Thursday 31 October 2013

Laos recovers crashed plane black boxes


Search teams on Thursday recovered the flight data recorders of a Lao Airlines plane that plunged into the Mekong River in bad weather killing all 49 people on board, officials said.

The black boxes, which include both voice and data recordings, were found early Thursday as part of efforts to recover parts of the stricken craft from the river's fast-flowing waters, according to Yakua Lopankao, director general of Laos' Department of Civil Aviation.

"It has not yet been decided where to send them to be examined, it is up to the air accident investigation committee," he said of the operation, which has been assisted by experts from the French aviation safety agency BEA.

The Lao Airlines turboprop ATR-72 plummeted into the Mekong as it went to land in the southern town of Pakse on October 16 in the country's worst air disaster.

More than half of the 49 passengers and crew were foreigners from some 10 countries.

So far 47 bodies have been recovered, some many kilometres downstream from the crash site as rescuers battled strong currents along the swollen river.

So far, at least 43 of the victims have been identified, according to a Lao Airlines statement on Wednesday.

"Our efforts remain focused on caring for the bereaved families of the victims and doing what we can to alleviate the trauma they are suffering and assist them as much as possible at this difficult time," it said.

The carrier has said the aircraft hit "extreme" bad weather, while witnesses described seeing the plane buffeted by strong winds before plummeting into the Mekong.

According to a passenger list released by the airline, there were 16 Laotians, seven French travellers, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, two Vietnamese, and one national each from the United States, Canada, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.

There were also five crew, including the Cambodian captain.

Founded in 1976, Lao Airlines serves domestic airports and destinations in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Impoverished Laos, a one-party communist state, has seen 29 fatal air accidents since the 1950s, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

Previously the country's worst air disaster was in 1954, when 47 people died in an Air Vietnam crash near Pakse, the organisation said.

Thursday 31 October 2013

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Regional/2013/10/31/Laos-recovers-crashed-plane-black-boxes.aspx

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Bodies of 92 migrants who died of thirst found in Niger desert (update)


The bodies of 92 migrants, most of them women and children, have been found in northern Niger after their vehicles broke down attempting to cross the vast Sahara desert, authorities said today.

The migrants had set off in two trucks from the uranium mining town of Arlit in northern Niger towards Tamanrasset in Algeria in mid-October, officials said.

After one of the trucks broke down, the second turned back to find help but found itself stranded and the passengers attempted to make it back by foot.

The mayor of Arlit, Maouli Abdouramane, said 92 bodies had been recovered after days of searching - 52 children, 33 women and seven men.

“The search is still going on,” Mr Abdouramane told Reuters by telephone. He said the victims were all from Niger but their final destination was unclear.

A military officer said about 20 people survived the ordeal. Five of those walked for dozens of kilometres across the burning desert back to Arlit to inform authorities.

The bodies were strewn across the desert over a large distance, to within 20 km of the border with Algeria, a second military source said.

The death toll rose after Reuters reported on Tuesday that 10 people died and 50 were missing after the incident.

Most of the people who use the perilous route across the dunes are young African men in search of work in Europe or north Africa, raising questions about the purpose of the doomed convoy of women and children. Many people leave the underdeveloped north of Niger, ranked by the United Nations as the least developed country on earth, each year in search of work.

The trafficking networks which send trucks across the desert from northern Niger to north Africa attract scores of migrants from across West Africa, even from booming economies such as Ghana, dreaming of a more prosperous life in Europe.

More than 32,000 migrants have arrived in southern Europe from Africa so far this year although it was not known if that was the intended destination for this group. While a crackdown by Spanish authorities has largely closed a route from the West African route to the Canary Islands, many migrants seek to make the Mediterranean crossing from north Africa to southern Europe, many of them losing their lives.

Two separate incidents in southern Italy this month underscored the dangers involved when 366 Eritrean migrants drowned in one disaster and about 200 were missing after another boat sank just over a week later.

Thursday 31 October 2013

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/bodies-of-92-migrants-who-died-of-thirst-found-in-niger-desert-1.1579153

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Finding the millions of missing people across the world


The International Commission on Missing Persons is hosting a three day conference called “The Missing – an Agenda for the Future” at the Hague.

The core strategy of the conference is to set out a road map for how the issue of missing people will be addressed in the future. It will look at global initiatives to find missing people and how better to understand the magnitude of the problem.

The Commission was established at the G7 Summit in Lyon, France in 1996 at the request of President Bill Clinton in the aftermath of the war in the Balkans. Its primary role is to ensure the cooperation of governments in locating or identifying those who have disappeared.

The ICMP provides logistical support to the government in the exhumation of mass graves and the identification of bodies using state of the art DNA techniques in the countries of former Yugoslavia.

It has also provided evidence to the domestic and international courts that heard war crimes cases.

In the aftermath of the Bosnian war, around 40,000 people were missing. Because of the work of the Commission which is based in Sarajevo 70 percent were identified. There can be no precise figures for missing persons across the world.

According to estimates anything between 250,000 and one million are missing in Iraq, 50,000 in Syria and at least 26,000 in the Mexico drug wars.

Statistics show how modern conflicts affect civilians. Before the First World War the ratio of casualties – including those who go missing – was seven combatants to one civilian. Now the balance has shifted dramatically. The ratio is one combatant to nine civilians.

The most glaring example of that is the war in Iraq where it is the civilians who are paying the heaviest price. The invasion of Iraq which was ten years ago caused one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world. The work to locate the missing in Iraq remains daunting.

Natural disasters like the tsunami in Japan are also in the focus of the work of the ICMP. The organisation hopes ways will be found to ensure an international mechanism is available that can provide a structured and sustainable response to all missing persons cases in rich and poor countries alike.

Euronews interviewed Queen Noor of Jordan, who is a commissioner with the International Commission on Missing Persons.

Paul McDowell, euronews: “The title of the conference is ‘The Missing – an Agenda for the Future’. Tell me how difficult is it to look to the future because the causes that have created these problems are so many – whether it is armed conflict, violation of human rights or natural disasters.”

Queen Noor of Jordan: “We are the only organisation in the world that is dealing with missing persons cases in all their dimensions, no matter what the circumstances. And this conference in The Hague is one that we’ve brought together for the first time ever – experts and policy makers – concerning the issue of missing persons and all of the different dimensions of this problem, again regardless of circumstances.”

euronews: “I get the sense that the real difficulty is to prioritise – where and who are in most urgent need of assistance. How will you approach that?”

Queen Noor of Jordan: “ICMP has developed the largest, most efficient and cost effective human identification laboratory system in the world that we have used in the Balkans, and that we have been able to demonstrate that it is possible to account for the missing from those kinds of extraordinarily complex and vicious genocides and abuses of human rights. Our experience there is informing our approach to countries like Libya and Iraq, which we’re working in today. Syria, where we’ve been approached by transitional justice groups, to try to help them begin to plan for post-conflict, and how they might address what are estimated to be about 50,000 people…. 17,000 from the previous regimes, and about 30,000 who have gone missing in this current conflict. One of the ways that we’re talking with them about what we might be able to do in this period now, is perhaps try to collect data – genetic data as well possibly – from those who have been displaced outside the country in camps in Turkey and Jordan and Lebanon, in Iraq and Egypt and elsewhere… try to pull together as much data as possible, which helps us prepare to be able to set into motion the kind of operation that we have been able to achieve such great, unprecedented results with in the western Balkans, in a country like Syria.”

euronews: “Finally, it is difficult to get a concept of those huge figures, but perhaps a couple of high-profile cases recently have really hit home – and that is the cases of missing children that have been in the news. How much of your work in the future will focus on missing children?”

Queen Noor of Jordan: “Women and children form a majority – if you will – of the cases we’ve had to address of missing persons in various parts of the world. In terms of the kinds of cases that you’re discussing, we haven’t yet developed a framework for handling individual cases in specific countries. We’ve been working on a much larger scale. But we do believe that our DNA identification system, that our work with different governments and international organisations – to develop legal frameworks and institutional and even community frameworks for looking at these problems, and trying to draw in as many people as possible to solve a problem – will apply to individual missing children cases as well as to larger scale problems.”

Thursday 31 October 2013

http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/30/finding-the-millions-of-missing-people-across-the-world/

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Lebanese child boat victim identified


The body of a child from the northern city of Akkar has been identified among the victims from the tragic boat accident last month in Indonesia, the National News Agency reported Wednesday.

The body of Ibrahim al-Mahmoud was identified through DNA testing, the Lebanese Charges d’Affaires in Jakarta informed Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, the state-run agency said.

His body will be returned to Lebanon with 33 other victims that have been identified using DNA analysis.

A boat carrying around 80 migrants trying to illegally cross from Indonesia to Australia foundered off the Indonesian coast last month killing over 30 people. Only 18 survived and have returned to Lebanon.

