Young tribals want tattoos erased

As soon as she secured admission in a Ranchi college, Anita Oraon made her mind up - she would have the tattoos on her face removed as soon as she could. Like most girls from the Oraon tribe, Anita in her childhood was tattooed with three marks on the brow and two on each temple. But little did she realize then that the ink would become a burden too heavy to carry all her life.

Often ridiculed at school and on the streets of the city because of the marks on her face, Anita decided she would go for a laser tattoo removal process before her life in college began. "Traditionally, girls from the Oraon tribe get tattoos - know among us as godna - on their faces at childhood and as they grow up they got more on the arms and the back. I got mine removed before joining college because I knew my classmates would make fun of me. I did not want them to believe I was different from them."

Anita is not the only young tribal who has chosen to get rid of the ink and the ancient tribal art is now on the brink of disappearing. Youngsters are reluctant to get a godna done and those who already have are queuing up at skin clinics to get them removed.

Dr Saroj Rai, the only dermatologist in Ranchi to offer tattoo-removal facilities, said: "Almost 10 to 15 tribal girls approach me every month to get their godnas removed. Most of them are young and are about to join college or are going for job interviews. They believe that the godna is embarrassing and people look at them differently and with repulsion because of them. Some married women also approach us for the therapy, but their numbers are not as large."

The various tribes of Jharkhand had different reasons for marking themselves - while some did it to prepare the young folk for the mental and physical pains of life and help distinguish them from people of other tribes, others believes it was a form of a permanent ornament, something that would stick with them even in the afterlife.

Girdhari Ram Gaunjhu, former head of the tribal and regional languages department at Ranchi University, said: "For the Ho folk, godna was a sign of purity, the Santhals believed that a tribal without a tattoo would be eaten up by insects after death and the Khariya people looked at it as a mark of courage and valour. Every tribe had different tattoo designs to distinguish themselves from each other," said Gaunjhu.

Unlike the simple tattoo process used by the ubercool in cities these days, getting a godna can be very painful. Women artists - known as 'malaarin' - used to go from village to village and make godna on girls above the age of 10. Gaunjhu said: "The girl is held tightly and a piece of cloth is stuffed in her mouth. A bundle of seven needles - dipped in a mixture of kajal and the milk of a lactating woman - is used to carve the pattern on the girl's face. The wound is covered with fresh cow dung, which works as an antibiotic. The whole procedure of making a godna takes at least three days and the pain can last for weeks."

So why have the tribals who have gone through such pain to ensure their traditions do not disappear are now choosing to get rid of them?

Gaunjhu believes that people do not want to be recognized as tribals anymore. "Except for some who flaunt their tribal legacy for political interests, most believe they are looked down upon by the so-called upper classes," he said. "Students in particular do not want to be identified as tribals - they are apprehensive that even if they get admissions for higher education on merit, they will be discriminated against on the pretext of being from a reserved quota," Gaunjhu added.

Migration to urban centres for jobs and livelihood is another reason for the tribals to ditch their tattoos. "Many tribal folk are now settled in big cities and they do not see this art form on the streets there. Their sensibilities have been altered by the life in metros and they do not want their children to undergo the pain they have been through," Gaunjhu said, adding that Body piercing, another traditional tribal art, is also going the godna way into oblivion.

Though some tribals lament the loss of tradition, most are not in favour of godna. Budhni Oraon, a 75-year-old, said: "I know that godna is an integral part our culture and lifestyle, but they are more of a problem in this era. I still have the tattoos that I got in my childhood while I was living in my ancestral village where everybody had a pattern on their bodies. But I do not want my grandchildren to get them done."

Budhni added: "After I moved to Ranchi with my family, the people here started treating us badly and did not give us any respect. The sight of a godna invites ridicule in cities and I do not want my children to go through the insults that I have had to face."

Ironically, the urbanization that is causing the disappearance of tribal arts could also lead to their revival. Tribal tattoos have now been adopted by the city youth as a style statement and people flock to the dime-a-dozen artists to get themselves inked. Mike Cowasji, a prominent Delhi-based tattoo artist, gets at least four to five youngsters a month demanding a tribal pattern - mostly Maori or Celtic - on their bodies. "Tribal adaptations of zodiacs and animal figures are among the most preferred and many also choose the warrior and valour symbols," he said

The trend has been evident in Jharkhand as well. Gaunjhu said: "We do see some youngsters making a traditional godna or getting ears pierced, but they are now doing it to make a fashion statement, not to uphold tradition."

Tuesday 15 January 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Young-tribals-want-tattoos-erased/articleshow/18026824.cms

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Six Dead in Mpulungu Fatal Accident

More than five people have been knocked down in Mpulungu district of Northern province while seventeen are in a critical condition.

A Truck Registration number ABV 9630 belonging to Agro-Fuel Investment killed six people on spot at Mpulungu central town after the driver lost control from Mbala 48 kilometers away from Mpulungu .

The vehicle has damaged property worth millions of kwacha for Mpulungu prominent businessman Alex Sinyangwe popularly kwon as MAPS Hardware as his scania truck registration number ACP 9440 was not spared.

Others businessmen affected are Urban Life, Amos Grocery, Lucey Hair Saloon, and Matete General Dealers,

Mpulungu District Commissioner Julian Chuzu has confirmed the development to the press who rushed to the scene and she has since described the incident as a disaster.

Chuzu said a combined team of security personnel and stakeholders are still scavenging for bodies as the trailer and bags of cement are believed to have buried some vendors who were selling their merchandises at the main gate of Mpulungu main market.

Chuzu said the seventeen victims have been referred to Mbala General Hospital for further medication.

She has since thanked the people of Mpulungu for having worked hand in hand with government officials in rescuing the victims adding that the spirit of unity should continue prevailing in the district.

Meanwhil,e hundred bags of cement have been destroyed while the vehicle is beyond recognition.

Agro Fuel Investment is the major exporting company of cement to Zambia’s neighboring countries through Mpulungu port.

This is first tragedy accident which has occurred in the district for the year 2013.

Sunday 14 January 2013

http://zambiareports.com/2013/01/14/six-dead-in-mpulungu-fatal-accident/

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Families protest unapproved cremation of landslide victims

About 40 family members of landslide victims in southwest China's Yunnan Province have protested after their loved ones' bodies were cremated without their approval.

The people gathered on the road to the landslide rescue and disaster relief headquarters in Zhenxiong County on Sunday night, blocking dozens of vehicles, Zhu Henghui, office director with the Zhenxiong County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said early on Monday.

The crowd did not disperse until 2 a.m. Monday, according to Zhu.

The landslide, which occurred in the Zhenxiong village of Gaopo on Friday, killed 46 villagers and injured another two.

Government authorities had cremated all the bodies by Sunday, triggering anger from the victims' family members. According to the tradition of the village, where dwellers are mostly of Yi ethnicity, bodies of the dead are usually buried instead of cremated.

Moreover, the family members, most of whom worked in cities and escaped the disaster, said they did not even have a chance to say goodbye to their deceased relatives because of the unapproved cremation.

"I had expected to have a final look at my child," said Zhao Mingcai, a migrant worker who rushed home from the provincial capital of Kunming on hearing the news.

Zhao lost nine of his family members in the landslide, including his child, his brother and sister-in-law.

Lei Chuying, deputy chief of Zhenxiong County, said cremation orders were given with consideration to epidemic prevention as well as the family members' emotions.

"Many parts or organs were missing when the bodies were dug out, and the scene may have left the families devastated," said Lei.

The landslide is believed to have been caused by heavy precipitation, as well as earthquakes that struck a neighboring county last year.

More than 500 villagers have been moved to makeshift tents near the village over fears that a secondary disaster triggered by the landslide could endanger their homes. Others have gone to stay with relatives and friends in other villages.

Makeshift houses will be built to replace the tents and provide shelter for disaster-affected residents, and plans to rebuild the village have been launched, according to Chen Xiangjin, vice secretary of the CPC Zhenxiong County Committee.

Chen added that a daily subsidy of 12.5 yuan (2 U.S. dollars) will be given to those affected by the landslide for the next three months.

Monday 14 January 2013

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/755664.shtml

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Key Suspect Dead in NE China Bus Explosion

The key suspect in a bus explosion that killed 11 people in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has been found dead in the blast, local government said Sunday.

A police investigation showed, Gao Wanfeng is suspected of placing the explosives on a commuter bus that blasted around 6:30 a.m. Friday in the Lingdong district of the city of Shuangyashan, according to a city government statement.

The explosion also hit a coach in the opposite lane.

Seven of the van's occupants, as well as four of the coach's, were killed in the explosion.

Police on Sunday also released an initial list of victims which was drafted after relatives identified the bodies in person.

The exact list will be released after DNA testing precisely verifies the victims' identities, the statement said.

The injured are receiving medical treatment.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2013/01/13/2724s743344.htm

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5 dead, 19 injured in SW China coach accident

Five people died and 19 others were injured after a coach rolled over Sunday morning in southwest China's Guizhou province, local rescuers said.

A coach collided with a guardrail and rolled over around 5 a.m. Sunday on an expressway in Xifeng county, rescuers said.

Five people died at the scene. The injured have been taken to local hospitals, where four of them are in critical condition.

Sixty people were onboard when the accident happened.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-01/13/content_27672308.htm

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Police Find Corpses Of Women In Ritualists’ Hideout

Police detectives in Asaba, the Delta State capital have uncovered a hideout/operational base of suspected ritualists with scores of unidentified corpses of women.

