Monday 31 March 2014

Christchurch Coroner's report: CTV rescue was never possible

A coroner's court has found it was never possible to rescue the eight people who survived for hours in the rubble of Christchurch's CTV building after a violent collapse. CTV rescue was never possible.

In a major report made public today, coroner Gordon Matenga told rescuers they were not to blame for the deaths and praised an "outstanding, courageous and selfless" New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS).

But he also condemned several of their practices, finding key issues in the emergency service's command structure, crisis management and decision-making.

The CTV building was a badly designed office block that collapsed in an unusually powerful and shallow earthquake on February 22, 2011. The six storeys pancaked on top of each other at 12:51pm, leaving 115 dead and around a dozen trapped in small pockets of air.

Eight of the trapped were English students from Kings Education Language School on the third floor – Dr Tamara Cvetanova, Ezra Medalle, Jessie Redoble, Rika Hyuga, Rhea Sumalpong, Emmabelle Anoba, Mary Amantillo and Chang Lai.

In the hours that followed most were able to contact family and emergency services with their mobile phones, sending cries of help as far as China and the Philippines.

Dr Cvetanova was able to call her husband several times as he clambered over the rubble trying to find her. They began to knock back forth through the concrete; she would go on to say she wasn't afraid, as rescue was on the way.

The seven women and one man – of China, Siberia, Japan and the Philippines – died sometime before or around midnight on February 22. Mr Matenga found their deaths were a result of "massive crush injuries", smoke inhalation or other unidentified causes.

Rescuers cleared of accidentally crushing survivors

The actions of NZFS were heavily criticised as many of the families felt the rescuers were disorganised and unprepared for the disaster. Alec Cvetanov – Dr Cvetanova's husband – told a 2012 inquest the firefighters had accidentally killed his wife during the rescue, arguing she was crushed as workers moved rubble with heavy machinery.

However, Mr Matenga has since found no sure proof of the allegation, saying the rescuers did "all they could in a difficult situation". There were several strong aftershocks and "too much going on", he ruled, to be sure the rescue effort had accidentally killed the survivors.

He also found there was no evidence NZFS delayed the rescue to focus on other reports or calls for help, as alleged by Mr Cventanov at inquest.

"The rescue efforts of those who worked at the CTV building were outstanding, courageous and selfless and a number of people were saved because of it," his report reads.

"The rescuers could not save everyone, but they expended every effort and resource that was available to them in attempting to do so."

The inquest has also found NZFS was plagued by a series of key systemic failings during the rescue.

Mr Matenga found the senior fire officers at the site were "clearly overwhelmed" by the disaster. Senior station officer David Berry arrived late at the scene and felt he wasn't in command, while others thought he was, prompting confusion.

As a whole, NZFS failed to properly take command of the recovery, failed to create an incident control point and failed to send one of Christchurch's 13 executive officers to the scene – a decision Mr Matenga labelled as a "missed opportunity".

The coroner also slammed an executive decision, made by national controller John Hamilton on the advice of special operations commander Jim Stuart-Black, to go on without the help of a specialist United Nations disaster recovery team.

Mr Matenga has since ordered eight recommendations, each advising NZFS to better its training and disaster preparation.

"More people, more resources, better communication and a better structure would, I am satisfied on the evidence, have improved the situation overall and may have improved the chances of saving more lives," his report reads.

"However, I am not satisfied to the standard required that such improvements would have resulted in the actual locating and saving the lives of [the eight lost]."

Prime Minister John Key this morning told RadioLIVE errors were inevitable due to the magnitude of the disaster.

CTV families spokesperson Peter Brown says the report shows emergency services could have done a better job.

"On the day, all the families accept that the ones that were here did the best they could. But as the report has outlines… things could have been done a lot better," he said on Firstline this morning.

"The main thing really is that the people who are there at the rescue know what they are doing in this particular type of event."

He was at the CTV building after it collapsed, and helped police locate bodies by drawing rough maps on scraps of paper.

"I knew from the outset… there would be no one found alive because of the way the building had pancaked." Quake beyond our training and experience – NZFS

NZFS chief executive and national commander Paul Baxter today responded to the report, saying the fire service takes the recommendations "very seriously".

"The fire officers in command of NZFS resources at the CTV site were faced with a situation that no other officer in the history of NZFS has had to face," he says in a media release.

"It is widely accepted that a natural disaster of this scale presented challenges beyond the training, experience and resources of the service."

Mr Baxter says the fire service has already addressed or is in the process of addressing all eight recommendations made by the court.

"It has been more than three years, but for many, including our firefighters, it was like yesterday and the NZFS wants to acknowledge the strength and resilience shown by the community.

"Firefighers and USAR crews involved in the emergency response in Christchurch did an exceptional job, stepped up, did their very best, often putting their own situations and families to one site, and many risked their own lives to try and save others."

PM: Errors inevitable in a disaster

"They did everything they possibly could, I believe, and they did tremendous work down there," he said. "Whenever you have a major event like this, there are findings and learnings that can be improved.

