Monday 30 September 2013

Bodies of 13 immigrants wash up on shore of Italy after boat smuggling 200 migrants from Africa runs aground


The bodies of 13 immigrants have washed up on the coast of Sicily after a boat carrying 200 people ran aground as it approached the shore.

When the boat ran into difficulties in rough seas near the coastal town of Scicli this morning, the migrants it was carrying jumped into the sea.

Most made it to shore and ran away, but a number of men were unable to swim strongly enough and drowned.

Rescue boats and divers are now combing the waters looking for more bodies.

Two alleged leaders have been arrested on suspicion of people-trafficking, according to Italian newspapers.

One of the rescue workers said that the Scicli beach was within reach of the migrants at the time, who had travelled packed very closely onto an eight-metre long, cabin-less fishing boat for several days to get this far.

Witnesses say the traffickers showed no qualms about beating the migrants to force them to dive into the water.

According to an initial reconstruction of the events, the coast guard received an emergency phone call around 10 AM from a swimmer on the Scicli beach, who had seen the migrants in the sea after the boat ran aground some 100 metres from the coastline.

Police, carabinieri, and medical teams were mobilised, while three coast guard vessels took off from Pozzallo.

Once at the location of the sighting - San Piei di Modica, a few kilometres from the Scicli beach - they saw some corpses had been washed ashore while others were subsequently recovered a few metres from the shoreline.

The bodies of an overall 13 North African adult males were found. The other migrants had swum to shore only a few moments before, and only a few of them were stopped by the authorities.

Most instead managed to escape on foot. Searches are underway to find them.

One of the alleged smugglers is said to have lashed out at a swimmer who tried to rescue him from the water.

As well as the 13 men who drowned, a number of other immigrants had to be rescued, and several - including a pregnant woman - were taken to hospital for treatment.

One immigrant who tried to escape after reaching the shore was hit by a car on a nearby road and suffered serious injuries.

In addition, 20 children are among the 70 migrants apprehended so far, most of whom came from Eritrea in East Africa, according to Corriere Della Sera.

However, Sicily and surrounding islands are notorious hotspots for immigrants arriving by boats from Tunisia, Libya and sub-Saharan Africa.

The region has also attracted a large number of Syrian immigrants in recent weeks following the continued violence in the country's civil war.

This is not the first time in recent months that illegal migrants making the desperate journey to Italy have drowned on the way.

Last month six Egyptians died after they jumped out of their trawler, thinking they had reached land, while in July seven immigrants drowned while trying to hold on to a fishing cage being towed to shore.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2439311/Bodies-13-immigrants-wash-shore-Italy-boat-smuggling-200-migrants-Africa-runs-aground.html

http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2013/09/30/Thirteen-migrants-pushed-boat-off-Sicily-drown_9385317.html

continue reading

Mumbai building collapse: confusion over bodies


Several families were unable to identify the bodies of their near and dear ones at JJ Hospital because they had swelled up and unrecognisable. Lack of coordination between the hospital and the cops added to the confusion.

The Jadhavs were not sure whether the body handed over to them was that of their daughter Pallavi (20).

Pallavi was brought in at J J Hospital at 8 pm on Saturday night after which her maternal aunt Reshma Jadhav identified her body and were given her necklace and bracelet after the due process.

The family said that they filled up a form with the police as well as the senior medical officer present at the time.

Reshma said, “I went up to identify the body of Pallavi’s mother Chitra for around 10 minutes and returned to the hospital on Sunday morning to claim Pallavi’s body after the post-mortem was conducted.”

“I learned that another family called the Gaikwads had taken the body and performed the last rites assuming it was their 17-year-old daughter Komal Gaikwad,” she added.

Reshma went to the medical officer after the mix up and was shown the list in which Pallavi’s name was crossed off and instead Komal Gaikwad’s entry was made.

The family then exchanged heated words with hospital officials as to why they handed over the body to the Gaikwad family.

Hospital officials began to run around to confirm the identity of Pallavi after which J J Dean Tatyarao Lahane, ex-corporator Yeshwant Jadhav and BMC union leader Sanjay Baperkar met with the family for around 10 minutes.

The family who had assumed that they were given Komal Gaikwad’s body was taken back to the morgue along with officials after which the Jadhav family were convinced that it was Pallavi.

Yeshwant Jadhav said, “When we calmed the family down and took them to the morgue, they recognised her earrings as well as a ring that Pallavi wore on the middle finger of her left hand.”

Pallavi’s paternal uncle, Suresh Jadhav confirmed the identification, he said, “Yes we saw the body and are convinced that it is Pallavi.”

The 24-hour drama ended at 8 pm on Sunday, the family is awaiting for the body of Pallavi’s brother Sanket who is yet to be identified. Pallavi’s sister Mansi and her mother Chitra were found dead on Saturday evening. The only survivor is her father Chandrashekar Jadhav (50) who was found with minor injuries after 32 hours of the collapse.

Chandrasheakar is also admitted in J J Hospital, but has not been told about the death of his family members, said his brother Suresh Jadhav.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://freepressjournal.in/now-the-bungle-over-bodies/

continue reading

Private jet bursts into flames after 'unsurvivable' crash on runway


A private jet has exploded into flames after sliding off the runway in Santa Monica, California, Sunday night in a crash that authorities are calling 'unsurvivable.'

Smoke could been seen billowing high into the sky above the Santa Monica Airport, where the twin-engine Cessna Citation jet crashed into a hanger about Sunday afternoon.

It is unknown how many people were aboard the jet and no fatalities have been confirmed.

However, Santa Monica Fire Captain John Nevandro told reporters 'I was an unsurvivable crash.'

KNBC-TV reports that the plane crashed about 6.20pm Pacific Time.

The plane was landing in Santa Monica en route from Hailey, Idaho, a resort town the boasts celebrity residents like Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

However, neighbors reported hearing a thunderous boom before the fire started.

Dozens of Twitter users posted pictures of a large cloud of smoke coming from the airport.

The aircraft then caught fire. Firefighters are currently battling the blaze, which sent a cloud of smoke billowing above the city 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

The cloud could be seen from miles away, including on Venice Beach.

The plane belongs to Creative Real Estate Exchange LLC, an real estate company whose owner lives in Malibu.

The jet has taken eight flights since September 15.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2438413/Crash-Santa-Monica-Airport-twin-engine-plane-slides-runway-landing.html

continue reading

Nigeria boat capsize (update) : 42 bodies recovered


Over 40 persons are feared dead after a boat carrying about 150 traders and wedding guests capsized last Friday in River Niger, about four kilomtres offshore near Malale village in Borgu local government area of Niger State.

The boat was ferrying people from Tungar Na'illo from neighbouring Kebbi State to a local market in Malale, when it hit a stump and broke into two, official of the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and locals told Sunday Trust last night. NEMA said further that about 100 persons were still missing as at press time.

At least 42 dead bodies were said to have been recovered from the river, even as search for more bodies was continuing at nightfall yesterday.

Residents said the body of the Village Head of Tungar Na'illo, Malam Garba Maigari, who was in the boat, was also missing in the waters.

One of the men involved in the rescue efforts who was interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service yesterday, said fishing nets had been used to bring out about 16 bodies from the river.

He said the mishap occurred during an attempt by operators to repair the boat's engine, which went off, adding that no government agency had taken part in the rescue operation at the time of the interview.

Most of the passengers were on their way to the market to sell smoked-fish, while others were returning from a wedding ceremony in a neighbouring community in Kebbi State, it was learnt.

The spokesperson of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Malam Ibrahim Hussaini, said the boat's driver, one Dauda Santere Abubakar, and 15 others had survived the accident, adding that the driver had disclosed that only 80 people were onboard at the time the boat sank. However, other persons from the community who spoke variously claimed that the boat was overloaded and suffered from age-related mechanical problems.

Hussaini, earlier told Sunday Trust that details at his disposal were still sketchy, and that "the boat was believed to be carrying over 150 passengers, mostly traders [when it] capsized midway into its journey resulting in the drowning of the passengers."

"Efforts are being made to rescue possible survivors along the bank of the river or [to recover] the corpses of victims that were drowned. At the moment search and rescue is ongoing on the river and I will make the details of the incident available later as the agency has dispatched its officers to assist the villagers in the rescue efforts", he said.

A road safety official, however, told Sunday Trust in Kebbi State that about 30 people were rescued with two bodies of infants floating.

Similarly, an eyewitness, Ibrahim Yauri, told Sunday Trust that the incident occurred around 12 noon and that it took over three hours rescue operation to recover 42 bodies.

Ibrahim said the boat took off from Niger State to Warra when it met its waterloo.

"The boat left Tungan Na-IIlo village in Niger State with traders and those attending a wedding ceremony. The boat broke into two as a result of overload and most of the victims are from Niger State. So far we have recovered about 42 bodies including two babies and many women," he said.

Another witness, Malam Adamu, said the rescue operation was still ongoing at the time of filing this report, "but it is very difficult because of the lack of equipment and adequate manpower."

A former vice chairman of Borgu local government, Saifullah Haruna Umar, told Sunday Trust that over 60 people, including women and children, were believed to have died in the mishap.