The police command spokesman, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Famous Ajieh, said the detectives acted on a tip-off to swoop on the suspects in their operational base in Okpanam village where four of them were arrested. The police, he said, found scores of mutilated and decomposed bodies of women.

It was learnt that the replacement of commercial motor cycles with tricycles popularly known as “Keke” had led to the influx of suspected ritualists who use the new means of transportation to charm unsuspecting passengers and take them to the hideouts where they are allegedly killed with vital parts of their bodies removed.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that activities of the ritualists increased during the Yuletide in Asaba and its environs when they caught a pregnant woman on her way to church service along Nnebisi Road and allegedly hypnotised her. They allegedly took her to their hideout where she met other persons being held by the suspects.

But through divine intervention, she was said to have been pushed away when it was her turn to face the ritual exercise.

Police sources however, confirmed that four persons were arrested including their kingpin identified as Simeon (surname withheld), who upon interrogation confessed to the gang’s atrocities while three others are on the run.

Ritual activities allegedly thrive in Ibusa, Ogwashi-Uku, Ubulu-Uku and Okpanam.

While warning passengers to be wary of the operators of the “Keke,” Ajieh said their activities had been placed under serious surveillance.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/44907/2013/01/13/police_find_corpses_women_ritualists_hideout.html

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Five Feared Dead, Others Injured As Vandals Set NNPC Pipeline On Fire

About five people were feared dead Friday night during a violent clash between suspected pipeline vandals and security operatives at Arepo, in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Sources say the suspected vandals and armed guards monitoring the area both suffered casualties.

It was learnt that the suspected vandals had threatened to set the pipeline ablaze, following a disagreement between the two sides.

The ones who had escaped unhurt, reportedly regrouped and attempted to evacuate the corpses of their slain colleagues, threatening not to allow anyone to enter or leave the area until they have recovered the bodies.

The vandals were also reported to have violently resisted attempts by officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and other villagers to conduct a rescue operation in the area.

A source, who spoke to The Guardian, said he could not ascertain the number of persons killed, but that he counted five bodies in the river.

Public Relations Officer of the NSCDC, Ogun Command, Mr. Kareem Olanrewaju, confirmed the incident but denied there were casualties.

He said the inferno, which was first noticed Friday night might have been caused by the suspected vandals, adding that the surveillance team of the corps had earlier reported suspicious movement around the Arepo waterways.

He said that when the fire outbreak occurred, a team was instructed to move in for possible arrests but that no arrests were made, as the vandals fled.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110322:five-feared-dead-as-pipeline-vandals-security-men-clash-in-arepo&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

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SHC seeks comments on delay in identifying victims

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday issued notices to the interior secretary, the provincial police chief and the SITE station house officer on a petition over the failure of the authorities to identify two victims of a Baldia garments factory fire despite the lapse of over four months.

Hussain Ahmed and Dilawar Hussain submitted that their sons, Sharjeel and Asif Aziz, who were worked as a helper and a pressman in the ill-fated factory, Ali Enterprises, lost their lives in the September 11, 2011 blaze, which claimed the lives of more than 250 employees.

They said the authorities obtained blood samples twice for identifying the victims, but despite the lapse of over four months the bodies had been neither identified nor handed over to them for funeral.

The petitioners said that despite a government announcement of compensation for the legal heirs of the victims, they were not being given any compensation. They claimed that the tragic incident had taken place due to lack of safety measures and dishonesty and negligence on the part of the factory owners, other shareholders and government departments, including labour, environment, civil defence, social security and buildings control.

They said their sons were the only breadwinners of their families, and prayed to the court to direct the authorities concerned to expedite the DNA matching process and ensure the compensation amounts as promised by the government.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, issued notices to the interior secretary, the provincial home secretary, the IGP and the SITE SHO for January 15, and called their comments.

The SHC had earlier taken notice of the delay in the identification of 33 victims of the factory fire, and directed the police to obtain DNA reports from the Islamabad laboratory so that the bodies could be handed over to the affected families within 15 days.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-154021-SHC-seeks-comments-on-delay-in-identifying-victims

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Prosecutors approve search for Gacy victims

Detectives who have long wondered if John Wayne Gacy killed others besides the 33 young men he was convicted of murdering may soon get to search for bodies underneath an apartment complex where his late mother once lived, a law enforcement official said Saturday.

Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, confirmed a Chicago Sun-Times report that Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez agreed to ask a judge for a warrant to search the housing complex on the city's Northwest Side. Such requests for search warrants are routinely approved.

Dart has been pushing Alvarez's office for months to sign off on the warrant, but Bilecki said the sheriff's office was asked for more evidence. Dart's office then found records showing that Gacy, a contractor, had done handyman work at the complex, and it located witnesses whose sworn affidavits raised intriguing questions about Gacy's activities there.

"These people in their affidavits stated that he was seen at odd hours doing odd jobs around the building," said Bilecki.

Bilecki said that investigators would bring in high-tech thermal imaging devices that detect that detect underground anomalies indicating something may have been buried. At the same time, searchers would bore holes in the ground and have FBI cadaver dogs sniff the holes' openings for the scent of human remains.

"It should initially be a pretty non-invasive (search)," said Bilecki, adding that the search could become much more involved if the initial search indicates any sign of human remains.

A search would be the latest twist in one of the most terrifying crime sprees in American history, one that ended when investigators discovered 29 bodies buried in the crawlspace of Gacy's Chicago-area home and yard in the 1970s. Gacy, who was arrested in 1978, convicted in 1980 and executed in 1994, has been the subject of countless articles and books, as well as at least one movie.

Gacy's case has remained in the headlines thanks largely to Dart, who has been trying to identify the remains of still unknown victims and who has voiced questions about whether there may be victims whose remains either haven't been found or haven't been linked to one of the most notorious serial killers in American history.

A few weeks ago, the sheriff's department announced it was submitting the DNA of Gacy and other condemned murderers who were executed in Illinois to a national database in the hopes of clearing the coldest of cold cases across the country. Detectives say that because Gacy traveled extensively, he may have killed people in other locations. Dart previously exhumed for DNA testing the remains of young men whose bodies were found in Gacy's crawlspace but never identified, an effort that led to the identification of one of the young men.

The apartment complex was searched in 1998, and more than a dozen underground anomalies were located, but for whatever reason, not all of those sites were investigated further, Bilecki said.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://www.thepublicopinion.com/news/associated_press/national/us/article_da809ff9-29ed-5e13-a5fd-1f850d8a9bd2.html

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Forensic scientists are working to identify thousands of anonymous corpses along the U.S.-Mexico border

At the bottom of a freshly opened grave, two young women use brushes and dustpans to sweep the last traces of powdery south Texas soil off the coffin. It’s a little before 8 a.m. on a cloudless May morning, and the punishing sun will soon push the temperature into the 90s. Up on ground level, the excavation’s super​visor, a sprightly forensic archaeologist named Lori Baker, snaps photos of the work. All around them, granite headstones display the names of the dead buried here in the city of Del Rio’s Westlawn Cemetery—Connor, Pennington, Ramirez. Baker has come here from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, to determine the identity of the others, the ones without headstones or whose resting places bear a single word: Unknown. Many of them, she believes, are illegal immigrants who drowned in the Rio Grande or died from heat exhaustion—and whose families have no idea what became of them. “It doesn’t matter if they disappeared in the 1990s,” Baker says. “People don’t stop searching.”

Baker’s team soon gathers around the grave, and two students pry open the coffin with hammers. Inside lies a woman’s body, partially mummified. A clump of hair rests alone, like a bird’s nest, on the pillow. “Where’s the head?” someone asks. Then they spot it. Her head lies at the foot of the coffin, next to two cotton slippers—a final indignity for a woman buried without a name. The cemetery’s gravedigger says the head must have fallen off and rolled there years ago, when the coffin was dug up and moved to make room for another grave.

The decapitated woman’s exhumation is the first of many in Baker’s efforts to identify anonymous immigrants’ corpses in Texas. She will provide samples of DNA extracted from the bodies’ bones to match against databases compiled by the Mexican and U.S. governments. Her painstaking work, she hopes, will give closure to families who don’t know whether a vanished relative has died, been kidnapped, or is simply out of touch.

The number of undocumented immigrants caught by the U.S. Border Patrol has plummeted from a peak of 1.2 million in 2005 to 340,252 last year. But the number of deaths has not fallen apace; hundreds of corpses are still found every year. In 2011, 42 percent of the 357 deaths reported by the Border Patrol were in Texas, where many of the bodies are recovered from the thorny scrub of ranches. And that’s only the bodies the patrol found. My visits to county offices and graveyards, together with surveys by government officials, suggest that thousands of anonymous corpses have been buried in Texas over the last 20 years. A statewide law directs officials to collect DNA samples from unidentified corpses, but both funeral directors and law-enforcement officers tell me that doesn’t always happen. After all, only one of the 15 border counties in Texas has a fully equipped medical examiner’s office.

It’s a long-standing problem all along the border. Several years ago, Bruce Anderson of Arizona’s Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner was facing a surge in unidentified deaths, from an average of just a dozen a year to 200. “We had 100 bone samples in our freezers,” he recalls. He contacted Baker for help, knowing she had used genetics to study ancient American migrations. Baker paid her own way to Pima County and started taking DNA samples. She soon cracked her first case, identifying the remains of a mother of two who twisted her ankle while crossing into Arizona and was abandoned by her companions. The woman’s family broke into tears when television reporters interviewed them about the discovery.

