6 confirmed dead in Philadelphia building collapse

A woman was found alive in the rubble 13 hours after a building collapsed in Center City -- killing at least six people and injuring more than a dozen others.

The collapse at 2140 Market Street happened around 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday when a four-story building came down on top of a two-story building, which housed a Salvation Army Thrift Store. Early reports from Philadelphia Police indicate that the collapse may have been the result of an industrial accident, as construction crews were working on the nearby structure.

One woman was found dead and 13 people were rescued from the rubble during the day. Mayor Nutter says the woman was 35-years-old. Sources close to the investigation say the woman was a cashier at the thrift store and that Wednesday was her first day on the job.

"I ask all Philadelphians and all who care to keep that Philadelphia woman and her family in your prayers," Nutter said.

Crews continued to dig with the help of search dogs to see if anyone else remained trapped beneath the rubble. They found five more people dead, a man and four women, in the rubble Wednesday night. According to officials, all six people who died were inside the store at the time of the collapse. Darby Borough Police Chief Robert Smythe identified one of the victims as 68-year-old Borbor Davis of the Darby Borough. Davis, originally from Liberia, West Africa, worked at the thrift store and spoke to his wife on the phone at 10:30 a.m., 15 minutes before the building collapsed.

As crews continued to search the rubble, officials say 61-year-old Myra Plekam, who was trapped underneath, reached out and grabbed the hand of a firefighter. She was pulled out around midnight, making her the 14th person rescued. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she is currently in critical condition.

"She was talking to the firefighters as they were recovering her," said Michael Resnick of the Philadelphia Fire Department.

Nutter said the search is still active and will continue until crews are absolutely certain no one else is inside the rubble.

The fourteen rescued victims were taken to local hospitals. Most of the injuries are minor. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania treated six of the 14 victims. A spokeswoman from the hospital says five of those victims are stable while Plekam is in critical condition. Two of those victims have been released.

Rescue crews could be seen digging through the debris and brought in at least two pieces of heavy machinery to help move debris.

"I've never encountered anything like this before anytime in my life, and I don't want to see it again," said Vey, who was driving down 22nd Street right before Market and saw the building come down. "I feel really lucky. That brick landed in my passenger seat. Lucky for the rainguard on my window that saved me from getting hit."

Ordinary people took part in the rescue efforts as well. Roofers from a nearby building hustled over after the collapse and started pulling people out of the basement.

Documents "They were pretty banged up," one of the roofers said.

The Salvation Army sent its own disaster response team to the site to help survivors and first responders. The organization sent out a statement saying, "Our number one concern is for the safety of our customers and the employees who were involved."

Market Street is closed from 18th to 30th Street right now.

Thursday 6 June 2013

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/national_world&id=9128223

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More remains of genocide victims found in Bugesera

A mass grave containing remains of eight Genocide victims was discovered in a residential area in Nemba Village in Bugesera District on Monday.

Vincent de Paul Rukonge, a resident, said the victims could have been killed while fleeing the pogrom to Burundi.

"This area was not a habitant at the time of the Genocide. It was a woodland, so the victims could have been intercepted while fleeing to Burundi," he said.

Nemba Sector neighbours two districts in Burundi.

"This is disheartening. The remains were dug out by tractors upgrading village infrastructure. I am struggling to come to terms with what I saw. I'm one of those who gathered the remains; I still feel a chill in my body," Rukonge said.

He prayed government to give such victims, whose relatives cannot be traced, a special cemetery.

"The clothes and bodies of the victims could be identified if they had relatives, but it is next to impossible tracing relatives of unidentified remains," Rukonge said.

Identify mass graves

Bugesera mayor Louis Rwagaju confirmed the incident and urged those who know where remains of victims yet to be found were buried to tell authorities so they (the victims) are given a decent burial.

Rwagaju said there were many unknown places where victims were buried in 1994.

"This is one of the challenges we face; not all places where the Tutsi died are known. It is thus our challenge to continue challenging Genocide perpetrators or witnesses to be courageous enough to tell us the truth," Rwagaju said.

Bugesera is one of the districts where the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi started from.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201306051143.html

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38 dead in Sudan road crash

At least 38 people died in Sudan Tuesday in one of the country's worst road accidents in years when a bus collided with a truck, police said, blaming the accident on speeding.

"Because of a crash this morning between a bus and a truck south of El Gutaina town in White Nile state, 38 people died and others were injured," a police statement said.