Haruna said reports from eyewitnesses had indicated that the ill-fated boat was pierced by a tree stump that was lying on the riverbed, breaking it into two and causing people to drown.

He said apart from carrying passengers beyond its capacity, the boat was equally overloaded with luggage and other personal effects.

"We will want to call on government to clear the river of these deadly stumps which have been causing accidents, especially for canoe riders who are not familiar with the route," he said.

But a source in Borgu Emirate said four bodies were initially removed from the waters on Friday, adding that another 17 were recovered yesterday.

"Some of them tried to swim to shore, but gave up later and died after getting exhausted because of the distance," he said.

"It is too early to know the exact number of people that have drowned at the moment, because most of the bodies will remain under the water until after about two or three days," he added.

He said the boat was old and rickety even before the accident.

It was gathered that though the villagers raised the alarm over the mishap at New Bussa, the local government headquarters, which is about 30 kilometres from Malale district market, effective rescue efforts were too late by the local divers who were mobilized by the local government officials arrived.

The Secretary to the Niger State Government, Saidu Ndako, was also quoted as confirming the boat mishap, saying 42 people had perished "I received the information late in the night that a boat had capsized and 42 persons have drowned in the incident, while rescue operation is ongoing," the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), quoted him as saying.

"We believe that the boat was overloaded because its capacity was put at 60 passengers, but over 150 passengers were said to be on board during the incident. The debris in the swollen river may also have been responsible for the incident," he said.

Meanwhile, the Niger State governor, Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu yesterday commiserated with the families of the victims of the boat mishap.

Aliyu, in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Malam Danladi Ndayebo, described the accident as disheartening "at a time when government was grappling with the challenges of bettering the lot of the people."

He "urged those involved with water transportation to be more careful, especially during raining season when water level is usually high," the statement said, adding that "the state emergency management agency had since deployed its officials to the scene of the mishap to ascertain the extent of losses incurred with a view to compensate families of the victims."

Monday 30 September 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201309290124.html

continue reading

Mexico's disappeared continues to rise


A helicopter with five people on board crashed near Murbad, about 75km from Mumbai, on Sunday morning. All the five, including two pilots, were found dead.

The Bell 212 helicopter took off from Juhu aerodrome at 7.47am for Nagpur via Aurangabad for a refuelling break. The Mumbai ATC took charge of the chopper’s navigation about five nautical miles from Juhu. The helicopter was expected to reach Aurangabad at 9.30am.

Around 9.10am, the ATC’s Aurangabad division informed Mumbai about the loss of contact with the helicopter. The Mumbai ATC immediately launched a search operation along with several agencies.

After a while the Thane police informed the ATC about a chopper crash around 2,000ft above the ground on a hilly terrain in Murbad’s Naneghat area.

The dead were identified as captain SS Bhaduria, co-pilot captain Allen Martin, captain Anshu Matta, engineer Yatin Wakade and technician Dean D’Souza.

“The bodies will be handed over to the families after post-mortems,” NK Balakrishnan, CEO of United Helicharters Pvt Ltd, which owned the helicopter, said.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) officials visited the spot and an investigation is on.

“So far, we suspect the aircraft touched the high tension electric wires and that could have led to the accident,” a senior Mumbai ATC official said.

Aviation industry experts say high tension wires are generally at about 80-100 metres from the ground. And helicopters generally fly in the range of 7,000-15,000 feet above the ground.

They talk of two possibilities: the chopper might have had a faulty altimeter. In that case it would have shown the wrong altitude — a possible reason for the copter touching the high tension wires. Or, the pilot might have tried to land the helicopter because of some mechanical problem.

The search and rescue team found it difficult to reach the crash site because of the hilly terrain and bad weather. The charred bodies were brought down to the plains manually and then taken to the primary health centre in Tokavade, close to Kalyan.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/1895746/report-5-dead-in-helicopter-crash-near-murbad

continue reading

Typhoon Wutip: Many missing as Chinese boats sink


At least 70 people have been reported missing after a typhoon caused three fishing boats to sink in the South China Sea, Chinese state media say.

Five boats carrying more than 150 people encountered strong winds from Typhoon Wutip on Sunday, Xinhua news agency says citing maritime officials.

A rescue operation is under way and reports say 14 people have been found.

The storm is expected to make landfall in central Vietnam on Monday and thousands have been evacuated there.

The boats ran into strong winds near the Paracel islands, around 330km (200 miles) from China's southern coast, officials were quoted as saying.

Two of the boats, from southern Guangdong province, sank on Sunday, and contact was eventually lost with a third boat, the Associated Press news agency says.

At least 10 ships and six planes are involved in rescue operations. Officials have advised local fishing boats to berth to avoid rough waters.

On Monday, Vietnam was anticipating widespread flooding and landslides - Typhoon Wutip is said to be the most powerful to hit the country this season.

The country's weather forecaster is expecting the typhoon to bring heavy rain and sustained winds of up to 93mph (150km/ph).

More than 40,000 villagers from areas that were expected to be affected by the typhoon have been moved to safety, reports say.

Last week, another typhoon, Usagi, left more than 25 people dead in China and affected tens of thousands of people on the mainland.

The storm hit just as millions were travelling for China's mid-Autumn festival - a national three day holiday when many visit family - leading to cancellations of transportation.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24296117

continue reading

33 bodies found in Indonesian boat sinking


Rescuers have found 33 dead bodies and keep searching for dozens of others feared missing after the sinking of an Australian-bound asylum seeker boat off West Java island, Indonesia, on Friday, local rescuer said Monday.

As many as 28 people have been rescued safely by the rescuers, said Maman Padmono, rescuer in charge at West Java Search and Rescue Office.

But he could not confirm the number of missing people. According to information from a local military command, the number of missing people reached 59 among a total of 120 passengers from the Middle East. "The search and rescue is underway now to find scores other missing people,"he told Xinhua by phone from West Java.

Rescue officials, police and military have searched waters along Cianjur coast to find the missing ones, said Maman.

Indonesia has been a favorite transit-point for those from the Middle East or other countries willing to seek asylum in Australia.

The asylum seekers have often risked their lives by making a long journey passing Ocean by boat, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people.

Monday 30 September 2013

http://www.neurope.eu/news/wire/33-bodies-found-indonesian-boat-sinking

continue reading

Sunday 29 September 2013

Many still missing in ferry accident


The death toll from the sinking of an Australia-bound asylum seeker boat off Indonesia's main Java island rose to 28 on Sunday, with many more still feared missing, police said.

"We found seven more bodies after sweeping the coast this morning, six adults and a boy," Warsono, police chief in the Agrabinta area of Java, where the boat went down, told AFP.

He said the death toll from the accident was now 28.

But officials fear that many more are still missing after the boat carrying would-be refugees from Lebanon, Jordan and Yemen broke into pieces and sank in rough seas south of Java on Friday.

It was the first deadly asylum boat accident since Tony Abbott became Australia's prime minister earlier this month.

It came ahead of his state visit to Indonesia, which begins Monday, where his tough boatpeople policies are likely to be the focus of talks.

About 20 police, military and search and rescue officials were sweeping the coast around Agrabinta in West Java province in the hunt for survivors or bodies.

Sunday 29 September 2013

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Many-still-missing-in-ferry-accident-20130929

continue reading

Rare picture shows priest praying over Titanic victims before they are buried at sea


They were gathered nine days after the 'unsinkable' liner had gone down in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of 1,512 lives.

And this haunting black and white photograph taken on board one of the body recovery ships following the Titanic disaster shows a mass funeral for dozens of the dead being buried at sea.

The image - which has been discovered a century on from the disaster in 1912 - shows body bags stacked on the windswept deck while two crewman tip up a stretcher to drop a victim over the side.

The ship's priest, the Reverend Hind, is seen conducting the service in front of the solemn crew, who were gathered days after the Titanic had sunk on its journey from Southampton to New York City.

Although the records show that 166 out of 306 bodies retrieved by the Mackay Bennett ship were buried at sea, no images of the macabre event have been seen by the general public until now.

Most of the victims dropped into the Atlantic were believed to have been chosen because they had no means of identification or were third-class passengers and therefore could not afford a funeral.

In the photo - which has a pre-sale estimate of £5,000 - one of the bodies is clearly labelled number 177, which was William Mayo, a 28-year-old London man who was a leading fireman on the ship.

The image has been owned by the family of one of the crew of the Mackay Bennett until now - as they have made it available for auction at Henry Aldridge and Sons Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: ‘Despite the number of bodies buried at sea, visual records of the occasion, such as this photograph, are almost non-existent, even in period publications.

‘This picture blows away the myth that the burials were an orderly and dignified process. You can clearly see the bodies in brown sacks piled up on the deck, with some piled two or three high.

‘The Reverend Hind is seen holding a prayer book looking at two crewman who appear to be tipping up some kind of platform, presumably committing a body into the sea.

‘The Mackay Bennett spent five days retrieving bodies from the wreck site and had to request for a second vessel to join it because there were so many. This photo shows that the deck was pretty much full up with the victims.’

In the aftermath of the Titanic disaster on April 15, 1912, the ship Carpathia picked up more than 700 survivors from lifeboats.

The Mackay Bennet was a Canadian cable laying ship and the owners of the Titanic, White Star Line, contracted it at a rate of £300 a day to recover the bodies.

