Sunday 20 April 2014

Passenger van hits trailer in South Pakistan, 42 killed


At least 42 people were killed Sunday morning in southern Pakistan after a bus slammed into a trailer truck in one of the worst traffic accidents in this country in recent years, officials and rescue workers said.

The accident took place on a busy highway in the Sukkur district of southern Sindh Province, when the bus, which departed from the Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab Province, collided head-on with a trailer traveling in the opposite direction, said Sharjeel Kharal, the deputy inspector general of the Sindh Police. The driver of the bus lost control of his vehicle, which had seats for 60 but was overloaded and carrying 75 passengers, police officials said.

The dead included 14 women and 13 children, all from the Dera Ghazi Khan district, Mr. Kharal said. The crash also left 30 people injured.

Some of injured blamed the bus driver for reckless driving and held him responsible for the accident. The driver tried to pass another vehicle on a narrow road but ran into the trailer, passengers said.

The bus driver was killed instantly, and the driver of the trailer truck was injured, local news media reported. The Sukkur police said they would investigate whether the two drivers were criminally negligent.

Local residents rushed to the hospitals in Sukkur to donate blood for the injured passengers. Ten critically injured passengers were transferred to a hospital in Karachi after receiving emergency medical treatment in Sukkur.

It took the police and rescue teams several hours to cut through the metal wreckage of the bus to rescue the injured and retrieve the bodies of those killed. Local television news networks broadcast images of the mangled wreckage after the collision.

Sindh’s chief minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, ordered an investigation into the accident and directed local officials to make arrangements to transfer the bodies to the victims’ hometowns.

Pakistan has one of the world’s worst records for fatal traffic accidents. Tahir Khan, superintendent of the National Highway and Motorway Police, said that every year, 12,000 to 15,000 people died in traffic accidents in Pakistan, mainly because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Last month, at least 33 people were killed in a multivehicle collision along a coastal highway in southwestern Baluchistan Province.

Sunday 20 April 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/world/asia/deadly-bus-accident-in-pakistan.html?_r=0

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Nepal calls off search for missing guides on Everest


Nepal on Sunday called off the search for local guides still missing after the deadliest accident on Mount Everest killed 13 colleagues, as climbers recalled the terrifying moments when the avalanche hit.

Rescuers have retrieved the bodies of 13 sherpa guides and plucked another nine to safety since an ice and snow avalanche smashed into their expedition on Friday morning on the world's highest peak.

Authorities have ruled out any hope of finding more survivors, and with bad weather hampering efforts, they have now decided to end the search for the three guides thought still buried.

"We have decided to stop the search for the missing. We have been unable to identify the location of bodies and at this stage it is difficult to find them in the snow," tourism ministry official Dipendra Paudel told AFP.

The guides were among a large party that left Everest's base camp before dawn, carrying tents, food and ropes to prepare routes for international clients before the main climbing season starts later this month.

The avalanche hit them at an altitude of about 5,800 metres (19,000 feet) in an area nicknamed the "popcorn field" due to ice boulders on the route, which leads into the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.

Dozens of guides were on the move when a huge block of ice broke off from a hanging glacier, before splitting into smaller chunks and barrelling down into the icefall, one of the most dangerous areas en route to the summit.

A guide on the mountain recalled how, moments after the avalanche struck, he and others spent hours digging through snow, pulling out bodies and rescuing injured colleagues.

"We heard a roar and when we looked up we saw a massive ball of snow coming towards us," said Namgyal Sherpa, who was climbing the icefall when the accident happened.

"My first thought was we were all going to die," the 38-year-old guide, who has summited the peak 11 times, told AFP.

Moments after climbers heard the sound of crashing ice, they sprang into action, calling helicopter companies for help and trudging through snow to rescue stranded colleagues.

"We could see hands, legs and bags above the snow," Sherpa said.

Joe Kluberton, Everest Basecamp Manager for Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International, told AFP the local and foreign guides' speedy response saved at least three lives.

"We got nine men off the mountain including three who were critically injured and needed immediate medical attention," said Kluberton, whose team lost four sherpas in the accident with another still missing.

Just 24 hours before the accident, Kluberton's team had held a day-long prayer ceremony at base camp, asking priests to bless their climbing gear and putting up Buddhist flags, in line with local customs which consider Mount Everest to be sacred.

"We basically ask the mountain for permission to climb, we don't cross base camp until we finish the puja (prayer)," he said.

Two young members of the team, Nima Sherpa and Mingma Nuru Sherpam who lost their lives in the accident, had recently been promoted to climbing guides after spending four years working at base camp.

"They knew the risks, we are all familiar with the dangers of Everest, but it doesn't make it any easier to lose your friends," Kluberton said, his voice cracking with emotion.

The disaster underscores the huge risks borne by local guides who ascend the icy slopes, often in pitch-dark and usually weighed down by tents, ropes and food for their foreign clients, who pays tens of thousands of dollars to climb the mountain.

News of the accident sent shockwaves among the mountaineers, leaving some climbers and sherpas considering whether to continue with their expeditions.

"At this point, we are in mourning, we are not ready to think of the future," Kluberton said.