The Mexican government soon gave Baker grants to sequence the DNA of 250 more bodies, yielding about 70 matches. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice began paying for the sequencing of the roughly 4,000 unidentified remains recovered on U.S. soil each year, wherever they’re found. By now, Anderson has identified 65 percent of the 2,000 anonymous cadavers found in Arizona over the past decade.

Baker, meanwhile, has shifted her modest lab’s focus to long-buried bodies. In addition to looking at DNA, she’s also analyzing trace elements found in the remains. The elements can show evidence of the person’s diet, which can help separate foreigners from locals.

Last spring’s trip to Del Rio proved how grueling her project will be. She first tried the city’s San Felipe Cemetery, but the aging groundskeeper couldn’t recall where he had buried unidentified bodies. So she moved on to Westlawn Cemetery, several miles away, which seemed to have better records. One team of her students, however, spent four days digging in the 100-degree heat before they uncovered a corpse clasping a plastic-wrapped Bible—from the Retama Manor Nursing Center. Not an unknown body after all. Baker had already spent an afternoon in the emergency room with a serious bout of heatstroke and was not pleased with one more frustration.

After 10 days of work, the group packed six bodies into the back of its trailer and headed north to begin the laboratory work. Just a few days later, a call came in to a nearby sheriff’s office. A body had been found on a remote ranch. It was going to be a long summer.

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://www.salon.com/2013/01/13/whose_body_is_this/

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Costa Concordia: Hunt For Russel Rebello's Body

Missing waiter Russel Rebello last spoke to his family six days before the Costa Concordia went down.

In a phone call, he wished his wife and son a happy new year, adding how sorry he was work had taken him away from the celebrations.

Witnesses have said the last positive sighting of the Indian-born 32-year-old was as he made his way to a muster station at the restaurant at the back of the Costa Concordia, on deck five of the ship.

He is one of two people whose bodies have still not been recovered a year after cruise ship hit rocks and ran aground.

The crew member's brother Kevin has maintained a constant vigil, shuttling from his home in Milan to the island of Giglio every few weeks.

Kevin has also set up a Facebook page in memory of his brother in which he asks anyone who may have any information to contact him.

This weekend, Kevin made the journey to Giglio to gather with survivors and rescuers to remember the tragic events of January 13 last year.

He said: "I've not lost hope. I know the official search stopped a long time ago but I will continue to look for my brother's body.

"I watch every news bulletin or programme on the Concordia in the hope of finding some piece of information that will help me find my brother.

''I'm doing it not only for my own peace but also for the sanctity of my parents who are both very old.

"All they want is to give my brother a proper Christian burial. They want a tomb so that they can go there and pray for him. We are all very religious.

''For us this is something that has not stopped it has continued for weeks, months, and now we have reached the first anniversary.

"The circumstances for us are very different as we do not have a body, and we are not the only ones in that situation - one of the female passengers is also still missing.

''Those 30 people who lost loved ones on the Concordia have some closure as they have a body that they have buried and maybe a gravestone to pray at, but we don't have anything.

"More than anything we would just like to find Russel's body so we can bury him and draw a line on what happened.''

Kevin paid tribute to the islanders on Giglio and said: ''They have been so welcoming and friendly towards me. They have made me feel welcome and at home each time I go to Giglio - the mayor above all has been very friendly and warm. Giglio has become my second home."

Kevin revealed he has had several phone conversations with the Concordia's captain, who is accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while dozens of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still on board and waiting to be rescued.

Francesco Schettino has not been charged but is living under court-ordered restrictions pending a decision on whether to indict him.

Kevin, who runs a fitness centre in Milan, said he bore no grudges against the captain, who is said to have altered the ship's course so he could carry out a sail-by-salute of Giglio and took the Concordia onto rocks, tearing a fatal 70-metre gash in its hull.

He said: ''We last spoke the day after Christmas. I wished him a merry Christmas - it was the fourth time we have spoken and we both wished each other a merry Christmas. We have never gone into the details of what happened that night. It's not up to me to judge him, that is for a court.

''I know many people would be surprised to hear that I have no bitterness towards him because people think he was responsible for what happened to my brother, but do you think by not speaking to him I will get my brother back?

''He said he regretted the incident, but what I will say is that I'm not so sure it was ultimately his fault - I think there were others involved and many people had a share of responsibility.''

Kevin added: ''All we want is for my brother's body to be found - this is very hard for all of us and I wouldn't wish it on any other family.

"My brother has a son Rhys, who is four years old - he doesn't really understand what has happened but when he is older we will tell him what a kind and good man his father was.

''We just want a body so that we can put an end to this - no-one can give us the answer to the question we want, my parents have been crying all the time, they just want my brother's body so they can grieve for him properly.

''Of course we understand that it is a difficult job, it is a massive operation and it's not something that can be done in a matter of days or weeks. When I am not on Giglio I keep track by looking at the webcam pointed on the Concordia.

''My only other prayer apart from getting my brother's body back is that no-one is killed or seriously hurt while working on salvaging the Concordia.''

Kevin also revealed how for the first time he was apprehensive about returning to Giglio for the commemoration.

'I'm looking forward to going back as I'm always made so welcome - but this time will be exactly a year after my brother was lost. It will be difficult for me and for the others there.

''When I see the ship I will be thinking of my brother, of how kind and helpful he was and how the last time he was seen he was giving life jackets out to the passengers and crew. That's the sort of man he was, he would always help people and he was always happy and smiling.

''It's difficult to put into exact words but I think this time it will be frightening to see the ship.

"A lot of people have said how it looks like something from the movies, but this isn't Hollywood this is real life.''

Sunday 13 January 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1037400/costa-concordia-hunt-for-russel-rebellos-body

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31 killed in Doti bus mishap

31 people were killed when a passenger bus met with an accident at Rupskada, Chatiban VDC-9 of Doti in an early Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, 11 are reported to be injured.

The ill-fated bus (Na 4 Kh 3603) heading from Jaigad, Accham to Tikapur, Kailali skidded off the road nearly a kilometer down. In a recent update, Police have recovered dead bodies of 22 male, 7 female and a child.

Deceased have been identified as Ujjwal Buda , bus driver Makkhuram Chaudhary, co driver Ganesh Chaudhary of Kailai, Pashupati Thakulla, his daughter Roshani Thakulla (2) of Kanchanpur, sister Kalpana Thakulla of Achham, Pawan Shah,Krishna Khadka, Rup Bahadur Rawal, Gagan Thapa,Chandra Devi Regmi,Bimal Buda,Tapendra Thakulla,Bharat Thakulla of Achham district.

Similarly, Kamala Rawal, Chakra Thakulla, Debananda Khanal, Rangi Devi Rawal, Tek Bahadur Buda, Bahadur Sodari,Ramila Shah,Sher Bahadur Saud,Devi Sara Thakulla and Dambari Kumari Thakulla of Achham and Tularam Regmi.

Identification of four other killed is yet to be established.

Police have suspected that the slippery road might have caused the accident.

According to the police, injured Indrasara Khadak (45) of Kailka Gajara -2 , Tapendra Rawal of Kalika Sugali- 2, Gulabi Rawal (23) and her daughter Manju Rawal (2) and Pabitra Bohara (40) of Darna VDC-9 of Achham, Janak Regmi of Mangalsen VDC of Achaam, Kishor Chaudhary and two others are undergoing treatment at Zonal Hospital in Dhangadhi.

Among injured, Pabitra, Kishor and Janak are in critical condition.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=31+killed+in+Doti+bus+mishap&NewsID=361520

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Haiti quietly marks quake's 3rd anniversary

President Michel Martelly urged Haitians to recall the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary yesterday with a simple ceremony.

Martelly also thanked other countries and international organizations for their help after the Jan. 12, 2010 disaster.

"Haitian people, hand in hand, we remember what has gone," Martelly said as a gigantic Haitian flag flew half-mast before him on the front lawn of the former National Palace, a pile of tangled steel reinforcement bars nearby. "Hand in hand, we're remembering, we're remembering Jan. 12."

Clad in black, several dozen senior government officials gathered where the elegant white palace had stood before it collapsed in the temblor and was later demolished. Foreign diplomats and Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, earlier named by Martelly as one of Haiti's goodwill ambassadors, were also there.

In the speech, Martelly announced a government contest seeking designs for a monument to honor those who died in the quake. He also said the government had just released a new construction code aimed at ensuring new buildings are seismically resistant but didn't provide details.

Later in the day, Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and former US president Bill Clinton placed a wreath at a mass burial site north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Crosses that once spiked the makeshift grave have since vanished.

Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. The disaster also displaced more than a million others.

Most of the rubble created by the quake has since been carted away but more than 350,000 people still live in grim displacement camps.

Many people had hoped the reconstruction effort would have made more headway by now, but progress has been stymied by political paralysis, the scale of devastation and a trickle of aid.

Jan. 12 was observed as a national holiday the last two years to remember the quake. This year, the government said the day would no longer be a holiday but called for the Haitian flag to be flown at half-mast and for nightclubs and "similar establishments" to close.

The anniversary this year has been used by Haiti observers to criticize the reconstruction process and by foreign aid groups to promote their work and raise money.