It left Halifax, Nova Scotia, on April 17 and arrived at the wreck site on April 21.

The crew conducted burials at sea on the evenings of April 21, 22 and 23 and then of the afternoon of April 24, when it is thought the picture was taken.

In an account of the burials, Reverend Hind later wrote: ‘Anyone attending a burial at sea will most surely lose the common impression of the awfulness of a grave in the mighty deep.

Sunday 29 September 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437189/Rare-picture-Titanic-victims-shows-prayers-said-bodies-buried-sea.html

continue reading

Indian officials call off search for bodies in building collapse


Officials in the Indian city of Mumbai have called off their search for more bodies following the collapse of a five-storey apartment building and say the final death toll stands at 60.

Mumbai deputy police commissioner Tanaji Ghadge said all of the 93 people who had been missing were now accounted for.

"The toll has now risen to 60 and we have now called off the search for more bodies in the debris," Mr Ghadge said.

But Alok Avasthy, an official at the National Disaster Response Force, said the death toll may rise depending on whether victims in hospital succumb to their injuries.

Rescuers managed to save 33 people from the building's wreckage in the two-day search.

A male survivor in his 40s was the last to be pulled out from under the twisted iron bars and fallen concrete on Saturday afternoon.

Local officials said 22 families had been housed in the block owned by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai in the city's eastern suburbs.

It collapsed at dawn (local time) on Friday and the cause is still being investigated, but one person has already been arrested.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the arrested man was accused of carrying out faulty and unauthorised renovation at his rented office-cum-warehouse on the ground floor of the building, which is thought to have caused the collapse.

Municipal authorities said that they would bear the cost of treating the injured and that compensation would be paid to the families of the deceased.

Sunday 29 September 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-29/an-india-building-collapse-search-over/4987740

continue reading

42 dead, 100 missing in Nigeria river boat accident


A boat overloaded with passengers and goods travelling on the Niger River in central Nigeria has capsized, killing 42 people with 100 others missing, the state rescue agency told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The boat with an estimated 150 people on board "split" in two after setting off from Malilli village in Niger state, said Mohammed Shaba, head of the State Emergency Management Agency.

"As of now, we have lost 42 and 100 are missing," he said of the Friday evening disaster.

Rescue teams were on site, searching the waters for further bodies after what Shaba described as the worst accident to hit the state in recent years.

"We are going to learn a lesson from this," he told AFP.

According to Shaba, the vessel was packed with far too many traders as well as the goods they acquired from a market in Malilli.

While he blamed "overloading" as the primary cause, he also said that high waters on the Niger could have been a contributing factor, following a heavy rainy season in the area.

Nigeria has seen significant flooding in regions across the country in recent years.

The Niger is Africa's third longest river, behind the Nile and the Congo, extending an estimated 4200 kilometres (2600 miles).

The boomerang shaped waterway begins in Guinea, carves north and east through Mali, then back south through Nigeria expelling into the Gulf of Guinea.

Shaba said water levels on parts of the Niger have gotten so dangerously high over the last few years that he has advised people living along the river bank to find a second home where they can stay when the rains peak.

Passenger boats in Nigeria, especially in more remote areas, are often poorly maintained and sometimes incapable of navigating rough waters.

But operators with narrow profit margins typically try to cram on board an excessive number of passengers to boost income.

Boat travel is especially attractive to traders seeking to move goods because of the poor state of Nigeria's roads, which are among the most dangerous in the world.

But boat travel can be equally hazardous, with dozens already killed in Nigeria this year.

In March, nearly 100 people died when a passenger boat that set off from neighbouring Benin capsized off Nigeria's southern Cross Rivers state.

It took days for details of the disaster to emerge and some people survived at sea by clinging to a cooking gas cylinder for several hours.

But the Niger accident could prove to be among the deadliest in Africa in recent years.

In July 2012, a ferry sank in choppy waters as it crossed from mainland Tanzania to the island of Zanzibar, leaving at least 104 people drowned.

In September 2011, more than 200 people perished when the MV Spice Islander, which the authorities admitted was overloaded, sank while sailing between two of the main islands in the Zanzibar archipelago.

Sunday 29 September 2013

http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/africa/40113-nigeria-river-boat-accident

continue reading

Saturday 28 September 2013

Mumbai building collapse death toll rises to 42


At least 42 people are now known to have died when a four-storey residential building collapsed in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

Some 33 survivors have so far been pulled from the rubble of Friday's disaster, some with serious injuries.

Between 83 and 89 people were in the building near Dockyard Road in the east of the city when it collapsed.

The collapse is the latest in a series in Mumbai. Poor construction practices have been blamed in earlier incidents.

As rescuers equipped with cranes searched the rubble, a young girl was dragged alive from the the ruins on Friday, nearly 12 hours after the collapse, and a 50-year-old man was pulled out on Saturday with serious injuries.

The cause of the collapse is not yet known.



Municipal employees

"Five members from my family were trapped inside. So far, two have been rescued. I am praying to God others will also come out alive," Preeti Pawar, among crowds of relatives and onlookers outside the ruins, told Reuters news agency.

Rescuers worked for six hours to free the survivor found on Saturday. The man's leg had been crushed by a wall.

Alok Awasthi, local commander of the National Disaster Response Force, said rescuers had not found signs of life recently but vowed to continue the search.

The building had been home to more than 20 families of employees of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

Officials say the municipality asked the residents to vacate the property earlier this year.

Property prices and rent in Mumbai are among the highest in Asia. Many citizens are forced to live in old, dilapidated properties in a land-scarce city.

More than 100 people have been killed in five building collapses in Mumbai between April and June alone.

And between 2008 and 2012, there were 100 building collapses in the city in which 53 people died and 103 others were injured, authorities say.

Saturday 28 September 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-24314133

continue reading

Victims Memorial in Spain Awaits Names of the Dead


A pyramid is being built in the old San Rafael cemetery in the southern Spanish city of Mรกlaga – a monument to thousands of people shot by firing squads here during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War and the 1939-1975 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

Their bodies were exhumed from the biggest of the mass graves from that era scattered around Spain.

On a Wednesday Sept. 25 visit to the cemetery, which was closed in 1987, IPS saw the nearly complete mausoleum in the shape of a pyramid, which will be covered in slabs of white marble engraved with the names of the people buried there.

The rest of the abandoned cemetery will be a public garden.

The monument and mausoleum will be completed in a few weeks. But it will be many years before the remains of each body to be placed there are identified and, in some cases at least, handed over to the families.

“The only thing I remember are my mother’s screams when they took him away,” said Josรฉ Dorado, 79, who was three years old when Franco’s troops shot his father, Pedro Dorado, a railway worker, in the nearby village of Bobadilla.

It was 1937. The body of Pedro, 33, was dumped along with the corpses of his workmates in a huge ditch dug in the San Rafael cemetery, Dorado told IPS.

Documents show that 4,471 people were shot by right-wing firing squads here during the civil war and the early years of the dictatorship, presumably because they were “republicanos” – in other words, they belonged to the side that was defeated by the Franco troops or Franquistas in the civil war.

From October 2006 to October 2009, 2,840 bodies were recovered here, in one of the largest exhumations carried out in Western Europe.

The rest of the bodies may have been moved at some point to the Valley of the Fallen in Madrid – a monument that the Franquistas built in the 1940s and 1950s, said Francisco Espinosa, with the Mรกlaga Association against Silence and Oblivion – Historical Memory, which represents more than 400 relatives of victims.

Dorado, the president of the association, describes himself as “a person who likes to give battle.” In 2002, he started to wage the struggle to exhume the bodies in the common grave in San Rafael, which finally got underway in 2006.

The University of Mรกlaga took DNA samples from the bodies to compare to the DNA from over 1,000 relatives of the people killed here, Antonio Somoza, a founding member of the association, told IPS.

The remains now lie in boxes, waiting to be put in the new mausoleum.

The names of the 4,471 victims have been identified. But it will take years to match the specific remains in the boxes to names, Somoza explained, adding that none of the 2,840 bodies recovered had been specifically identified so far.

Over the space of four decades, between 88,000 and 130,000 people were killed and buried in common graves across Spain, and some 30,000 babies were stolen and sold in illegal adoptions, according to human rights groups.

“We are asking that the bodies be removed from the ditches so they can be buried as people,” said Espinosa, 76, who has struggled for over three decades to find the body of his father, a carpenter from Argentina.

“My father died here. I was still in my mother’s belly, and my brother was three years old,” he told IPS in the San Rafael cemetery.

No attempt at investigating the mass graves around the country has been successful, because the courts invoke the 1977 amnesty law that blocks investigation or prosecution of Franco-era human rights crimes.

Moreover, the conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy closed down the office that was coordinating the exhumations around the country and the funds collecting money to help pay for the costly DNA tests.

Emilio Silva, the 47-year-old grandson of another of the Mรกlaga victims, took part in a Monday Sept. 23 meeting in Madrid with two experts from the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances visiting Spain Sept. 23-30 to examine the measures taken by the government on the prevention and eradication of forced disappearance, and the response given to the victims’ families.