Last week the NNA reported that the bodies of 33 Lebanese who drowned of the Indonesian coast had been identified following DNA analysis, adding that two Lebanese, a man and child, were still missing.

The bodies of the 34 victims will arrive at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri’s International Airport Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

Most of the Lebanese victims hailed from the underdeveloped area of north Lebanon and mainly from the Akkar village of Qabeet.

Thursday 31 October 2013

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Oct-30/236270-lebanese-child-identified-among-indonesia-boat-victims.ashx

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Families of Andhra bus accident victims asked to give samples for DNA test


Families of victims of the Mahbubnagar bus accident have been asked to submit samples for DNA testing at the Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) in Hyderabad.

The charred remains of those who died in the bus accident will be handed over to their families only after the DNA test is conducted.

The families and relatives can contact 040-23307138 for the purpose of giving samples for DNA test. Mahbubnagar district collector M Girja Shankar said that out of the 44 dead bodies, four were identified and handed over to the relatives.

The collector said the remaining 40 bodies were shifted to the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad after completing the postmortem and DNA test.

He advised the relatives of the deceased to go to the AP Forensic Science Laboratory at Red Hills in Hyderabad on Thursday morning with two passport size photographs of the deceased.

He said DNA tests will be conducted on the blood relatives of the victims on Thursday. Only after the DNA tests are completed, the bodies will be handed over to the family.

The collector said that deceased belonged to Karnataka, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh apart from Andhra Pradesh.

With all the bodies charred beyond recognition, it was a tough task for family members and relatives who rushed to the accident spot with the hope that they would be able to identify their near ones.

According to forensic experts it will take another two days to identify all the dead bodies through the DNA test.

A teams of doctors conducted postmortem on all the 44 bodies at the spot.

Fifty-two people, including 50 passengers, were travelling in the Volvo bus when the tragedy struck.

Thursday 31 October 2013

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/others/DNA-tests-to-identify-charred-bodies/articleshow/24948755.cms

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Wednesday 30 October 2013

21 perish in Chisumbanje road accident


Twenty-one people have been killed in a road accident at the 20 kilometre-peg along the Tanganda-Chisumbanje road towards Middle Sabi. Most of the most of the dead were burnt beyond recognition.

Witnesses said a T35 truck which was carrying mourners to Manzvire Village in Chisumbanje side-swiped an ethanol tanker resulting in it exploding and burning most of the victims.

When a news crew arrived at the scene, charred bodies were still scattered on the road while other bodies were trapped under the wreckage of the truck. Police spokesperson Charity Charamba said investigations are under way as to determine the cause of the accident.

Meanwhile Greenfuel who own the ethanol tanker that was involved in the accident has issued a condolence message to the deceased familes.

“Green Fuel joins the Chisumbanje community, the nation at large and most importantly the families of the deceased, in mourning the lives tragically lost in a road accident which occurred today in Chipinge South, along the Tanganda –Chiredzi highway near Checheche.

As we come to terms with the devastating aftermath of this tragedy, we convey our sincere heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased.”

Wednesday 30 October 2013

http://nehandaradio.com/2013/10/30/21-perish-in-chisumbanje-road-accident/

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DNA camp for kin of people missing in Uttarakhand


The state government plans to hold a DNA sampling camp for relatives of the 165 residents of the state who went missing in the flash flood in Uttarakhand this monsoon, indicated rehabilitation minister Patangrao Kadam on Tuesday.

The move is aimed at facilitating disbursal of compensation to relatives of the dead. It may be extended to people from other states upon request. "When the bodies are recovered, their DNA samples are taken. We have also decided to take DNA samples of the relatives of those missing," a Mantralaya official said.

The state and the centre have already announced a monetary compensation to the families of the victims who had been to Uttarakhand as pilgrims at the time of the tragedy.

According to officials the DNA sampling would then help in not only identifying and confirming the relationship but will also help people in officially knowing the status (whether dead or alive) of the missing relative.

There are many people from the state who are still in touch with the state's disaster management and rehabilitation department to know whereabouts of their relatives who have gone missing after the tragedy.

Officials said DNA matching, the facility which is available in Mumbai alone, formed a legal and scientific proof in deciding those who would then be able to accept the compensation as a heir of the dead.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/DNA-camp-for-kin-of-people-missing-in-Uttarakhand/articleshow/24894554.cms

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100 Egyptian refugees missing in Libya desert


It has been reported that as many as 100 Egyptian refugees have gone missing in the Libyan desert after fleeing the chaos in their country following this summer’s military coup.

Libya is still suffering from its own political instability, and is also having to deal with countless tragedies in which hundreds of refugees leaving from its shores on their way to the Italian island of Lampedusa have drowned. These numbers also include many Libyan and Palestinian men, women and children.

According to the al-Masry al-Youm news website, the Egyptian refugees disappeared on the Tobruk-Ajdabiya route. Libya has deployed 26 vehicles to search for the refugees, and so far five bodies have been found.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=121732

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Tuesday 29 October 2013

Delhi: 8 bodies found every day, most unidentified


At least eight bodies are found in the city every day and many of them remain unidentified and unclaimed. As many as 2,113 unidentified bodies were found till September 30 in the Capital, official statistics show.

Of a total of 37,838 unidentified bodies found across the country last year, 3,359 were from Delhi, National Crime Records Bureau data shows.

Other big states where a large number of such bodies were found include Maharashtra, which tops the list with 5,906 unidentified bodies, Tamil Nadu with 5,319 and Uttar Pradesh with 3,996 bodies. The states are much larger than Delhi.

Police figures indicate only 18% of the bodies found this year could be identified, while the rest were enlisted as unidentified or unclaimed. The last rites of such bodies are done by the police with the help of NGOs.

Intriguingly, the percentage of bodies identified has been declining over the years. Last year, only 21% of the bodies were identified and in 2011, the identities of 28% of the total 2,748 bodies could be confirmed. In 2010, the police had identified 30% of the total 2,877 bodies.

Delhi Police officers claim that a majority of such bodies remain unidentified because they come into the city through the Yamuna and several drains flowing in from adjoining states, including Haryana and UP.

In many cases, bodies are deliberately dumped at isolated places in Delhi.

“Criminals find it easy to dump bodies in Delhi after killing the victims elsewhere. This is happening because of porous borders,” said a senior police officer.

A fair number of unidentified or unclaimed bodies found in the city were of drug addicts and beggars or labourers. “Most of these people died natural deaths,” said the police officer.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/delhi-8-bodies-found-every-day-most-unidentified/article1-1141309.aspx

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Aftershocks in Bohol breach 3,000 mark; Death toll 218


Two weeks after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake jolted Central Visayas, the number of aftershocks in Bohol has now breached the 3,000 mark while death toll continues to rise, reaching 218.

As of 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has recorded 3,019 aftershocks, of which 83 were felt.

On the casualty count, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that three more bodies were recovered in Getafe town, Bohol, bringing the death toll to 218.

Of the total number of fatalities, 204 were in Bohol, 13 on Cebu, and one in Siquijor.

The number of injured also went up as eight more people were listed in Buenavista town, Bohol, bringing the total count to 768. The number of people injured rose to 674 in Bohol, 89 in Cebu, three in Siquijor, and one each in Iloilo and Negros Oriental. Eight people were still missing.

NDRRMC spokesman Maj. Rey Balido said the retrieval operation for the eight missing people, which includes five children believed buried by boulders when the earth shook as they were swimming near a waterfall in Sagbayan town, Bohol.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

http://www.mb.com.ph/aftershocks-in-bohol-breach-3000-mark-death-toll-218/

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Slow justice for Peru's disappeared


On Sundays Rubรฉn Villanueva Toro liked to escape the small village of Buena Vista nestled high in the Andean mountains where he was a school principal. On the afternoon of March 30, 1990, he was in the nearby town of Lircay. He was near the main plaza with friends when a group of military officers stopped them and asked for their identity cards. Ruben did not have his electoral card. He was detained and taken to the military base in Lircay. "It’s just a routine detention", his friends were assured. But the hours passed, and Villanueva Toro remained in custody.

The following day, Ruben’s identity card in hand, Wilber Villanueva went to the Lircay military base to try to get his brother released. To his surprise, he, too, was arrested on the order of Army Captain Carlos Paz Figueroa, head of the base. He was savagely tortured. Released the following day, he went to a hospital to have his injuries tended to. But Wilber Villanueva got no information about the whereabouts of his brother. On the contrary, he was told by Paz Figueroa that his brother was not being held at the base.

Villanueva Toro’s relatives decried his disappearance and reported it to local and national authorities, but to no avail. He remains missing to this day.

Delayed justice

Some measure of justice was handed down on September 23, when two military officers - including Paz Figueroa, now an active-duty brigadier general - were found guilty of the crime of the forced disappearance of Villanueva Toro and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

It was a split 2-1 decision. The dissenting opinion, written by Judge David Loli Bonilla, said that contradictions in the testimonies of the eyewitnesses made conviction impossible. The two judges voting in the majority, Marco Cerna Bazan and Marรญa Vidal, following precedents in international law, argued that minor contradictions in eyewitness testimony does not invalidate the testimony itself, especially when the essence of the testimony about a human rights violation remains coherent over time.

