Thursday 24 January 2013

20 dead in Bolivia bus crash


More than 20 people were killed Wednesday and 30 others injured when a bus plunged into a ravine in the Andes, Bolivian police said.

The accident occurred near Challapata in Oruro province, officials said.

The bus was en route from the southern city of Potosi to La Paz with 55 passengers aboard, the officer said. Police took 30 injured survivors to a hospital in Oruro city and as many as 25 bodies remain trapped in the wreckage of the bus.

Preliminary reports indicate the bus driver was drunk.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_24/20-dead-in-Bolivia-bus-crash/

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14 killed in western Burma bus crash


Fourteen people were killed and 33 injured on Wednesday when a passenger bus crashed off cliff in western Burma, according to police reports.

Reuters have reported that the dead numbered 16.

The accident occurred at 3am on Wednesday morning along a bus route from Rangoon to Rakhine State.

Brake failure was the suspected cause of the crash of the ill-fated Aung Thit Sar Express, according to a report by AFP.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Min Aung, chairman of the National League for Democracy in Rakhine’s Taungup Township said that, “The injured people were sent to the hospital with other buses. As the bus fell a very long way down, we are still collecting the dead bodies.”

Accidents such as this are common in Burma due to poor infrastructure and hazardous road conditions.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://www.bnionline.net/index.php/news/mizzima/14643-14-killed-in-western-burma-bus-crash.html

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Limpopo flood death toll rises to 12


Two more bodies of flood victims, including a child, have been found, increasing the death toll as a result of the floods in Limpopo to 12 since last week.

The bodies were found on Wednesday by a search and rescue team comprising police divers, the fire brigade, officials from the Army, the South African Air Force, the Red Cross, the provincial disaster management office and emergency medical services.

Limpopo Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs spokesperson, Dieketseng Diale, said an elderly man's body was found in Soekmekaar near Tzaneen while the body of a school child was discovered in Giyani.

"This has raised the number of deaths caused by the floods to 12. Department MEC Clifford Motsepe as political head of the provincial disaster management centre expressed his deep sympathy and condolences to affected families," said Diale on Thursday.

Diale said the provincial disaster management centre was ready to handle any eventuality while residents were still urged not to cross flowing rivers and streams.

Limpopo's Vhembe and Mopani districts were the hardest hit by floods following the heavy rains in the past week.

More than 870 people have been rescued from their homes and rooftops around the province following the floods.

"A team from the provincial disaster management centre is currently doing an assessment of the damage caused, and they will prepare a report for the attention of authorities," added Diale.

She said the report would advise the department in terms of what needs to be done.

"All people reported [to be] trapped have been rescued and clean-up operations have commenced," she said.

On Wednesday, Diale explained that the department was already in the process of identifying flood victims who need RDP houses to be built with immediate effect.

An initial assessment shows that more than 700 houses, 19 schools and 42 bridges were cut-off while 14 roads were eroded in the floods.

The floods have also caused damage on several farms, affecting critical infrastructure like communications and electricity.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://7thspace.com/headlines/430834/south_africa_limpopo_flood_death_toll_rises_to_12.html

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Chitungwiza explosion caused by 'sandawana', traditional healer explains


The mysterious blast which killed five people and seriously injured three others at a traditional healer's house in Chitungwiza could have been a case of sorcery gone wrong, experts said yesterday.

While it has been suggested that a bomb, lightning or gas explosion could have caused the blast, members of the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association say there are other explanations for the incident.

Speculation remains rife on the blast, which destroyed the traditional healer's house and damaged 12 others in the high-density suburb of Zengeza 2 in the dormitory town of Chitungwiza.

While traditional healers are known for providing medicines for ailments as well as addressing matters in the spiritual realm, there are some who dare to extend their practice to the dark side.

Registered traditional healer Lovemore Muparadzi said the explosion was most likely the result of a failed attempt to address problems associated with an enrichment medicine (muti) processed using a rare animal called sandawana, which looks just like a mouse.

