Monday 26 August 2013

DNA testing on MV Thomas Aquinas fatalities to take a year


Police forensic experts may need up to a year to identify some of the fatalities from the sinking of the passenger ship MV Thomas Aquinas 1 in Cebu last August 16.

“(With) the number of relatives coupled with the number of bodies still unidentified, this can take over a year,” said Chief Inspector Benjamin Lara of the Central Visayas PNP Crime Laboratory, as reported by the Philippines News Agency.

Lara said that 23 bodies and three body parts have yet to be identified.

At least two victims were identified through dental records brought by kin.

As of last weekend, the Philippine Coast Guard said at least 81 people had died in the sinking of the MV Saint Thomas Aquinas 1.

The MV Saint Thomas Aquinas 1 sank shortly after colliding with the cargo vessel MV Sulpicio Express 7.

Of the 81, 77 were passengers and four were crewmen. The Coast Guard also said 750 had been rescued while 39 are still missing.

Lara said the Crime Laboratory has to take DNA swabs from both the remains and from relatives. The specimens will be tested in the PNP Crime Lab's Manila facilities.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/323711/news/regions/dna-testing-on-mv-thomas-aquinas-fatalities-to-take-a-year

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Toll rises in Mexico migrant train accident


Hundreds of Central Americans riding atop a cargo train in hopes of getting to the United States were being threatened and extorted by armed men before the train derailed and killed at least six, survivors told The Associated Press.

Many who had sneaked onto the roof of the train known as "The Beast" were thrown loose when eight of its 12 cars derailed as it hauled tons of metal junk through a remote, swampy stretch of southern Mexico, witnesses said. At least some of the dead were trapped because they had tied themselves to the train to avoid slipping as they rode between cars.

Witness accounts offered a close-up look at the horrifying conditions faced by the tens of thousands of Central Americans who cross Mexico in increasing numbers in hopes of finding work in the U.S., even as Mexican migration slows. Gangs of armed men prowl the train line, robbing, kidnapping, extorting and raping those trying to cross Mexico.

Hundreds squeeze together atop the train. Others ride between cars for lack of space, or to obtain shelter from the rain and wind.

"Those are the ones who died," Jose Hector Alfonso Pacheco, a 48-year-old Honduras, told The Associated Press in a shelter where Mexican authorities were housing dozens of the estimated 250 who had been riding on the train. Rescue workers were moving tons of wreckage and junk with heavy equipment Monday and expected to find more bodies, though not in the massive numbers first feared after the accident. At least five migrants suffered grave injuries, with dozens of others less seriously hurt.

Mexican authorities said the accident victims could stay in Mexico legally for a year and apply for citizenship if they wanted.

The dead migrants were between 19 and 58 years old. In an indication of why the toll wasn't higher, authorities said the train was crawling at about 2 miles an hour when it derailed.

Surviving migrants described themselves as having been kidnapped by armed men who had been taking them to meet with their chief in the nearby city of Coatzacoalcos, presumably to arrange the payments that would allow them to get across Mexico and into the U.S.

Agustin Sorto Ayala, a 22-year-old Honduran migrant, said he saw seven men get on the last car near the town of Chontalpa and move from car to car with flashlights and pistols, saying "we had to pay for a 'guide,' we had to pay 'rent' and if we didn't they wouldn't let us get off the train."

"They had us kidnapped and when the train derailed, that's how we got loose," he said.

Mexican officials said they were investigating the cause of the crash. State authorities have pointed to heavy rains softening the ground beneath the tracks, as well as potential pilfering of metal from the tracks.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the accident was a reminder of the dire conditions faced by migrants on the train.

Honduran and Guatemalan diplomats traveled to the area to help identify victims and make sure the injured were getting needed medical attention, the nations' foreign officials said.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/toll-rises-mexico-migrant-train-accident-20070952

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Philippine Coast Guard official tally: 80 dead, 51 missing, 733 survivors


The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Central Visayas yesterday released an official tally of the victims of the Aug. 16 collision of two vessels to eliminate confusion.