The core testimonies of eyewitnesses, along with other important evidence, provided sufficient evidence to convict the two defendants, in their majority opinion. Two people testified that they saw Villanueva Toro being detained by the military, and a woman testified that she saw him being taken into Lircay's military base. Wilber Villanueva had the hospital records attesting to his having been tortured. That the judges considered these eyewitness testimonies as valid evidence is important; in previous rulings, other judges have acquitted military officers charged with grave violations of human rights based on tiny contradictions or discrepancies in eyewitness testimony.

Such discrepancies are in fact not uncommon in the testimonies of victims of traumatic events, as has been noted by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights. In a ruling against the state of Mexico in a case of sexual violation - Rosendo Cantรบ et. al. versus Mexico [Sp] - in which there were minor discrepancies in the testimony of the victims, the Court ruled that inconsistencies were to be expected in the aftermath of such traumtic events, and especially after so much time had elapsed since the occurrence of the trauma. In such cases, the Court ruled, minor inconsistencies do not invalidate the value of victim testimony when the essence of the testimony is consistent over time.

A crime against humanity

The September 23 ruling also determined that the forced disappearance of Villanueva Toro is a crime against humanity because it took place during a period of massive forced disappearances committed by security forces against unarmed civilians in the context of a counterinsurgency war against armed subversive groups. During each of the latter years of Alan Garcia’s first presidency - 1987 to 1990 - Peru registered the highest number of forced disappearances in the world, according to UN's Working Group on Enforced Disappearances.

Beyond these stultifying numbers, the verdict identifies the specific mechanisms by which crimes against humanity occurred in Peru in the 1980s and especially during the Garcia government.

Since late 1982, successive constitutional governments decreed states of emergency in conflict areas, establishing “emergency zones” that were then put under the control of the armed forces. The Working Group found that the majority of the forced or involuntary disappearances documented in Peru - primarily between 1983 and 1992 - occurred in these emergency zones, including Ayacucho, Apurimac, San Martin, and Huancavelica, where principal Rubรฉn Villanueva Toro was last seen alive.

Also, a 1985 law decree determined that any military or police infraction would be adjudicated by military rather than civilian courts. This undermined the ability to conduct impartial investigations of accusations of human rights violations allegedly committed by security force personnel, a sure-fire way of guaranteeing impunity.

Echoing the findings of the Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission - whose Final Report was published ten years ago last August - the judges found that forced disappearance, extrajudicial execution, and the use of torture were “criminal acts that were perpetrated constantly” during this time period. The ruling sharply criticises the “indolence, ineptitude, and the indifference” of those who could have avoided this “human catastrophe” but chose not to.

A third presidency in 2016?

Alan Garcia has never faced criminal prosecution for the massive violations of human rights that occurred during his first presidency (1985-1990). Despite a number of on-going investigations of crimes committed during this period, he has yet to be successfully charged with any crime. In 2006, he was elected to a second term, and he is gearing up for a third term in 2016.

But things may be catching up with Garcia. One on-going case involves the murders of several regime opponents in the late 1980s by a death squad that went by the name of the Rodrigo Franco Command[Sp]. Among those on trial are Garcia’s Minister of Interior, Agustin Mantilla, and several members of his Peruvian Aprista Party (APRA) party who are accused of ordering and carrying out a number of murders. Victims included presumed members of Shining Path, but also regime opponents, including trade union leader Saรบl Cantoral, who was killed in 1989.

Trials for other human rights cases from the first Garcia presidency are due to open soon, among them the 1986 Fronton prison massacre, when more than 100 inmates were executed by security forces, and the 1988 Cayara massacre, in which dozens of indigenous peasants were murdered by security forces in retaliation for a Shining Path attack on a military convoy. Several eyewitnesses to the Cayara massacre were later killed off, one by one. The state prosecutor in that case, Carlos Escobar, sought asylum in the United States when his investigations got too close to the powers-that-be.

Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal recently ruled that the Fronton massacre does not constitute a crime against humanity, but that ruling has come under fire by human rights groups for prejudging a case currently in litigation. Regardless of whether it is a crime against humanity, it no doubt constitutes a grave human rights violation, and under international law, states are obligated to prosecute such crimes and hold these responsible accountable.

No solace for families

Few want to remember the days of violence in Peru. But most of the 15,000 disappeared remain missing, and their family members are in anguish about their fate, and are waiting to bury their bodies. How much longer will Peru continue to deny them their right to truth and justice? And how long with the international community continue to ignore the very real and very present effects of this human catastrophe?

Villanueva Toro’s sister was at the hearing the day the verdict was handed down. “We still don’t know where his body is,” she said. “That is the most important thing - to find out where his body is, so we can bury him. That is our right.”

Tuesday 29 October 2013

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/slow-justice-peru-disappeared-201310278226105412.html

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Monday 28 October 2013

Spain: Suspected methane gas leak kills six miners, ten trapped


A methane gas leak at a coalmine in northern Spain has been blamed for the deaths of six miners.

The deaths occurred at the Santa Lucia mine near the town of Pola de Gordon, according to the 112 regional emergency service of Castilla and Leon.

Five others people were injured, four seriously. They were taken to the hospital in Leon, the regional capital.

Ten other workers remain trapped inside the mine, according to El Pais newspaper.

The civil guard reported that there was no explosion and the probable cause of death was poisoning from gas leak.

The mine is 694 metres (2,300ft) deep and is operated by the Basque Leon Coal Company.

Some 400 people work in the mine. The last mining tragedy in Leon was in 1995 when a 32-year-old worker died and other four were seriously injured in a mine gas explosion.

The gas leak happened so quickly that the miners did not have time to put their protective masks on, said Jose Antonio Colinas, who represents miners at the local branch of the UGT trade union.

"They really did not have time to react, the atmosphere was invaded by methane," he told reporters at the scene.

It is the worst accident at a Spanish mine since 14 miners were killed on August 31, 1995, due to a methane explosion at a coalmine near Mieres in the northern province of Austurias.

Spain's coal mining sector has been contracting for decades, with a reduction in government mining subsidies hastening the closure of unprofitable mines.

Around 40 coalmines are still in operation, mainly in the north of the country, employing some 8,000 miners.

Like other European countries, Spain has committed to gradually close unprofitable coalmines in the next few years.

Monday 28 October 2013

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/517632/20131028/spain-mine-gas-leak-6-dead-castilla.htm

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/19585417/six-dead-in-gas-leak-at-spain-coalmine/

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Niger migrants 'die of thirst' crossing the Sahara


Dozens of people traversing the Sahara desert on their way to Europe are feared to have died of thirst in Niger, officials say.

Five bodies have been found, while a further 35 are missing after their vehicle broke down and they set off to seek help, said the Agadez governor.

Agadez lies on one of the main migrant routes from West Africa to Europe.

Hundreds of migrants have died this month when their boats sank as they tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Agadex mayor Rhissa Feltou said two vehicles had left the town of Arlit, north of Agadez, earlier this month, carrying "at least" 60 migrants.

The convoy was heading for Tamanrassett, an Algerian town in the heart of the Sahara, he said.

The mayor of Agadez said that after one vehicle broke down, passengers went to look for spare parts and bring them back for repairs.

He said the migrants broke up into small groups and started walking.

Days later, the survivors who reached Arlit, a centre for uranium mining, alerted the army, but troops arrived too late at the scene, he added.

The authorities have called off the search for the missing.

They consisted of "entire families, including very many children and women," Azaoua Mamane, who works for the non-governmental organisation Synergie in Arlit, told the AFP news agency.

The bodies found are of two women and three girls aged 9-11.

Monday 28 October 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24713609

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May 29, 1944: WWII plane slammed into Mt. Whymper hillside


It was a lonely place to die, out on a jagged hillside near Mt. Whymper, at the headwaters of the Nanaimo river.

This was where a B-25 Mitchell bomber ended its voyage on May 29, 1944. It had set off that morning from the Boundary Bay 5 Operational Training Unit on a routine navigational exercise.

Though two other aircraft completing the same exercise came back without incident, plane No. 345 never returned to base.

It is uncertain what variety of trouble the plane and its five Royal Canadian Air Force crew members encountered, but the trip ended in disaster when the plane slammed into a mountainside and exploded into flames. The remains of aircraft smoldered for five days, and when rescuers finally arrived, it appeared that all the crew inside had perished.

What body parts they could retrieve were loaded onto two stretchers, which rescuers gingerly packed down the mountain and then buried in a makeshift grave nearby.

The rescue itself was a gruelling effort that lasted for a month, according to one participant, due in part to the complications that arose from other extenuating circumstances.