"That explosion was not caused by lightning or goblins," he said. "It most likely happened because of a sandawana."

Muparadzi explained that sandawana was a rare animal which traditional healers practicing the art on the dark side could use to come up with concoctions to enrich people.

"But this is a dangerous practice and as far as I know, when trying to come up with that prescription, it is not done in a house but in the bush," he said.

He said coming up with the enrichment muti followed strict procedures which when not adhered to had disastrous consequences.

"Those were exactly the effects of Sandawana," he said.

Muparadzi warned against the "get rich fast" mentality which he said led people to seek and get dangerous muti.

He urged people to instead turn to God and work hard to establish themselves in life. Zinatha spokesperson George Kandiyero agreed that the incident was most likely caused by a process which went wrong.

Kandiyero warned members of the public against obtaining harmful traditional medicine most of which was brought from outside the country.

"Buying such muti can be dangerous because people tend not to get the full manual on how it should be used. And if you do not get the full details, it can backfire," he said.

"I agree that it is possibly Sandawana or some other type of muti, which they were dealing with," he said.

Experts were also of the opinion that the young traditional healer, known as Sekuru Shumba and only aged 24, might not have known the impact of what he was doing. Kandiyero warned the public against visiting fly-by-night traditional healers who were not registered with Zinatha.

Zimbabweans await anxiously to know what police investigations will unearth as many people have been left speculating on what exactly transpired inside the doomed house.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-africa-byo-25346.html

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Chitungwiza blast: Healer's wife speaks out


The Zengeza traditional healer’s 17-year-old wife opened up yesterday saying she felt electric shock in the blast that claimed her husband and four other people on Monday afternoon. The cause of the blast has not yet been established.

Ms Liliyosa Nyawata, the traditional healer’s wife, said that her husband could have survived the explosion had he been attended to earlier.

The couple had been together for a couple of weeks.

Speaking at Chitungwiza General Hospital mortuary where she joined the Mandere family to collect Speakmore Mandere’s remains, Ms Nyawata said she had eloped to the traditional healer three weeks ago.

The couple had stayed at 4 Ndororo Street for only 10 days.

The families had not yet collected the bodies late yesterday afternoon. They, however, indicated that they would bury their relatives today.

The traditional healer died together with four other people who include kombi operator Mr Clever Kamudzeya, baby Kelly Chimina and two unidentified men.

Nyawata said she had just arrived at the house when the incident occurred.

She was with Kamudzeya’s wife and two other women when the explosion occurred.

The women had gone to fetch water for domestic use in the suburb. They had used Kamudzeya’s vehicle to fetch water.

“When we got home there were some people intending to see my husband. They wanted to be attended to,” she said.

Nyawata said as she put the last bucket into the house she heard a huge blast and found herself “tucked into a refrigerator”.

“I got some electric shocks. I finally managed to escape. Once I was outside I looked for my husband.

“I saw him lying motionless outside. He was bleeding from the nose and mouth but was still breathing,” she said.

She said as the ambulance took her to the hospital she told the crew that her husband was still breathing, but they ignored her.

Nyawata said when the blast occurred there were eight adults in the house.

Four women were in the dining room while the men were in another bedroom.

“I had stayed with him for three weeks. We were planning to get a traditional marriage,” she said.

She dismissed reports that there was a dispute between her and her ex-husband only identified as Shumba.

She said her ex-husband was from Mberengwa and works for a Harare car dealer.

“I had a child with him when I was 14 years old. He paid part of the lobola but I decided I could not stay with him because of the ill-treatment I got. I left him in October,” she said.

She said she met Mandere when she had returned to her parents’ home in the same suburb.

Nyawata dismissed as fictitious reports that her ex-husband had been deported to Malawi and was seeking revenge.

Across town in St Mary’s at the Kamudzeya family, friends and relatives were gathered and preparing to travel to Watambwa Village in Chihota for the burial.