But for some Haitians, it was just another day.

"We can't remain focused on Jan. 12th," said Asaie St. Louis, a 56-year-old teacher and devout church-goer, Bible in hand. "It's passed already."

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.philstar.com/breaking-news/2013/01/13/896467/haiti-quietly-marks-quakes-3rd-anniversary

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10 Bangladeshis killed in Bahrain fire

Ten Bangladeshis along with three other foreign workers were killed when a fire swept through a three-storey labour camp in the Bahraini capital Manama on Friday.

Counselor and Head of Chancery of Bangladesh Embassy in Manama Mehdi Hasan confirmed the death of 10 Bangladeshi workers. Of them, four hailed from Brahmanbaria, three from Chittagong, two from Chandpur and one from Noakhali districts.

Out of the 10, four brothers came from two families in Brahmanbaria and Chandpur districts.

The deceased were identified as: Sapan and his brother Saiful Islam (Sabuj), sons of late Shahid Miah of village Kaitala in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria, Shahadat and his brother Titu Miah, sons of Alam of village Nawpura in Kachua upazila in Chandpur.

Two others from Nabinagar in Brahmanbaria are Jasem, son of Naser Miah of village Goali, and Mohammed Anowar, son of Abul Bashar of village Gurigram.

Three of the deceased were named as Nazir Ahmed, Mahbub Alam and Jamal of Patia upazila in Chittagong.

The tenth was identified as Md Osman Gani, son of Abdur Rahim of Sonaimuri upazila in Noakhali.

Two more Bangladeshi workers also sustained injuries in the fire, said Shameem Ahsan, director general (External Publicity Wing) of the foreign ministry, quoting Bangladesh mission in Bahrain.

The unlicensed building had 26 rooms occupied mostly by "free visa" workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, Bahrain-based newspaper Gulf Daily News reports.

"The majority were Bangladeshis and seven to 10 people lived in each room," it added

"In that building there are 28 rooms, of which there are three rooms occupied by Pakistani nationals and the rest occupied by Bangladeshis," one resident of the building told Reuters.

A fireman was injured when the roof of the building collapsed during the blaze.

The victims of the blaze, in the Mukharqa neighbourhood, are yet to be identified, said an Interior Ministry official last night.

The bodies have been transferred to the Salmaniya Medical Complex mortuary while the injured are undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The Civil Defence acting director-general said fire brigades rushed to the Mukharqa neighbourhood after the blaze was reported at 3:44pm (Bahrain time) and reached the site at 3:50pm.

Several tenants were rescued from the burning building and the blaze was brought under control before it spread to nearby buildings.

"We are still awaiting identification of the bodies which were recovered by Civil Defence personnel from the debris," the acting director-general said.

Capital Governorate Chief Prosecutor Fahd Al Buainain last night visited the site and ordered a probe into the blaze.

Officials said three Pakistanis suffered burns and were transferred to SMC.

"Mohammed Akram, 40, suffered burns to his hands and left leg, Saeed Ahmed, 38, suffered second-degree burns to his face, legs and hands, and Mohammed Aslam suffered minor burns to his hands and legs."

Thick smoke reached the sky and was visible from a distance.

"Initially we thought it was a minor fire but after sometime we saw thick smoke coming out of the building and neighbours panicked," said an eye-witness.

"Some called the Civil Defence and several fire brigades and ambulances arrived at the scene.

"They entered the building although there was a lot of smoke and flames were rising from the structure.

"It spread so fast that the whole building went down in minutes," he said.

"Police cordoned off the area. Firemen brought the bodies out one by one and I saw 13 bodies. They were still working at the site at 10pm when we left," he added.

Sources said the roof of the building collapsed in the fire and the structure could be razed because it is not safe.

The Pakistan Embassy last night called on the community to help identify the victims.

This is the second deadliest fire involving labour camps in Bahrain. A fire in a Gudaibiya labour camp killed 16 workers in 2006. Another blaze in East Riffa killed 10 last year.

BBC reports: According to the 2010 census, there are more than 660,000 foreign nationals living in Bahrain - the vast majority of whom are described as Asian - out of a total population of 1.23m.

Saturday 12 January

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=43895

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Plane crash victims identified

The four people who died in a plane crash near Maxwell on Friday have been identified. They include Mark Bottorff, the pilot of the plane and owner of Bottorff Construction in Atchison, Kan. That’s according to Jerry Ernzen, vice president of operations for Bottorff Construction.

Ken Babcock, the owner of Ken Babcock Sales, a Hiawatha, Kan. company that designs and supplies farm equipment, also died in the crash. KBS confirmed his death on Saturday, as well as the death of Jason Drane, KBS operations manager.

Chris Nelsen was the fourth person killed, according to representatives from Scott-Hourigan, the farm and garden equip-ment company in York where Nelsen worked. Ernzen said Bottorff had been in North Platte for a project.

“We have a crew pulling concrete there, and Mark was looking at other prospective work,” Ernzen said.

No additional information was given about the passengers flying with Bottorff. At 3:46 p.m., Bottorff took off from the North Platte Regional Airport in a Raytheon Beechcraft Baron registered to his construction company. He was headed for the York Municipal Airport.

“Shortly afterward, radar and radio contact was lost,” Ernzen said. Troop D of the Nebraska State Patrol confirmed that contact had been lost with the plane at 3:53 p.m., seven minutes after it left North Platte. A missing aircraft notice was issued when the plane didn’t arrive at its designation.

Jerome Kramer, Lincoln County sheriff, said the aircraft crashed 10 miles north and three miles east of Maxwell. The wreckage was found shortly after a search began. According to Ernzen, none of the bodies were inside the plane, but all four were recovered.

Kenny Roberg a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Platte, said there was freezing drizzle and a visibility of three miles at the time of the accident. The cloud ceiling was 900 feet.

According to Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transporta-tion Safety Board has begun an investigation, which could take up to a year to complete.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.nptelegraph.com/breaking_news/plane-crash-victims-identified/article_bef663ee-5cd0-11e2-ba7a-0019bb2963f4.html

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Searching Lake Garda for WWII missing

In the final hours of World War II in northern Italy, a group of US soldiers set off across Lake Garda hoping to outflank German troops.

But the Americans never reached the shore. Their amphibious truck sank in a storm, and more than 20 men on board were drowned.

Now though, nearly 70 years on, there is suddenly hope that their bodies might be found.

The sunken American vehicle was located in the depths of the lake a few weeks ago.

"We have this policy of 'no man left behind'," said Val Rios, a spokesman for an association that represents descendants of troops who fought in the US Army's 10th Mountain Division.

"We've had 24 soldiers down at the bottom of Lake Garda for all these years, so it means a great deal for us to hopefully bring closure to this tragic accident."

Mr Rios believes that it may be possible to identify the remains of some of the troops, either in the hull of the vehicle or scattered nearby.

And he hopes that there might eventually be burials in the hometowns across America that the soldiers left so long ago.

"Accidents are also part of war," said Mr Rios.

"But it was tragic that it was so close to the end of the war that so many lives were lost."

The troops drowned on the night of 30 April 1945.

By then the Italian Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini had already been captured and shot. His body had been hung up for display in a street in Milan a few days earlier.

And within 24 hours of the accident on Lake Garda, the German forces in Italy surrendered.

But they had fought until the last moment.

Elite SS troops put up fierce resistance in the beautiful hills and villages on the lake's northern shores.

They had tried to block the Allied advance by blowing up tunnels and bridges.

And so the Americans had taken to the water, deploying their huge amphibious vehicles.

These were six-wheeled trucks called DUKWs, although the soldiers just referred to them as "Ducks".

The machines switched to propeller propulsion whenever they plunged into rivers or lakes.

On 30 April, men of the 605th Field Artillery Battalion were given the task of carrying one of their big weapons up to a point on the shore where it could be used to pound the German positions.

"A storm was brewing, but earlier in the evening another DUKW had made this crossing successfully," said Mr Rios.

It seems though that the height of the waves became too much for the heavily laden craft.

"Approaching the harbour at Riva, the boat took on water and the men began throwing heavy equipment overboard, but to no avail. The boat capsized."

The only survivor was Corporal Thomas Hough, from Dayton, Ohio, who had been a lifeguard before joining the army.

Nearby on the shore as the disaster unfolded was Carlo Bombardelli, who was nine years old at the time.

His family's home was metres from the water's edge.

"There were strong winds that night, and my father and I heard some screams from the lake," Mr Bombardelli said.

He remembers two US soldiers commandeering a boat to go out onto the heaving waters in the darkness to look for survivors.

"The day after, we found eight American backpacks on the beach."

Several years ago a team from the University of Texas mounted an unsuccessful search for the lost craft.

But in 2011 a local organisation that responds to emergencies on the lake, the Garda Volunteer Group, took up the hunt.

Group spokesman Luca Turrini said: "Other searches were based on the confusing testimony of the lone survivor, who had said that they had sunk close to the shore.

"But we went much further into the lake and had more time to look."

The group used a sonar device to scan the depths.

And after one particular pass along the mud on the lake bed, there was a sudden, ecstatic moment of discovery.

"We saw the camera hovering over a vehicle," said Mr Turrini.

"And we could see the insignia of the US Army. There were shouts of joy."

He said that he and his fellow volunteers would continue to explore the site.

They will examine small objects around the wrecked craft, and see if they can identify human remains.