"I'm sure if there was ever to be a natural disaster of an equivalent magnitude again there would be potentially other things that would occur because the enormity of the event and the rapid decision making – all of those things – add to an incredibly challenging situation."

Mr Key praised the actions of the rescuers at the scene, saying the scale of what took place was "enormous".

"I was not that far away from the CTV building," he said. "I could see it and it was like a warzone there, it was hard to believe.

"People were in shock, there was just sirens and fire and noise, it was incredible and the whole of the CBD was being brought to its knees.

"Under those circumstances, I think you'll find there'll always be improvements that could be made, that's just the nature of what you're dealing with."

Copies of the report were mailed last week to the families of all 115 people who died in the CTV building, along with the embassies of China, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Korea.

The full report will be uploaded to the Ministry of Justice website today.

Full list of recommendations:

[154] Pursuant to section 57(3) Coroners Act 2006 I make the following recommendations;

154.1 NZFS continue work commenced to establish a Memorandum of Understanding between NZFS, NZDF, Air New Zealand and DHL to ensure that the requirements of each organisation are clearly expressed, to ensure the expeditious deployment of USAR teams when required and undertake joint training exercises to ensure the requirements are understood;
154.2 NZFS arrange for USAR technicians to undertake the "Dogman" course to receive specialist training in the use of heavy machinery (including cranes) in search and rescue work;
154.3 NZFS arrange for USAR technicians to undertake and maintain IATA certification;
154.4 For all major disasters where international assistance is sought or accepted, it becomes the default position that a request be made to United Nations for the assistance of an UNDAC team;
154.5 NZFS, in conjunction with the Civil Defence Emergency Management Group, develop and undertake joint exercises with such Light Response Teams that have been established by local authorities (but with emphasis on areas where the risk of building collapse is high following a significant even - such as Auckland, Welling and Christchurch) to better understand their capabilities and to ensure the best use of this resource;
154.6 NZFS develop a standard operating procedure following an earthquake event for all on duty NZFS personnel, in the affected area to follow, prior to deployment;
154.7 NZFS and NZ Police develop and undertake further training in incident management and to emphasise the need to co-operate to establish an Incident Control Point and an Incident Controller in the USAR environment;
154.8 The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management give consideration to amending the CIMS model to provide for the situation where there a multiple sub-incidents, it is a role of the overall Incident Controller to ensure that incident control of a sub-incident has been determined.

Monday 31 March 2014

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/CTV-rescue-was-never-possible--coroner/tabid/423/articleID/338020/Default.aspx

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The horrific accident that claimed 16 lives


It was the country's worst road accident more than four decades ago.

Fifteen people either died instantly or within minutes or hours after the accident while the 16th died the next day.

And the place where the accident happened was also known to have been haunted for some time, with sounds of musical instruments and singing being heard there.

Some who were alive at that time recalled hearing stories about the accident spot being haunted but said there was nothing of that sort happening now.

On the front page of its Monday edition, January 22, 1973, The Fiji Times reported the death of 15 passengers after a collision between two buses on the Kings Rd. It happened on a bend near the Laqere bridge in Nasinu, if someone was travelling from Nausori towards Suva.

On the front page of the following day, this newspaper reported the death of the 16th passenger in one of the buses.

All the casualties were passengers in a bus on their way to Suva to throw flowers into the sea as part of a wedding ceremony. They were reportedly singing and playing Indian musical instruments 'when the tragedy struck.

It was Sunday, January 21, 1973 and an auspicious occasion as a close relative of several of the victims, Usma Wati Singh, was marrying Jagdish Prasad Thakur at Davuilevu in Nausori.

The wedding ended well and after guests had their meal, a group of people, mainly women and children, left to throw flowers in the sea later in the afternoon.

Ms Singh's cousin, Satendra Singh told this newspaper the group was going to throw the flowers at Suva Point.

"When the bus reached a bend near Laqere bridge, it collided with another coming from the other side. The driver's side of the bus was ripped off," he said.

Sixteen people who were passengers in the bus carrying the wedding party died in the accident, mostly women and children.

"Some of those who died were my aunts and cousins. Those who survived the accident have either died or migrated overseas."

Mr Singh, who was in Form Six when the tragedy occurred, said it was the worst accident at that time.

He said Ms Singh died in New Zealand recently while Mr Thakur was alive and living there. The couple were not in the bus.

On stories of the area being haunted once, he said he was aware of it but added nothing of that sort seemed to be happening now.

Ever since I was a child, I also heard stories of the area being haunted after the accident, with some people saying musical instruments and singing could be heard there. However, there are no such stories about the place being haunted now, not forgetting that the area and road have gone through developments since 1973.

Taking a trip down memory lane, this newspaper reported on January 22, 1973 that the bus carrying the wedding party collided with a tour coach shortly before 5pm a day earlier.

The story said the metal-frame of the tour coach tore the right side from the other bus, with a bystander saying "one side and the seats smashed like firewood".

Mohammed Unas told this newspaper then that he was at a party nearby when he heard a crash. He looked up and saw injured and dead people tumbling from the side of the bus.