More than 300 people, most of them local guides, have died on Everest since the first ascent to the summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Decades of mountaineering have seen Everest becoming the final resting place for many climbers, whose bodies do not decompose in the extreme cold.

The previous worst accident on the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak was in 1996 when eight people were killed during a storm.

The government has issued permits to 734 people, including 400 guides, to climb Everest this summer season.

Sunday 20 April 2014

http://news.yahoo.com/bad-weather-halts-rescue-deadliest-everest-disaster-060732572.html

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South Korea ferry: divers recover more bodies after entering ship


Divers have begun to recover bodies from inside the ferry that sank off South Korea, pushing the confirmed death toll past 50, officials said on Sunday.

After more than three days of frustration and failure, divers finally found a way into the ferry, discovering more than a dozen bodies inside the ship.

About 250 people are still missing, most of them high school students on a holiday trip, and anguished families are furious with the pace of rescue efforts.

Divers had previously failed to enter the ferry, officials said, because of extremely strong currents and bad visibility due to poor weather. They have yet to find any survivors in the ship.

Beginning late on Saturday, when divers broke a window, and continuing into Sunday, multiple teams of divers have found various routes into the ferry, discovering bodies in different spots, coast guard official Koh Myung-seok said at a briefing. Thirteen bodies had been found in the ship, and six others were found floating outside, bringing the confirmed total to 52, said coastguard official Kim Jin-cheol.

A 21-year-old South Korean sailor also died from injuries he sustained on Wednesday while working on a warship going to help rescue the ferry passengers, the South Korean navy said.

On an island near the submerged ferry, about 200 police blocked about 100 relatives of missing passengers who had been walking on a main road in an effort, they said, to travel to the presidential Blue House in Seoul to voice their complaints to the president.

"The government is the killer," they shouted as they pushed against a police barricade.

"We want an answer from the person in charge about why orders are not going through and nothing is being done," Lee Woon-geun, father of missing passenger Lee Jung-in, 17, said. "They are clearly lying and kicking the responsibility to others."

More than 300 people are missing or dead, and the captain of the ferry has been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need.

Two crew members have also been taken into custody, including a rookie third mate who a prosecutor said was steering in challenging waters unfamiliar to her when the accident occurred.

The ferry's captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, was arrested along with one of the Sewol's three helmsmen and the 25-year-old third mate, prosecutors said.

"I am sorry to the people of South Korea for causing a disturbance and I bow my head in apology to the families of the victims," Lee told reporters on Saturday morning as he left the Mokpo branch of Gwangju district court to be jailed.

Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin told reporters the third mate was steering the ship on Wednesday morning as it passed through an area with lots of islands clustered close together and fast currents. According to investigators, the accident came at a point where the ship had to make a turn.

Prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn so sharp that it caused the vessel to list.

Yang said the third mate had six months of experience, and had not steered in the area before because another mate usually handled those duties. She took the wheel this time because heavy fog caused a departure delay, Yang said, adding that investigators did not know whether the ship was going faster than usual.

Helmsman Park Kyung-nam identified the third mate as Park Han-kyul.

The helmsman who was arrested, 55-year-old Cho Joon-ki, spoke to reporters outside court and accepted some responsibility.

"There was a mistake on my part as well, but the steering had been turned much more than usual," Cho said.

Lee has four decades of experience at sea. He had been captaining ferries for 10 years by the time he was interviewed by the Jeju Today website in 2004, and said he had sailed on ocean freighters for 20 years before that.

But he was not the Sewol's main captain, and worked on the ship about 10 days a month, helmsman Oh Yong-seok said.

Lee was not on the bridge when the ship began to list. "I gave instructions on the route, then briefly went to the bedroom when it happened," he told reporters.

According to the court, Lee faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law. Two other crew members each face three related charges.

Lee was required by law to be on the bridge helping his crew when the ferry passed through tricky navigational areas, Yang said.

Yang said Lee also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, saying, "The captain escaped before the passengers."

Video aired by Yonhap news agency showed Lee among the first people to reach the shore by rescue boat.

Yang said the two crew members arrested failed to reduce speed near the islands and failed to carry out necessary measures to save lives.

It was not clear why the two crew members made the sharp turn, Yang said.

He said prosecutors would continue to look into whether something other than the turn could have made the ferry sink, but said there were no strong waves that could have knocked down the ferry at the time.

Prosecutors will have 10 days to decide whether to indict the captain and crew, but can request a 10-day extension from the court.

On Saturday angry relatives of missing passengers expressed outrage at officials who were holding a briefing on the disaster in a gymnasium on Jindo island, where hundreds of family members are waiting for word about their loved ones. A few dozen relatives surged toward the stage, hurling questions at the officials. One man tried to choke a coastguard lieutenant and punch a maritime policeman.

"The government should have hurried up and done something, but they just wasted four days, which led to this point. I think this is more like a man-made disaster," said Lee Jong-eui, a businessman whose 17-year-old nephew, Nam Hyun-chul, is among the missing.

Three vessels with cranes are at the accident site to prepare to salvage the ferry, but they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those still believed inside, because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coastguard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sunday 20 April 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/20/south-korea-ferry-divers-recover-10-more-bodies

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