It did not give the number of people hurt but said they were taken to hospital in El Gutaina, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Khartoum, to be treated for various injuries.

The bus was travelling from Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman to El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, when it collided with the truck heading the opposite way, police said.

"The accident happened because of the high speeds of the two vehicles," said traffic police General Abdurahman Hassan Abdurahman.

After the crash, Abdurahman said police would step up enforcement by distributing 25 additional radar units to monitor speeds on the impoverished nation's highways.

Last December 33 people were killed and 24 injured when two inter-city buses collided about halfway between Khartoum and Wad Medani, southeast of the capital.

That crash followed complaints by city bus drivers in Khartoum that Sudan's surging inflation and sinking currency had driven maintenance costs out of control.

Last October 13 people died and 26 were injured when a passenger bus blew a tyre and collided with a minibus on the road to Wad Medani.

A crash between a bus and a truck south of Khartoum killed 21 people in April 2009.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/38-dead-in-Sudan-road-crash/-/1066/1872780/-/6vkcq6/-/index.html

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Red Cross demonstrates disaster app

The Red Cross has a free app that alerts you to all types of disasters (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires), plus information on first aid and where to find shelter.

From your mobile phone, call **REDCROSS (**73327677) and you will receive a link to download the iPhone / Android app or visit iTunes or Google Play app stores.

The applications feature step-by-step instructions to help you know what to do even if the cell towers and TVs are down.

You will also find safety tips for everything, from severe weather to what you need to know if you are ever in a situation where someone may be drowning or choking.

"We're really trying to focus on making skill training more available," says, Gary Striar, Chief Executive Officer of the Northeastern American Red Cross.

You can prioritize actions for before, during, and after emergency situations, and it requires no mobile connectivity.

The applications also come with flashlights and audible sirens that go off automatically even if the app is closed. There are currently six separate apps you can download:

1) Tornado App
2) Hurricane App
3) Shelter Finder App
4) First Aid App
5) Earthquake App
6) Wildfire App

You can also let friends and family know you're safe with one touch. The "I'm Safe" notification allows users to broadcast reassurance to loved ones that they are out of harms way. This notification is easily sharable through social media, text and e-mail.

The applications provide an opportunity to prepare for the worst by learning how to assemble an emergency kit in the event of power outages or evacuations.

It also allows you to learn how to make and practice an emergency plan. "It's free, it's easy and it doesn't take too much time," adds Striar. "People can just go to these apps and very quickly learn basic skills in terms of first aid and how to prepare for disasters. There are great video tutorials and check lists available."

The applications are available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/features/featured/stories/red-cross-demonstrates-disaster-app-836.shtml

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Amnesty Int'l: Disappearances in Mexico a 'crisis'

The number of unsolved disappearances in Mexico constitutes a human rights crisis, Amnesty International said Tuesday, citing what it called a systematic failure by police and prosecutors to investigate thousands of cases that have piled up since 2006.

Rupert Knox, Amnesty's Mexico investigator, said relatives are often forced to search for missing loved ones themselves, sometimes at considerable risk.

Adding insult to injury, Knox said police and prosecutors often don't even bother to use the information that relatives dig up. Instead, police routinely assume that the missing are caught up in Mexico's drug cartel conflicts.

"They are stigmatized, they are treated with disdain, and the typical thing is to say the victims were members of criminal gangs," Knox said. "That is a demonstration of the negligence that has allowed this problem to grow into a national scandal and a human rights crisis."

The federal government says some 26,000 people have been reported missing since the government launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006, though officials have said the true number is probably lower, because some people reported missing have since been found or accounted for but never taken off the list.

Brenda Rangel is the sister of Hector Rangel, who disappeared along with two friends in 2009 after being stopped by police for a traffic violation and was never seen again. She is sure her brother wasn't involved in criminal activity. A young businessman, he had gone to the northern state of Coahuila, which is a hotbed of the Zetas drug gang, to collect a payment from a client.

Rangel says her brother last called to say he was in police custody, and she said the family has given authorities the number of the squad car, and even the names of the policemen involved in the detention. But she said prosecutors told her the officers were fired from the local police force in Monclova, Coahuila, and couldn't be located. In Mexico, it is not uncommon for local policemen to work for drug gangs.

Nearing the fourth year in her brother's disappearance, that kind of shrugging response is driving Rangel and her family to desperation, and into danger, since they can't let it rest.

