Sunday 6 October 2013

Lampedusa, Italy: Divers recover bodies of 16 more migrants, more than 200 still missing


Authorities say divers have recovered another 16 bodies from a fiery shipwreck of a fishing boat packed with 500 migrants from Eritrea.

Rescuers told the LaPresse news agency that bodies were recovered after divers resumed their search on Sunday morning. They were brought to shore and placed onto trucks to be taken to the makeshift morgue at the airport.

Financial police Maj. Leonardo Ricci said the search and recovery would continue “as long as the sea is calm and there is light.”

The search had been suspended for the last two days due to rough seas. There are 155 survivors, and over 200 people remain missing. Authorities have so far recovered 127 bodies.

Sunday 6 October 2013

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/310053-italy-divers-recover-bodies-of-16-more-migrants/

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Dec. 15, 1967 - Silver Bridge collapse in Point Pleasant kills 46 (with video)


On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge connecting downtown Point Pleasant, W.Va. to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed into the Ohio River. The fall of the span, backed up in both directions with the Christmas season's rush hour traffic, claimed 46 lives.

The 1,750-foot eyebar chain suspension bridge was constructed in 1928 and got its unofficial name from its silver aluminum paint. The bridge’s roadway hung from steel chains anchored by two 130-foot "rocker" towers on each side of the river. Its eyebar-link design was the first of its kind in the U.S. and considered an engineering marvel at the time. The Silver Bridge was initially a toll span, but fares were phased out in 1951.

A National Transportation Safety Board report traced the bridge’s collapse to the failure of a single eyebar link just outside of the Ohio tower. Traffic vibrations and the weight of vehicles, including five tractor trailers, on the bridge’s deck contributed to the failure. When the eyebar gave out, the chains pulled down the bridge’s tower on the Ohio side. Witnesses said the entire bridge came down in a chain reaction within 90 seconds, first dumping vehicles into to the river, followed by the fall of the roadway.

The bridge’s four piers and the approach on West Virginia side were all that remained. In total, 37 vehicles were on the bridge when it fell. 31 of them went into the water.

Emergency crews were able to get to the scene quickly and were able to rescue some from drowning in the 32-degree waters of the Ohio. 21 people survived the fall or were rescued from the river. A flotilla of boats would comb the river for weeks searching for the bodies of those who were not as fortunate. As family members watched on the riverbanks for days, portions of the bridge would have to be raised before the vehicles pinned underneath could be brought to the surface.

The NTSB found that the bridge had been carrying far heavier weight loads than it had originally been designed for. The vehicle used in calculating weight at the time of the bridge's construction was the Model T Ford, a car less than half the weight of the average family vehicle in 1967. The bridge had not been properly inspected in 16 years, and investigators found evidence of severe corrosion throughout the bridge.

Barge traffic on the Ohio was shut down for 36 hours following the collapse and Mason County's civil defense director ordered all roads into Point Pleasant blocked, in an effort to keep out-of-town spectators from entering the area.

Another bridge crossing the Ohio at St. Mary’s, W.Va. was ordered closed immediately, due to its similar design to the Point Pleasant span. It was demolished in 1971 and replaced.

Recovery of the bodies from the river went on into late January 1968. Two victims were never found.

U.S. Sen. Jennings Randolph, D-W.Va., who chaired the Senate Public Works Committee, called for hearings shortly after the disaster, which led to the first bridge inspection requirements at the federal level and focused the nation’s attention on the condition of its aging infrastructure, as President Lyndon Johnson ordered a nationwide probe of bridge safety.

In the absence of the bridge, ferry service carried people across the river from Kanauga, Ohio, to Point Pleasant. Two years after the collapse, a new span over the Ohio was constructed to the south of Point Pleasant. The four-lane, cantilever design Silver Memorial Bridge opened to traffic on Dec. 15, 1969, the two-year anniversary of the disaster, and carried U.S. Route 35 across the river, connecting Mason and Gallia counties.

A memorial to the 46 victims was constructed in Point Pleasant at the site of the original bridge’s West Virginia approach. Consisting of a concrete semicircle, the monument’s red bricks are inscribed with the names of those who lost their lives in the disaster.

Documentary

A 30-minute WCHS documentary is produced, "A Scar Remains," from 1992, the year of the disaster’s 25th anniversary.

Produced and hosted by reporter Brad Harvey, it features interviews with witnesses and survivors, as well as footage from the aftermath of the collapse.

Due to its length, the video is posted in two parts. Part one can be found here. Part two can be found here


Sunday 6 October 2013

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/rememberwhen/rem131006_28.shtml

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South China Sea typhoon death toll rises to 10


Rescuers on Saturday retrieved the bodies of four more fishermen from the South China Sea in the aftermath of Typhoon Wutip, bringing the death toll of a shipwreck to 10.

Another 52 remain missing while 26 fishermen were rescued after the typhoon struck on Sunday.

The bodies were retrieved as the rescuers stepped their search near uninhabited islands and reef.

Sunday 6 October 2013

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-10/06/content_17010642.htm

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Boat mishap claims 18 lives in Niger


Barely six days after a boat mishap which occurred in Malili village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State claimed 26 lives, another one has occurred leaving no fewer than 18 persons dead.

