Monday 2 September 2013

Explosion in Bhutan arms depot kills at least 11 soldiers


A powerful explosion at a military arms depot has killed at least 11 soldiers in the Kingdom of Bhutan, security sources say.

The Monday incident occurred near the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) center base in Anakha in the western district of Haa, where soldiers were disposing of old ammunition, the state-run Kuensel newspaper said.

Eight soldiers were killed instantly in the explosion, while three more succumbed to their injuries at hospital, the report said. About a dozen more soldiers were injured.

Some of the seriously injured persons were flown to Thimphu in helicopters, media reports said.

The dead and injured were members of the bomb disposal squad of the Royal Bhutan Army (RBA). Further details, such as the cause of the blast, were not immediately available.

The Indian Army maintains a training mission in Bhutan, known as the IMTRAT, responsible for the military training of RBA and Royal Bodyguards.

The Royal Bhutan Army is a branch of the armed forces of the Kingdom of Bhutan responsible for maintaining the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty against security threats. The King of Bhutan is the Supreme Commander in Chief of the RBA.

Monday 2 September 2013

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/02/321725/explosion-kills-11-soldiers-in-bhutan/

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Remembering Koreans massacred after Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923


As Tokyo prepares to mark the 90th anniversary on Sept. 1 of the Great Kanto Earthquake, a citizens group is trying to remind people of another tragedy that accompanied the terrible loss of life: the mindless slaughter of thousands of ethnic Koreans as rumors swirled in the capital that looting had broken out.

The Great Kanto Earthquake of Sept. 1, 1923, left an estimated 140,000 people dead. Many died in firestorms that overwhelmed open areas in which people took shelter.

On that day 90 years ago, rumors quickly spread that Korean residents in Japan had poisoned wells that provided drinking water or attempted to foment rioting through attacks of arson.

The government declared martial law, which led to a wave of killings of Koreans in the disaster areas. According to some sources, as many as 6,000 Korean people were murdered at the hands of vigilante groups comprising citizens, police and soldiers.

A member of a citizens group in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward was thunder-struck when he first heard accounts of butchery 20 years ago. Masao Nishizaki, who belongs to Hosenka, a group set up to get to the truth of what really happened, later published a book based on statements by witnesses. He later built a monument to the victims at a site of the massacre.

"I don't want people to forget the tragedy that occurred 90 years ago," he said.

The memorial he erected is at the foot of the Arakawa river bank near his home reads: "The incident deprived many Koreans who lived in Japan, having left their Japan-occupied homeland, of their precious lives without their names being acknowledged."

Nishizaki, 53, said, "It is a little known fact that many people were killed here."

In 1982, when he was a university student, Nishikazi was part of a local fact-finding survey into the massacre of Koreans after the 1923 earthquake. He listened to statements from witnesses with other members of a history study group that was started by an elementary school teacher.

One witness said, "Soldiers machine-gunned and killed about 10 (Koreans) who were lined up on the riverside."

Another said, "A vigilante group murdered them with Japanese swords and bamboo spears under a bridge."

Nishizaki was shocked by the graphic descriptions.

The group collected accounts from about 150 local witnesses, which were later compiled into a book.

About 100 Koreans were said to have been killed around the area the monument stands. Their ashes were never found. The police apparently removed the bodies so there was no evidence of the atrocity that had been committed.

Now, 90 years since the earthquake struck, it is almost impossible to find a surviving witness. The number of people who have heard about that dark chapter is also declining.

To prevent the tragic memory from fading, Nishizaki built a monument in August 2008 on a plot of land one of his friends provided.

"I thought we should leave something visible on the site of the incident to transcend history," Nishizaki explained.

Fake rumors spread again after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 through Twitter and e-mail exchanges.

Hate speech in Japan directed at specific ethnic groups continues to generate headlines.

Nishizaki is worried that the same tragedy might be repeated.http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/AJ201309010017

"If a great earthquake strikes now, can we say the same tragedy will not be repeated? As one who has listened to testimonies, I have a responsibility."

Nishizaki has been busy collecting written accounts related to massacres and false rumors recorded in celebrities' autobiographies and diaries of nameless citizens.

Each Sept. 1, the Tokyo metropolitan government organizes drills across the capital to encourage citizens to be prepared for the next Big One.

Monday 2 September 2013

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/AJ201309010017

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8 more bodies recovered from sunken ferry off Cebu; death toll rises to 105


Eight more bodies were recovered by divers in the past three days from the sunken ferry St. Thomas Aquinas, bringing to 105 the death toll in the August 16 collision between the passenger ship and cargo vessel Sulpicio Express Siete off Talisay City in Cebu, according to the Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson.

Commander Armand Balilo, also chief of the Coast Guard’s public affairs office, said Monday that the eight bodies have been transported to the Talisay City port.

Balilo added that contrary to some reports, search-and-rescue operations by divers from the command, as well as the Navy and the Philippine National, were continuing.

Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena, the PCG chief, “has directed the teams of divers to check all sections of the [St. Thomas Aquinas.”

“He assured the families of the missing passengers and crew members of the ill-fated ferry that the command is doing its best to account for those still missing,” Balilo told the INQUIRER.

The divers were earlier reported to have covered up to 60 percent of the vessel and were scheduled to look into the ship’s tourist cabins.

As of 8 a.m. Monday, the number of missing ferry passengers and crew stood at 32. The Coast Guard placed the number of rescued passengers and crew at 629 and 104, respectively.

Balilo said the PCG station in Cebu has made revisions on the number of casualties “based on body parts recovered, as well as validations by 2Go Travel, which operated the St. Thomas Aquinas, the Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and representatives of the Department of Health.”

Monday 2 September 2013

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/479685/8-more-bodies-recovered-from-sunken-ferry-off-cebu-death-toll-rises-to-105

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261 ‘actually’ missing in Rana Plaza collapse: army


Bangladesh Army, who led the rescue operations at the site of Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, has said 261 people have remained untraced.

The military’s press wing, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, issued a statement after scrutinising all the lists of ‘actually’ missing in the incident on Sunday.

It came nearly four months after they called off the salvage drive at the site of Bangladesh’s worst-ever factory accident.

The nine-storey Rana Plaza caved in on Apr 24 morning near the Savar Bus Stand with thousands trapped inside.

Most of them were women workers employed in the five readymade garment factories operating from the block erected unauthorised.

The ISPR statement added the Bangladesh Army identified those 261 out of reportedly missing 329 people using its own apparatus.

The army abandoned the search for those unaccounted for on May 13 after recovering 1,115 bodies from there.

The rescuers pulled alive 2438 people but 12 of them died later in hospital.

The ISPR said the lists of ‘real’ missing had been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Many people were gathering in front of the collapsed building in search of missing workers even after the Army wrapped up the rescue operation.

Relatives of the untraced workers also demonstrated in Dhaka demanding measures to trace them out.

As many as 234 bodies retrieved from Rana Plaza were buried at Jurain Graveyard.

The ISPR described the measures that the committee, constituted as per a High Court order to pay compensation to the people affected by the collapse, had already taken.

The committee comprised of the Army’s Ninth Infantry Division General Officer Commanding (GOC) and representatives of the relevant departments have been assigned with the task of determining the rates of compensation.

GOC Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy had led the Rana Plaza rescue operations, also carried out by the Fire Service and Civil Defence, RAB and police personnel, Red Crescent members and volunteers.

The statement said the committee met on Aug 29 to determine the compensation rates.

It said committee members Prof MM Akash had been made the chief of the compensation rate fixing sub-committee and Directorate General of Health Services Director (Hospital Services) Prof ABM Abdul Hannan the head of the health condition determining sub-committee.

The two sub-committees have been given until Sept 20 to submit their reports.

The committee will sit again after receiving the reports.

Monday 2 September 2013

http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/09/01/261-actually-missing-in-rana-plaza-collapse-army

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Indian soldier's body found in Himalayas 45 years after plane crash


The body of an Indian soldier who died in a plane crash 45 years ago has been found in the Himalayas and will be given a military funeral, the army said Sunday.

A team found the soldier's body, still wearing a uniform with personal identification documents in the pocket, on August 22 - more than four decades after he and 101 others died when an army transport aircraft crashed in February 1968.

The man, identified as Jagmail Singh, came from Meerpur village in Haryana state south of the Himalayas, an army spokesman said.

"Bad weather hasn't allowed us to fly the body home yet for a military funeral,'' he told AFP.

The remains were recovered at an altitude of 5,400 metres on the Dhakka glacier in Himachal Pradesh state.

"His identity was established by an identity disc, an insurance policy and a letter from his family which was found in his pocket,'' the spokesman said.

The plane took off from a fog-shrouded runway in the city of Chandigarh and was headed for the Himalayan town of Leh.

Halfway to his destination, the pilot decided to turn back due to bad weather.

The aircraft last made radio contact near the 13,050 feet Rohtang pass, before vanishing.

Trekkers stumbled upon its wreckage in 2003 after finding the partially frozen body of a soldier on the glacier, in a particularly remote stretch of the Himalayas.

The army mounted three search missions in the years up to 2009 and recovered four more bodies.

The latest search started on August 13, with the aim of retrieving more bodies as well as a flight recorder that could help explain the cause of the crash.

The Himalayas have long been an icy graveyard for those who disappear in them.

A 1999 expedition to Mount Everest discovered the frozen body of British mountaineer George Mallory, who vanished in 1924 as he tried to reach the world's highest point.

Monday 2 September 2013

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/travel-news/indian-soldiers-body-found-in-himalayas-45-years-after-plane-crash/story-fni0bieo-1226708646499

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