"We have received death threats," she said, adding: "I have run risks, I have gone into safe houses, I have had to disguise myself in different ways to look for my brother."

One by one, other parents and siblings of missing Mexicans stood up and recounted their horror stories: cases in which authorities themselves, police or the military, appear to have been involved in the disappearances.

Mexico's government announced last week that it is creating a special unit to search for missing people. But the unit has only 12 federal investigators and a group of federal police agents to cover all the cases.

Knox said such agencies have been tried before in Mexico but have accomplished little, in part because they have lacked the resources, manpower and authority to really perform their task.

"The authorities have always seen them (the special units) as a way to reduce public pressure and blow off steam," Knox said.

While Rangel and the other victims' families maintain faith that their loved ones are still alive, perhaps subjected to forced labor by the drug cartels, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has received information on 15,921 unidentified bodies that have passed through morgues in Mexico, some of which could belong to the missing.

A recent case in Mexico City has highlighted the difficulties surrounded cases of suspected disappearances.

On May 26, 11 young people disappeared from a Mexico City after-hours bar just off the city's main Reforma boulevard, a block and a half from the U.S. Embassy.

The young people were from the rough-and-tumble Tepito neighborhood and their disappearance only came to light after their parents and other Tepito residents held a protest that blocked a major road. Media reports later said that the fathers of two of the missing young men were suspected former Tepito crime bosses currently doing time in prison.

A witness who apparently escaped from the abduction said the young people were taken away by gunmen in masks after partying through the night at the bar. But Mexico City's prosecutor's office has said that surveillance video reviewed so far by police hasn't shown a mass abduction.

Now the witness can no longer be found, nor can the bar's owner or any of the staff who were working that night.

The families have put up missing-person posters with photos of their loved ones throughout the area, and say that almost 10 days later they still have not come home.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/06/04/2528632/amnesty-intl-mexico-disappearances.html

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India: Unclaimed bodies pile up at OGH mortuary

Delays in shifting unclaimed bodies from the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) mortuary have been cause for discomfort not only for hospital staff but also patients and attendants visiting the hospital.

As the bodies lie unclaimed, the stench from the morgue begins to spread, and at times reaches the nearby blocks of the hospital. Visitors and patients apart, even hospital staff can be seen holding their noses to escape the stench.

On Friday, more than 30 unclaimed bodies piled up at the morgue, awaiting clearance from authorities.

The morgue has a single room with freezer facilities, which can accommodate only 32 bodies at a time. Bodies are preserved here pending identification, while the old ones are shifted to an adjacent room that is devoid of proper facilities.

Of the 10 to 15 bodies that come in daily, of which three to four are of unknown persons. While identified bodies are handed over to the relatives after the autopsy, unclaimed ones are kept at the mortuary until the GHMC facilitates a cremation.

Mortuary authorities intimate the Afzalgunj police station of unclaimed bodies and after receiving a go-ahead from the police, they write to the GHMC, who then shift the bodies for cremation or assign the job to an NGO.

Mortuary officials say the list of bodies is handed over to the GHMC at regular intervals but there are delays in clearing the bodies. As a result, they pile up at the mortuary, leading to unhygienic conditions.

In mid-May, authorities lifted about 120 bodies in one go and in the month of March, 63 bodies were moved out at once. The prescribed period for preserving unclaimed bodies is about 72 hours but in the last few months, bodies were around lying for more than two months, the staff said.

Most bodies come to the mortuary are already in a bad state and after lying here for days at a stretch, one can imagine the conditions, they added.

When contacted Y. Venkata Ramana, GHMC Circle IV, Assistant Medical and Health Officer, said he was not aware of any delays. “I will look into the matter,” he said.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/unclaimed-bodies-pile-up-at-ogh-mortuary/article4782217.ece

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67 fire victims identified in China's Jilin

Sixty-seven bodies from a deadly fire accident in northeast China's Jilin province have been identified, according to local authorities.

Additionally, The Beijing Times newspaper reports on Wednesday that DNA samples have been taken from the remaining unidentified victims in order to be matched with that of their relatives.

The fatal fire, which broke out on Monday morning at a poultry processing workshop owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company, has killed 120 people.

Seventy-seven wounded people are being treated in local hospitals, including seven who are in critical condition.