The PCG said the collision between passenger ferry m/v St. Thomas Aquinas and cargo vessel m/v Sulpicio Express Siete claimed the lives of 80 people (75 passengers and five crew members), while a total of 733 persons (629 passengers and 104 crew members) were rescued.

The body parts found, said PCG 7 District Commodore William Melad, were counted as one body, as per advice from the Department of Health 7.

No new bodies were recovered yesterday from m/v St. Thomas Aquinas as search, rescue and retrieval operations were suspended due to the southwest monsoon winds that made diving to the wreckage impossible.

Resume

Retrieval and rescue operations will resume at 5 a.m. today.

Authorities involved made use of the suspension to re-evaluate the list of casualties, missing persons and survivors.

Cebu Coast Guard Station Commander Weniel Azcuna explained that the six who are unaccounted for are those whose names are in the passenger manifest or list but no one has yet come forward to report that they are missing or have survived the sea mishap.

Azcuna said the 2GO Group, which operates the Aquinas, is now contacting the family of the six passengers to determine their whereabouts. He added that they are not discounting the possibility that these persons may have chosen to just go home after surviving the accident and didn't bother to get in touch with the ship operator. They may also be passengers’ relatives who listed their names in the manifest when they were merely at the 2GO terminal.

During the announcement, Melad explained that they arrived with the official tally only now because they had to validate each name in the list provided by 2GO.

“We found duplication in the survivors' list so we had to call each survivor,” Melad said.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2013/08/27/pcg-official-tally-80-dead-51-missing-733-survivors-299957

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Human bones sent for forensic test

Around 16 severed human body parts and 13 bones, found in four sacks at Dhaka South City Corporation landfill in Matuail yesterday, might have been trashed by a medical student studying anatomy.

The body and skeleton parts had probably been treated with preservatives and used by medical college students for studying, said the morgue sources at Sir Salimullah Medical College.

A board of forensic experts at the college would be formed today to conduct forensic tests on the body parts.

Nobody had gone to the morgue until yesterday evening to claim any unidentified bodies.

“The veins of the hands and legs, sticking out of the limbs, could have been preserved for anatomy students,” said a police official of Jatrabari Police Station, wishing anonymity.

He added that the details would be available once the forensic tests were completed.

A forensic expert speaking to The Daily Star, however, doubted the possibility.

The body parts or skeletons used for academic purposes are usually processed in a very careful way, they said, so that they are without cuts or scratches, but these have hacksaw cuts in them.

They mentioned that anatomy students either sell the skeleton or keep it with them for a lifetime, instead of trashing them when their studies are finished.

Meanwhile, police are yet to confirm the area from where the sacks were brought and dumped into the landfill.

Every night, 250-280 garbage trucks dump their loads in that zone, said Abdulla Harun, an assistant engineer at Waste Management Department of Dhaka South City Corporation.

He added the sacks had probably been dumped on late Thursday or early Friday, as garbage trucks usually dump trash in that particular spot after 11:00pm.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/human-bones-sent-for-forensic-test/

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Debris keeps divers from retrieving bodies from ferry


Naval divers were unable to retrieve bodies from the sunken M/V St. Thomas Aquinas yesterday, saying that search operations were made difficult by debris and dark areas in the sea.

Lieutenant Commander Noel Escalona, operations officer of the Naval Forces Central, said the passengers’ belongings are making it hard for the divers to find bodies.

“There are several bags, luggage and mattress foams inside the ship, so it’s hard to clear the area,” Escalona said in Filipino. “Based on the feedback of the divers, it was really dark below. They searched (for the bodies) but there were lots of floating debris.”

“It’s (search operation) becoming harder every day,” he added.

Three teams of Navy divers conducted search operations yesterday. Escalona said the divers can only stay underwater for about 25 to 30 minutes due to the water’s depth. Navy frogmen could stay longer underwater if they had more oxygen, which would entail huge costs. The provincial management council provides oxygen to divers, who consume about 10 tanks a day.

“We need more divers. Our divers are getting tired. They have been diving for a week,” Escalona admitted.