"It's difficult because the mud has covered everything," he said.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20991123

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Eight workers killed in Turkish mining disaster

On January 7, eight coal miners were killed as the result of a methane gas leak in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Zonguldak. Rescue teams have managed to recover only five of the bodies from the mine. One miner was found alive under the coal dust. The miners were trying to reach a coal deposit Monday when they were hit by a sudden discharge of methane gas that caused an explosion, burying the miners in coal dust.

According to Burhan Inan, general manager of the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (TTK), which runs the Kozlu district mine, the eight workers were killed by the blast while a number of others were evacuated without injury.

TTK has identified the miners killed as Huseyin Kurekce, Hasan Bozaci, Muharrem Yapici, Yuksel Koca, Ahmet Sekerci, Koksal Kadioglu, Muhsin Akyuz and Satilmis Arslan. Hayrettin Dagkiran has been identified as the only worker found alive at the scene.

Inan claimed that the blast occurred while TTK was in the process of issuing LED chips, which detect the location and depth of miners, to all its 8,800 employees working underground in the catchment area. He also told the media that areas leading out of the mine were being monitored for dangerous gas coming from the coal.

Despite these claims, the most recent accident has exposed the failure of the company to implement recommendations included in a safety report prepared by the Turkish Audit Courts for Turkey’s parliament in 2011. Referring to the Kozlu coal mine, the report stated, “It is a coincidence that a fatal incident has not occurred yet.”

The report also pointed out that TTK was subcontracting work to a construction firm, instead of a mining company, and that the former failed to meet safety regulations. The study furthermore cited multiple earlier reports, which exposed negative practices carried out by TTK.

Faruk Celik, a minister in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, told reporters about an inspection of the mine November 16, 2012. Celik said, “Five issues were discovered during that inspection and the necessary warnings were issued against the facility’s management at that time. The facility was fined for the infractions. However, they were all routine procedures.”

The mining company was also responsible for a disaster in 2010 that killed 30 miners and incited public outrage. Like the recent accident in Kozlu, the earlier incident took place in Zonguldak province and was caused by a flammable gas setting off an explosion in a mine.

Kozlu was also the scene of the worst mine disaster in Turkish history when in 1992 an explosion in the Incirharmani mine led to the death of 270 miners.

Mine disasters occur with great frequency in Turkey. Today’s Zaman reported that four workers died when a coal mine collapsed in the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir last April.

In 2011, according to Turkey’s Chamber of Mining Engineers, 79 miners died and 117 were injured as a result of mine accidents. The Work Health and Work Safety Assembly reported 81 casualties at Turkish mines in 2012. Hurriyet Daily News informed its readers, “A total of 2,554 miners were killed and more than 13,000 lost the ability to work between 1991 and 2008. Turkey has the worst safety record in terms of mining accidents and explosions in Europe and the third worst in the world.”

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/12/mine-j12.html

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A generation wiped out: Nineteen children among 46 bodies recovered from landslide which swept away entire village in southern China

Nineteen children were among 46 people killed in a devastating landslide that swept through a mountain village in China.

Mud and rocks smothered 16 homes in the village of Zhaojiagou area of Gaopo Village, in the south of the country, which has a population of just 468 and 73 households. Rescuers dressed in orange jumpsuits faced the grim task of pulling the dead from underneath debris and had to use heavy machinery to sift through mud and soil.

On Saturday, the state-run China Central Television said the bodies of all victims had been recovered after a 700-strong emergency team used joined the rescue effort.

The Zhenxiong government said in a statement the mudslide was caused by soil that had become heavily saturated from continuous rain and snow over the past month.

There were other factors, including the slope's steepness, its poor soil composition and the impact from an earthquake, the government said.



The statement denied any direct relation between the disaster and mining activities in the area and concluded that the mudslide was a natural disaster.

Mudslides occur periodically in the region, which is prone to earthquakes and heavy rains. In a nearby county, 81 people died in an earthquake in September. A month later, a landslide buried a primary school, killing 18 students and one other person.

Saturday 12 January 2013

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261308/China-Landslide-Nineteen-children-amoung-46-bodies-recovered.html#ixzz2HnXMpsp6

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Survivors of Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster mark first anniversary of sinking

A mass will be held in a church on the tiny island and 32 illuminated lanterns – one for each person who lost their lives in the accident – will be released into the sky at 9.45pm local time, marking the exact moment that the Concordia slammed into rocks, tearing a 230ft gash in its hull.

The huge chunk of granite that embedded itself in the ship's side will be returned to the rocky shoal from where it was ripped, with a plaque commemorating the disaster. Two of the victims are still missing, their bodies believed to be trapped in the rusting hulk of the ship – Russel Rebello, 32, a waiter from India, and Maria Grazia Trecarichi, 50, an Italian housewife.

Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin Rebello, is among the relatives of victims who are attending the anniversary commemoration. He said he had still not "found peace" because his brother's body remained missing.

"It's going to be very painful to relive the sadness and trauma of that night," said one islander, who asked not to be named. "Our thoughts are with the two people whose bodies have still not been found."

There were 4,200 passengers and crew on board the ship when it rammed into Giglio on the night of January 13 last year, and more than 150 survivors and their relatives are expected to attend today's memorial events.

As passengers and their families converge on the tiny island off the coast of Tuscany, salvage experts announced that bad winter weather has delayed the refloating of the wreck of the huge cruise liner until September.

It had been hoped that the 950ft-long luxury liner could be raised this Spring, but rough weather and the challenge of drilling into granite to secure anchor blocks and pylons has pushed the schedule back by months.

The cost of the operation has also blown out, from an initial estimate of $300 million to $400 million.

The delay was perhaps inevitable given the massive scale of the recovery operation. It involves constructing steel platforms and other structures which together weigh 30,000 tonnes – more than three times as much as the Eiffel Tower.

More than 400 divers, engineers, welders and other experts from 19 countries, including Britain, are working round-the-clock, seven days a week, to prepare the ship to be rolled upright onto an underwater platform, refloated and then towed away to be broken up for scrap.

More than 20 vessels are involved in the salvage experts, including tug boats, cranes and barges.

The ship will be rolled upright with the help of hydraulic jacks, massive cables and 30 giant boxes which will be welded onto its port and starboard sides in order to provide buoyancy. Each is the height of a seven to 10 storey building but they must be welded into place so precisely that there is a margin of error of just one per cent in their positioning.

The huge boxes will act like arm bands, raising the ship in the water.

"Imagine the challenge of building, transporting and installing structures of this size," said Sergio Girotto, an engineer from Micoperi, the Italian company conducting the operation in partnership with an American firm, Titan Salvage. "There is no precedent for an operation of this kind." Experts are hoping to roll the ship into an upright position by June. It will then take six to seven weeks to prepare it for being refloated and towed to an Italian port to be dismantled.

"We've lost 35 days due to bad weather since the start of the project," said Nick Sloane, a South African who is in charge of the salvage. "Before the winter is over we could lose another 20 to 30 days, which will put the schedule back a bit more. "The concept of rolling a ship like this is not unusual but given that it is three football pitches in length, the scale is something that has never been attempted before. Once we start rolling the ship upright, there's no going back – gravity takes over. There will be a lot of structural distortion and loud noises as she rolls over."

The few hundred inhabitants of Giglio are desperate to see the wreck gone from the pristine waters and picturesque bays just outside the island's main port.

But even when the ship is floated away, the multinational salvage team will stay for at least another three months, cleaning the seabed of debris and removing the steel platforms and the 20,000 tonnes of cement, pumped into sacks, on which the ship will have rested.

The captain of the vessel, Francesco Schettino, who is accused of gross negligence in sailing the cruise liner too close to the island, is expected to be sent to trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship in the next few weeks.

Nine other people, including some of the ship's officers, are under investigation. Another mystery surrounding the night the ship capsized emerged yesterday (sat) after claims that the Concordia's safes had held 1, 240,000 euros in cash, but that only 900,000 euros was recovered by officers escaping the vessel. The whereabouts of the missing 340,000 euros is unknown.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9797998/Survivors-of-Costa-Concordia-cruise-ship-disaster-mark-first-anniversary-of-sinking.html

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DNA 'identichip' gives a detailed picture of a suspect

Imagine you are trying to solve a burglary, and your sole lead is a cigarette butt. It has enough DNA on it to check against the national DNA database, but this throws up no matches. Running the DNA through machines capable of identifying physical characteristics could help - only there is not enough DNA to deduce more than two traits.

A new all-in-one chip that can identify multiple traits should help. The Identitas v1 Forensic Chip allows investigators to home in on someone's gender, eye colour and hair colour, as well as ancestry - all based on a small sample of DNA such as that from saliva on a cigarette butt.

Developed by VisiGen, a consortium of universities and law enforcement agencies, the chip is the first to provide data on all these traits simultaneously. Other devices can determine at most two at a time - usually eye and hair colour.

The new chip contains hundreds of thousands of short sequences of DNA that bind to different single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - single letter variations in the genetic sequence - in the DNA sample. SNPs are indicative of physical traits, so once we know which SNPs are present in the sample, software can be used to compute likely appearance and ancestry.

The VisiGen team tested the chip on more than 3000 DNA samples collected around the world, and found that it was 99 per cent accurate at predicting gender. The chip also predicted European or East Asian ancestry with an accuracy of 97 per cent, and African ancestry in 88 per cent of cases. However, it was only 63 per cent accurate at predicting blond hair (International Journal of Legal Medicine, doi.org/j5k).

