Wednesday 15 October 2014

Six months on, S. Korea ferry disaster victims’ families continue to grieve


“Sewol ferry recovery update No. 377 ... Days since last body found — 88.”

Six months after South Korea’s worst maritime disaster, the official e-mails keep coming — sometimes several a day — recording every detail of a largely forgotten and ignored operation.

Weather and sea conditions permitting, they detail the latest mission by divers to penetrate the sunken vessel in the search for 10 bodies that remain unaccounted for.

The last body to be pulled from the upturned ship was way back on July 18. The last before that was on June 19. Just two bodies in almost four months.

“There is no deadline. The work will continue indefinitely,” said Kim Sang-In, an official at the Disaster Management Headquarters overseeing the recovery effort.

“The government has already clarified its position that without the consent of the victims’ families, it will not cease operations unilaterally,” said Kim, whose office issues the e-mail updates.

It’s a consent that steel worker Huh Hong-Hwan has no intention of giving.

Of the 476 people on board the 6,825-tonne Sewol passenger ferry when it capsized on April 16, 325 — including Huh’s teenaged daughter — were high school pupils on an organised outing.

Only 75 of the students survived.

As soon as Huh heard of the disaster, he jumped in his car and drove, sick with anxiety, for five hours down to the southern island of Jindo where the rescue operation was gearing up.

Six months later, he is still there — one of a tight group of relatives still camped out in a public gymnasium which had housed hundreds of family members in the immediate aftermath of the sinking.

“I will never give up or leave this place until I can see my daughter,” the 50-year-old told AFP by telephone from Jindo.

Huh’s daily routine rarely varies: He wakes at 7.00am, has breakfast and walks to the local district office to check if there are any updates.

Some days he goes down to Jindo port and boards a boat to take him to the barge where the divers work from.

Otherwise he watches television, or talks with other relatives of the 10 people still unaccounted for.

“We look out for each other,” Huh said.

“It’s important because it’s very difficult — mentally and physically. I feel abandoned and trapped here. Sometimes I even think of suicide, but then I cling to the hope of finding my daughter,” he said.

The Sewol disaster and the loss of so many young lives was a profound shock that plunged the entire country into mourning and raised questions about what Asia’s fourth largest economy had come to and where it was going.

The grief swiftly turned to anger as it became clear that the tragedy was almost entirely man-made — the result of an illegal redesign, an overloaded cargo bay, an inexperienced crew and an unhealthy nexus between operators and state regulators.

And while the tragedy initially seemed to unite the country, its legacy six months later is one of division and discord.

Parliament was paralysed for months as the ruling and opposition parties bickered fruitlessly over the content of a bill to create an independent inquiry into the Sewol sinking.

Two weeks ago they finally reached a compromise about the composition and investigative powers of the inquiry — but the plan was immediately rejected by the majority of victims’ families, who had been pushing for a say in who should sit on the panel.

A group of family members, some of them on rotating hunger strike, have been camped out of Seoul’s main ceremonial thoroughfare for months to push their demands.

“The political parties are trying to use the tragedy for their own political interests,” said Jun Myoung-Sun, the father of one of the dead students who heads a group that claims to represent the majority of victims’ families.

“What we want is a full investigation aimed at making a safer society. A full disclosure that tells the truth about how such a disaster could occur,” Jun said.

As far as the continuing recovery operation in Jindo goes, Jun acknowledged the challenge posed by the coming winter weather — but was adamant that the time had not yet come to bring in the heavy lifting cranes.

“We have no plan to raise the vessel as yet. This is the wish of most of the families,” he said.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/523234-six-months-on-s-korea-ferry-disaster-victims-families-continue-to-grieve.html

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Jammu and Kashmir: Four bodies dug out in Saddal hamlet, eight yet to be recovered


Four more bodies have been recovered in Udhampur district's landslide-buried Saddal village, taking the total number of bodies recovered so far to 30.

The rescue teams, armed with heavy machines yesterday, recovered four more bodies buried under debris of houses which collapsed in the landslide triggered by heavy rains in Saddal village last month, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Udhampur-Reasi range, Gareeb Dass said on Wednesday.

With these recoveries, the total number of bodies pulled out has gone up to 30, including recovery of some parts of two bodies.

"Eight bodies are yet to be recovered and work is on to dug them out", DIG said.

Armed with heavy machines, including bulldozers and cutters, rescuers have dug up these bodies from 10 to 15 feet deep debris and boulders triggered by massive landslide.

38 people were buried in the landslide triggered by heavy rains which buried Saddal village in Panchari block of the district on September 7. Of these, 12 bodies were recovered on first two days after the landslide.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-jammu-and-kashmir-four-bodies-dug-out-in-saddal-hamlet-eight-yet-to-be-recovered-2026270

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Himalayan disaster: Heavy snowfall in Nepal from Hudhud kills at least 17 climbers, several missing


An avalanche in the Himalayan region of central Nepal has killed at least 17 climbers, including at least eight foreign nationals, officials said Wednesday. More than 100 people are reportedly missing in the blizzard, which was triggered by the tail of Cyclone Hudhud.

Some bodies of the deceased, who include Polish, Israeli and Nepalese citizens, were recovered from Thorong La pass, about 100 miles northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, while 40 others were rescued, Nepalese army official Niranjan Shrestha reportedly said. According to reports, 12 of the deaths were in the Annapurna region. The avalanche, which hit the area on Tuesday, was reportedly caused by the remnants of Cyclone Hudhud, which killed at least 24 people and caused widespread devastation in southeastern India over the weekend.