Meanwhile, China's judicial officials are investigating whether dereliction of duty played a role in the accident.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2013/06/05/191s768597.htm

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In Afghanistan, grief over attack on ICRC's Jalalabad compound.

Whenever Bibi Laila heard the all-too-familiar sound of a bomb blast in Jalalabad, she did not worry - her husband worked for the famously impartial Red Cross, and would never be a target.

Laila's husband, Bashir Khan, worked in one of the world's most dangerous vocations, a gate guard in war-wracked Afghanistan. Despite that, she believed no one would dare attack the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), given its history of working with all sides.

"My husband gave us assurances that he worked at a humanitarian organization and whenever there was fighting, they (the ICRC) collect dead bodies and help both sides, so no harm would come to him," Laila told Reuters in the family's two-room home outside the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Her confidence was shattered on May 29 when her husband opened the front gate of the ICRC's Jalalabad compound.

He was greeted by an aggressive man in traditional clothes who pulled out a pistol, yelled "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and shot Khan dead.

"Whoever killed him, may Allah pour out his wrath upon them," wept Laila, covering her face with a long black scarf.

Khan was the only person to die in the attack, the first of its kind on the agency since it arrived in Afghanistan in 1987.

"We have decided to reduce the number of expatriates in the field and in Kabul simply because we don't understand what happened in Jalalabad," ICRC spokesman Robin Waudo told AFP.

"This is a temporary measure that impacts on operations, but we will maintain our humanitarian services for those affected by conflict," he said, declining to give the number of staff being withdrawn or the affected services.

"It was a serious security incident. We are trying to understand how it came about that we were attacked."

The ICRC, which has 1,800 employees nationwide, had 36 staff in Jalalabad, seven of them foreigners who were rescued from the compound.

The aid group maintains strict neutrality in Afghanistan and was thought to be protected from attack by its working relations with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.

The Taliban have since denied any responsibility for the attack, saying they never target those who "truly serve" the Afghan people.

However, senior officials from NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan government told Reuters they had intelligence that suggested the Taliban was indeed behind the attack.

The ICRC has since decided to remove some international staff and curtail its operations, which - at $90 million a year - are some of its biggest in the world. Some 1,800 ICRC staff work on projects from providing orthopedic limbs and treating war wounded to visiting militants in Afghan jails.

While the attack has sent shockwaves through the international community, for Laila and her seven children it destroyed any notion of a serene family life.

Khan began working with the ICRC during the hardline Taliban regime that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to late 2001 before it was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

Khan left behind seven children aged between 10 and 20 who live with Laila and Khan's younger brother, Ezatullah, who has three children of his own. They all live in a two-room house in a poor district.

They had relied on Khan's 12,000 Afghani ($220) monthly salary. Both families must now survive on the younger brother's $10 a day income from driving a taxi.

"I may not be able to earn enough to feed all of them," Ezatullah said of Khan's children, as they looked on.

The attack, which involved a suicide bomber, Khan's killer and two other gunmen, prompted the closure of the ICRC's Jalalabad office. Hundreds of residents held a protest on Sunday against the decision.

ICRC administrative officer Mohammad Hanif Durani was in the agency's compound when the attack was launched.

"I was in my office upstairs when I heard a single shot, a cry of pain, and (someone yelling) 'Allahu Akbar'," he said.

"I ran downstairs to see what had happened and ran into one of the attackers. He pointed his pistol at me but it jammed, so he threw the gun on the ground and pulled out a grenade."

Durani said he turned, ran back upstairs and managed to avoid the blast of the grenade. He then jumped out of his office window onto a rooftop, fracturing an ankle and an elbow.

The suicide bomber blew himself up in the compound parking lot, setting fire to five vehicles and damaging a building.

His body was scattered across the compound, and police later told ICRC staff who had witnessed the attack to collect the body parts.

One staffer, who asked not to be identified, said the police told them that since the ICRC's work involved collecting bodies of Taliban fighters and sending them on to their families, they should "take care of this mess too".

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/us-afghanistan-icrc-guard-idUSBRE9530IH20130604

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/red-cross-pulls-some-staff-out-after-afghanistan-attack-375248

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Relatives scuffle with police after China fire kills 120

Relatives of workers killed as fire engulfed a chicken processing plant in rural northeast China blocked traffic and scuffled with police on Tuesday, demanding answers to one of China's worst industrial disasters in recent years. At least 120 people died, and more than 70 were injured.