In the meeting, the victims’ relatives asked the Working Group to review its decision not to address forced disappearances committed before 1945, when the United Nations was founded.

“We have hundreds of well-documented cases from prior to that date, and forced disappearance is an ongoing crime [not subject to any statute of limitations],” Silva told IPS.

His grandfather, Emilio Silva, was executed in October 1936 in Priaranza del Bierzo, in the northern Spanish province of Leรณn.

“He was the first victim of Franquista repression in Spain to be identified through a DNA test,” said Silva, a member of the Association for the Recovery of the Historical Memory. “Now he is buried next to my grandmother.”

The U.N. experts “should be flexible and should accept the cases of forced disappearance dating before 1945. If they don’t, the majority of the cases of the victims of reprisals will be left out,” said trade unionist Cecilio Gordillo, who coordinates the Todos los Nombres (All the Names) web site, which has a list of the names of nearly 78,000 victims.

There is a possibility that the Working Group will reconsider its decision when it presents its final report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2014.

The Working Group urged the government to repeal the 1977 amnesty law.

The Truth Commission Platform launched the campaign #DiseloalaONU (Tell the U.N.) this week, to denounce that “there are more than 2,500 common graves that have not been exhumed.”

Dorado hopes to bury his father’s remains in Bobadilla, where the body of his mother Pilar Cubero, who was 29 years old when her husband was killed, rests. “If I’m alive then [when the bodies are identified through DNA tests], I’ll take him there. I’ve already bought a niche,” he said.

Investigating in Argentina

On Tuesday Sept. 24, a Spanish prosecutor challenged the arrest of four former agents of the dictatorship requested by Argentine Judge Marรญa Servini.

Servini is investigating human rights crimes committed in Spain, based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. Hers is the only investigation of Franco-era crimes.

Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism, which are not subject to statutes of limitation or amnesties, can be tried at any time in any place.

The trade unionist Gordillo, who met Friday Sept. 27 with the U.N. Working Group experts in the southern city of Seville, said one aspect of Judge Servini’s investigation involves forced labour to which political prisoners were subjected in Spain.

“The state ‘rented out’ prisoners to private companies, which used them as slave labour to build roads, airports and canals. There were around 250,000 victims of forced labour,” said Gordillo, whose great-uncle was killed by the firing squads.

Emilio Silva said most of the exhumations around the country have been carried out thanks to the work of the victims’ families and volunteers.

Miguel Alba, another founding member of the Mรกlaga association of families, is the grandson and great-grandson of a mayor and justice of the peace who were killed by the firing squads.

For eight years, he has investigated forced disappearances in 31 villages and towns in Axarquรญa, a comarca or region east of Mรกlaga.

“It’s not about opening old wounds,” Alba told IPS. “It’s about closing them in good conditions, and without political bias.”

Saturday 28 September 2013

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/09/victims-memorial-in-spain-awaits-names-of-the-dead/

continue reading

Another quake jolts shattered Balochistan district, kills 15


At least 15 people were killed Saturday when a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Balochistan in a region already devastated by a massive quake earlier this week, officials said.

The most recent deaths bring the total toll from the two quakes to 374. Spokesman for the Balochistan government Jan Mohammad Buledi said several people were also injured in the powerful quake.

According to the US Geological Survery, the epicentre of the quake was recorded at 96 kilometres northeast of Balochistan's Awaran district and 14 kilometres deep.

The local meteorological office recorded the intensity of the earthquake at 7.2 on the Richter scale and said the epicentre of the quake was 150 kilometres southwest of Khuzdar.

Eight people were killed Saturday in Nok Jo, a small village in Awaran with a population of around 15,000. Four deaths were reported from Mashkay area, said Rasheed Baloch, deputy commissioner in Awaran district.

He said more than sixty mud-walled houses collapsed when the earthquake struck the village. He said said four bodies from the quake earlier in the week were also retrieved from the rubble.

Baloch said a rescue operation was underway in the district and its surrounding areas to retrieve the bodies and shift the injured to hospitals. “Poor communication system is a major hindrance in the way of relief operation,” he said.

Strong tremors were felt in different parts of the province.

People panicked and came out of their homes in Quetta, the provincial capital. “I was sitting in my office when the earthquake struck,” said Nazeer Ahmed, a provincial government official in Quetta.

The Balochistan Assembly session was underway when the earthquake struck. Television footage showed ministers and members of the assembly walking out of the session due to the tremors as the session was temporarily suspended.

Aftershocks were felt in Kech, Khuzdar, Kalat and other towns of the province. The tremors were also felt as far away as Naushero Feroz, Shikarpur, Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh province.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a 7.7-magnitude earthquake which jolted the same area earlier on Tuesday rose to 359 on Friday with over 600 people injured. The September 24 quake had struck Balochistan’s Awaran and Kech districts and relief work was continuing in the area.

Patients undergoing treatment at the Awaran district hospital also came out of hospital wards after the tremors. “More than one hundred injured are now outside Awaran hospital,” Muhammad Tariq, a local journalist said.

Saturday 28 September 2013

http://dawn.com/news/1046039/another-major-earthquake-jolts-balochistan

continue reading

Indonesia rescuers search for dozens missing after asylum seeker boat sinks


Rescuers battled strong currents and high waves Saturday while searching for dozens of people missing and feared dead one day after a boat carrying asylum seekers sank off the coast of Indonesia's main island of Java, killing at least 21 people.

The boat capsized and sank in waters off West Java's Sukabumi district after being hit by high waves Friday. Survivors said about 100 people were aboard the vessel.

Twenty-eight people were rescued and taken to the Sukabumi immigration office for identification, Brig. Gen. Tatang Zainudin, the National Search and Rescue Agency's operation chief, said by phone from the scene. Among those rescued were three Lebanese nationals who were found early Saturday after being stranded on an island about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from where the boat sank, Zainudin said.

He said 21 bodies were pulled from the water Friday afternoon, including seven children.

A helicopter and more than a dozen boats were being used Saturday to search for about 35 people believed to be missing, but strong currents and high waves were hampering the operation, Zainudin said. PHOTO: In this photo taken with a mobile phone, villagers stand around the bodies of the victims of a boat that sank off Java island, on Sinarlaut beach in Agrabinta, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, Sept. 27, 2013.The boat carrying dozens of asylum seekers sank en route to Australia off the coast of Indonesia's main island of Java on Friday, an official said. (AP Photo) In this photo taken with a mobile phone, villagers stand around the bodies of the victims of a boat that sank off Java island, on Sinarlaut beach in Agrabinta, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, Sept. 27, 2013.The boat carrying dozens of asylum seekers sank en route to Australia off the coast of Indonesia's main island of Java on Friday, an official said. (AP Photo)

"We fear those who are still missing were unable to survive," he said.

There were conflicting reports about the exact number of people on the boat due to the lack of a manifest, but some survivors told officials that about 100 asylum seekers from Lebanon, Pakistan and Iraq were believed to be aboard, said a local police chief, Lt. Col. Deddy Kusuma Bakti.

Survivors said the boat was headed for Australia's Christmas Island.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said 17 Lebanese drowned in the incident. Nine members of a single family were among the Lebanese victims, with a woman and her eight children dying and her husband surviving, the agency reported.

The boat capsized and sank after being hit by up to 6-meter (19-foot) waves hours after leaving Sukabumi early Friday, Zainudin said.

Saturday 28 September 2013

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/9de53894b1ac4d528e4bf72793b4e563/AS--Indonesia-Boat-Sinks

continue reading

Georgia: Two decades later, still searching for the missing


The last time 76-year-old Venera Oshoridze saw her son, Kakha, was September 15, 1993.

A pensive 20-year-old who loved his friends, his mother’s fried potatoes, and dreamed of going to college, Kakha volunteered to fight in the Abkhaz war just days before Tbilisi lost the battle for Sokhumi on September 27, 1993.

“He wasn’t like the others. He was a quiet boy, always thinking about something,” Oshoridze said, pointing to photo of a serious young man with solemn brown eyes.

Both of Oshoridze’s sons went to war, but while her elder son returned, Kakha vanished without a trace. Like nearly 2,000 other men and women (most of them Georgian) from the 1992-1993 war between Tbilisi and separatist forces in Abkhazia, he has been missing for the past two decades.

Immediately after the conflict, Oshoridze started looking for her son, as scores of Abkhaz and Georgian parents joined forces to locate, identify and, when possible, rebury their children.

The grassroots effort, eventually led by the Georgian non-governmental organization Molodini (Expectations) and the Abkhaz NGO Mothers of Abkhazia for Peace & Social Justice, used personal connections and references from government officials to find answers.

Georgian parents like Oshoridze traveled to Abkhazia to search, learning firsthand of their children’s deaths through scraps of clothing and body remains. Working together with the Abkhaz, they unearthed and identified bodies based on fragments -- a bandaged arm, dollars folded in a pocket, the remains of a synthetic jacket.

Eventually, the bilateral search helped return 314 bodies to Abkhaz and Georgian families, according to historian Vladimir Dobordjginidze, who, together with the current Georgian state minister for reintegration, Paata Zakareishvili, was involved in the initial project.