"There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet (91 centimeters)," a police official in charge of the rescue effort reportedly said. "Among the dead are two Polish trekkers and one Israeli. A Nepali was also buried by the snow," he reportedly said, without revealing any other detail.

Local police officials reportedly said that 152 foreign tourists in Mustang district in the Dhawalagiri zone of northern Nepal could not be contacted.

“The phone network is not very good so we have not been able to get in touch with the missing, but we hope to find them later today,” Mustang district official Baburam Bhandari said, ABC News reported. Bhandari also reportedly said that five Polish nationals, four Israelis and five German citizens had been rescued.

The rescue operation, which was hampered by heavy snow, reportedly resumed after the weather cleared up on Wednesday. According to BBC, Cyclone Hudhud is now moving from Nepal toward China.

Officials said that three villagers were killed Monday in the same district, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu, and their bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

In the neighboring Mustang district, four trekkers caught in a blizzard died on Tuesday. Rescuers recovered the bodies of the two Poles, one Israeli and one Nepali trekker from the Thorong La pass area.

Meanwhile, the bodies of five more trekkers -- four Canadians and an Indian -- who died Tuesday were recovered Wednesday in remote Manang district, Narayan Datta Chapagain, a local police official told.

It was initially thought the group had been caught in an avalanche, but government official Yam Bahadur Chokyal said by telephone from Mustang that the four trekkers instead had been caught in the blizzard and died.

He said another 14 foreign trekkers have been rescued so far, and two army helicopters were picking up injured trekkers and flying them to Jomsom town.

Chokyal said it was not possible to say how many trekkers were still on the route stranded by the deep snow but several of them have reached safe ground on Wednesday because of improved weather.

The rain and snow in Nepal were caused by a cyclone that hit neighboring India several days ago.

October is the most popular trekking season in Nepal, with thousands of foreigners hiking around Nepal's Himalayan mountains.

The Thorong La pass is also on the route that circles Mount Annapurna, the world's 10th highest peak.

An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest single disaster on the mountain. Climate experts say rising global temperatures have contributed to avalanches on the Himalayan mountains.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nepal-avalanche-kills-four-trekkers-in-mountain-pass-with-dozens-still-missing-9795448.html

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Lagos church collapse: DNA samples needed


The coroner investigating the collapsed guest house at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (Scoan) in Lagos has appealed to South African authorities to help in the identification of bodies of their nationals who died in the September 12 disaster.

Oyetade Komolafe said on Monday at the inaugural sitting of the inquest set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the accident, that it was necessary for the South African High Commission in Nigeria to ensure that relations of the victims came forward for the pathologists to get the needed samples of their DNA to compare with the bodies.

“Those corpses have to be properly identified and it is when that is done and the process completed that the bodies will be released to the South African government and they can take them home,” he said.

According to him, the inquest is not a set-up to indict anybody, but it is aimed at unravelling the cause of the incident.

“I want to say this court is not adversarial. We are not here to convict anybody. We are here to find facts. What happened, when it happened, why it happened, how it happened and also to get recommendations from interested parties in their depositions on how to prevent a recurrence of what happened,” Komolafe said.

He called on all interested parties and witnesses to come forward and to testify in order to get to the truth of the matter.

He said the court would visit the site of the collapsed building on Thursday and urged Scoan to make available its closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident.

The court adjourned till October 24 for further hearing.

The founder of Scoan, “Prophet” TB Joshua blamed the collapse on an aircraft which he alleged flew over the building, but government officials say it collapsed because four floors were added to the existing two-storey structure.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/lagos-tragedy-dna-samples-needed-1.1764932

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Tanzania: Death toll in Kigoma boat tragedy rises to 10


The death toll from Lake Tanganyika accident in which 70 people, including a newly-wed couple, were rescued has increased to ten people.

The accident that occured at Kigoma Region's Kalalanga village was reportedly contributed by laxity, according to Kigoma Regional Police Commander (RPC) Jaffar Mohamed and Kigoma Regional Commissioner Issa Machibya.

Mr Mohamed said the rescue effort by the TPDF men was still in progress, however expressing fear of retrieving more bodies as there are no proper records of the number of people who were in the ill-fated boat.

The RC on his part consoled the bereaved families and wished good health and quick recovery for the survivors. He urged Kigoma residents to take precaution when boarding lake going vessels, attributing the mishap and eventual deaths to overloading.

Mr Machibya directed the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) to regulate marine transport in the lake, partly blaming the accident on the laxity in SUMATRA regulatory services.

According to the state-run Swahili daily paper, Habari Leo late on Monday ten bodies were recovered during the search operations jointly conducted by the police and the armed forces.

Local sources said the two boats were returning from a wedding ceremony with some 80 passengers on board.

Seventy passengers including the newly-weds were rescued according to the paper.

The Tanzanian authorities have been ruing boat disasters caused by over-crowdedness on the country’s lakes and the Indian Ocean.

In January 2013 a boat disaster on Lake Tanganyika claimed the lives of eight people with some twenty more reported missing.

Tuesday 14 October 2014

http://allafrica.com/stories/201410140655.html

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