But the Navy remains optimistic that more bodies can be retrieved in the succeeding search operations.

At least 80 people died and 40 others are still missing after M/V St. Thomas Aquinas 1 of 2Go Shipping collided with the Sulpicio Express Siete outside a major port in Talisay, Cebu last Aug. 16. More than 700 passengers survived the accident. A Special Board of Marine Inquiry has been formed to look into the mishap.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/08/26/1135341/debris-keeps-divers-retrieving-bodies-ferry

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HPCL-Visakh Refinery fire: Workers say 10 are still missing


More than 48 hours after the mishap at HPCL-Visakh Refinery on Friday, uncertainty continues over the number of deceased, even as one of the severely injured was airlifted to Mumbai for advanced treatment. While the family members of some workers and union leaders say at least 10 persons are missing, the management of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) maintains that eight persons died in the mishap and ruled out finding any bodies under the debris. Meanwhile, no more casualties were recorded on Saturday.

During his visit on Saturday, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Veerappa Moily said 102 workers were on duty when the explosion occurred, but most of them were far away from the accident spot.

Officials later said there were 46 persons working at the cooling tower, and following the blast, 39 were admitted to hospital. They recovered the body of HPCL supervisor Ch Murali and six other workers from the debris till Saturday evening. Another person, Manojeet Pradhan, succumbed to injuries at a private hospital on Saturday.

HPCL officials clarified that they could not find any more bodies and ruled out the possibility of finding any more bodies from the site. On condition of anonymity, an official said all contract workers enter through the same entry point and it would take time before identifying the positioning of all of them in the entire plant.

Meanwhile, workers claim there were 56 persons near the cooling tower and 10 of them are still missing. Though they could not give more details about the missing persons, they alleged that the management is trying to misguide the public by suppressing facts and keeping the families of victims in the dark. A contract worker at the refinery told Express that some of the victims were from Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, and it would take some time before their family members learn about it and come to the refinery to search for them.

CPM district secretary Ch Narasinga Rao agrees with the workers. “Going by the attendance sheet of the corporation, 56 persons were at the spot. But only 46 were accounted for. We fear that the bodies of the remaining persons could be found in the debris. We demand that the management provide the details of missing persons after clearing the debris,” said Narasinga Rao.

Meanwhile, HPCL chairman and managing director S Roy Choudhury airdashed to Visakhapatnam and conducted a review meeting with officials on the incident. He visited the accident spot and also the injured at the hospital. He is learnt to have directed the officials to provide required medical attention to the injured.

One Venkata Rao was airlifted to Mumbai for advanced treatment and six other injured are also likely to be airlifted to Mumbai over the next 24 hours. The officials have handed over the bodies of HPCL supervisor Murali and three others to the bereaved families and efforts are on to identify the charred bodies of the other deceased.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/HPCL-fire-Workers-say-10-are-still-missing/2013/08/26/article1752277.ece

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Nepal embassy officials in Uttarakhand to discuss missing persons after flood


A team of the Nepalese Embassy formed to find the facts about Nepali people who went missing in the flood in Uttarakhand, India, that took place in mid-June this year interacted with Nepali people living in Guptakashi area, on Saturday.

During the interaction with around 50 Nepalis at a school there, they told the team that as many as eight persons were swept away in the flood in Guptakashi, according to the Nepalese Embassy in India.

The Nepalis in Guptakashi said the flood had also swept away Nepali people´s shops and horses in the flood.

Majority of the participants in the interaction were from Bajura, Dang and Rolpa districts.

The team had also informed the Uttarakhand government about the losses caused in the ´Himalayan Tsunami´.

The embassy source has stated that the identity of the missing was not discovered as there were no photographs of the missing people and any materials that give their identity.

It has been learnt that the team would reach up to Gaurikund to collect further information for whereabouts of the Nepali people missing in the flood.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=60132

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25 drown as mini-truck falls into Ghaghra in Bahraich area


As many as 25 people are feared to have drowned in Ghaghra when a mini-truck in which they were travelling fell into the river in the early hours on Saturday.