Finding the missing and returning the dead, noted Dobordjginidze, whose son, Zura, disappeared during the fight for Sokhumi, is a non-political issue that provided a connection between Abkhaz and Georgians. “We had great contacts [with the Abkhaz],” he said. “My son died, but that does not mean I am mad at them. We met as ordinary people.”

The Abkhaz also emphasize the “humanitarian” nature of the initiative. “In the Caucasus, it’s important to go to your loved one’s grave. [It’s] like a birthday,” said Asida Lomaia, a project associate for the Mothers of Abkhazia for Peace & Social Justice. Her cousin, Arzamet Tarba, is among those missing.

“It doesn't matter what nationality -- you keep hope that they may be alive.”

The 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, which resulted in Moscow formally acknowledging breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, has complicated the search for the missing.

The last exchange, in 2006, involved the return of 62 bodies from a mass grave of 95 Georgians at Sokhumi’s Babushera Airport. (And the return of the living as well -- two young women, said Dobordjginidze).

Another two bodies from Sokhumi were sent to Georgian families “via independent channels” this spring, according to Leonid Lakerbaia, Abkhazia’s de-facto prime minister.

The 2008 war heightened the sensitivity of these joint searches for both sides, but also provided a new urgency for finding the missing. Inspired by the success of an ICRC-organized mission in breakaway South Ossetia, the Abkhaz and Georgians agreed to a Red-Cross proposal for a similar format for identifying the missing from the 1992-1993 war.

Kakhaber Kemoklidze, head of the analytical department at the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Tbilisi, said the ministry, which keeps records on missing individuals from the Abkhaz war, is willing to help efforts to locate and identify the missing. But, Kemoklidze added, it is as much an issue of trust as it is of political will.

Cooperation with de-facto Abkhaz authorities has not always been easy, Kemoklidze noted, adding that the ICRC’s role as mediators is “really important and invaluable.”

Lakerbaia agreed that the present operation would not be possible without the Red Cross’ help. “I don’t see any straight cooperation with Georgia possible,” he said, “but we have a common goal -- to find unknown remains, identify them and return them to their relatives. That’s the main task for all of us.”

Under the ICRC’s oversight, two official representatives from each side meet once a year in neutral locations, such as Istanbul, Kyiv and Yerevan, to compare and exchange lists of names and information on gravesites. The information includes how bodies were buried, their condition, and the names of any witnesses of the death or burial.

Agreement now has been reached to continue the search at Sokhumi’s Glory Park, where the bodies and remains of 63 unknown individuals are buried. The ICRC recently sent DNA samples from this first batch of remains, exhumed by Argentine forensic scientists, to Zagreb, Croatia for comparison with DNA from families of the missing. Russia, which has troops stationed in Abkhazia, is not involved in the process.



Meanwhile, the families wait. “The exhumation process for many mothers is a starting process of non-acceptance to acceptance. The families need some sense of closure,” said Khatuna Logua, a psychologist at the ICRC office in Sokhumi.

Psychological counselling for these families, whether in Sokhumi or Georgian-controlled territory, has not been an official priority. “Some people don’t want to believe their relatives are dead,” said Logua. “You hear people talk of fantasies of secret prisons [containing the missing] on both sides.”

So far, noted Oshonidze and other Georgian parents, time has worked against identification efforts. Surviving family members of the missing have died or moved, taking with them vital information that could help identify bodies.

For Georgian pensioner Tristin Andriadze, whose son, Konstantin, went missing in October 1993, the only hope is that families on both sides will be given another chance to find their loved ones. “After so many years, it is likely they are dead, but, in my heart, I still have hope that something will be found; at least, where they were buried,” he said.

Saturday 28 September 2013

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67558

continue reading

Friday 27 September 2013

20 dead, many missing, as asylum-seeker boat sinks off Indonesia


At least 20 people, mostly children, drowned and scores are missing after an Australia-bound boat carrying Middle Eastern asylum-seekers sank off Indonesia, police said on Friday.

Twenty-five people were plucked to safety but about 75 were unaccounted for after the boat carrying people from Lebanon, Jordan and Yemen went down off the main Indonesian island of Java, police said.

It came just days before new Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visits Indonesia for talks likely to focus on his tough policies aimed at stemming the flow of asylum-seekers.

Warsono, a police official in Cianjur district on Java, said the bodies were discovered floating in an estuary on Friday morning.

"Local people found 20 dead bodies floating in the water, most of them are children," he said. "The number of deaths may increase."

"Local people said their boat had broken into several pieces," said the official, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, although he did not know when the accident happened.

A spokesman for the Indonesian search and rescue agency said that four of its boats, along with fishing boats, had earlier been searching for the missing.

The search had been called off when it got dark and would resume again on Saturday, he said.

Warsono said that the boat was believed to have been carrying 120 people when it went down and had been heading for the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

They had departed from the fishing town of Pelabuhan Ratu, in the district of Sukabumi, on the south coast of western Java, he said.

Hundreds of asylum-seekers from around the world have died in recent years trying to make the treacherous sea crossing from Indonesia to Australia on rickety, wooden boats.

They normally pay people-smugglers huge sums to make the crossings, and almost always head for Christmas Island, which is far closer to Indonesia than it is to the Australian mainland.

17 Lebanese dead

Lebanese officials in Jakarta said the boat carrying at least 80 people sunk earlier Friday, 12 hours by sea off the Indonesian coast on its way to Australia. The boat was said to be carrying migrants from different nationalities.

At least seventeen Lebanese including a number of children drowned on their way to Australia in a boat accident off the coast of Indonesia, a local official said Friday.

“I only have confirmation that 17 people have died on the boat,” Ali Hussein, mukhtar of the northern village of Qabeet, where the victims are from, told The Daily Star.

"We don't have any information as to how many Lebanese are on the ferry," the Lebanese embassy official said.

An Indonesian official said 20 bodies were found floating in the water, most of them children, and that 25 adults had so far been rescued from the boat alive, according to AFP.

The National News Agency published the names of some of the men, women and children who died on the ferry.

Among the victims were nine members from the family of a local man who the mukhtar identified as Hussein Ahmad Khodr.

President Michel Sleiman, who had just returned from New York after attending the United Nations General Assembly meeting, instructed officials to follow up on the incident and asked them to take the necessary measures, a statement from his office said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged officials at the Lebanese Embassy in Jakarta to coordinate with Indonesian authorities and uncover the circumstances surrounding it as well as determining the fate of the Lebanese travelers.

Residents of Qabeet are mourning the death of their relatives and most of them will not be able to provide their loved ones with proper burial, the local mukhtar said.

Hussein added that many from the Akkar village sell all of their belongings and property to make the trip to Indonesia and travel by sea to Australia “seeking a better life.”

“The situation is very difficult to deal with because bringing the bodies to the village will be very costly,” he added.

Hussein also said that he tried to convince many of the residents to look for an alternative given that traveling on a boat to Australia was very risky.

“They come to me to prepare their passport documents so they could travel to Indonesia ... I try to advise them but they want a better life for their families,” he said.

The village’s Imam Sheikh Ali Khodr, the cousin of the man whose family died in the incident, said his relative contacted him earlier Friday and told him about the accident.

“He told me that his eight children and wife drowned but authorities only retrieved the bodies of the mother and two of his daughters,” Khodr told The Daily Star.

“When he left with his family, we all started crying because we did not know when we would see them again,” he said.

The sheikh added that his cousin was among many residents of the village and surrounding areas who were “fooled” by what he described as mafias who prepare the visas to Indonesia and the boat trips to the Australian coast.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/20-dead-many-missing-as/828764.html

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Sep-27/232785-group-of-lebanese-drown-in-sea-near-indonesia-nna.ashx

continue reading

Mont Blanc climber finds £205,000 worth of Indian jewels believed to be from plane crash on glacier


It was an unexpected find for the young French alpinist as he approached the summit of Mont Blanc. Poking out of the ice and snow on the shoulder of western Europe's highest mountain was a metal box containing precious gems – including emeralds, rubies and sapphires – worth hundreds of thousands of euros that had lain hidden for about 50 years.

The precious stones, around 100 in total, were neatly packed into sachets, some marked with "Made in India". It soon became clear that the historic haul, which has since been valued by jewellers at up €246,000 (£205,000), had belonged to someone on one of two Air India flights that crashed in 1950 and 1966, killing a total of more than 100 people.

The climber carried the treasure down the mountain and straight to local police. The prefect's office is now contacting Indian authorities to see if it is possible to trace the owner or their relatives.

"You can say the climber who made this find is someone very honest," local gendarme chief Sylvain Merly said.

"He saw very well that what he had in his hands was something very valuable, realising straight away that it was precious stones that had been very carefully wrapped.

"He was a mountaineer, he knew the history of the two plane crashes here and realised that this find was likely linked to those crashes. "Maybe he didn't want to keep something that had belonged to someone who died. So he handed it in."

Merly said the find was made on the Bossons glacier, which had often spewed to the surface "all sorts of remnants" from the Air India crashes. These have included newspapers from the flights, letters, shoes, cables and fragments of the planes, or even human remains.

Last year, two climbers on the glacier discovered a well-preserved bag of Indian diplomatic mail neatly marked "Ministry of External Affairs" that had been on the Boeing 707 flight from Mumbai to New York that crashed near the summit of Mont Blanc on a January morning in 1966 .