Being a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade at that time, he ran to the accident scene to help the injured.

"Blood was everywhere. When I picked up a child, the blood rushed down my legs. I tried to stop the injured people falling out the torn off side of the bus," he said in the newspaper report.

Mr Unas said too many people were injured to give effective first aid, adding he did his best to get them to hospital as quickly as possible by stopping passing cars.

"I tried to get the children in first. We just had to put the dead bodies to one side," he said.

As the injured were taken to CWM Hospital, off-duty doctors and nurses were called in by their bosses to handle the emergency while others came in voluntarily.

Police had told this newspaper then that 11 people, mostly women and children, died instantly while the others died later.

Extra police officers were also called in, with some assigned to inform the relatives of the deceased and injured passengers while the others controlled the traffic jam for more than two hours.

On January 23, 1973, this newspaper reported that the death toll from the accident had increased to 16 as relatives prepared for the funerals of 13 victims.

It was reported that at times, the mourners, mostly men, got out of control as they thronged cars which brought the dead to the cemetery.

The last bodies to arrive at the cemetery were taken directly to the pyres when the crowd got out of control, it was reported.

Pushpa Wati Singh, the bride's sister, told this newspaper then that the women and children involved in the tragedy were their close relatives who attended the wedding.

"It happened so fast, I thought it was all part of a dream. One moment there was singing and dancing and the next there were unconscious and injured people all around me," she had said.

"I wasn't injured at all in the actual collision but I cut my feet on broken glass when I jumped from the bus. It was a horrible sight and something I will never forget."

She said women and children sitting on the driver's side were hurled and crushed when the buses collided.

This newspaper's editorial comment on January 23, 1973 headlined "Lessons from Laqere tragedy" highlighted how such tragedies could be avoided or prevented.

It said "the accident underlines, however, the general truth that road travel carries with it dangers that call for unceasing care and a sense of great responsibility on the part of all who put themselves in charge of any moving vehicle."

"A more salutary warning could be one before the eyes of every driver that he has in his control something that has in it the potential for bringing mutilation or death to himself and others," the editorial comment read.

On January 25, 1973, The Fiji Times reported on the front page that the driver of the tour coach Faruk Ali, 28, was charged with careless driving and police were investigating 15 other charges against him.

While the eventuality of his case is unknown, what is known though is that lives were lost in the accident and several families were shattered by the tragedy.

The happy way in which Sunday, January 21, 1973 started and the tragic manner in which it ended remained etched in the memories of their relatives who are alive today.

Some lessons may have been learnt from that fatal accident but the fact remains that road fatalities continue to happen and will do so although it may not be as worse now as the Laqere collision.

Monday 31 March 2014

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=264274

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Robot sub in search for 8 Chinese after Japan ship crash


Search teams have used a remote-controlled submarine in the hunt for the bodies of eight Chinese mariners after the collision of two cargo ships in Tokyo Bay, a Japanese coastguard official said today.

Rescuers have recovered the body of a 23-year-old Chinese man from the ship, which lies in 100 metres of water, the second confirmed death from the accident earlier this month, the official said.

The Panamanian-flagged Beagle III, a 12,630-ton vessel carrying steel coil, sank on March 18 after colliding with the South Korean-registered Pegasus Prime in the mouth of Tokyo Bay.

Twelve of the 20 Chinese crew aboard Beagle III were rescued, but one of them later died.

A survey ship has detected the sunken vessel on the sea floor, and its owners mobilised a remote-control sub to look for the remains of those believed to have been killed in the accident.

“The man’s body was found and recovered from the right-side deck of the sunken ship,” the coastguard official said, adding that it was receiving updates from the owners. “Rescuers used the submarine’s remotely controlled arms to raise the body.”

The crew of the 7,406-ton Pegasus Prime ― six South Koreans and eight people from Myanmar ― were mostly unhurt.

Tokyo Bay is Japan’s busiest waterway with some 500 ships passing through daily.

Monday 31 March 2014

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/robot-sub-in-search-for-8-chinese-after-japan-ship-crash

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Missing persons number from Washington landslide falls from 90 to 30


Hundreds of family photos have been found after the massive landslide in Washington, helping to bring the number of missing persons down to 30.

According to the Associated Press, debris continues to be cleared by workers, and after confirming that some names on the missing persons list were duplicates, the number dropped dramatically from 90 to 30.

Authorities have also stated that more than two dozen bodies have been found, but they have not yet been added to the list of deceased persons because they have not been identified at this time. Authorities report that, unfortunately, those bodies are not always intact, making the identification process even harder.

“Rescuers are not always making full recoveries,” said program manager Jason Biermann. “Often, they are making partial recoveries.”

According to CNN, the community remains strong and is sticking together through these hard times.

“People say in times of disaster, it brings out the best and the worst in people,” Pastor Gary Ray said. “But I’m just seeing the best. I’m seeing patience and sacrifice.”

Volunteers have been reportedly collecting any found photographs to hopefully return to families.

Monday 31 March 2014

http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2014/03/missing-persons-number-washington-landslide-falls-90-30

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