Robert Kamudzeya, an elder brother to Clever, said the family was still not aware of what had caused the blast.

“We are concerned about the media reports. We are sure the incident had nothing to do with lightning,” he said.

His son Tichaona said the family was devastated by the death of a “loving and caring father”.

At the scene of the blast, neighbours suggested that traditional healers should not be allowed to operate within residential areas.

Mr Blessing Magaya said they should operate in secluded areas away from the public.

“Now we are all suffering,” he said.

Ms Felistas Dumba, daughter to Mandere’s landlord, said the family would not sell the property.

“In future such healers should have their own premises away from the rest of us,” she said.

Mr Kennedy Mangenje said council should allocate traditional healers an area to build their “surgeries”.

Most of Sekuru Shumba’s paraphernalia was taken to the police station yesterday.

Mandere’s father and some of the victims also gave statements to the police yesterday afternoon.

Among Mandere’s belongings was the clay pot that survived the blast, raising eyebrows among residents.

The clay pot had inexplicably survived the blast with residents claiming that it was part of the traditional healer’s apparatus.

Authorities in Chitungwiza had also hired earthmoving equipment to clear rubble from the site.

The equipment had yesterday cleared the rubble from the damaged houses.

Chitungwiza residents continued to throng the area to catch a glimpse of activities at the site.

Police also maintained their presence to control the crowd.

Mr Oliver Dumba, the landlord, said he would rebuild his seven-roomed house as it was his only source of guaranteed revenue.

“I am 66 years old and am a retired bus driver. I worked for Harare Omnibus Company,” he said.

Mr Dumba said he would look for a job to earn a living.

Harare police spokesman Inspector Tedious Chibanda said police were still waiting for results from the specialists who include pathologists and the army bomb disposal unit.

“By tomorrow (today) we will know the direction,” he said.

Inspector Chibanda said the matter had now been referred to the CID Law and Order Unit because of its nature.

He confirmed that post-mortems had been carried out on all the five bodies and remains.

He said results would be made public soon

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10754:chitungwiza-blast-healers-wife-speaks-out&catid=38:travel-tips&Itemid=18

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Filipino death toll in Algeria rises to 7


The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday said that the number of Filipinos who died in the hostage crisis in Algeria has risen to seven.

Assistant Secretary and DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez told reporters in a press briefing that the Filipino was positively identified by Algerian and Philippine authorities as one of those earlier reported to be missing. Hernandez said the authorities were able to positively identify the Filipino from one of the recovered bodies.

Hernandez also clarified that another Filipino who had earlier been reported to be missing had been accounted for, and was not in Algeria when the incident happened.

“Therefore, we still have two Filipinos unaccounted for and missing……and our team in Algeria continues to coordinate with the authorities and employers to find them,” Hernandez said.

The DFA had said that the six male Filipino fatalities earlier reported were mostly employed by the Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation. He noted, however, that the seventh Filipino identified was employed by a British company.

Hernandez said that they could not yet disclose the names of the Filipino fatalities as they had not been authorized by their respective kin. He added that the authorities were working on the speedy repatriation of the remains of the fatalities but that they could not yet give a specific date.

He added that specific details on the circumstances of how the Filipinos died remained hazy but maintained that “it was the direct result of the hostage taking incident in the area and mostly by gunshot wounds and the effects of the explosion.”

Hernandez also noted that four Filipinos who were injured in incident remained in “stable condition” at the Al Azhar hospital in Algiers.

“They are able to stand up and walk, and the employer is now arranging their repatriation but we could not yet give a specific date,” Hernandez said.

He also said that the four Filipino workers from the Algeria who arrived Wednesday were those who were earlier reported to be staying at the Mercure Hotel. The DFA had said that they were inside the gas facility compound when it was attacked and occupied by militants but they were able to hide and so were not taken hostage.