In the days following the crash, a blimp airship was deployed by the U.S. Navy to assist with the rescue. However on June 5 it got caught in a down draft and was blown down onto the treetops next to the site, where it became snagged.

However, all nine U.S. Navy members and two RCAF liaisons on board the blimp car survived.

Eventually the case was put to rest, but that wasn't the end of the story.

Two years after the crash, a crew member's mother went to see a psychic in Toronto and was told her son was still alive, and along with two companions, was roaming the densely forested hills around the site. She raised enough doubt in the other parents' minds that in their grief, they too began to wonder if their sons had possibly ejected from the plane prior to impact.

Their concerns caused a wrinkle in the story that forced the case to reopen, using considerable resources as officials went on a wild goose chase to investigate the veracity of the psychic's predictions.

Now almost 70 years later, amateur historian Rod Szasz has taken an interest in the story.

Helped along by Steve Stupich at Island Timberlands, the logging company that owns and manages the property, he has located not only the site of the crash, but managed to discover pieces of shredded reinforced fabric in a nearby location that pinpoint where the blimp subsequently collapsed.

It's not a site that many have accessed. In the blimp's case the location is virtually unknown and it is Szasz's mission, working in conjunction with Veteran's Affairs and local officials, to have the unmarked site and fallen soldiers commemorated with a memorial plaque.

"When I grew up, I had this uncle who lived in Ladysmith, who was the last registered cougar bounty hunter on Vancouver Island. His name was Clem Ingram," said Szasz as we barrelled down Jump Creek Main in his truck, en route to the crash site. "He would always tell me this story of the plane crash up on Mount Whymper, and that there was an airship up there, too."

Knowing his uncle's propensity for telling stories, Szasz said he figured it was a myth, but as he began to come across more details about the crash, he began to hear stories of the blimp, too.

Experienced in finding and documenting battle sites on an informal basis throughout the Asia Pacific region, Szasz figured he was up for a local adventure and began his search.

"I thought 'well, let's find this bomber,' because it's the only one that's not commemorated," he said. "There's two more around here that are commemorated officially - one with 14 dead, one with six dead. This is five, but there's nothing."

During the Second World War, Canada was a hive of military activity with its wide-open prairies and relative geographic safety, it was an ideal place for training exercises.

"Canada's greatest contribution to World War II was something called the Commonwealth Air Training program," said Szasz.

The concept of the program was that all the Commonwealth airmen and women would be shipped into Canada for training.

"They trained people from all over - New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. Even Americans," said Vancouver Island Military Museum vice-president Brian McFadden, who added that there were approximately 30 to 35 crashes on Vancouver Island alone between 1939 and 1945.

More than 100 bases were built all across Canada to facilitate this training; the primary ones on the West Coast being at Patricia Bay in North Saanich and at Boundary Bay, just outside of Vancouver. In his research, Szasz came across the Canadian Deptartment of National Defence file on the incident.

It detailed how it had taken four days for a rescue team to locate the site of the plane, which had "exploded with violence so great that half inch armour plates were found over a wide area, broken into small pieces," reported RCAF Casualties Officer W.R. Gunn.

Though unclear on exactly what happened, the first assessments concluded that the aircraft appeared to have spun in at a very steep angle, as indicated by the break in the trees, and then struck the base of a rock bluff.

Gerald Herbert Lee, a Command Air Search and Rescue officer who was first on the scene on June 3, said the destruction was so complete he had thought explosives were on board, but that was not the case.

Another witness on the scene described how the engine parts had been broken into such small particles that it was impossible to determine if there had been an engine failure.

In the midst of such carnage, the crew had also not fared well.

"Parts and bits of human bodies were found scattered in all directions," said RCAF hospital assistant Cpl. Charles Edward Hale, who was also first on the scene. It was impossible to identify

who the parts belonged to, or how many people it constituted in total, he added.

In Joe Garner's book Never A Time to Trust, game warden and rescue team member Jim Dewar recounted how, when they arrived at the smoldering crash site, the scene was "sickening."

"The smell was so bad none of the crew ever kept breakfast down for more than an hour," said Dewar in the interview, conducted in 1948. "Many of the body pieces had been carried off by buzzards and ravens, but they did manage to find a flying boot with the foot still in it. The stripped leg bones stuck up out of the boot almost to where the knee had been. The next-largest (piece) was part of a hip and pelvis with some underwear still on it."

With what pieces they could gather, four of the crew members carried the body parts on stretchers down from the 3,500-foot elevation to a lower area where both a Protestant minister and a Catholic priest brought to perform the last rites were stationed.

They had been unable to proceed any further on the rough terrain.

An on-site doctor determined that what remains they had constituted parts from the five crew members. With that information the rescue crew conducted a military funeral in among the large Douglas fir trees for Harold Whitlock, Leonard Schell, Harold Manson, Bruce McGregor and Clarence Johnston.

According to an RCAF document from 1946, Harold's father W.M. Manson visited the grave with his eldest son and installed a brass plaque at the site that listed the names of all the victims. He also embedded a full account of the crash inside a brass cylinder into the newly mixed concrete.

Harold's remains were the most definitively identified, as a piece of upper jawbone found at the site was later determined to have likely been his. It was the general conclusion of the RCAF that, despite not finding all the body parts, no other crew members had bailed out prior to the crash.

In the years following, that belief would be challenged.

"What happens is, they tell the relatives that all their loved ones are dead, and one of the relatives doesn't believe it and goes to a clairvoyant in Toronto who says, 'Your son is still alive and living in a lean-to tent somewhere on Vancouver Island,'" said Szasz. "So this lady then starts petitioning her friend, who happens to be a member of parliament, to open up the search again."

The woman was Cornelia Johnston, downed crew member Clarence's mother. In September of 1946, the official response to her questions was summarized in a letter, again from RCAF wing commander Gunn.

In the letter, he acknowledged the pain of a mother, and the hope that rises at the possibility of a son being alive, but cautioned that "information which is based solely on the turn of a card cannot be considered to constitute scientific or reliable information."

After some insistence and perseverance that lasted several months, they reopened the investigation for some time in which none of the original conclusions about the nature of the crash were changed. Cornelia eventually admitted defeat and let her son go.

Szasz parks the truck and sets off, seemingly randomly, into the forest. After a 20-minute hike up the mountain, the first piece of riveted metal glints out from beneath a growing coat of moss, a wing with faded blue marking still visible.

The trees open out onto a steep bluff littered with loose, jagged stones scattered with plane debris. A twisted propeller, its one remaining blade twisted and broken at the tip, leans against a boulder. A caution to not insert fingers into the hub compartment is still legible on its end. Other pieces emerge - landing gear, an engine mount, an armoured pilot seat sheared in half - some pieces burned so hot the aluminum is visibly melted - all bearing mute testimony to the true story of that day, but revealing little.

"The crash engineer from the Royal Canadian Air Force said. .. he couldn't find enough wreckage to make up a plane, so he thinks the tail came off on a ridge," said Szasz. "Somehow they got lost in the fog, they don't know, maybe one engine was out already, maybe that's why they lost elevation."

It's not likely it will ever be known, said Szasz. It soon becomes clear that today all that remains of that fateful spring flight are the twisted and rusted metal remnants of the bomber, thrown like dice down the mountainside. Szasz hopes that will change, and that the site can be commemorated in a visible place, though he is cautious about having it too close to the wreckage for risk of encouraging curiosity seekers and thieves. Andrew Farrow, former president of the Branch 10 Legion, also hopes the site will receive recognition, and considers it a community effort.

Monday 28 October 2013

http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/news/plane-remnants-in-nanaimo-watershed-1.674591

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The Great Storm of 1987: How the 'hurricane' claimed 18 lives


Today's storm was predicted to be the worst since the Great Storm of 1987, which battered England and Wales leaving 18 people dead and causing £1.5billion worth of damage to the economy.

In the early hours of October 16 winds peaked at more than 120mph, damaging buildings and felling 15million trees in the south east of England.

Millions of homes were left without power for at least a few hours, with some having no electricity for days as trees fell on power lines, disrupting supplies.

Whilst most of England and Wales experienced wet and windy weather that night, it was southern and eastern parts of England that were worst hit.

The highest gust recorded from the storm was at Gorleston, Norfolk, hitting 122mph.

Veteran weatherman Michael Fish bore the brunt for famously telling the nation there was no hurricane in the offing, just hours before it arrived.


At the time Mr Fish told viewers tuning into the broadcast: ‘Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way; well, if you’re watching, don’t worry, there isn’t, but having said that, actually, the weather will become very windy, but most of the strong winds, incidentally, will be down over Spain and across into France.’

But in 2011, one of his former colleagues finally stepped forward to take the blame for the Met Office’s botched forecast. Bill Giles, who was chief forecaster at the time, admitted that he was in fact responsible for the lunchtime broadcast on October 15 in 1987.