The tool is not accurate enough to secure convictions in court, but team member Aruna Bansal of New York biotech firm Identitas envisages it being useful in focusing investigations or corroborating eyewitness reports, as well as in identifying disaster victims. "It provides you with a starting point," she says. The current chip is ready to be launched and the team is now working towards a chip that can determine even more traits.

Erin Murphy, a professor of law at New York University, is concerned that this technology may encourage "police dragnets", in which anyone matching a profile created with such chips could be questioned. But VisiGen team member Manfred Kayser of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, counters that the authorities "already use all types of information for investigative purposes". With the chip, the only difference is that they will be looking at DNA-derived traits.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21728995.500-dna-identichip-gives-a-detailed-picture-of-a-suspect.html

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Breath test could identify trapped survivors in disaster zones

A team of atmospheric chemists has published a study suggesting we hunt down trapped survivors in disaster zones by testing for chemicals found on the human breath.

The researchers, led by Wolfgang Vautz of Germany's Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences, developed the technique using a combination of rapid gas chromatography and ion mobility spectrometry, which they believe could be a portable and quick alternative to the use of animals in the field -- while dogs sniff out people with their finely-tuned senses, they will often be unable to distinguish between an individual who is dead or alive. Of course emergency teams will be working to retrieve all people from debris in disaster zones, but every second is important when it comes to getting to the survivors first.

This new technique tunes into the chemicals a survivor will exhale. The idea is that a tube is fed deep into rubble to collect air samples. These are then run through a gas chromatograph to separate the different chemicals in the vapour. The resulting gases are then fed through a portable ion mobility spectrometer, which ionises the chemicals before hurling them through a chamber -- the team can identify what the chemical is by recording how long it takes for them to pass through the chamber.

Carrying out a field test, Vautz and his team asked ten volunteers to spend time in a confined space that replicated a void within debris. With those volunteers trapped in for six hours at a time, the team would extract an 8ml air sample every 20 minutes. After running the samples through the gas chromatographer, then breaking down the ions, it took the team just three minutes to compare the results against a database and identify 12 chemicals commonly found on human breath, including acetone and benzaldehyde. All ten volunteers were successfully identified. In another experiment, the team was able to identify the presence of a person in a 25 square metre cubed room after they had spent 30 minutes in it, meaning the process is sensitive enough to pick those 12 metabolites out.

Although the process appears to be a helpful tool, with rescue workers focusing purely on finding high levels of those 12 chemicals, it will no doubt have its practical problems. Feeding the tube through a chaotic mass of debris will need a time-consuming trial and error approach to get it through blockages. The whole process would also need simplifying so that rescue workers rather than trained chemists can carry out the work -- they'd need a user-friendly version of the analysis equipment. Nevertheless, it's promising to see progress in a field where we still rely largely on the senses of both humans and animals.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-01/11/rescue-survivors-breath-test

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Italians join Venezuela's search for missing plane

Italy has sent experts to help Venezuelan authorities search for a plane that disappeared carrying the CEO of Italian fashion firm Missoni.

More than 400 people in boats, planes and helicopters were searching for the twin-engine aircraft, which disappeared off the resort islands of Los Roques.

The BN-2 Islander disappeared on Jan 4. It dropped off radar about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Los Roques during a flight to Caracas.

It was carrying two crew members and four Italian tourists, including Vittorio Missoni, CEO of his family's fashion company.

Venezuela's government announced on Thursday that four Italian experts have joined the search.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://www.wboc.com/story/20556321/italians-join-venezuelas-search-for-missing-plane

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At least 93 lives lost in Quetta explosions

As many as 81 people were killed and 121 injured in suicide and car bomb blasts in Quetta’s Alamdar Road area on Thursday night.

Earlier in the afternoon, 12 people lost their lives when a bomb went off near a vehicle of the Frontier Corps at Bacha Khan Chowk.

A cameraman and a reporter of a private news channel, a computer operator of a news agency and nine police personnel, including two senior police officers, were among the dead, while 10 army and FC personnel were injured in the blasts.

A majority of the people killed in the Alamdar Road blasts belonged to the Hazara Shia community.

The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the blasts.

“Eighty-one people have been killed and 120 injured, including 10 army and FC personnel, in two blasts,” Hamid Shakeel, Deputy Inspector General of Police, told Dawn.

The death toll might go up because the condition of several injured people was serious, he added.

Police sources said that the first blast took place in a snooker club on Alamdar Road when people were busy playing the game. Several people were killed or injured in the blast. “A man entered the snooker club and a powerful blast took place,” they said, adding that it appeared to be a suicide attack.

Police, workers of Edhi Trust and media teams rushed to the place soon after the first blast and started taking the injured to hospital.

A second blast took place 10 minutes after the first blast outside the snooker club when a large number of people, police and rescue workers gathered there. A majority of people were killed and injured in the second blast.

Five police personnel, including a senior police officer, and three media men also lost their lives in the second blast. Reporter Saifullah Baloch and cameraman Imran Shaikh belonged to Samaa TV, while computer operator Mohammad Iqbal worked for NNI.

Some other media men, who reached the site to cover the first blast, were also injured in the second explosion.

Imran Shaikh was the third Samaa cameraman to have lost his life in the line of duty. Earlier, Ejaz Ahmed Raisani and Malik Arif had been killed in bomb blasts.

Police said that an explosive-laden car parked at the roadside was used in the second explosion. Both the blasts shook the entire provincial capital.

“The building which housed the snooker club was destroyed completely, while over 50 shops and nearby houses were badly damaged,” eyewitness Khalil Ahmed said.

Two rescue workers were also killed in the blast, he added.

Soon after the second blast, power supply was disrupted in the area as wires snapped. “Bodies littered a large area,” another eyewitness Banaras Khan told Dawn, adding that several media men were missing. A DSNG of Geo TV was damaged in the second explosion. A cameraman received injuries while other staffers remained unhurt.

Rescue workers and security personnel faced difficulty in collecting bodies and in shifting the injured to hospital.

An emergency was declared at Civil Hospital and the Combined Military Hospital. Most of the injured and bodies were brought to CMH. The condition of at least 10 of the injured was stated to be critical.

“The death toll might increase,” hospital officials expressed fears.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lashkar-i-Jhangvi told media from an unknown place that his organisation had carried out the two explosions.

Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood confirmed at a press conference the killing of 81 people and injuring of 121 in the two blasts.

“A doomsday scenario was at the blast site. Bodies were lying everywhere.”

Mr Mehmood said that nine police officials had lost their lives.

Earlier in the afternoon, at least 12 people, including an FC soldier and a child, were killed and over 60 injured in a bomb blast before the night-time carnage shook the city.

The bomb was planted close to a parked vehicle of Frontier Corps at the crowded Bacha Khan Chowk. The blast rocked the entire city Several other FC men were injured in the blast, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn, adding that the condition of at least five people was serious.

Among the injured were two women and three children.

Frontier Corps officials confirmed that one soldier had been killed and 10 others injured in the blast. “We have lost one soldier in the blast and another is in critical condition,” a spokesman said.

An Afghan national, who hailed from Spin-Boldak, a border district of Afghanistan, was also killed in the blast.

The banned United Baloch Army has claimed responsibility for the blast. Its spokesman Mureed Baloch told newsmen that the blast was in revenge for Mashkay, Awaran and Bolan operations launched by FC.

The area where the blast took place is a populated and busy commercial junction where thousands of people come for shopping and doing business in Baldia Plaza.

“Thousands of people were busy shopping and in doing business in Baldia Plaza and in the Bacha Khan Chowk when the blast took place,” said eyewitness Mehmood Khan, who owns a shop in the area.

Police sources said that the bomb planted with a time device in a bag close to the FC vehicle went off at 3.10 pm, killing at least 10 people on the spot and injuring over 60.

Police and FC personnel cordoned off the place and took the bodies and the injured to Civil Hospital, where an emergency had been declared.

Two injured, including the FC soldier, died in hospital as they had received multiple wounds.

“The target of the bomb blast was the vehicle carrying FC men and a checkpost in the area,” said Capital City Police Officer Zubair Mehmood.

He told reporters that it was a time device. “We have collected evidence from the site and investigation is in progress,” he said.

Bomb disposal squad personnel said that 20 to 25 kg of explosives had been used in the blast.

Hospital sources said that 11 bodies and over 40 injured were brought to the Civil Hospital. Some of the injured had been shifted to CMH, Quetta. “We are trying to save lives of seriously injured people,” hospital officials said.

Most of the people killed in the blast were vendors and shopkeepers selling old clothes, rings, soup and other edible items outside Baldia Plaza.

Two Naib Tehsildars, who came from the Taunsa town of Rajanpur district in Punjab, were also killed.

Eight of the 12 dead were identified as Naib Tehsildars Ghulam Sarwar Qaisrani and Inayatullah, Mazuddin, Ziaul Haq, Fazal Ahmed, Sher Ali, Akhtar Mohammad and Tamour Shah.A man selling fruits on a pushcart had reportedly seen a white bag near the FC vehicle and informed the paramilitary force’s personnel before the bomb exploded. However, he remained safe, sources said.

The FC vehicle and about a dozen other cars and motorcycles were destroyed in the blast. About two dozen shops were damaged while windowpanes of several buildings and offices in Baldia plaza were smashed.