Reports stated that the vehicle (UP 78 AT 4591) laden with urad pulse was going to Kanpur from Nanpara on Saturday night. Besides the driver and cleaner, 28 labourers were travelling in it. The vehicle fell into the river, breaking the railing of Sanjay Bridge on Barabanki-Bahraich Road. The driver and four labourers swam out of the river safely. The remaining 24 labourers and the cleaner are feared to have drowned as they are still missing.

Superintendent of police Mohit Gupta and district magistrates of Bahraich and Barabanki districts have reached the spot. The PAC divers have been engaged to trace the missing persons.

Driver Raju, a resident of Sultanpur and labourers Agyaram, Maujilal, Nandlal and Sarju said that most of the labourers were from Sirsia area in Shravasti district. Eight were from the same family.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/25-drown-as-mini-truck-falls-into-Ghaghra-in-Bahraich-area/articleshow/22049582.cms

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4,432,880 missing persons vanished globally in past 20 years


In the summer of 2005, an elderly woman with dementia left her residence in Medicine Hat, Alberta. No one knows why she left, or where she thought she was going. Exhaustive attempts to locate her were fruitless. She was declared dead, three years later. Her body was never recovered.

"Enid" was a missing person. She is said to have had an active social life. Numerous friends lived near her, visited her reasonably often, and a stepdaughter was in touch fortnightly. Yet somehow, she managed to disappear without anyone noticing an elderly woman walking alone through a relatively small city, surrounded by open plain and smaller towns, to a destination unknown.

She left family behind; some 25 people were directly affected by this one woman's disappearance.

"Samson's" family gave up looking for him after five years. He went out one night and never came back. His last known whereabouts was an ATM from which he withdrew a few hundred dollars. His banking and credit cards have not been used since. His whereabouts has never been discovered. No one knows if he is dead or alive. He and his wife were still raising their three children at the time of his disappearance.

Among law enforcement officials, the common wisdom is that 95%-98% of those who go missing reappear within 48 hours. While these statistics may provide some temporary comfort to those whose loved one has gone missing, it diminishes both the real numbers of those who go missing, and the emotional havoc such a disappearance wreaks upon family, friends and associates of the missing person. These statistics also conceal another: globally, 607 people go missing every single day, without a trace. Over a year, this totals 221,644 missing individuals; over twenty years, this totals 4,432,880 - more than the population of New Zealand, or almost the entire population of Ireland (2011 statistics).

In the broadest terms, there are two types of missing persons: those missing voluntarily and those missing involuntarily. The former include individuals who wish to 'drop out' of society for a while, often for reasons of mental health, damaged (or threatened) relationships with family or friends, financial trouble or simply desiring time to evaluate one's life course. The majority of these missing people remain local to their last known address; the one comfort they retain in self-imposed exile is a familiar environment.

These missing persons leave loved ones confused about their relationships to her/him, and therefore ambivalent upon her/his return. Loved ones may feel simultaneous joy and relief, but also mistrust and apprehension. The voluntarily missing person is often aware of the potential (or deeper) rift her/his absence may cause in former relationships; in many cases, the fear of a negative response from family or friends is a factor in such a person's decision not to return to her/ his former life.

When a voluntarily missing person is not located, loved ones often experience grief indefinitely; the individual may be eventually declared dead and his or her affairs may be settled, but there is no real closure for those s/he leaves behind. This lack of closure is, in many cases, worse than it is for those whose friend or family member has gone involuntarily missing - though the latter case usually carries with it much darker implications and outcomes.

The media has brought numerous cases of kidnapping and human trafficking to the public's attention, yet the purposes these enslaved serve are varied; forced labour, arranged marriages, prostitution rings and organized crime have all made headlines in global media. Those who are trafficked are likely to suffer reprisals if they escape and their stories are publicized. Such is the courage of those who have come forward against the wishes of their captors and, in some cases, complicit families and neighbours. Many people find it easier to deal with their missing by regarding them dead than to hold out hope for, or be given evidence of, their survival.

