the radiology unit for X-rays, then it is transferred to the autopsy team before it is handed over to the dental team for conclusive examination. “All these are done to ensure that accurate results are obtained and labelled against specific corpses,” he said.

Thursday 7 June 2012

 http://www.punchng.com/news/burial-of-crash-victims-to-wait-for-two-weeks/

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Confusion, grief as families identify bodies

TEARS flowed freely yesterday as over 300 relatives of the victims of DANA Air plane crash stormed the Lekan Ogunsola Memorial House of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

 Most of them broke down at the sight of the lifeless and charred bodies of their breadwinners, children and friends, who died in the ill-fated flight and others, whose houses were hit by the aircraft. To others, it was an endless search as they went round the facilities without finding their missing relations.

Confusion reigned as they moved from one end of the building, screaming “where is …(mentioning names of the affected victim). They starred into the faces of 43 decomposing bodies amid heavy stench that oozed from every side and not finding any that looked familiar to them, many of them broke down in tears. “If he is dead, why can’t I find his body to give him a befitting burial,” a woman lamented amid tears. She lost her husband in the crash.

Hospital officials told The Guardian that only 43 of the 103 bodies that were brought to the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, LASUTH were identifiable. Others were burnt beyond recognition and only through DNA could their relatives identify them.

The bodies have been taken to the Mainland General Hospital for examination beginning from yesterday. Of the 43 identifiable bodies, families and friends had identified only 29 as at 4 p.m. yesterday.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), LASUTH, Prof. Wale Oke told The Guardian at the hospital’s mortuary, that there was need to conduct a DNA test on the bodies to ensure that each family receives the right corpse belonging to it and to guard against litigation that might arise as a result of wrong handling of the corpses. He noted that the family members of deceased had started the process of blood donation and filling of forms for the exercise. “We will be conducting Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test, among other tests, as part of the forensic test, requiring the blood of the family members to conduct the test by matching it with the DNA of the dead.” He continued: “The tissues of the dead will be taken and match it with the blood specimen of the family members to ascertain the true relative of each victim. This will help to reduce the confusion of body identification. We need to approach it carefully and professionally because one cannot rule out litigation in its entirety.”

Oke noted that in the next two days, the processes of identifying the bodies would be over and the victims handed over to their families for burial, adding that those deposited at the Lagos Mainland Hospital, were burnt beyond recognition.

The Guardian learnt that the Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), who is also a professor of pathology and forensic medicine, Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa, led the team conducting the forensic test on the dead while the state government is sponsoring the project.

Meanwhile, the crash survivors, who were also admitted to the medical and surgical emergency units, were being treated by the medical experts yesterday. Though the reinstated doctors were yet to fully resume duties, the survivors were given adequate attention.

Speaking with bereaved relatives, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, appealed to them to exercise patience and courage to identify the bodies of their beloved ones, admitting that the exercise would be very tough.

On behalf of Governor Babatunde Fashola, she commiserated with the families and friends as she urged them to take heart “because there is nothing we can do about the losses.” Orelope-Adefulire, who led members of the diplomatic corps and state officials to the hospital at 2.30 p.m., said that work was still on to evacuate bodies from the site of the crash and ensure that they were identified by their relatives.

She added that thorough investigation would be conducted into the cause of the crash. She also told the bereaved, who opposed the government’s planned mass burial for the victims that the DNA examination would be conducted to enable them retrieve their relatives.

One of the relatives said: “When you said ‘thorough investigation’ we want to believe you. You know what happened to Bellview and Sosoliso plane crashes some years ago. But we hope that the state government will set a standard with this one and erase all doubts from our minds.”

Director-General of the NCAA, Harold Demuren, told the bereaved that they were not alone in the sombre moment, as the regulatory body had also lost its members of staff, relations and friends in the “devastating accident”. He explained that the crash came with shock to the aviation industry that had enjoyed peace since the 2005/2006 incidences. “This is a devastating accident; two in 24 hours!

The plane took off from Abuja. Later we received distressed calls. We had put everything in place at the airport for an emergency landing, though very close to the airport but it did not made it. We don’t know what happened,” he said. He assured that a full-scale and transparent investigation was already on going to get to the root of the disaster.

Demuren told the relatives that their loved ones would not die in vein, even as the agency still needed to ensure that flights are safer.

At the Surgical Emergency Unit of LASUTH, five persons are still recovering from the injuries that they sustained. While one of them was on a rescue mission, the other four were residents in the affected two-storey building.

One of the affected residents, Chime Iloka, whose apartment was hit by the plane, told The Guardian how he and his daughter narrowly escaped the accident that fateful afternoon. He is still counting his losses though, and of them was his brother-in-law, Nwabunna Okafor who didn’t survive the accident. “I was inside with my daughter, brother-in-law and talking to a visitor. My daughter later told me that PHCN had brought electricity. I went to the kitchen, where the control switch is to change from generating set to the PHCN source. My daughter followed me and we were there when we heard the big bang. Everywhere was scattered. “The plane came through the veranda side where Okafor was taking a rest. I found my daughter already pushed to the wall and beneath rubbles. I pulled her out and made way for the exit. That was how we escaped. My visitor had taken the lead. I called my brother-in-law but when I heard no response, and smoke was already coming, that was when we left the building,” Iloka said.

He heard the news on Monday that his 25-year-old brother-in-law was lying in mortuary. His wife, who was in a church at the time of the accident, is now taking refuge with her daughter in a church.

More bodies of the victims have been recovered by the Lagos State Management Agency (LASEMA). According to the agency, six more bodies were recovered. The General Manager, Dr. Femi Osanyintolu, confirmed the figure. The Director, Search and Rescue Operation, Nigerian Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Air Com, Alex Yemi Bankole, said 150 bodies had been recovered from the crash site.

He said five more bodies were retrieved from the building and other human parts that filled three bags were taken to LASUTH for identification. Wednesday 6 June 2012 http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88414:confusion-grief-as-families-identify-bodies-amid-stench&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

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