It was the worst storm since 1703 and a public enquiry was announced shortly after the storm and an internal enquiry was conducted by the Met Office.

The official forecaster wrote: 'We now know that the strength of the storm was boosted by a phenomenon known as the ‘Sting Jet’, where cold dry air descends into storms high in the atmosphere.

'Rain or snow falling into this jet of air evaporates and cools the air further, adding more energy which translates into stronger winds. By the time this ‘sting in the tail’ reaches the ground it can produce winds of 100mph which are concentrated over a small area.

'In 1987, no-one knew sting jets even existed, but now they are well understood and included in forecast models. The storm which affected Scotland in December 2011 was boosted by a sting jet, explaining the maximum gust speed of 164mph recorded on top of Cairngorm.'

Monday 28 October 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478167/The-Great-Storm-1987-How-hurricane-claimed-18-lives-flattened-15million-trees-caused-damage-costing-1-5billion.html

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New mass graves raise hope for the missing in Bosnia


Suad Zeric stares expectantly at a corpse exhumed from a gaping, freshly-dug hole where hundreds of Muslims and Croats massacred in the Bosnian war were tossed two decades ago.

The body, surrounded by forensic experts, may be his uncle or his cousin, both of whom disappeared in the ethnic-driven mayhem of the 1992-95 conflict that followed the breakup of the old Yugoslav federation.

"I hope with all my heart that they will be found here," said the 57-year-old, a survivor of the most notorious Serb-run detention camps set up during the war.

The grave was discovered in April in a disused mine in the village of Tomasica in the northwestern region of Prijedor. Exhumation work started in September in what is the biggest mass grave found in the region.

"One of my four uncles who were murdered by cowards, Fehim, was discovered here, thank God," he said in a whisper, his voice breaking with emotion.

"Kasim, his son Emsud, my uncle Salih and another, Latif, are still missing," said Zeric, whose father's remains were only found a few years ago in another mass grave.

The Bosnian, who now lives in the eastern French town of Mulhouse but returns home two or three times a year, was held in both the Omarska and Keraterm camps. These, with the Trnopolje camp, formed what became known as the war's "triangle of horror" from which many detainees never reappeared.

Bosnian Serb forces set up the three camps, all in the northwest, at the start of the war, which claimed 100,000 lives and left a legacy of ethnic and political divisions that carry on today.

It was photographs of emaciated prisoners at Omarska -- reminiscent of Holocaust victims in Nazi death camps -- first broadcast in the summer of 1992 that shocked the world and drew international attention to the Serb campaign of so-called "ethnic cleansing".

Zeric was detained in May 1992 in Kozarac, near Prijedor, a month after Bosnian Serbs began their siege of Sarajevo.

He was first sent to Keraterm camp then transferred a week later to Omarska, a site in an old iron mine he describes as "hell". Later on he was taken to Manjaca, another camp set up by the Bosnian Serb wartime authorities.

The grave at Tomasica, which lies 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Prijedor, was discovered by the Bosnian Institute for Missing People based on information from former Bosnian Serb soldiers.

The Institute is still searching for 1,200 people from the 3,000 who went missing in the area during the war.

"Since the start of exhumation work, on September 3, we exhumed 240 victims, and among them 170 complete bodies," the Institute's spokeswoman Lejla Cengic told AFP.

She said incomplete skeletons were those of victims moved from Tomasica to another grave in nearby Jakarina Kosa to try to cover up the crimes.

The remains of 373 people were exhumed from that grave in 2001, said Cengic, who said the bodies had been shattered by bulldozers used by Bosnian Serb forces during the move.

'A desire to kill'

Forensic experts continue to exhume "hundreds of victims" at the Tomasica site, said the spokeswoman, saying it is not only the biggest mass grave found in the region but may become the largest ever found in Bosnia.

The biggest gravesite so far was discovered in 2003 in Crni Vrh, in the country's east, where the remains of 629 people were recovered.

Bosnian Serbs took control of the Prijedor region in April 1992, forcing non-Serbs to leave their homes which they then destroyed.

Families were separated and thousands of people were thrown into detention camps, held in squalid living conditions, many tortured, many executed.

In the Prijedor area alone more than 1,500 people died in the camps of Omarska, Trnopolje and Keraterm.

Twenty years on, some of the bodies at Tomasica are surprisingly practically intact, said forensic expert Mujo Begic.

"This is due to the composition of the soil and also because the bodies were very deep. They were found 10 to 12 metres (33-39 feet) under the earth," he said.

Still traumatised by his time in Omarska where he said he was regularly beaten, Zeric, a Muslim, has found peace in his faith.

"I will never understand this desire to kill," he said.

"An animal stops when it catches its prey. They (the Serb forces running the camp), never had enough of death. I hope that no one else on the planet lives through what we have lived," he said.

Monday 28 October 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131028/new-mass-graves-raise-hope-the-missing-bosnia

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Sunday 27 October 2013

Thai disaster Victim Identification unit helped identify bodies after the Lao Airlines plane crash in the Mekong River


The Disaster Victim Identification unit was part of an international contingent which helped identify bodies after the Lao Airlines plane crash in the Mekong River.

Sifting through severed body parts may not be the world's most glamorous job, but the work of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit has proved invaluable in helping give grieving families peace of mind.

Two weeks ago, the DVI team sprang into action as they were called to the southern Lao city of Pakse, the scene of a plane crash which killed all 49 passengers and crew on board.

Five Thais were among the dead after Lao Airlines flight QV 301 plunged into the Mekong River near Don Khor islet on Oct 16 while attempting to land at Pakse International Airport.

The victims included foreigners from multiple nations, making the identification process more complicated.

The Thai DVI team was called in to assist Lao authorities, who lacked the facilities and expertise to properly deal with the crash aftermath.

The team is headed by Pol Gen Jarumporn Suramanee, adviser to the Royal Thai Police Office, and has helped in the aftermath of many large-scale international disasters that often require examining disfigured body parts to establish a person's identity.

In the wake of the Lao Airlines crash, Pol Gen Jarumporn said his unit had managed to overcome numerous challenges to identify the bodies of many of the victims.

Five bodies remain unaccounted for after the crash.

Joining the team were experts in fingerprint, DNA and dental analysis.

The unit also worked alongside divers from the Thai armed forces and marine police. The divers scoured the riverbed for any human remains and wreckage of the ill-fated aircraft.

In an operation where time is often of the essence, Pol Gen Jarumporn said their arrival in Laos did not get off to the best start.

At their first meeting with Lao authorities in Pakse, which was joined also by Australian officials, the DVI team was told they would not be permitted to conduct forensic tests straight away. Apparently there was some red tape that needed to be cleared first, despite several bodies already being recovered and awaiting identification.

When the team finally got the all-clear to begin their work, they were surprised to discover that some of the bodies, believed to be those of Lao nationals, had been given back to family members at the request of relatives.

That caused concern about the possibility of a mix-up, as no autopsies had been performed to confirm the identities of the discharged bodies.

"Victim identification is a delicate issue," Pol Gen Jarumporn said. "In plane crashes, sometimes the victims' bodies are not in the best condition."

He stressed that finding definitive forensic proof is crucial. If even one body is wrongly identified, it will cast doubt on the others.

Identifying a body based on what the victim was wearing before death is not always accurate. "People can be in the same place wearing similar things," Pol Gen Jarumporn said.

Pol Gen Jarumporn said many of the recovered bodies were in a severe state of decay and had body parts missing.

DVI specialists usually analyse the victims' fingerprints, DNA and dental samples. But the advanced state of decay of the bodies found after the Laos crash meant in many cases all three of these methods were impossible.

The team had to inject fluid into some victims' fingers to make it easier to collect fingerprint samples.

Pol Gen Jarumporn said foreign DVI workers at the crash scene had asked to be taught some of the methods which the team had devised to collect forensic evidence.

Lao experts also watched on and learned from the operation, he said.

In this case, taking DNA samples from victims' blood was rendered impossible since the bodies had been under water for several days and were too badly decomposed.

DNA samples had to be extracted instead from the victims' ribs or thigh bones.

The samples then had to be sent back to Bangkok for testing, since there was no facility capable of handling the job in Laos.

Pol Gen Jarumporn said Thailand's standard of DVI work is recognised internationally, noting that his team has worked in many countries and gained a wealth of experience.

Sunday 27 October 2013

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/376698/police-team-imparts-crash-scene-expertise

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Death toll in Cape Coast-Yamoransa road accident increases to 16


One more person is reported dead in the fatal accident on the Cape Coast- Yamoransa road bringing the death toll to 16.

All fifteen passengers in an urvan bus died on the spot, Saturday night when their vehicle colided head-on with an articulated truck.

The driver of the articulated truck was also said to have died later Sunday. The only surviver of the accident is the mate of the articulated truck.

Joy News' Central regional correspondent, Richard Kojo Nyarko reported the surviver is unable to give a coherent account of the accident due to the extreme shock he appears to be in.

