Tuesday 9 June 2015

17 killed in Peru bus fall


A truck carrying schoolchildren home from a parade has fallen into a ravine in Peru’s Andes Mountains, killing 17 people and injuring 33, authorities said.

Five of the injured are in “grave condition” after the accident near the remote community of Cahuac, 160 miles north east of the capital, Lima, said hospital director Rosa Pascual.

Fifteen of the dead were pupils aged nine to 15.

The truck was returning from a flag day parade when it fell about 1,000ft into the ravine, said Huanuco governor Ruben Alva.

School director Yonel Espinoza said the children decided to get in the back of the truck because they wanted to avoid the 90-minute walk from the parade site back to Cahuac, where they lived.

Peru’s transport system is plagued by old vehicles and poor roads, often through mountainous regions, contributing to a high accident rate. According to the transport minister, 3,110 people died in road accidents in Peru in 2013.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/17-mostly-children-killed-in-peru-bus-fall-680765.html

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Rohingya expert: Dozens of corpses wash to shore in Myanmar


Dozens of corpses have washed to shore in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine in the last month, an advocacy group and villagers said Wednesday. Some were believed to be Rohingya Muslims trying to escape trafficking ships, while others were Bangladeshi.

Ye Htut, the presidential spokesman, and other officials were in meetings and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rakhine State Minister Maung Maung Ohn had no word on the bodies but his office was checking into the report.

At least 47 bodies washed up on beaches and the mouths of rivers May 12-24, many so badly decomposed they were unrecognizable, said Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which has been monitoring activities in the isolated, northern tip of Rakhine for more than a decade.

Lewa — who provided a village-by-village breakdown and the dates each corpse was found — believes they drowned while trying to swim to shore.

Religious leader Ashu Dular and other residents in two villages contacted by The Associated Press by phone gave similar accounts, together tallying at least 18 corpses in a much less complete survey.

Myanmar has denied blame for a humanitarian crisis that has gripped Southeast Asia since early May, with more than 4,600 desperate and hungry boat people rescued in five countries after a massive, regional crackdown on human trafficking prompted some captains to abandon their human cargo at sea.

The United Nations says around half those brought to land have been Rohingya, fleeing violence and discrimination in their predominantly Buddhist country; the remainder, it says, are Bangladeshis, escaping poverty.

Myanmar, which denies the existence of the Rohingya, insists all those who have fled by boat in recent months were Bangladeshi. The government has gone to great lengths to make sure it is not disproven — at least not on its own soil.

Its Navy detained journalists, including the AP, over the weekend, erasing their camera memory cards, when they were trying to confirm the nationalities of 727 migrants on a boat hidden away for days near a remote island.

The ship was being towed Wednesday to northern Rakhine.

And late last month, Myanmar's government claimed a ship with more than 200 migrants — all Bangladeshis — had been recovered. But many more Rohingya were taken off the ship and brought to shore under the cover of darkness before they landed, said Araf, a 26-year-old woman, who was among those who said she was forced to disembark with her five children. Others in Sittwe, the state capital, had similar accounts.

For months, ships crammed with hundreds of migrants stayed in the Bay of Bengal, hoping to leave after the security crackdown eased. That didn't happen and conditions on board deteriorated, recent escapees complaining they were getting almost nothing to eat and were badly beaten if they made any noise. Some bought their freedom with help from family and friends, paying hundreds of dollars.

"In some cases, brokers started using fishing boats to bring a few people to shore," said Lewa. "But they were afraid to come too close and dropped them as near to the coast as they could."

Her team saw bodies on beaches and in the mouth of a tiny river along Rakhine's northern tip. Many were believed to be Bangladeshis, dropped off in Myanmar because they felt it was not safe to disembark in their own country during a high alert, she said.

Of the 47 bodies found, 15 corpses washed up in Alei Than Kyaw; 14 in Oo Daung River; 11 in Tha Pyay Taw; six in Tha Ya Kone and one in Myinn Hlut, the Arakan Project said.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/rohingya-expert-dozens-corpses-wash-shore-myanmar-103910963.html?utm_content=buffer7fefb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Wooden crosses in the Donetsk steppe: volunteers search for bodies of victims


In the midst of the Donetsk steppe on the mountain stands a wooden cross. Is similar, only much more put on the roads of Ukraine As amulets. On the cross hangs a soldier helmet plywood plate below the faded marker inscription: "Here lie four Ukrainian warriors, which finished it off, then set fire to their And dumped near the road. Buried fifteen. 09. 2014 ".

"Here the locals buried the soldiers of the Ukrainian army. Like the river found them, close to the road, after the battle, " says Victor Fly, the Deputy head of the Union of Afghanistan veterans of Lugansk region.