A handful of men and woman knelt in the middle of the road in Dehui in Jilin province to stop cars, while a crowd of more than 100 people gathered around them. Police dispersed the protesters after about an hour.

Zhao Zhenchun, who lost both his wife and his sister in the fire, said human error was to blame for the death toll. "I don't think safety was being managed properly. This should never happen again. They paid the price with their blood. So many of these big disasters in China are caused by lax supervision," he said.

The world's second-largest economy has a poor record on workplace safety. Fire exits in factories are often locked to prevent workers taking time off or stealing things, or blocked entirely. "The rationale behind the locked doors boils down to efficiency. With the doors locked, workers cannot wander about freely, and therefore concentrate on their work," the official Xinhua news agency said.

Safety regulations are also easily skirted by bribing corrupt officials, and in any case China has relatively few fire safety inspectors.

"Tragically, most of the inspections usually come after a disaster like this," said Geoffrey Crothall, a China labour expert with Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Labour Bulletin. "There's very little proactive or routine inspections of factories to make sure everybody's up to code and that's largely because there are too many factories and too few inspectors."

LOSS OF FACE

The disaster is also a major loss of face for a country which seeks to project a global image of a modern, rising power, different from developing countries like Bangladesh where such industrial disasters are frequent.

Ironically, Monday's fire in a building that was just four years old coincided with China announcing its latest manned space mission, a multi-billion dollar scheme designed to showcase the nation's technological prowess and arrival on the world stage after decades of isolation and poverty.

"Many countries have the basic ability to avoid one-time disasters in which more than 100 people die ... China has reached this point," the Global Times, a widely read and influential tabloid, said in an editorial about the fire.

"It is ... a blow to China's modernisation and the latest proof that Chinese society is unable to balance development and safety risks."

Fearful of further unrest - Tuesday marks the sensitive 24th anniversary of China's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators - Beijing has ordered tight reporting controls.

"Strengthen guidance of public opinion ... strengthen management of the Internet and other new media, resolutely prevent the malicious stirring up or spreading of rumours and gossip," Xinhua said, citing a government meeting.

A Xinhua report said ammonia gas leaks could have caused the explosions at the plant, which is owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co, a small local feed and poultry producer. Jilin is a largely agricultural province and an important producer of corn and soybeans.

Despite a series of food safety scandals in recent years, there have been relatively few large-scale fatal disasters in China's fast-growing but fragmented food processing sector. Twenty-one people died in 2003 at a meat processing plant in Qingdao, and the China Labour Bulletin said in a report then that management prevented some staff from fleeing until they had "moved the stock to a safe place."

PREMISES LOCKED

More than 300 workers were in the plant at Dehui on Monday, with employees saying they heard a bang and then saw smoke, Xinhua reported. Around 100 workers managed to escape from the plant, whose gate was locked when the fire broke out, it added. Nearby houses were evacuated.

On Tuesday, Yang Xiuya sat cross-legged in front of a car and shouted angrily at police, insisting the doors of the slaughterhouse had been locked at the time of the fire. "My daughter worked there. They haven't given us any explanation. It was time for my daughter to leave work, but the door was locked, so they all burned to death," she shouted.

Another relative screamed at a line of dozens of unarmed SWAT police officers and tried to attack them before women pulled him back. "We can't see our family members and there's no information. We can't see the survivors or the bodies of the dead. They need to let us see the bodies," he shouted, wiping away angry tears.

Many of China's deadly industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which more than 1,300 people died last year from explosions, mine collapses and floods. China's worst fire disaster in recent times was in 1994 when 325 died in a theatre blaze in the far western region of Xinjiang in 1994.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/china-fire-idINDEE95206Q20130604

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Death toll rises in Oklahoma storms

The death toll from deadly tornadoes and severe flooding that struck Oklahoma on Friday and Saturday has risen to 18, including 12 adults and six children, with the bodies of seven people still unidentified, according to the state's chief medical examiner.

Officials on Monday added five victims – three adults and two unidentified children – to the tally of confirmed deaths, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.

At least five tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma on Friday, catching motorists stuck in traffic on roadways around Oklahoma City and its suburbs.

The storms also caused flash flooding throughout the Oklahoma City area. The Oklahoma County sheriff's department said it conducted several water rescues on Friday and Saturday, helping dozens of people stranded by the flooding.

A 64-year-old man drowned on Saturday morning when he drove off a washed-out bridge in eastern Oklahoma County. His body was recovered a quarter of a mile from where his vehicle was found, the sheriff's department said.