Eye witnesses have attributed the accident to over speeding and wrongful overtaking.

Kojo Nyarko said the bodies have been taken to the Central Region hospital morgue.

Already ten of the bodies have been identified by their wailing relatives of the deceased persons.

Sunday 27 October 2013

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=290032

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The European Parliament recommends fact-finding mission to detect remains of mass graves in Western Sahara


The European Parliament has conducted an amendment to Mr. Tannock’s report on the human rights situation in Western Sahara and the Sahel, calling to send an international mission to study and discover the mass grave that has been found recently in Western Sahara by a group of medical and forensic experts.

The European Parliament asked, during a plenary session devoted to discuss and adopt Tannock’s report last Tuesday in Strasbourg, the Moroccan authorities to allow the entry of international organizations, such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Commission on Human Rights of the European Parliament in Western Sahara, to investigate the truth in this issue.

The European Parliament also stressed the need for MINURSO’s formal cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and formation of fact-finding to the place where the mass grave was found to exhumate the corpses and return the remains to the families , following the discovery of mass graves during the investigation conducted by experts from the Basque, Spain.

For his part, Mr. Mohamed Sidati, member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, minister delegate in charge of Europe, asserted that the move " will enable the families of the victims to their rights , as well as a proper burial "

The Sahrawi official pointed to the remains of nine bodies have been identified since the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara, 1976.

Mohamed Sidati added "this attention directed by a major European institution such as the European Parliament is " relief " for the victims and their families , reminding of the existence of more than 400 similar cases.

Tt should be recalled that according to Mr. Charles Tannock’s report, the European Parliament has considered that the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination is an " integral part " and a central goal to find a solution to the Sahrawi conflict. Sunday 27 October 2013

http://www.spsrasd.info/en/content/ep-recommends-fact-finding-mission-detect-remains-mass-graves-western-sahara

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Death toll for 7.2 magnitude Central Visayas earthquake now at 215


The death toll for the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that rocked Central Visayas last October 15 has now climbed to 215, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Sunday.

Two of the latest bodies recovered were from Bohol, bringing to 201 the number of fatalities from there.

Aside from the 201 from Bohol, 13 fatalities were from Cebu and one from Siquijor.

The NDRRMC said the number of injured remained at 742 and the number of missing at eight.

At least 2,867 aftershocks were recorded since October 15. Of these, 78 were felt.

Sunday 27 October 2013

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/73545/death-toll-for-7-2-magnitude-earthquake-now-at-215

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Saturday 26 October 2013

Remains of 2 South Korean victims in Laos plane crash repatriated


The remains of two South Korean victims who were killed in a Lao plane crash were brought home on Saturday, government and airport officials said.

The French-made ATR-72 jet crashed into the Mekong River while attempting to land in bad weather on Oct. 16, killing all 49 passengers and crewmembers on board, including three South Koreans.

The remains of Lee Jae-sang and Lee Kang-pil, whose bodies were identified days after the accident and then cremated, arrived at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, a port on South Korea's south coast, separately at 9:00 a.m. and 11:18 a.m., they said.

Information on the third victim, Lee Hong-jik, was unavailable. The three victims were reportedly all in their 40s.

The exact cause of the plane crash has not been determined yet, with Lao authorities still working on recovering the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane, South Korean officials said.

Saturday 26 October 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/131026/remains-2-s-korean-victims-lao-plane-crash-brought-homs

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Odisha cyclone death toll rises to 60

Authorities yesterday confirmed seven more deaths in flood-related incidents in Odisha, taking the toll due to cyclone Phailin and subsequent floods in the state to 60.


The districts of Nayagarh, Jajpur and Bhadrak reported two deaths each while one casualty was reported from Mayurbhanj district, an official from the state relief commissioner’s office said. The deaths occurred either due to house collapse or drowning. The situation remains grim as rain continued to lash many parts of the state for the sixth consecutive day even though water in major rivers was receding.

The cyclone and flood victims are likely to face more difficulties as the weatherman here predicted more rain during the next two days.

Although the Bhubaneswar meteorological centre lowered the storm warning signal, it however said rain or thundershowers would occur at many places and heavy to very heavy rainfall would lash some areas.

“Yesterday’s (Friday) well marked low pressure area over Telangana and adjoining Rayalseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh has weakened and now lies as a low pressure area over Telangana and its neighbourhood. It will weaken further gradually,” an official of the centre told IANS.

Although all ports in the state have been asked to lower the storm warning signal, fishermen have been asked to be cautious while venturing into the sea as its condition would be moderate to rough, he said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the state was experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding first due to the cyclone and now because of the low pressure over the Bay of Bengal. “These rains have been continuing since October 10 and besides causing heavy damage to public and private property, the loss to the standing crop has been severe,” he told reporters here.

Saturday 26 October 2013

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/india/258545-odisha-cyclone-death-toll-rises-to-60.html

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Central Visayas quake death toll rises to 213


Seven more bodies were found in the rubble following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Visayas last week, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said.

This brought to 213 the number of people who died as of 6 a.m. Saturday in the hardest hit provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo, and Negro Oriental, the NDRRMC said it its latest bulletin.

In Bohol alone, 199 bodies have been found while eight remain missing.

A total of 742 were injured in Central Visayas, it added.

The October 15 tremor, which was even felt in some parts of Mindanao, affected over three million people.

Saturday 26 November 2013

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/514601/central-visayas-quake-death-toll-rises-to-213

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Friday 25 October 2013

Nine killed, 3 injured in Narok accident


Nine people died on the spot and other three critically injured after the vehicles they were travelling in involved in a road accident in Narok County.

The accident happened at Pinyiny area along the busy Narok-Mai Mahiu highway.

Narok OCPD Peterson Maelo said the accident occurred at after the Nissan mitatu lost control after tyre bust and hit oncoming bus.

The Nissan, which belongs to Bomet Liners, was heading to Bomet from Nairobi while the Transline bus was going to Nairobi from Kisii.

The injured were taken to Narok District Hospital while the bodies were taken to the hospital’s mortuary.

Eye witness told the Star that the driver of the Nissan was speeding before it started swaying from one side to the other after hitting rail.

“One of the injured who happens to be the bus driver, is in critical condition while the other two sustained minor injuries,” said Maelo.

He urged the road users to observe the traffic rules as many lives have been lost through road carnage.

CIC chairman Charles Nyachae while at the scene described the accident as unfortunately and called on road users to develop a culture where respect takes precedence on our roads.

“As a country, we need to develop a national road culture where those speeding are condemned by all of us,” he said.

The scene is the same spot where 41 people were killed in one and half months ago.

Two weeks ago, church leaders held prayers on the accident prone roads in Narok County.

The group held procession in Narok-Mai Mahiu highway, Narok-Ewaso Nyiro road and Narok-Nakuru road.

They visited black spots areas including Pinyiny area that recently killed 42 people and injured other more than 33 in road crash that involved City to City bus company.

Also, as a show of unity, the traffic officers from Ntulele police station led by Corporal David Chumo joined the special prayers.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-141002/nine-killed-3-injured-narok-accident

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Mass grave discovered in Kashmir


A human rights group in Indian-administered Kashmir Thursday claimed to have discovered mass graves in which more than 130 unidentified bodies have been buried.

Two mass graves containing nearly 130 unidentified human bodies were discovered by Voice of Victims human rights group in nearly four-month-long investigation in Sonawari area of Bandipora in north Kashmir.

The group credited the discovery to the assistance of locals who helped them in finding an unnamed graveyard in the area.

“An investigation team headed by Abdul Qadeer Dar, Executive Director visited the area and gathered information about the people who were buried in a graveyard in Bhat Mahle during the past 23 years,” Abdul Rouf Khan, the co-coordinator of the group, said.

“The troops and police used to bring bodies and hand over to the locals for burial. They revealed that the unidentified men were detained by the forces in nearby STF camp and after killing them they were handed over to local committee for burial,” he said.

Quoting a local, Manzoor Ahmad, Khan said the troops had once brought a body and handed over to him for burial. “While the forces identified him as a Pakistani militant, he later turned out to be a local resident of south Kashmir’s Kokernag. His body was exhumed a year later from the graveyard,” Khan said.

The VOV investigators also found that a person identified as Abu Hafiz, who was reported to be a resident of Pakistan and killed in an encounter at Safapora, Ganderbal was actually Abdul Rehman Padroo, a resident of Kokernag.

“He was a carpenter who was picked up by the forces in Srinagar on December 8, 2006, and later killed in fake encounter at Safapora. Police on January 28, 2007, clearly stated that he was killed by its Special Operations Group (SOG) in a fake encounter in Ganderbal and his body was exhumed from Bhat Mahle graveyard,” he said.

Locals have told the group that they are witness to burial of at least 20 charred bodied. “Once we refused to bury the unidentified bodies, armed forces started burying them inside the STF camp few meters away from the graveyard,” locals told the VOP investigators.