That crash killed all 11 crew and 106 passengers, including the pioneer of India's nuclear programme, Homi Jehangir Bhaba. The plane hit the mountain just below the summit after its experienced pilot had radioed confirming everything was okay, and was expected to land at Geneva airport in Switzerland to refuel.

The cause of the crash was never fully established. The mail bag, found 46 years later by a mountain rescue worker and a fellow climber in 2012, was handed back to the Indian government.

In 1950, another Air India flight, a four-motor propeller plane, crashed near the same spot killing 48 passengers and crew as it was expected to land at Geneva.

The prefect's office of Savoie will now contact the Indian authorities to try to return the jewels to the family of the original owner. It is thought that the jewels are more likely to have come from the 1966 crash. The local French paper, the Dauphinรฉ Libรฉrรฉ reported that if an owner is not found, under French law, the jewels could be given back to the climber, who has not been named.

Mont Blanc, hailed as one of the world's most beautiful mountains, also has a deadly history of dangerous storms and fatal avalanches.

Arnaud Christmann, one of the men who found the diplomatic mail last year, warned it could spark a "gold rush".

He said he was worried inexperienced climbers might be tempted to try to seek their fortune on the glacier, which is easy to access but dangerous.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/mont-blanc-climber-indian-jewels

continue reading

Kenya shopping mall attack: UK forensic teams lend expertise to search through Westgate rubble


Britain, the US and Israel are among the five nations sending their own forensic experts to help search the rubble of the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi to find and identify the bodies of those killed.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack which began last Saturday, Prime Minister David Cameron phoned the Kenyan authorities to offer any assistance that Britain could provide.

That offer was accepted, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with a team of forensic experts arriving in Nairobi on 23 September.

The key focus of their role is to work with the British High Commissioner and ascertain the full extent of the UK casualties in the attack. The number of British people reported to have been killed has already been revised a number of times, between a low of three and a high of six, and could yet rise again.

The experts will also help with the work coroners in the UK need to do in carrying out necessary inquests, but their role is not exclusively in a British capacity.

Involvement in response to a number of recent disasters across the world means that the UK has some of the most experienced investigative teams for dealing with this kind of incident.

Karen Squibb-Williams, director of communication and in-house counsel for the Forensic Science Society, told the BBC: “The experts who have been sent to Kenya will most probably be crime scene managers who are used to attending scenes of major homicides on a regular basis.

“In the wake of the experience of 9/11, and to some extent as a result of the 7/7 bombing in London, the UK has developed considerable skills in assisting with violent incidents.

“In particular we played an enormous part in helping with the aftermath of identification challenges after the tsunami.”

She said the UK police and forensic scientists working in tandem now have a “very strong capability” in what is known as disaster victim identification.

“This could include setting up temporary mortuaries and, if necessary accessing dental records as well as, where appropriate, having effective processes to access information efficiently,” she added.

“DNA analysis is also, of course, a forensic field in which the UK has a particularly strong reputation for capability and innovation.”

Part of the Westgate mall collapsed towards the end of the four-day siege following last Saturday's attack, burying bodies and slowing investigations, although experts have started work even while the army continues to comb the building for further explosives.

Officials say the death toll of 61 civilians, six members of the security forces and five militants is unlikely to rise much further, although some of the attackers’ bodies may still be buried.

However, the Red Cross has said there were still 71 people listed as missing.

Kenya’s chief pathologist, Johansen Oduor, said his team was removing bullets and shrapnel from victims to find out exactly how they were killed, then handing them over to police as evidence.

‘‘A lot of them died from bullet wounds - the body, the head, all over,’’ he said.

‘‘Some also died from grenades, shrapnel.’’

He refused to reveal how many bodies were in the morgue but said he was told to expect more - though he would not say how many.

It was the largest terrorist attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the United States Embassy, and FBI agents were dispatched to do fingerprint, DNA and ballistic analysis on the bodies. They were joined by investigators from Britain, Germany and Canada.

As the investigation continued into the mall attack, FBI agents from New York City, including members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, bomb squad technicians and evidence recovery specialists arrived in Nairobi, a US law enforcement official confirmed.

The international investigation is being coordinated by Interpol, which sent an incident response team that arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday, the Kenyan government said.

The Interpol team includes disaster victim identification and data specialists who will carry out real-time comparisons of evidence collected inside the mall against the France-based agency’s database on DNA and fingerprints from its 190-member country network, said Interpol official Jean-Michel Louboutin.

‘‘Whether it be through comparison of information against Interpol’s global databases, or the issuance of a notice to identify a victim, locate a wanted person, or seek additional information about suspects, we will offer all necessary assistance to help bring those responsible to justice,’’ Louboutin said in a statement.

Teams with sniffer dogs entered the bullet-riddled mall, apparently to check for explosives and victims buried under the rubble of a collapsed part of the building.

Forensic teams could take at least a week to gather evidence, Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said. "The army told us we would get access to the bodies yesterday, but then said it was too dangerous," a Red Cross official said.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/kenya-shopping-mall-attack-uk-forensic-teams-lend-expertise-to-search-through-westgate-rubble-8843660.html

http://www.theage.com.au/world/kenya-attack-victims-relatives-frustrated-20130927-2ui0p.html

continue reading

Pacific Southwest Airlines' Flight 182 disaster marks 35th anniversary


Wednesday marked 35 years since 144 people lost their lives in the PSA Flight 182 disaster.

While flying over San Diego in 1978, Pacific Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 727 collided with a Cessna mid-air.

The planes crashed in San Diego's North Park area, killing 135 people onboard the Boeing, two men on the Cessna and seven people on the ground. A total of 22 surrounding homes were destroyed or damaged.

To commemorate the victims of the plane crash, San Diegans gathered on Wednesday around noon near the crash site at Dwight and Nile Streets. They set up a makeshift memorial with candles, flowers, newspaper clippings from 1978 and pictures of the victims.

Their names were etched in chalk along the sidewalk.

The PSA Flight 182 crash is still the deadliest aircraft disaster in California’s history.

Friday 27 September 2013

Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/PSA-Flight-182-Disaster-35-Years-Later-225252592.html

continue reading

Death toll rises to 356 in quake-hit Balochistan, rescue plagued by militant attacks


The death toll from a massive earthquake that jolted southwest Pakistan rose to 356 on Thursday, with officials saying that thousands have been left homeless and about 300,000 people had been affected in remote parts of Balochistan province.

The 7.7-magnitude quake struck Tuesday afternoon in the province, toppling thousands of mud-built homes as it spread havoc through Awaran and Kech districts and the southwestern parts of the country.

At least 356 people have been confirmed dead and 619 others wounded, according to Balochistan government spokesperson Mohammad Jan Buledi.

Buledi told Dawn.com that six more bodies of earthquake victims were retrieved from Awaran district of Balochistan on Thursday.

He added that communications systems in the sparsely populated province were badly affected as a result of the earthquake and that rescue workers were facing difficulties in reaching survivors in remote areas of the province.

"I fear there may be more bodies buried under the rubble," Buledi further said.

However, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it would use its own available resources for the rescue and relief, despite offers for help by the United Nations agencies, international donors and some countries.

“We have enough resources to cope with the situation that has emerged after the earthquake in Awaran and Kech, although international donors and some friendly countries have also offered their cooperation,” NDMA Chairman Maj Gen Mohammad Saeed Aleem said.

Over the next several days, survivors and rescue workers will experience dry conditions with light winds. However, temperatures during the middle of the day will be near 100, possibly causing issues with dehydration and heat stress for both rescuers and those affected by the earthquake.

The death toll is expected to increase along with reports of damaged and destroyed buildings throughout the region as the rescue efforts continue. Authorities estimate that 21,000 houses have been destroyed.

Pakistan appeals to militants over earthquake

Officials in Pakistan have made an appeal to separatist militant groups in the south-western province affected by the deadly earthquake to halt attacks.

A spokesman for the Balochistan regional government said insurgent attacks were hampering rescue and relief efforts in some districts.

At least 348 people died and hundreds were injured when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit the region on Tuesday.

Rescue teams are still trying to reach affected areas.

The government said that official rescue teams have not been able to reach many affected areas because of poor road networks, says the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani, in Quetta.

Officials estimate that about 300,000 people in six districts have been affected by the earthquake. Survivors need more provisions like food and water and there is also a lack of doctors and medical supplies.

Pakistan's official paramilitary force, the Frontier Corps, has been leading rescue and relief operations.

It already had thousands of soldiers deployed in the area because it is fighting a long-running separatist insurgency by Baloch nationalist rebels.

On Thursday an army helicopter carrying the head of Pakistan's national disaster agency, Maj Gen Alam Saeed, escaped a rocket attack, reports say.

Later, members of the Frontier Corps also came under fire in Awaran, the district worst affected by the quake.

The force stands accused of enforced disappearances and rights abuses in the impoverished and lawless province.

Western aid workers and international charity groups have long been discouraged from working in Balochistan - Pakistan's largest but least populated province.

The quake occurred at a depth of 20km (13 miles) north-east of Awaran, the US Geological Survey said. Many houses were flattened, forcing thousands of people to spend nights in the open.