Of the 18 confirmed fatalities, nine were in Oklahoma City while six were in its western suburbs, four in El Reno and two in Union City. Luther, Wewoka and Clearview, east of Oklahoma City, each recorded one fatality.

Three storm chasers who died in El Reno were among those identified by the medical examiner.

The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, said that to its knowledge they were the first documented "scientific storm intercept fatalities" in a tornado.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/04/us-oklahoma-tornado-toll

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15 people killed in vehicle overturn near Sudan-Libyan Border

A total of 15 people were killed and 5 others injured on the Sudanese-Libyan border when their vehicle overturned in a border guard chase, said Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a statement, the ministry said 12 Sudanese citizens and three people from other countries were killed when their vehicle overturned chased by Libyan border guards on a crackdown on human smugglers, Xinhua reported.

“7 of the victims have been identified and efforts are being made to identify the rest,” added the statement, noting that the injured “are receiving medical treatment at Al-Kufrah hospital.”

The Sudanese diplomat mission in Libya have made contacts with the Libyan authorities to learn the circumstances of the incident, said the statement, noting “the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon the Libyan charge d’affaires for the same purpose and demand conduction of a an investigation into the case. “

The ministry warned citizens planning to travel to Libya against choosing illegal traffic means and associating with human smugglers, pointing to the great risks illegal migrants might face in the desert between the two countries.

According to labour ministry figures, almost 100,000 Sudanese left the country illegally in 2002, with Libya as a top destination for efforts to transit to Europe.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://www.nzweek.com/world/15-people-killed-in-vehicle-overturn-near-sudan-libyan-border-65129/

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10 killed in colliery gas explosion in central China

At least 10 miners were killed and 15 others injured when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in central China, the latest deadly incident to hit the country's troubled mining industry.

The blast occurred around 7:55 p.m. on Sunday at Simachong coal mine in Shaodong County of Shaoyang City, an officer with the publicity department of Shaodong said.

At least 10 miners were killed and 15 others injured when a gas explosion ripped through a coal mine in central China, the latest deadly incident to hit the country's troubled mining industry.

Thirty-nine miners were working underground when the accident happened. Twenty-nine were rescued, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying.

All 15 injured miners were rushed to a local hospital, where two remain in critical condition, the official said.

Police have detained eight people believed to be responsible for the blast, including the mine's legal representative and managers.

A further investigation into the accident is under way.

On May 25, at least nine people were killed after a coal mine was inundated with water in China's eastern Shandong province.

China's mines are considered among the world's deadliest due to lax safety regulation, corruption and poor operating procedures.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8268486.html

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/336366/10-killed-15-injured-coal.html

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Update - Fire death toll at poultry plant in northeast China rises to 119

Fire raged through a poultry plant in northeastern China on Monday, trapping workers inside a cluttered slaughterhouse and killing at least 119 people, reports and officials said.

Several dozen people also were hurt in the blaze in Jilin province's Mishazi township, which appeared to have been sparked by three early morning explosions, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The provincial fire department, on its microblog, attributed the blasts to a leak of ammonia, a gas that is kept pressurized as part of the cooling system in meat processing plants.

State broadcaster CCTV quoted unidentified workers as saying the fire broke out during a change of shifts and may have originated in a locker room at a time when about 350 workers were at the plant, owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co.

It wasn't clear how many workers had been accounted for and a provincial government media official, who refused to give his name, said he expected the death toll to rise further as more bodies were recovered from the charred building.

The plant's "complicated" interior, narrow exits and a locked front gate made escape difficult, Xinhua quoted survivors as saying.

Some employees raised the alarm shortly after a shift began at 6 a.m., and then the lights went out, boosting the level of panic as workers rushed to find an exit, employee Wang Fengya told Xinhua.

"When I finally ran out and looked back at the plant, I saw high flames," Wang, 44, was quoted as saying. Xinhua said she and three other workers were sent to a hospital in the nearby provincial capital of Changchun.

Another worker quoted by Xinhua, 39-year-old Guo Yan, said the emergency exit at her workstation was blocked and she was knocked to the ground in the crush of workers seeking to escape through a side door.

"I could only crawl desperately forward," Guo was quoted as saying. "I worked alongside an old lady and a young girl, but I don't know if they survived or not."