“50 bodies have been buried inside the SOG camp which is surrounded by government offices including a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force camp. Once an infamous and cruel police inspector abducted and raped a teenage girl from the area and later killed her. She was also buried inside the camp. After the SOG evacuated the camp, her body was also exhumed,” the group claimed.

This is not the first time that mass graves have been discovered in the disputed Kashmir territory. From 2010-2012, a prominent human rights group in Kashmir claimed to have discovered a series of mass graves in various parts of Kashmir containing over 3500 bodies.

More than 10,000 are feared missing from Kashmir Valley in the last 24years of conflict with a majority of disappearances blamed on government forces.

“If the bodies buried in these graveyards are identified, many Indian troops and Kashmir police personnel involved in the killing of these people would be exposed and the victims will get justice for which they are waiting for a long time,” the group said.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.authintmail.com/article/kashmir/another-mass-grave-discovered-kashmir

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Memorial for 60th anniversary of Arbroath's lifeboat disaster


One of the darkest days in Arbroath’s history is set to be remembered next weekend on the 60th anniversary of the town’s lifeboat disaster.

Next Sunday (October 27) will mark the milestone, which saw six brave crew members lose their lives as the Robert Lindsay attempted to re-enter the harbour.

At around 6 a.m. on a dark, cold, wet and stormy morning, and after going to the rescue of a vessel in distress, the lifeboat was sideswiped by a huge wave and cruelly flung on the rocky foreshore at Inchcape Park.

As daylight slowly broke, the boat could be seen upturned on the rocks as the magnitude of the disaster began to sink in.

Those who died in the tragedy were coxswain David Bruce, Harry Swankie, mechanic; Thomas Adams, bowman; as well as William Swankie, and brothers David Cargill and Charles Cargill.

The only crewman to survive the disaster was Archie Smith who caught a line fired in the direction of voices crying for help. And in the weeks that followed hundreds of local people lined the streets to pay their respects to the brave crew as their funerals took place.

To commemorate those lost, the local RNLI crew are planning a memorial service and possible wreath laying ceremony next Sunday.

Organisation is still in the planning stages but more details about the arrangements will be released next week.

The anniversary of the disaster comes after the news last year that the boat, the Robert Lindsay was in the process of being restored by a pair of Norfolk boatbuilders to bring it back to RNLI standard.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.arbroathherald.co.uk/news/local-news/memorial-for-lifeboat-1-3146737

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Death toll in Bohol quake breaches 200 mark


The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Central Visayas has breached the 200 mark, as rescuers recovered three more bodies from the rubble, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Friday. The NDRRMC said the search and retrieval teams recovered a body of a reported missing person in Balilihan and another in Calape, both in Bohol; and in Pinamungahan town in Cebu province, pushing the death toll to 201.

The NDRRMC also reported that the number of injured in the 7.2 magnitude quake also increased to 720 after receiving information on 11 more persons hurt in Bohol.

The number of missing persons is now at 10, the state disaster response agency added.

Meanwhile, the NDRRMC said that the number of affected families in Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Siquijor and Leyte is now at more than 631,000 or 3.1 million individuals.

Of the total affected people, over 15,000 are now being sheltered in 151 evacuation centers, the NDRRMC said.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/10/25/1249287/death-toll-bohol-quake-breaches-200-mark

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Remains found at Costa Concordia shipwreck identified as missing Italian woman Maria Trecarichi


Human remains found at the wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia belong to a female Italian passenger, one of two victims still missing after the 2012 tragedy, the prosecutor investigating the disaster told AFP Thursday.

"The human remains belong to Maria Grazia Trecarichi," Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio said.

The remains were found on October 8 and were tested by DNA specialists in Rome.

Thirty bodies were recovered from the wreck after the cruise liner crashed off the tiny island of Giglio in Tuscany on January 13, 2012, but two - mother of one Trecarichi and Indian waiter Russel Rebello - were still officially reported missing.

La Repubblica newspaper said fragments of bone collected separately "have yet to be tested but could belong to Rebello."

Trecarichi's widower Elio Vincenzi said: "I have learned from the press that the remains belong to my wife but have had no official confirmation. They assured me I would be the first to know, it didn't go that way."

He had earlier identified shoes and a necklace found with the remains as belonging to his wife.

The search for the wreck's two remaining bodies began in late September after the 114,500-ton (103,873 metric tonnes) ship was lifted upright in the biggest salvage operation of its kind.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial for multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship before all the passengers had been evacuated and causing environmental damage.

The Costa Concordia crashed into a group of rocks after Schettino allegedly performed a risky "salute" manoeuvre just off Giglio with 4229 people from 70 countries on board.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/remains-found-at-costa-concordia-shipwreck-identified-as-missing-italian-woman-maria-trecarichi/story-fnhrvhol-1226746384053

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Thursday 24 October 2013

268 victims’ remains found in Bosnia mass grave


The Bosnian prosecution said on Thursday that the complete remains of 200 people and the incomplete remains of 68 more, as well as some of their personal belongings, had been found at a depth of ten metres in the mass grave, more than 20 years after they died.

The victims are believed to have been killed by Bosnian Serb forces in 1992. The mass grave was only found after a tip-off from a former Bosnian Serb soldier, and exhumations began in August.

“We are currently digging out bodies at various depths of the pit. Most of the exhumations are being carried out at three micro-locations several metres from each other, whose depth is ten metres,” the prosecution said in a statement.

“In the meantime, another two micro-locations have been discovered, and exhumations will start there soon too, which is why it is assumed that the total number of mortal remains to be found at this site could be bigger,” it said.

The remains found so far have been moved to the Sejkovaca Identification Centre in Sanski Most, where forensic examination and identification will be carried out.

The Hague Tribunal and the Bosnian state court have handed down several verdicts for crimes against Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in Prijedor. Former Bosnian Serb military and civilian leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are on trial for genocide in Prijedor in 1992.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/over-260-remains-found-at-tomasica-mass-grave-site

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Indonesia: 33 Lebanese migrant boat victims identified


The bodies of 33 Lebanese who drowned off the Indonesian coast in a tragic boat accident last month have been identified following DNA analysis, the National News Agency reported Thursday.

A boat carrying around 80 migrants trying to illegally cross from Indonesia to Australia foundered off the Indonesian coast last month killing over 30 people. Only 18 survived.

Most of the Lebanese victims hailed from the underdeveloped area of north Lebanon and mainly from the Akkar village of Qabeet.

The NNA said two Lebanese who were on board of the boat, a man and a child, were still missing.

A search is under way for the remaining two, the state-run agency said, adding that the bodies would be returned to Lebanon as soon as possible.

The 18 survivors from the boat accident have already returned to Lebanon.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Oct-24/235631-33-indonesia-boat-victims-identified-nna.ashx

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21 killed, 19 injured when chartered bus plunges into roadside ravine in Lampang


A chartered bus taking merit makers back home from a temple plunged into a roadside ravine Sunday night, killing 21 people and injuring 19 others.

Police said the accident happened at 7 pm on the Wang Nua-Phayao Road in Tambon Wangthong in Lampang's Wang Nua district.

The bus driver lost control of the vehicle before it fell about 30 meters (98 feet) into the ravine on a curvy rural road, police Col. Somdet Tossaporn said.

Rescue workers had to tie ropes to the guardrail before they could climb down to rescue the injured passengers.

Police said all the killed passengers were women.

The bus was one of three buses taking Buddhists from Chiang Mai's Sarapee district to make merit at the Mai Charoen Temple in Wang Nua. The accident occurred while the buses were returning home.

Lampang is a mountainous area 600 kilometers (372 miles) north of Bangkok.

Up to 26,000 people are killed in road accidents every year in Thailand, according to the Interior Ministry.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/21-killed-19-injured-when-chartered-bus-plunges-in-30217865.html

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Search for two Concordia missing might resume in drydock pending ID of found remains


The search for the remains of two people still missing from the Costa Concordia shipwreck has been completed, the disaster commissioner's office said in a note Wednesday.

The crash off Giglio Island led to the deaths of 32 people on January 13, 2012. Thirty bodies were recovered almost immediately.

Those of Indian crew member Russel Rebello and of Italian passenger Maria Grazia Tricarichi are still missing.

''The search has turned up the remains of one body and a set of bones, which are being identified through DNA testing.

As soon as we ID the remains, we will know whether we will need to continue the search once the ship has been drydocked'', the note explained.

The lurching, semi-submerged wreck of the Concordia was finally hauled upright upright on September 24, making possible the search by a joint task force of Coast Guard, firefighters, Navy, Carabinieri military police, Finance Guard and state police. ''(The team) resumed the search that had been left off in spring 2012.

They inspected all accessible areas on board, both above and below surface, as well as the seabed near the Concordia'', the note added.