This organization together with the people's militia LNR AND Ukrainian volunteers of the humanitarian mission "Black Tulip" are engaged in the search, exhumation And transfer of the Kiev bodies of soldiers of the armed forces. Watching all the Commissioners of the OSCE.

"Here are four lies below another. Believe me, this is only a small proportion of all burials, which we send data. We have a lot of bodies are Not even Buried. Parts are collected in the fields, in the debaltseve area, for example", says Victor.

And this cross, And a helmet, And ubiquitous grasshoppers, And all This bathed in afternoon sun Prairie, As if merged. The peace And quiet." As if there is war, " I freeze.

"Don't relax - and chuckled low rebel in a dark green camouflage - you see at the bottom of the river?(Five hundred meters from us flows the Seversky Donets river). It is already the Ukrainian district, snipers, probably in the bushes sat down, holding us at gunpoint ".

"Oh, don't bother with us W OSCE! And volunteers over theirs. Won't shoot.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://news.rin.ru/eng/news///113649/

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Ops to exhume human trafficking mass graves ends today, 106 bodies found


Operations to exhume and remove the skeletal remains of victims of human trafficking that began on May 25 came to an end today.

Malaysian police said seven more shrouded bodies were found in seven graves at Bukit Genting Perah around 2.10pm and were brought down at 5.55pm today via Felcra Lubuk Sireh.

The latest findings bring the total number of bodies found to date to 106.

“With the latest discovery, operations to exhume the remains carried out by the police comprising forensic experts, the criminal investigation department and the General Operations Force came to an end today,” the police said in a statement here today.

Yesterday, 31 graves were discovered but only 30 skeletal remains were found (one grave was empty). The remains were removed from the site of the graves at Bukit Genting Perah via Felcra Lubuk Sireh.

On June 5, 14 shrouded skeletal remains were exhumed from 12 graves (two graves had remains of two people) in the forest reserve of Mata Air and yesterday 20 shrouded remains were found in 20 graves at the same site.

Prior to that 35 corpses and human skeletons were removed from Bukit Wang Burma.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/ops-to-exhume-remains-of-human-trafficking-ends-today

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Fog disrupts the search operation at Mt Kinabalu


The operation to locate two Singaporeans listed as missing at Mt Kinabalu following Friday's earthquake that hit Ranau has to be temporarily put on hold due to foggy conditions.

Ranau Police Chief Deputy Superintendent DSP Farhan Lee Abdullah called off the mission at about 5.30pm on Monday.

He said DNA tests on body parts believed to belong to the two missing would be speeded up to bring some closure to the search and rescue effort.

"As of today, the number of deaths still remains at 16," he told reporters, here.

Farhan also said 12 bodies have so far been claimed by family members.

Sabah is also considering the possibility of only allowing children aged above 15 years to climb Mount Kinabalu in the wake of the death of six children in Friday's quake.

State education director Jame Alip said he had spoken about the matter to state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun, who is also the state executive councillor in charge of education.

Meantime Malaysian authorities have received DNA from families of the two Singaporeans missing. The DNA samples were taken from one of the families in Kota Kinabalu, and information on the other was received via email. Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the process of DNA matching will take time. In the meantime, the search and rescue operation will continue, until the DNA matching is done and victims are identified.

On Sunday, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun told reporters that 16 bodies had been recovered while two people were still classified as missing until post-mortem examinations were completed.

Those confirmed killed as a result of the 5.9-magnitude quake, that also rocked Southeast Asia's highest peak, were six Malaysians, seven Singaporeans, a Filipino, a Chinese national and a Japanese national. The two missing Singaporeans are a teacher and a pupil.

In Kota Kinabalu, several family members were seen waiting in a special room at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where identification and post-mortem examinations were being conducted on the remains brought there.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=100423

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/search-for-two-missing/1902186.html

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204 bodies from Eastern Star identified by DNA matching


Ten days have passed since a tornado upturned the Eastern Star cruise ship. With two more bodies found, eight passengers are still missing and the death toll has reached 434.

The search mission inside the ship has been completed. The focus of the search has now turned to the river bottom, especially among the huge rocks underwater. Police are also searching along the river's downstream.

More than 140 forensic experts are identifying the dead through DNA testing and arranging funeral services. Officials say more than 200 bodies have been identified by DNA matching. Authorities have started to hand over the bodies to their family members.



Video footage reveals the devastation inside the cruise ship in China which capsized in a freak storm on the Yangtze river last week. Rescue teams use circular saws to cut through muddy mangled metal in the hull as passengers' personal belongings lie strewn around. They are continuing with a detailed search of the ship.

Tuesday 9 June 2015

http://english.cntv.cn/2015/06/09/VIDE1433816761417446.shtml

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/jun/08/china-devastation-inside-capsized-yangtze-cruise-ship-video

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