The disaster killed 119 people, and 54 people were being treated in hospitals, the provincial government said on its microblog. Calls to fire and rescue services rang unanswered and hospital administrators said they had no information about the injured.

By about noon, the fire had been mostly extinguished by about 500 firefighters and bodies were being recovered from the charred buildings. CCTV footage showed dark smoke billowing up from the prefabricated cement structures topped with corrugated iron roofs.

The environmental watchdog has begun monitoring the environmental impact of the fire.

People living nearby said they could smell a pungent odor and some suffered headaches.

Some victims' families have arrived at the scene and demanded the government investigate and announce the cause of the accident as soon as possible.

The fire highlighted the lax safety standards at many Chinese workplaces, despite efforts to compel improvements through regular inspections and fines.

It could also focus renewed scrutiny on China's biggest pork producer, Shuanghui International — unrelated to the poultry plant — as it aims to buy U.S. food giant Smithfield in what would be China's biggest takeover of an American company.

The poultry plant is one of several in the area where chickens are slaughtered and then quickly cut up into pieces and shipped to market. The entire process takes place in near-freezing conditions and such plants are usually built with large amounts of flammable foam insulation to maintain a constant temperature.

Jason Yan, technical director in Beijing of the U.S. Grains Council, said safety considerations usually take a backseat in China to features designed to maximize production and energy efficiency.

"I'm sure they consider some aspects of safety design. However, I think safety, to me, is not the first priority in their design plan," Yan said.

Jilin Baoyuanfeng produces 67,000 tons of processed chicken per year and employs about 1,200 people. The plant is located outside the city of Dehui, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of China's capital, Beijing.

Established in 2009, the company serves markets in 20 cities nationwide and has won numerous awards for its contribution to the local economy, according to introductions posted online.

The area where the fire occurred is an agribusiness center, especially for poultry. Nearby is one of the biggest producers of broiler chickens in China, Jilin Deda Co., which is partly owned by Thailand-based conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group.

Monday's fire hit a company that is much smaller than Jilin Deda. Though it's unlikely to have an impact on China's chicken supply, the accident came as chicken producers were seeing sales recover after an outbreak of a deadly new strain of bird flu, H7N9, briefly scared the public in April and early May.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10821455

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-06/03/c_132427775.htm

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Britain's first UNDERWATER sniffer dog can find submerged bodies up to 100ft away

A sniffer dog has become the first in Britain to be specially trained to search for bodies underwater.

Sasha, a three-year-old border collie, uses her incredible sense of smell to locate a drowned victims from 100ft away.

She will be using her skills to help Bolton Mountain Rescue, in Greater Manchester.

Handler Dave Marsh, 62, has spent the last 12 months teaching her to become a Drowned Victim Search Dog.

Dave, who has worked as a volunteer member of the team for 28 years, was given Sasha at just seven months old by a dog expert, Neil Powell, from Northern Ireland, who spotted her potential for sniffing things out.

But due to her remarkable progress, Mr Marsh has found himself in 'deep water' with his dog - teaching her the art of finding victims under water.

Just two weeks ago the wonder dog completed her first successful staged mission from a boat, detecting her 'victim' from 100ft away.

Mr Marsh, who also works as a contracts manager, believes it will change the future of mountain rescue operations and is proud to be involved with her.

He said: 'Sasha is great to work with. She's the first of her kind in Britain and if she passes her assessment in August she'll be a valuable member of the team.'

Sasha, who turns four in July, was initially trained as a mountain rescue dog, helping out with land searches.

Mr Marsh said: 'I picked her up as a seven-month-old puppy from a trainer who said she'd make a good underwater dog. 'Nothing like that has been done in Britain before - only Neil has done it.'

To train Sasha, the team have to set the scene by staging 'bait' - usually a dead pig which emits a similar scent to that of a human - in the water around 24 hours before the exercise.

Mr Marsh said: 'The pigs we use are stillborn, there is nothing unethical about how we operate.

'We take Sasha out on our four-man rigged inflatable boat and wait for her to bark when she has the scent.

'Then we map the place and give a 50 square meter area for the police divers to look.'

Mr Marsh is confident Sasha will pass her assessment in August with 'flying colours', making her a fully qualified water dog.

And the mountain rescue team member was keen to stress the huge scope of their work.

He said: 'A lot of people think that we just deal with mountains but we also help the police find missing children, for example.'