A body found on October 8 is probably that of Indian crew member Russel Rebello, sources said.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/66327/Search-for-two-Concordia-missing-might-resume-in-drydock.html

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Kenya: Beef mystery in 'body parts' at Westgate Mall


Forensic investigators analyzing ten 'body parts' recovered from the rubble of the collapsed Westgate Mall have discovered that some of the samples are beef. The body parts were collected by police who are still combing through the rubble as they continue with their investigations into the September 21 terror attack.

They have so far collected ten body parts which were stored in carefully sealed plastic bags which were sent to the City Mortuary for analysis last Thursday. A group of forensic pathologists who have been analyzing the samples detected that two of the 'body parts' were actually beef. The two samples -- sample number 2530 and 2531-- were discarded and have been disposed of.

Chief Government pathologist Dr Johanes Oduor said he could not speculate about the origin of the meat but said: "Human meat and beef is the same". He added: "The only notable difference is when it comes to a mammal's meat and meat of say chicken or fish. "

Odour said the remaining body parts were extremely charred and mutilated and said they were possibly from three to four different people. The Star visited City mortuary yesterday and sat through as Dr Odour and a team of foreign experts analyzed and painstakingly recorded their findings on note books. The body parts are being held in a separate and newly acquired freezer which is kept in a separate room at the mortuary and is always locked thereby limiting access to Dr Oduor and the team of foreign and local experts.

A police source hazarded a guess and explained that the beef samples could have been taken up with the other body parts by the team of policemen who were combing through the rubble and who gathered and tagged everything they thought could be of interest. The policeman said the police did not have any field equipment which could help them conduct preliminary analysis.

The officer who cannot be named because he is not authorized to speak to the press said:"You are safe collecting everything from the scene. Then we let the expert tell what these things are," he said.

The police and forensic experts said the body parts were found at one corner of the lower basement. Police also recovered a AK 47 riffle close to the area where the bodies were found.

The tests at the City Mortuary will help establish the identify of the four or five terrorists captured on CCTV footage who are responsible for the deaths of ale at least 70 people. The government reports said five terrorists were gunned down but their bodies have never been shown to the public. The analysis is meant to establish whether the body parts at the mortuary are from some of the 23 people who are still listed as missing or they are the remains of the terrorists.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201310240369.html

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Search team recovers body of last Thai air crash victim


The last Thai victim among those who perished in the Lao Airlines plane crash last week has now been recovered and identified, a senior Thai Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.

The fifth victim is Nipol Mengsee, an employee with PTT Pcl, said Russ Jalichandra, the Thai consul-general in Savannakhet, Laos.

The find has increased the number of bodies recovered from the Mekong River to 44, with 30 body parts also recovered.

However, Lao authorities are continuing their search for the rest of the missing bodies.

Mr Russ said the body of Nipol was recovered around 1pm while Lao officials and divers yesterday retrieved other parts of the wreckage of the Lao Airlines plane from the river. "When his body was recovered, he was still wearing his PTT uniform," Mr Russ said.

Mr Russ added the Disaster Victim Identification team had confirmed his identity. He said the body will be returned to Thailand today on a Bangkok Airways flight.

Nipol was among five Thai passengers on board Lao Airlines Flight QV301 that crashed into the Mekong River near Don Khor islet in Laos' Pakse district of Champassak province last Wednesday.

The plane crashed while attempting to land at Pakse International Airport. The airline announced that bad weather from the Nari storm was partly to blame.

Forty-four passengers and five crew on the flight died. They included foreigners from some 10 countries.

Among them were Phakkawat Atiratanachai, Kanueng Chartkasamchai, Veekij Busarawuthanu, Yanyong Apaanan and Nipol, the five Thai passengers killed.

The bodies of Phakkawat, Kanueng and Veekij arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday by a C-130 transport plane. A fourth body, that of Yanyong, arrived in Bangkok about 3.30pm yesterday. On Tuesday, search teams retrieved the main cabin of the plane.

Attempts to salvage the two black boxes and other parts of the wreckage are continuing. The teams found the area where the black boxes were located but have yet to bring them to the surface. Lao authorities said the teams found it hard to reach them because of strong river currents and muddy water.

Thursday 24 October 2013

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/376062/search-team-recovers-body-of-last-thai-air-crash-victim

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Wednesday 23 October 2013

Shankill Road bomb atrocity remembered


The Shankill Road bombing was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 23 October 1993 and is one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The IRA intended to assassinate loyalist paramilitary leaders, who were to be meeting in a room above Frizzell's fish shop on Shankill Road, Belfast.

Two IRA members were to enter the shop disguised as deliverymen, then force the customers out at gunpoint and plant a time bomb with a short fuse. However, when the IRA members entered the shop with the bomb, it exploded prematurely.

One of the IRA members was killed along with a UDA member and eight Protestant civilians. More than fifty people were wounded. Unbeknownst to the IRA, the meeting had been rescheduled.

"It may be 20 years but it could be 20 minutes ago," says Charlie Butler, who lost three family members in the bombing.

He still recalls the bright crisp autumn day when he and his wife were shopping on the Shankill - a day that was suddenly and without warning shattered by the explosion.

"I looked up the road and saw total carnage. People were lying around bleeding with horrendous wounds. I looked over to where Frizzell's shop used to be and it was no longer there," he remembers.

It was only when one of the emergency crews opened the back doors of an ambulance and there were other stretchers inside covered with sheets, then it started hitting home”

Mr Butler saw dozens of people in amongst the dust and debris clawing at the rubble. Without thinking, he joined them.

"I started pulling rubble away and it didn't hit me then that we could have been looking for bodies. I was looking for someone who was alive and trapped under the wreckage," he says.

As the minutes ticked by, he began to realise this wasn't going to be the case until he came across the body of 13-year-old Leanne Murray. She was placed on a stretcher, covered with a sheet and taken to a nearby ambulance.

"Even then, the severity of what had happened didn't strike me," he says.

"It was only when one of the emergency crews opened the back doors of an ambulance and there were other stretchers inside covered with sheets, then it started hitting home - this is bad."

Reverend David Clements ran the local Methodist church in nearby Woodvale. He was relaxing at home when he got the call about what had happened. He put on his clerical collar and went straight to the scene.

"I wasn't long in the ministry but I had my own experience of the Troubles. My father, who was a policeman, had been killed by the IRA and a very good friend of mine had also been shot," he says.

Search for relatives

The clergyman helped to comfort relatives at the Methodist church just a few feet from the bomb scene. He also accompanied people to nearby hospitals while they searched for relatives caught up in the explosion.

While the churches did offer support in the immediate aftermath of the carnage, Mr Clements believes many people feel there has been a failure of pastoral care in the intervening 20 years.

"There hasn't been the support and help that there probably should have been," he says.

"I think what can be said by way of criticism of the churches generally can be said even more for the rest of society.

"Too many people in Northern Ireland have the notion that we're past it, get on with it, forget about it. Draw a line and get over it. I think that is grossly unfair for so many families who have lost in the Shankill bomb, in the Greysteel shootings and other situations like that."

The Methodist minster believes a level of criticism should be directed at government-funded agencies as well.

"Victims care and support is an issue that's hung around the edges of political debate for years. It has been misused by some people on both sides to advance their own political agendas and that has not, in most cases, been to the benefit and for the good of the victims themselves."

Mr Clements concedes it's an issue that is contentious and one that people in Northern Ireland may never properly get to grips with.

Around the time of the bombing, Jackie Redpath of the Greater Shankill Partnership was among those committed to the regeneration of a community in decline.

"The day before the bomb we had been to Stormont presenting our long-term strategy for the Shankill to the head of the civil service," he says.

"We came away from that meeting full of hope and possibility and then the bomb went off. While it knocked us for six, this was nothing compared to what it did to the families of the victims."

Mr Redpath says the attack reinforced their resolve to come back, not just from the bombing but also from 30 years of economic decline.

He says it made people determined not let this beat them, and he believes that since 1993 the Shankill has seen some of the best community development work in the whole of the UK.

"When you are attacked from outside, it brings a community together even more tightly," he says.

Plaque commemorating Shankill bombing victims

A plaque has been put up on the Shankill Road in tribute to those killed and injured in the bomb.

"The bomb reinforced that sense of community that was always there and it actually strengthened the spirit of the Shankill, making us more resilient.

"That came through in how people dealt with the immediate aftermath of the bombing, and we as a community took our hope from the hope of the families of the victims."

In the memorial exhibition at the local Methodist church, a table in the shape of the figure nine is covered in hundreds of small cards and scraps of paper.

Nearly dumped but now gathered together for the first time in 20 years, these were the messages of sympathy and support that accompanied the flowers laid at the site of the bombing in the days that followed.

On the back of a brown envelope stained with the glue of the long-perished sticky tape that was used to attach it, appear the words: "From a disabled Catholic and his family to the people of the Shankill Road - our thoughts are with you at this time."

Wednesday 23 October 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24626287

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