In 2004, an army truck was hit by a cycle bomb, killing 12 people, including security personnel.

In Sept 2010, a suicide bomber claimed over 30 lives during an Al Quds rally at Bacha Khan Chowk.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://dawn.com/2013/01/11/at-least-93-lives-lost-in-quetta-explosions/

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Minibus and Macorpolo bus in head on collision on Kapiri-Ndola road, 9 people dead

Nine people including a six month old baby have died in a road traffic accident along the Kapiri Mposhi-Ndola highway.

The accident which occurred around 15:30 hours yesterday at Kashitu area about 30 km away from Kapiri Mposhi Boma involved a Toyota Hiace Minibus registration number ACM 2334 and an RK Motorways Macorpolo bus registration number ABG 7403.

The mishap happened when the two vehicles collided head-on when the driver of the Ndola bound Toyota Hiace with 16 passengers on board wanted to overtake another vehicle thereby colliding with an oncoming, Lusaka bound, Marcopolo bus.

A ZANIS news clue crew that rushed to the accident scene found police and council fire brigade officers removing the bodies from the minibus wreckage.

According to the driver of the Marcopolo bus, Wekson Sikazwe, who was found at the accident scene said accident occurred after the driver of the Hiace mini-bus wanted to overtake another minibus but ended-up ramming into the right hand side of his bus.

All the 72 passengers on the Marcopolo bus were unhurt while the Toyota Hiace driver is among the dead.

A survivor from the mini- bus who was found at Kapiri Mposhi General Hospital attributed the accident to over speeding on the part of the Toyota Hiace driver.

Kams Chimfwembe who has lost his daughter and brother in the accident and found at the hospital after being attended to, told ZANIS that the accident could have been avoided if the driver of the small bus, identified as Amos Chisanga, exercised patience when overtaking.

And Kapiri Mposhi District Medical Officer, Charles Mwinuna confirmed the death of the people who were brought in dead to Kapiri Mposhi District Hospital.

Dr Mwinuna said among the dead was a six-month old baby, five females and three males while eight survivors who sustained fractures and head injuries have been referred to Kabwe General Hospital.

Dr Mwinuna said two females among the survivors who have been referred to Kabwe sustained traumatic amputations.

The Medical Officer also said three more survivors with extensive bruises and cuts have been admitted to Kapiri Mposhi district hospital.

Meanwhile, Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner, Beatrice Sikazwe who also visited the scene of the accident has regretted the loss of lives due to non observance of traffic rules by motorists.

Ms Sikazwe advised motorists to be cautious on the road to avoid accidents and further loss of lives.

The bodies of the deceased are lying in Kapiri Mposhi district hospital Mortuary awaiting identification and postmortem.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://www.lusakatimes.com/2013/01/11/minibus-and-macorpolo-bus-in-head-on-collision-on-kapiri-ndola-road-9-people-dead/

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Philippines hotel fire kills six, including four foreigners

Seven people including four foreigners, died on Friday morning when a two-star mini hotel was razed by fire near a former naval base of the US that has been converted by the Philippine government into commercial use in central Luzon since 1991, officials said.

Three American men, a South Korean man, and two Filipinas were killed when fire began at the first floor, the office area of Dryden Hotel in Barreto Village, the red light district of Olongapo City, at 1am on Friday, Alex Testado, Fire Marshall of Olongapo’s Bureau of Fire Protection told Gulf News in a phone interview.

One American was trapped on the wooden staircase that served as the hotel’s escape route on the second floor, the hotel’s room area. The rest were trapped in five rooms. One of them was an octogenarian. Their identities came from Dryden Hotel’s guest list, Testado said, adding their bodies were retrieved after the fire was placed under control at six in the morning.

Fire officials have started investigating the cause of the fire, said Olongapo City’s fire investigator Jose Borlagdatan.

The fire almost affected two other adjacent buildings, all located near the national highway of Olongapo City. Its red light district used to cater to foreigners when the former US Subic Naval Base was still operating, said civil defence chief Angelito Layug.

Retired American servicemen and old Australian nationals who have married local residents have been residing in Olongapo City despite the absence of the US naval forces there, said Layug.

In 1991, the US Naval forces left Subic after the Philippine Senate rejected the US-proposed extension of the now defunct US-Philippines Military Bases Agreement (MBA), the basis of US presence in the country since 1898.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/philippines/philippines-hotel-fire-kills-six-including-four-foreigners-1.1130845

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36 killed and 'dozens' trapped in Chinese landslide

State-controlled channel CCTV said 16 homes in the Gaopo village in Zhenxiong county were engulfed by falling earth at around 8.20am on Friday morning.

By Friday afternoon local time, rescue-workers had hauled 22 dead bodies from the ground, while 2 victims had been sent to hospital.

"Dozens more" locals were still thought to be buried, China's official news agency Xinhua claimed.

Photographs carried in China's state-media showed rescue workers in orange-overalls hunting for victims with the aid of an excavator.

Xinhua said rescue workers were operating in near-freezing conditions.

An official from Zhenxiong's propaganda office, who gave his name as Mr. Wu, told the Daily Telegraph: "All the leaders are at the scene giving instructions on the rescue work. Right now the rescue work is the priority, trying to save more lives is the priority." Local reports said a 700-strong emergency team had been dispatched to the disaster zone while Yunnan's provincial governor, Li Jiheng, had also travelled to the region.

The affected area is located around 550km northeast of Yunnan's capital Kunming and not far from Yiliang county where 18 schoolchildren died last October when their school was buried in a landslide.

That disaster was attributed to heavy rains and a series of strong earthquakes that had rattled through the region in September, claiming 81 lives.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9795151/36-killed-and-dozens-trapped-in-Chinese-landslide.html

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Latehar massacre: Maoists hid bombs inside bodies

Maoists once again displayed their propensity towards brutal violence when they cut open the body of a slain trooper on Tuesday and implanted an improvised explosive device (IED) to booby-trap the security personnel carrying out rescue operations.

The body, stitched with surgical precision, was retrieved on Wednesday from the Ambatikar forests, the theatre of the gun-battle between the security persons and rebels, and subsequently flown to Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for autopsy.

What could have been a major disaster was averted after the doctors carrying out the postmortem found something wrong with the kind of stitches on the body. They immediately contacted senior officials of the state police and CRPF.

Experts from bomb disposal squads of both the CRPF and Jharkhand police carried out examinations of the body on Wednesday and Thursday and eventually discovered the IED, planted beneath the ribs of the slain CRPF jawan, Babulal Patel.

"The scanner detected the explosive," said a bomb disposal expert, adding that the IED was fitted with a solar panel and also connected with the stitches.

"It could have exploded either by the pull of the stitches or coming in contact with light," said a senior CRPF official not authorised to speak to the media.

An inspector general of the Jharkhand police said: "Maoists have been using booby traps in boxes, trees and clothes, but booby-trapping a body was never heard of so far."

Married only a year ago, Patel was from Allahabad.

Friday 11 January 2013

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-latehar-massacre-why-maoists-hid-bombs-inside-bodies-4145498-NOR.html

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5 Americans among 7 dead in Peru chopper crash

Investigators picked through the wreckage Tuesday of a heavily loaded U.S.-owned cargo helicopter that crashed in the Peruvian jungle shortly after takeoff, killing its five American and two Peruvian crew members.

The tandem-rotor Chinook BH-234 chopper, owned by Columbia Helicopters, Inc. of the Portland suburb of Aurora, Oregon, crashed Monday near the provincial capital of Pucallpa.

It was under contract for petroleum exploration support, en route to a drilling location in northern Peru, said Todd Peterson, the company's vice president of marketing.

Michael Fahey, the company president, told a news conference in Oregon the aircraft it was carrying a sling load, an external cargo secured by cables. He did not specify the cargo.

Witnesses quoted in local media reports said the chopper lost control and spewed smoke before crashing.

The Pucallpa airport control tower had its last contact with the aircraft at 3:03 p.m., five minutes after takeoff, Peru's civil aviation authority reported, and controllers saw "a big cloud of smoke" four miles northeast of the airport.

A local police commander, Miguel Cardoso, told The Associated Press that three bodies were recovered Monday and three more on Tuesday, from inside the chopper's charred wreckage. He said the three taken to the morgue Monday apparently had jumped from the chopper, as witnesses reported.

"They have different trauma. It appears they jumped out of the helicopter out of desperation, because they have multiple fractures," Cardoso said by phone.

The five dead Americans, all but one U.S.-based, were identified by their employer as Dann Immel, command pilot, of Gig Harbor, Washington, Edwin Cordova, maintenance crew chief, of Melbourne, Florida, Jaime Pickett, mechanic, of Clarksville, Tennessee, Darrel Birkes, senior load manager, an Oregonian living in Peru, and Leon Bradford, a load manager from Santaquin, Utah.

The two Peruvians were co-pilot Igor Castillo and mechanic Luis Ramos, the company said in a release.

Company officials said they had no immediate information on what might have caused the crash. They said a senior management team was headed to Peru to assist local authorities in the investigation.

Peterson denied reports in local media suggesting the aircraft might have been overloaded.

"I can say categorically that the aircraft was not overloaded," he said, adding that the load list was destroyed in the crash but company officials had a good idea of what was on board and believe the Chinook, combined with its load, weighed about 47,000 pounds.