Awaran is considered a hotbed of the separatist movement and is also the home of a leading separatist militant, correspondents say.

Tuesday's quake was so powerful it was felt as far away as India's capital, Delhi, and Dubai.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24294266

http://dawn.com/news/1045322/death-toll-rises-to-356-in-quake-hit-balochistan

continue reading

Somaliland: National Massacre Investigations Committee appeals for support


Citizens have been asked to deter from establishing homesteads or settling in known sites of mass graves anywhere in the country.

According to the National Massacre Investigations Committee-NMIC the encroachment on mass grave sites is a major encumbrances to national efforts geared towards chronicling the sites which is the committee's main mandate.

At a press conference held at the NMIC headquarters in Hargeisa the committee's Chairperson Kadar Ahmed Lekey urged regional and local authorities to help protect the mass graves sites in their areas by deterring encroachment.

The National Massacre Investigations Committee is the body mandated with investigating sands unearthing crimes against humanity committed during the reign of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre especially in the 1980's when over 50,000 somalilanders were butchered and a majority haphazardly buried in Mass graves.

"If the current trend of settling in known mass graves sites observed by NMIC is not reversed then the only evidence of Barre's crimes against humanity shall be minimal thus difficult to pursue prosecution of perpetrators wherever they are" said Lekey.

On the issue of expanding the committee's activities nationwide Mr. Lekey who informed that only the headquarters in the capital city Hargeisa is currently operational said, "We are in the process of establishing regional offices once budgetary constraints are overcome"

While urging concerted efforts by all somalilanders towards preserving the mass graves the NMIC also appealed for support especially regards to suspected sites of mass graves.

In 2012 an exercise to unearth mass graves in the country jointly undertaken by the The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team – EPAF and the Somaliland National Massacre Investigations Committee-NMIC the revealed the existence of over 200 mass graves officially recorded thence target for subsequent exhumations that saw the EPAF mission manage only a few within Hargeisa and Gabile regions.

While informing that most of the mass graves documented has a minimum of 12 corpses the national Massacre investigations committee, which is supported the EPAF gave the following breakdown of mass graves so far identified:

I. Hargeisa (Maroodi-Jeeh region) - 200 mass graves

II. Berbera (Sahil region) - 12 mass graves

III. Burao (Toghdeer region) - 8 mass graves

IV. Sheikh (Sahil region) - 1 mass grave

V. Erigavo (Sanaag region) - 2 mass graves

VI. Arabsiyo (Gabile region) - 1 mass grave

The joint EPAF and NMIC exhumations result from the enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, torture and other human rights violations perpetrated during the reign of dictator Siad Barre whose underlings are credited with the over 60,000 deaths and hundreds of unexplained disappearances

One of the main perpetrators in this case is General Mohamed Ali Samatar, who was Vice President and Defense Minister of the Democratic Republic of Somalia from 1980 to 1986. In January 1987, Samatar took over as Prime Minister of Somalia, until the fall of Barre dictatorship in 1990.

The Peruvian Forensic Team-EPAF which also trained local forensic personnel and college students of biomedical sciences in order to avail of the country relevant forensic expertise is a non-profit organization that promotes the right to truth, justice, and guarantees of non-repetition in cases of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. EPAF seeks to contribute to the consolidation of peace and democracy where grave human rights violations have taken place by working alongside the families of the disappeared to find their loved ones, gain access to justice, and improve the conditions affecting their political and economic development.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://somalilandsun.com/index.php/politics/government/3848-somaliland-national-massacre-investigations-committee-appeals-for-support

continue reading

Up to 70 feared trapped in Mumbai building collapse


A five-storey residential building collapsed in Mumbai at daybreak on Friday in the latest accident in India's financial capital, with up to 70 feared trapped inside.

Crowds formed around the rubble of the completely flattened block, owned by the city's civic administrative body the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, in the east of the city.

"My son is inside. I'm waiting for them to get him out," distraught 62-year-old retiree Mithi Solakani told AFP as rescue workers scrambled over tonnes of debris.

Several diggers were pressed into action to lift some of the larger slabs of concrete, allowing teams of rescuers to begin the grim task of taking out bodies.

One was removed covered in dark red cloth and carried to a waiting ambulance on a stretcher. Crowds of women waiting nearby could be heard sobbing.

Local people estimated between 40-60 people lived in the destroyed block, while the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said preliminary information indicated 22 families were housed there.

"We think up to 70 people are trapped," Alok Avasthy from the NDMA told AFP at the scene.

Local city administrator Manisha Mahiskar had earlier put the number of missing much lower, at around 20.

Seven people had been pulled out alive, she said.

Five other apartment blocks have collapsed in or close to Mumbai in recent months, including one in April that killed 74 people.

They have highlighted poor quality construction and violations of the building code, caused by massive demand for housing and endemic corruption.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130927/70-feared-trapped-mumbai-building-collapse

continue reading

19 killed in bus accident in Sirmaur district of Himachal


Nineteen people were killed and another critically injured when a bus rolled down a 600-feet deep gorge near Ransua-Jabrog village in Sirmaur district on Friday morning.

The bus with 20 passengers on board was on its way from Uchha Takkar to Renuka when the mishap occurred.The bus broke into pieces and some of the bodies recovered from the wreckage were mutilated beyond recognition.

While 18 persons died on the spot, an injured person succumbed to his injuries in Dadhau hospital, Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner, Vikas Labroo said from the spot.

Bodies of all the 18 persons have been recovered from the gorge and a critically injured passenger has been rushed to a hospital at Dadahu.

The bodies were brought to roadside by rescue teams led by SDM, Sangrah, Harish Negi and local people and sent for post-mortem.

Search operations were hampered as some of the bodies were covered under thick grass and the slopes had become slippery due to rains.

The bodies are being identified but almost all the victims hail from Uchha Takkar, Ransua-Jabrog and surrounding villages.

Himachal governor Urmilla Singh, chief minister Virbhadra Singh, transport minister G S Bali and former Speaker Ganguram Musafir expressed grief over tragedy and conveyed their condolences to bereaved families. SHIMLA: Nineteen people were killed and another critically injured when a bus rolled down a 600-feet deep gorge near Ransua-Jabrog village in Sirmaur district on Friday morning.

The bus with 20 passengers on board was on its way from Uchha Takkar to Renuka when the mishap occurred.The bus broke into pieces and some of the bodies recovered from the wreckage were mutilated beyond recognition.

While 18 persons died on the spot, an injured person succumbed to his injuries in Dadhau hospital, Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner, Vikas Labroo said from the spot.

Bodies of all the 18 persons have been recovered from the gorge and a critically injured passenger has been rushed to a hospital at Dadahu.

The bodies were brought to roadside by rescue teams led by SDM, Sangrah, Harish Negi and local people and sent for post-mortem.

Search operations were hampered as some of the bodies were covered under thick grass and the slopes had become slippery due to rains.

The bodies are being identified but almost all the victims hail from Uchha Takkar, Ransua-Jabrog and surrounding villages.

Himachal governor Urmilla Singh, chief minister Virbhadra Singh, transport minister G S Bali and former Speaker Ganguram Musafir expressed grief over tragedy and conveyed their condolences to bereaved families.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/19-killed-in-bus-accident-in-Sirmaur-district-of-Himachal/articleshow/23144914.cms

continue reading

13 drown, seven missing in Rukwa boat accident


At least 13 people drowned and seven others are missing after a boat they were sailing in capsized near Kasere Village in Kalambo District, Rukwa Region, on Lake Tanganyika on Wednesday, police said.

The Rukwa Regional Police Commander (RPC), Mr Jacob Mwaruanda, said the boat had 30 passengers and only 10 survived after they either managed to swim to the shore or rescued. “We have launched a manhunt for the pilot of the ill-fated boat, one Lazaro Sikapote (26).

“He is alleged to have overloaded the boat. He is among those who swum to the shore,” the RPC told the ‘Daily News’ from the scene of the accident.

Mr Mwaruanda said the boat is owned by Mr Jestars Sikazwa and had the capacity to carry 25 passengers only, but had 30 passengers on the material day.

“Both the boat pilot and the owner disappeared after the accident, but we are still hunting them for causing the accident and operating the boat without registration,” he said. Mr Mwaruanda said two out of the 11 bodies, were of women.

The rest were children aged between two and five years old. He said they were travelling from Kasere to Kipwa. “They are believed to have been mothers who were taking their children to a clinic at Kipwa village for vaccination because Kapere village has no clinic,” said the RPC.

Mr Mwaruanda pointed out that the people had to use boats or canoes because there is no other way to reach Kipwa village other than using boats or canoes.

The deceased’s bodies were handed over to their families yesterday morning at Kasere village.

According to the RPC, the rescue exercise, jointly carried out by the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) and the Police Force was still going on.

Friday 27 September 2013

http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/22769-13-drown-seven-missing-in-rukwa-boat-accident

continue reading

Thursday 26 September 2013

Update Costa Concordia: Divers discover human remains in shipwreck


Divers have discovered what they believe to be two bodies amid the wreckage of the Costa Concordia.

A 19-hour salvage operation began to upright the wreckage last week after the ship struck rocks on 13 January 2012, capsizing and killing 32 people.