These stand in sharp contrast to families and friends of political detainees/ disappeared, many who are vocal in their denouncements of the repressive regimes that imprison torture and kill neighbours, family members and friends. For these, the disappeared are not a point of dishonour but a point of fighting for justice. Their missing are brave; their dead are testaments to a thirst for justice.

Still others go missing in order to preserve their own lives. Their situations arise from previous errors in judgement, sometimes crossing those involved in crime. The choice of death or disappearance (presented as a 'chance at a new life') is given. The desire to live usually coincides with the realization that the safety of one's family will be more assured without one's return to it. "Samson" made such a decision readily.

Where do 4,432,880 people go to become invisible? Many, of course, could probably be accounted for in the hundreds of thousands of unclaimed bodies which occupy the morgues of cities all over the world. Others occupy prisons,’re-education centres' and other political machines. They are in-house workers of all stripes, factory hands, and corporate slaves. They are in places not yet searched, and those in plain view. Some bodies may yet be claimed; some people may still be found alive, and returned to their families and friends. Some may retain their 'new life' and not seek reunion with those who once cared for them. Others are disposed of in various ways, still to surface, perhaps to be discovered in a shallow grave, cremated without ceremony, or cast in concrete boots.

The problem is that people still go missing. Another problem is that there is no acceptable way to track every human on the face of the earth. Reducing the number of missing persons has become a matter not for technology, governments or for corporations, but for individuals, neighbourhoods and communities who are no longer content to watch nearly 4.5 million people vanish every generation.

To start with, people can look out for each other. Neighbourhood get-togethers can facilitate those residing near each other getting acquainted and becoming aware of each other. Organizations can allow communiquรฉs to be sent from a missing person to her/ his family, assuring them of her/ his well-being and allaying any fears of her/him being harmed, even while still gone to ground. Such modes of community outreach need be neither expensive nor time-consuming, but present. All it takes is a will to ensure that fewer people's absence goes unnoticed, and an appreciation of those around us.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1308/S00441/4432880-missing-persons-vanished-in-past-20-years.htm

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Mexico officials tell families that 10 bodies identified so far as among 12 abducted from bar


Families in Mexico City say authorities have told them that 10 of the bodies found in a mass grave outside the capital have been identified so far as being among a dozen young people kidnapped three months ago from a bar in the city.

One mother, Julieta Gonzalez, says federal officials told her Sunday at a meeting that her daughter and nine others had been identified using DNA tests on the 13 bodies recovered from a grave on a ranch east of Mexico City. Tattoos and physical characteristics also were matched to make some IDs.

Authorities have not said who the 13th victim may be. The bodies were unearthed Thursday.

The young bar-goers vanished from the Heaven club May 26 a block from tourist-friendly Paseo de la Reforma.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexico-officials-tell-families-that-10-bodies-identified-so-far-as-among-12-abducted-from-bar/2013/08/25/0da86c52-0dd0-11e3-a2b3-5e107edf9897_story.html

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Body parts came from a medical college: Police


Police now suspects that the 16 severed human body parts and 13 bones which were recovered from Dhaka South City Corporation landfill in Matuail on Friday, came from an anatomy department of some medical college in the capital.

Demra zone’s Assistant Commissioner of police Minhazul Islam said the bones and body parts were chemically decomposed with material used to preserve bodies. “It seems absurd that criminals would preserve the bodies after killing,” he observed.

Minhazul Islam said some veins of the bodies were cut off similar to the way anatomy students at medical colleges cut while learning dissection. The bones were also attached by screw, which matches with works by medical students at dissection class, he added.

A police official of Jatrabari Police Station seeking anonymity said, a primary probe has found that the bodies were dumped by a private medical college at Dhanmondi. It is illegal to dump bodies for medical use, he added.

However, Inspector (Investigation) of Jatrabari Police Station Abani Shankar Kar said, they will not comment over the issue before the DNA test is done.

Meanwhile, a medical board is supposed to be set up at Sir Salimullah Medical College to conduct the DNA test.

Monday 26 August 2013

http://www.dhakatribune.com/crime/2013/aug/26/body-parts-came-medical-college-police

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