That would be 4,000 pounds less than its maximum gross limit. The helicopter weighs 21,000 pounds empty, Peterson said.

The aircraft's cargo Monday included an external load of rigging, attached on a platform that hung beneath it on cables, "a very standard operation," said Peterson

The helicopter was contracted by Canada-based Talisman Energy Inc. but could also have been subcontracted.

A spokeswoman for Talisman, Veronica Bonifaz, said the chopper was not transporting cargo or personnel for it at the time of the crash.

She said she had no more information.

Columbia Helicopters has been in business for 55 years, principally in the United States, and Peter Lance, the company's executive vice president, said it has been operating in Peru for more than a decade, primarily contracted to companies, like Talisman, engaged in oil and gas exploration.

The Chinook that crashed was one of two helicopters Columbia has in Peru.

Lance, who said he has been with Columbia Helicopters for 33 years, said it has been at least a decade since a company aircraft crashed.

Its last fatal crash occurred in Canada in 1997 when a Boeing BV-234 engaged in heli-logging operations on Vancouver Island crashed, killing both pilots aboard. Canadian authorities blamed an electrical overload.

According to U.S. National Transportation Safety Board records, in October 1996 a Columbia Helicopters Boeing BV-107 lost control during a maintenance check flight and crashed three miles from the Aurora, Oregon airport, killing both pilots and the onboard mechanic. The NTSB listed a maintenance failure as the probable cause.

In addition to petroleum exploration, Columbia Helicopters provides services to industries including logging, construction and fighting wildfires, according to its website.

It bills itself as "the only operator of the commercial models of the CH-47 Chinook and H-46 Sea Knight helicopters."

Thursday 10 January 2013

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/20547659/middle-tennessee-man-killed-in-peru-chopper-crash

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Hopes rise for death-free bushfires

Police remain hopeful no one has died in the fire-ravaged communities being searched for human remains.

More than 730 properties have been searched during the past few days and so far there has been no evidence of death amid the blackened rubble at Murdunna and Dunalley.

Victoria Police has now joined the painstaking effort, with a contingent of interstate officers arriving in Tasmania yesterday.

Of the 730 homes already searched, 126 have been destroyed by Friday's ferocious blaze.

Police are slowly working their way through properties from Murdunna, to Dunalley, Boomer Bay, Dodges Ferry, Forcett and Primrose Sands where houses were lost.

Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said police were collecting data generated from the ground search teams and collating it with information collected from other agencies including the SES in an effort to locate people as quickly as possible.

Rumours of bodies being found continue to circulate widely through the social media grapevine.

"Its important to note that at this stage, police have no official missing persons reports," Mr Tilyard said.

He said so far 2200 people had been identified as safe and well and there was no cause for police to have grave concerns for the welfare of anyone at this stage.

Those who have left the Tasman Peninsula without registering their details are being reminded to do so immediately to save police time.

Tasmania Police is using software developed by Victoria Police after the Black Saturday disaster.

"We are working with the Red Cross to cross-reference the details with information received from numerous sources that individuals are OK," Mr Tilyard said.

Mr Tilyard reminds property owners and residents of the affected areas -- who remain banned from returning home at this stage -- that police are doing everything they can to make that possible.

Hundreds of locals and tourist evacuees trapped on the peninsula by the closure of the Arthur Highway on Friday were escorted through the road blocks in special convoys on Tuesday night.

The convoy was forced to take a detour along Sugarloaf Rd after coming across a fallen tree on the Arthur Highway.

Essential supplies have been taken in to the area this morning with the highway remaining closed until further notice.

Buses were organised last night so people could return to collect vehicles, many of them hire cars, left behind when they departed by ferry.

Thursday 10 January 2013

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2013/01/10/370049_tasmania-news.html

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The victims of the 2011 floods who might never be buried

Christopher Face's mobile phone goes straight to voicemail now. It probably rests with his body, but no one knows where.

The 63-year-old was never found after his Grantham house "imploded" under the pressure of the floodwater that tore through the Lockyer Valley on January 10, 2011.

The great-grandfather is one of three victims - along with James Perry and Dawn Radke - whose loved ones have not been able to bury them.

Within days of the disaster, authorities warned traumatised families that their loved ones might be lost forever, and in June last year state coroner Michael Barnes confirmed their fears, declaring the final three missing persons officially dead.

The eldest was Mr Face, who was at his Anzac Ave home with partner Brenda Ross, 56, and her son Josh Ross, 25, when the wall of water hit.

Mrs Ross had limited mobility and Mr Face, who was also her carer, stayed with her as their house filled with water and the walls started to shake.

The bodies of Mrs Ross and her son were later recovered.

Adam Face, 40, said he and his three siblings - Karen, Amanda and Simon - would not find peace until their father was found.

"I still wait for the call to say that they've found him," he said. "There's always hope. He has to be somewhere.

"I went and saw psychics and they said that he's not where they expect him to be, that he's a bit further down."

Simon, 38, said the tragedy still felt surreal.

"It's not something you think could happen, especially when we spoke to him on New Year's Eve (2010) and everything was fine," he said.

"When you pass away like that you can't be too much at peace, especially if you're laying in a paddock somewhere three feet under mud, but we can only hope he's at peace.

"If we could find him and his remains and put an end to it all it would make things a whole lot better."

For the family of James Perry, their pain remains too raw to discuss.

The 39-year-old racing steward spent his final minutes trying to save his wife Jenny Thorncraft and their nine-year-old son Teddy after their car was engulfed in floodwaters on the Warrego Highway at Helidon.

Their terrifying situation, as the family climbed on to the roof of their station wagon before being forced to jump into floodwaters as it neared downed power lines, was captured on film by a helicopter.

Mr Perry, who vanished in the raging torrent, had put their son on top of a blue feed bin while his wife clung to a tree for several hours before she was rescued.

Mr Perry's father Kingsley, a Sydney-based watercolour artist, said losing - and being unable to bury - their son was "very difficult".

"We're fine. We're all right. But it has been difficult," he said.

Warren Thorncraft said his sister and nephew were overseas but doing "pretty well".

Mrs Thorncraft took Teddy to Laos in South-East Asia, where another brother lives, in the wake of the flood.

In another heart-wrenching loss, grandmother Dawn Radke, 56, died - along with Pauline Magner, 65, and their 23-month-old granddaughter Jessica Lily-Ann Keep - after floodwaters rushed through the low-set Grantham house of her daughter Stacy and son-in-law Matthew Keep.

The bodies of Mrs Magner and Jessica were later found, but Mrs Radke, who was last seen hanging on to a lawnmower, has not been found.

The Keeps, who have moved to a new property in Grantham, could not be contacted.

Member for Lockyer Ian Rickuss said those affected just wanted "to get over it personally".

"And I'm a little bit that way too," he said.

"It was terrible and that sort of thing, but really it's two years now.

"There will be a small memorial (today) for people who want to go down to Murphys Creek and say their piece, but it won't be a public thing."

Thursday 10 January 2013

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/the-victims-of-the-2011-floods-who-might-never-be-buried/story-fndo2iwh-1226551374355

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Most victims of Lamma IV not wearing life vests, inquiry told

At least 28 out of the 39 victims who died in a sea collision off Lamma Island were not wearing life jackets, while four others were merely holding flotation vests in their hands, a commission of inquiry into the National Day disaster heard yesterday.

The conditions of the remaining seven at the time their bodies were salvaged could not be ascertained, Fire Services Department data showed yesterday.



Survivors from Hongkong Electric launch Lamma IV, which collided with public ferry Sea Smooth on the night of October 1, had complained of difficulties in retrieving life vests on board and little time to put them on.

Deputy chief fire officer Yau Wai-keung, who commanded the rescue operation, testified that he declared the collision a level-one multiple-casualty incident 39 minutes after the crash, and upgraded it to level two 20 minutes later.

"When we arrived at the scene, we were aware that there would be more casualties," Yau said. "So we elevated our preparation and strategy with other departments."

The 39 dead comprised 23 women, eight men, five girls and three boys.

Over the five-day operation, the fire department mobilised more than 600 officers and, together with police and other rescuers, saved more than 80 lives. Its divers conducted 50 dives and retrieved 24 bodies in the first 12 dives, the inquiry heard. The rest were recovered by other rescuers.

According to the data, 23 bodies were salvaged from the upper deck of Lamma IV and five from the main deck. Seven were found floating in the water and three were on life rafts. Only the location of one body could not be determined.

The department got its first emergency call at 8.23pm, three minutes after the crash, Yau said.

Fireman Wong Tsz-kiu, who was on the first fireboat that arrived at 8.41pm, recalled that a woman was clinging on to a handrail at the starboard side of Lamma IV, with her feet close to the water. At that time, the bow was already listing 90 degrees to the sea. Wong threw a lifebuoy repeatedly and saved her, he said.

After that, he saw a group in the upper deck hit the windows for help. He broke in and freed more than a dozen people.

He then saw three unconscious victims float in the upper-deck cabin. He pushed two of them out but was briefly trapped inside with a girl due to strong waves. After he got out, he performed resuscitation on her.

Wong later learned the girl was Tsui Hoi-ying, 10, who died of multiple organ failure from drowning and injuries after four days in hospital. Her father Tsui Chi-wai, 42, also died.

The hearing continues today.

Thursday 10 January 2013

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1124998/most-victims-lamma-iv-not-wearing-life-vests-inquiry-told

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