The mishap which occurred on the River Niger involved a boat conveying people from the weekly Thursday market from Kokoli to Ulakami at about 4pm.

The boat was said to be conveying about 80 people when it split into two and the passengers in it were thrown into the river.

A survivor, Umar Ibrahim, said they were in the middle of the 10 kilometres journey when the boat they were in split throwing all the passengers into the water.

“We had just gotten to the middle of the journey when the boat split into two and people started screaming and and falling into the water,” he said.

Ibrahim stated that he was able to rescue about 10 people all whom were women and children, adding that the men could take care of themselves and if not for the rescue, the casualty rate would have been higher.

He added that but for the intervention of other boat captains and their passengers who could swim, it would have been a disaster as he was not sure he too would have survived it because the bank of the river was far away.

Some villagers who spoke with journalists attributed the accident to unnatural causes, saying “the river is angry because it has not been given its yearly sacrifice.”

But others maintained that the boat was too old and had, obviously, not been adequately maintained.

He added that the other boat drivers rushed towards them while they put the people they rescued into the boats, they also got into some when they got tired. The village head, Mohammed Garba, confirmed that after the incident, they went round to find out how many people were missing and they got 18.

He added that rescue operation could not start immediately as there was a heavy down pour, adding that the next morning, villagers went and discovered some bodies while some are still missing.

“Eighteen of our people were victims of the unfortunate incident last night and because of the heavy rain, we could not do anything until this morning. At about 10am, we had recovered 10 bodies, by afternoon, we recovered two while the last one was recovered at about 7.30pm just before you came in,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu on Disaster and Emergency Management, Alhaji Mohammed Saba, has commiserated with the people of the community on behalf of the state government.

He confided in Sunday Tribune that the state government had donated N500, 000 for the burial of the 18 victims whose remains had been recovered.

Exactly one week ago, about 30 persons drowned on the River Niger at Malili village in the same local government area. One hundred and fifty people were on board that boat.

Sunday 6 October 2013

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/again-boat-mishap-claims-18-lives-in-niger/160801/

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/item/23276-river-niger-claims-18-again-%E2%80%A2as-60-survive-boat-accident-in-niger.html

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Lampedusa boat disaster: Divers resume body recovery


Divers have resumed work to recover the bodies of African migrants missing since their boat sank off Italy's Lampedusa island on Thursday.

Weather conditions that hampered recovery have now improved. So far, 111 bodies have been recovered, more than 250 are missing and 155 survived.

Tens of thousands of migrants attempt the perilous crossing from North Africa to Sicily and other Italian islands each year, and accidents are common - but this week's shipwreck was among the deadliest on record.

The 20m (66ft) boat carrying more than 500 people - mostly from Eritrea and Somalia - was approaching Lampedusa early on Thursday when it began taking on water after its motor stopped working. Some of those on board then reportedly set fire to a piece of material to try to attract the attention of passing ships, only to have the fire spread to the rest of the vessel.

The boat - which set sail from the Libyan port of Misrata - is thought to have capsized when everyone moved to one side.

Of the bodies recovered so far 58 were men, 49 were women and two were children of one and six years old.

Sunday 6 October 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24418779

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Tamil Nadu: Police turn to technology to aid identification of unidentified railway victims


Thousands of people whose bodies were found on railway track across Southern Railway remain unidentified. Of the 23,717 people who were found dead since 2003, the identity of as many as 9,118 is yet to be established.

The victims, including hundreds of women, are suspected to have either committed suicide or had an accidental fall, though police do not rule out other possibilities.

In many cases, the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition leaving only the clothes and identification marks for detection. Since bodies remained unclaimed, investigators preserved the skull or thigh bone and disposed them of with the help of NGOs. However, post-mortem and other mandatory formalities are carried out, police sources said.

“A detailed investigation is done whenever a body is found on the railway track. Besides making enquiries in the locality, we send photographs to police headquarters in all States for verification. Wide publicity is given in the media…when a person is found missing, the family should also check with the railway police,” Additional Director-General of Police (Railways) R. Sekar said.

Going by statistics, in the last nine months alone 2,015 bodies were found on track of which 631 remain unidentified. In a number of cases, the victims were senior citizens.

“It is possible that they belong to some other state and came to Tamil Nadu on a pilgrimage or in search of employment. Death due to accidental fall or some other reason cannot be ruled out. Of late, we are coming across many cases of youth getting hit by trains between Chennai Egmore and Tambaram stretch,” a police official said.



ADGP/Director, State Crime Records Bureau, Asish Bengra said the photographs of missing persons and unidentified bodies were regularly updated on the police website.

“In 2012-13, more than 40 cases of missing persons were solved after family/friends of victims identified photographs on the website and informed the police,” he said.

The SCRB was using software developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to match the profile of missing persons with those of unclaimed or unidentified bodies.

“We have a web cell in all districts to do this profiling on a regular basis. The data is also shared with the National Crime Records Bureau for analysis at their end,” he said.

In a novel initiative, the Dharmapuri police organised camps where complaints in man/woman missing cases are shown photographs of unclaimed/unidentified bodies on large screens.

At least a dozen cases reported in Salem and Dharmapuri districts were solved when the complainants identified the deceased persons, police sources added.

Sunday 6 October 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/police-turn-to-technology-to-aid-identification/article5201665.ece

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