Earlier reports had noted that the death toll from the siege had risen to more than 80 as Algerian forces searching the area for explosives found more bodies but that it was not clear whether they were hostages or militants.

An earlier Algerian ministry count also noted that 23 foreigners and Algerians were killed after al-Qaida-linked gunmen began their attack on the In Amenas gas plant deep in the Sahara desert on Wednesday. It also said that 32 kidnappers were also killed during the siege, and special forces were able to free 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/62497/filipino-death-toll-in-algeria-rises-to-7

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Japan's Algeria toll hits 10 as survivors head home


A shell-shocked country was Friday readying to welcome home the seven Japanese survivors of the Algerian hostage crisis on a plane that was also carrying nine of its ten dead citizens.

Anxious relatives awaited those who made it out of the In Amenas complex alive, amid a renewed national awareness of the perils of doing business in resource-rich, but unstable parts of the world.

Tokyo on Thursday said it had now accounted for all ten men who had been out of contact since Islamist gunmen stormed the desert gas plant over a week ago.

Dozens of foreigners were killed during a four-day standoff that ended in a bloody showdown with Algerian commandos on Saturday, with reports of summary executions.

Japan's body count of 10 is the highest of any nation whose citizens were caught up in the crisis in the Sahara and an unusual taste of Jihadist anger for a country that has remained far from US-led wars in the Muslim world.

The plane left Algeria on Thursday, stopping in Frankfurt before heading to Tokyo's Haneda airport, where it was expected to arrive around 7:00am (2200 GMT Thursday).

As the aircraft left north Africa, mourners had paid their respects to lost colleagues at a makeshift altar at the headquarters of plant-builder JGC, which employed -- directly or indirectly -- all the Japanese who died.

A steady stream of visitors dressed in black solemnly bowed to a Buddhist cenotaph, as they urged departed souls to find peace.

An elegantly handwritten prayer for those who lost their lives was inscribed on a wooden tablet, around which lay bouquets of white flowers.

The loss of so many colleagues is a heavy blow to JGC in a country where corporate communities are close-knit and company loyalties remain strong.

Media reported Thursday that the tenth Japanese victim of the Islamist gunmen's rampage was Tadanori Aratani, 66, a former vice president of JGC and lately its supreme adviser.

The government has so far refused to identify those who died, although newspapers and broadcasters have told the stories of some victims, including heart-wrenching tales of never-to-be-realised plans for family celebrations.

Broadcaster NHK spoke to the sobbing elderly mother of one man struggling to come to terms with the loss of her son less than two years after the March 2011 tsunami swept her husband to his death.

At least 37 foreign hostages were killed in the siege according to a preliminary death toll, as well as one Algerian hostage. Several people are still missing and some bodies have not yet been identified.

Wednesday 24 Janaury 2013

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/15944784/japan-confirms-tenth-death-in-algeria-siege/

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Families of Bangladesh garment factory fire struggle as they await compensation


When fire ravaged a Bangladeshi garment factory, killing 112 workers, dozens of their families did not even have a body to bury because their loved ones' remains were burned beyond recognition. Two months later, the same families have yet to receive any of the compensation they were promised — not even their relatives' last paychecks.

An official with the country's powerful garment industry said DNA tests must first be conducted to confirm the losses of more than 50 families. He would not say why the families have not even received the wages their relatives had earned before the Nov. 24 blaze.

Many of the families desperately need money after losing their primary breadwinners in the fire at the Tazreen factory, which made clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, a foreign supplier and the government promised to give the families of the dead 600,000 takas ($7,500) each, finance the education of the dead workers' children and pay the November salaries of both dead and surviving factory workers.

"I have got nothing. Nobody is saying anything," said Ansar, who uses one name and who lost his wife and daughter in the fire.

The 55-year-old is too ill to work himself. His 16-year-old son, who also worked at Tazreen, managed to escape but was traumatized by leaving his mother and sister behind "amid the darkness and ash," Ansar said at his home near the gutted factory.