Bodies of two of the dead were never retrieved from the vessel, which lay submerged on it's side for 20 months. The side of the ship is badly smashed in after taking the impact of the crash.

Specialised police divers were going into the sea to remove the remains, which will be examined by forensic experts on the mainland in Tuscany.

Four thousand holidaymakers and crew were aboard when it was steered into rocks after coming dangerously close to the rocky coast of Giglio, Italy.

Ship Captain Francesco Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship before the cruise liner's passengers and crew could be evacuated.

Schettino is now the only person currently standing trial over the tragedy in Italy and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The head of the civil protection agency Franco Gabrielli told reporters the remains were “absolutely consistent” with the two missing people, an Indian man and an Italian woman.

The remains were spotted in the sea near the central part of the ship, where survivors had said the two were last seen.

However, their identities can only be definitively confirmed after DNA testing is conducted.

Now the ship is resting upright and sitting upon a man made platform on the seabed, it is expected to be towed away from the Italian island in early 2014.

Thursday 26 September 2013

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/costa-concordia-divers-discover-human-remains-in-shipwreck-8841847.html

continue reading

Remains found on Costa Concordia


Human remains have been found on the wrecked Costa Concordia, possibly answering what happened to the last two missing passengers of the cruise liner that ran aground off Italy's Giglio Island in 2012, a spokesman for the head of Italy's civil protection agency said Thursday.

Divers will try to recover the remains, which were found on deck 4, on Thursday afternoon, the spokesman said.

During a search in the water near the central part of the ship, coast guard and police divers found remains which still have to be identified with DNA," Italy's civil protection agency said in a statement on Thursday.

An Indian waiter, Russel Rebello, and Italian passenger Maria Grazia Trecarichi were reported missing, presumed dead, after the disaster.

Civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli told reporters on Giglio that relatives of the two were notified after divers saw remains on Thursday morning, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The remains were spotted in the sea near the central part of the ship, where survivors had said the two were last seen, the agency adds.

The discovery comes a week after engineers finally righted the ship, which capsized when it ran aground in January 2012, killing 32 of the 4,200 people on board.

The toll of 32 includes two people whose bodies have yet to be recovered: Russel Rebello of India and Maria Grazia Trecarichi of Sicily.

Thursday 26 September 2013

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/26/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia-remains/?hpt=hp_t2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24286183

continue reading

BiH: Remains of 13 bodies found near Visegrad


The remains of 13 bodies, most likely Bosnian civilians killed in 1992, were exhumed from secondary mass graves at the site Hrtar, near Visegrad.

Spokeswoman for the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lejla Cengic, said that with the remains documents of two persons were found – Sahman Kadric and Suljo Vila.

“Parts of their skeletons were found in the mass graves Kurtalici 12 years ago and Perucac 3 years ago. This is a secondary mass grave that is most probably moved from the primary site Kurtalici,” said Cengic.

According to her, large number of bullet casings was found in the graves.

After the exhumation the remains were transported to the Center for autopsy and identification Gorazde. The exhumation was led by Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

< Thursday 26 September 2013

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/09/bih-remains-of-13-bodies-found-near-visegrad/

continue reading

700 may be dead in Pakistan earthquake, doctors warn


Up to 700 people may have been killed in an earthquake which destroyed thousands of homes and wiped out entire villages in a remote province in Pakistan, doctors have warned.

The doctor in charge of the largest hospital close to the epicentre in Balochistan province told The Daily Telegraph his staff were working in chaotic conditions and with poor facilities to save lives but many victims remain stranded in remote villages beyond the reach of the rescue services.

"It's a complete chaos here at the hospital. And we do not have 4x4 ambulances, so its really tough to reach out to the affected areas, to bring the injured or even the dead bodies to the hospital," said Dr. Noor Baksh Bizenjo, medical superintendent of the district hospital in Arawan.

He was speaking as Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed the official death toll had reached 328, with 445 injured being treated at medical facilities, 190 of whom are in a critical condition.




Brigadier Mirza Kamran Zia, director of the MDMA, said it would be three days before rescue specialists were able to reach all the affected areas and assess the full scale of the destruction. Army rescue units are trying to cover 8,000 square miles of one of Pakistan's most remote regions, while satellite and other images will locate the worst hit areas.

"We just can't say how many homes were destroyed. Most of the homes were very small mud houses. In some areas entire villages of a 100 or 200 houses have been razed to the ground. Telecommunications have suffered pretty badly," he said.

The earthquake was of greater magnitude – 7.8 – than the 2005 quake which killed 100,000 people and displaced 3.5 million from their homes along Pakistan's North West frontier and into India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

The first tremors were felt at 4.29pm on Tuesday and caused buildings to shake in Karachi, the Baloch capital Quetta, towns throughout Balochistan and Sindhi and as far away as New Delhi and Dubai. In both Karachi and Ahmedabad in India's Gujarat state office, workers fled buildings in panic.

Casualties are expected to be far fewer than in 2005 because the affected area is remote and sparsely populated with little infrastructure. Officials expect the final number of injured and displaced to be thousands.

Many of them are being treated in small hospitals and clinics in Balochistan's Awaran, Kech and Panchgur districts. An emergency was declared in each of them and in a further three neighbouring districts.

Officials said 30 per cent of homes in Awaran district had been destroyed, but some districts had lost 90 per cent of their buildings.

Pictures and video taken with mobile phones were broadcast on Pakistan's television channels showing lifeless children laid out on the back of a truck, homes reduced to mud bricks and dust blowing in the wind.

Survivors at Arawan's district hospital said they had left people trapped in the rubble of their homes.

"We fear there are people still trapped under the rubble", one resident, Rehmatullah Muhammad Hassani, told Dawn newspaper.

He added that authorities had yet to launch an effective rescue operation to retrieve people stuck under the rubble and that there were too few doctors or surgical facilities to treat those injured.

"There is nothing, patients are dying ... There are no doctors and paramedics," he said.

Villagers in Dalbedi were found by the AFP news agency desperately digging through the rubble with their hands to recover their possessions.

"We have lost everything, even our food is now buried under mud and water from underground channels is now undrinkable because of excessive mud in it due to the earthquake," Noor Ahmed, a 45-year-old farmer, said.

Sayed Essa Nori, a Balochistan member of the National Assembly said the full scale of the Disaster had yet to emerge.

"We are having difficulty reaching all the affected areas. Most of the destruction has happened in far-flung villages in the border area, where there are hundreds still missing, with many villages completely destroyed. Many of the injured already being treated are in critical condition.

Thursday 26 September 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10334538/700-may-be-dead-in-Pakistan-earthquake-doctors-warn.html

continue reading

NASA's New FINDER Scans for Breathing Bodies in Disaster Rubble


NASA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are collaborating on a first-of-its-kind portable radar device to detect the heartbeats and breathing patterns of victims trapped in large piles of rubble resulting from a disaster.

The prototype technology, called Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response (FINDER) can locate individuals buried as deep as 30 feet (about 9 meters) in crushed materials, hidden behind 20 feet (about 6 meters) of solid concrete, and from a distance of 100 feet (about 30 meters) in open spaces.

Developed in conjunction with Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, FINDER is based on remote-sensing radar technology developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to monitor the location of spacecraft JPL manages for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

"FINDER is bringing NASA technology that explores other planets to the effort to save lives on ours," said Mason Peck, chief technologist for NASA and principal advisor on technology policy and programs. "This is a prime example of intergovernmental collaboration and expertise that has a direct benefit to the American taxpayer."

The technology was demonstrated to the media today at the DHS's Virginia Task Force 1 Training Facility in Lorton, Va. Media participated in demonstrations that featured the device locating volunteers hiding under heaps of debris. FINDER also will be tested further by the Federal Emergency Management Agency this year and next.

"The ultimate goal of FINDER is to help emergency responders efficiently rescue victims of disasters," said John Price, program manager for the First Responders Group in Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate in Washington. "The technology has the potential to quickly identify the presence of living victims, allowing rescue workers to more precisely deploy their limited resources."

The technology works by beaming microwave radar signals into the piles of debris and analyzing the patterns of signals that bounce back. NASA's Deep Space Network regularly uses similar radar technology to locate spacecraft. A light wave is sent to a spacecraft, and the time it takes for the signal to get back reveals how far away the spacecraft is. This technique is used for science research, too. For example, the Deep Space Network monitors the location of the Cassini mission's orbit around Saturn to learn about the ringed planet's internal structure.

"Detecting small motions from the victim's heartbeat and breathing from a distance uses the same kind of signal processing as detecting the small changes in motion of spacecraft like Cassini as it orbits Saturn," said James Lux, task manager for FINDER at JPL.

In disaster scenarios, the use of radar signals can be particularly complex. Earthquakes and tornadoes produce twisted and shattered wreckage, such that any radar signals bouncing back from these piles are tangled and hard to decipher. JPL's expertise in data processing helped with this challenge. Advanced algorithms isolate the tiny signals from a person's moving chest by filtering out other signals, such as those from moving trees and animals.

Similar technology has potential applications in NASA's future human missions to space habitats. The astronauts' vital signs could be monitored without the need for wires.

The Deep Space Network, managed by JPL, is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions.

Thursday 26 September 2013

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-290

continue reading