The boy got a job at another factory but was unable to work because of his trauma.

"My son cannot sleep," Ansar said, sobbing. "He wakes up at midnight and then cries for a long time. The same thing happens to him every night."

Ansar has been unable to pay his rent for two months and fears that if he gets evicted and is forced to return to his home village in the impoverished north, he may never be compensated.

The fire drew international attention to the conditions that garment workers toil under in Bangladesh, where the $20 billion-a-year textile industry is incredibly powerful and politically connected.

The factory lacked emergency exits and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built. Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

A government panel concluded that the fire was sabotage. No one has been charged with setting the blaze, though three officials accused of locking in workers have been arrested.

Siddiqur Rahman, vice president of the garment association, said checks have been cut for families of the 59 victims whose bodies were identified. In addition, 80 workers injured in the fire received 100,000 takas each.

The other 53 people killed were burned beyond recognition and buried in unmarked graves, after samples of their DNA were taken. The garment industry demanded relatives provide their own DNA samples to ensure their claims were valid. Those samples are undergoing testing.

Rahman said the industry did not want to handle the claims haphazardly and said the money should be disbursed by the end of February.

"We will do whatever we have promised," he said.He declined to explain why the victim's families had not yet received their November wages, which they would be entitled to whether the employee had died or not. Those wages are much smaller than the promised 600,000 takas; Ansar said his wife and daughter together earned around 10,500 takas a month as sewing machine operators.

When Ansar heard about the compensation, he gave the industry association photographs of his wife and daughter, their employee IDs and copies of their national identity cards. His son gave a blood sample for a DNA test days after the fire, but he has heard nothing.

"We went there; we met the BGMEA officials. They have asked us to wait. They don't make anything clear. They asked us to stay at home, not to go there," he said.

He has their phone numbers, but they don't answer when he calls, he said.

"I went there three times, but returned without anything," he said. "How long should we wait?"

"These families are very poor," said Mahmudul Sumon, an anthropologist from Jahangir Nagar University who is studying the fate of the victims' families. "They have lost their dear ones. Now they are suffering a lot, as many of the families have lost someone who was the main earner in the family."

Ruhul Hannan, who said his 35-year-old wife was killed in the blaze, sent his 18-year-old son for a DNA test, but so far he has received nothing, despite his pleas to the garment trade group.

"I am just waiting. They told me to wait until end of this month for the test result," he said.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/jan/24/families-of-bangladesh-garment-factory-fire-as/?CID=happeningnow

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Four bodies recovered from Mazaruni tragedy


The police today said that four bodies have been found following Tuesday’s collision in the Mazaruni River that left nine persons missing.

The police identified the bodies of the persons found as Jermaine Calistro, 27 years of Boodhoo Housing Scheme, EBE; Ulric Grimes, 39 years of Salem, EBE; Christopher Narine, 21 years of Parika, EBE; and Zahir Baksh, 34 years of Kaneville, EBD.

The police said that the search is continuing with the involvement of the Joint Services, the Maritime Administration Department, miners and public-spirited persons of the community among others.

Lennox Andrews who identified himself as Grimes’s son told Stabroek News today that the body was found floating in the water about 200 metres from Crab Falls near where the two boats collided.

Andrews explained that following searches throughout the day yesterday, relatives decided last night to continue and it was then that they found the body.

Andrews said that the death is even more devastating because Grimes leaves behind a two-year-old son. He has five older children.

After being retrieved, the body was transported to Bartica then to the Lyken’s Funeral home in Georgetown where it is awaiting a post-mortem examination scheduled for tomorrow.

According to Andrews, relatives are planning to bury him after the post- mortem due to the decomposing state of the body.

Searches are at the moment being conducted for the other seven who are missing.

Wednesday 24 January 2013

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/news/stories/01/24/second-body-found-from-mazaruni-tragedy/

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