Monday 3 June 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335020/Sniffer-dog-trained-search-UNDER-WATER-bodies-100ft-away.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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Dana Air crash cenotaph unveiled in one year anniversary

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, and some family members of the victims of last year’s ill-fated Dana Air mishap, unveiled a cenotaph at the site of the crash at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.

They also unveiled a tomb block engraved with 157 names of the victims of the plane crash.

“This cenotaph which we are unveiling here today will ensure that their memories never die,” said Mr. Fashola.

“This monument will stand as a permanent memorial to these family men, women and children; and we will cherish each of their stories – stories of potential and of fulfilment, stories of true heroes,” he added.

On June 3, 2012, a Dana MD-83 aircraft crashed into a two storey building in the crowded suburb killing all 153 people on board. The horrific air disaster also claimed the lives about 10 people on the ground.

However, Lagos State government’s records at the anniversary stated that there were four ground victims who perished in the crash.

Mr. Fashola urged the victims’ families not to be crest fallen.

“A year may seem like a long time, but for the families and friends of the men women and children we lost, that day does not feel like history,” Mr. Fashola said. “The memories of that day are probably as fresh as they are painful; particularly today when you are forced to confront the thoughts you may have pushed to the innermost recesses of your minds, just to enable you get from one day to the next.”

“What does one say at a time like this? What does one say when words will never be enough?

“Many of us cannot even begin to imagine how great your suffering must have been this last one year,” he added.

For the victims’ family members who attended the ceremony, it was a reminder of the pains of the last year’s accident.

Chizoba Mojekwu, whose sister was aboard the ill-fated flight, said that attending the memorial was “difficult” for her because she is standing at the place where “it happened.”

“I’ve been living a life that maybe my sister was on holiday,” said Ms. Mojekwu, Director of Human Resources at the Central Bank of Nigeria, who also lost eight colleagues to the crash.

“They say time heals all wounds. Sometimes I believe that because I’ve lost my mum and for 14 years we still feel some of that pain.

“But this is very raw and we are still grieving,” Ms. Mojekwu added.

Ms. Mojekwu called on aviation authorities to take steps to forestall a recurrence of the incident.

“There is still much to do. Issues of what really happened to this flight remain unanswered,” Ms. Mojekwu said.

“Also the issue of compensation. It is easy to blame the insurance companies but Dana Air has to step up and ensure that people are treated with respect and with dignity,” she added.

Another family member of the victims, Ben Anyene, said that those who were directly affected “were pained, angry, and despondent.”

“The crash could have been avoided if human lives are valued in this country,” Mr. Anyene said.

“We should not throw up our hands in resignation that the plane crash was an act of God. God does not kill his own,” he added. Mr. Anyene frowned at the restoration of the operational licence of Dana Air despite that the details of what caused the crash has not been revealed.

“Among us (victims’ families) we have the reach and competence to engage those in the aviation industry. The blood of our loved ones must not be shed in vain,” said Mr. Anyene.

On plans by the Ministry of Aviation to unveil a cenotaph in Abuja to commemorate the one year anniversary, the families said that they were not informed.

“I never heard about the plan by the federal ministry of Aviation to unveil a cenotaph. A lot of the families here were not told,” said Mr. Anyene.

The families also expressed gratitude to the Lagos State government for its assistance and making “a huge difference in the lives of the families here present.”

“The state government provided mortuary, ambulances, pathological services including DNA analysis to ensure that our people’s bodies were identified and properly buried,” Mr. Anyene said.

Mr. Fashola said that the state, in the aftermath of the crash, has improved its response capacity, trained and continued to train its first responders as well as developed response protocols and acquired necessary equipment.

“As a Government we have learnt some painful lessons and we have grown from them,” said Mr. Fashola.Dana crash cenotaph - laying wreaths

“We convened a Disaster and Emergency Management Summit for all the States in the South West, at which we shared our experience and information.

“The entire incident is properly documented for posterity, with copies in the Attorney General’s office and the Governor’s office, with details of what we did well and what we could have done better to avoid our past mistakes.

“God forbid it, if such a disaster should recur, we are much better prepared to respond,” Mr. Fashola added.

In his speech, Stella Oduah, the Aviation Minister, said “every effort” is being made to prevent the errors of the past.

“We are in touch with Dana on the issue of compensation to the various families and they have assured us that they are doing everything that is possible to hasten the payment, apart from certain problems within families that are impeding,” said Ms. Oduah, who was represented by George Afamefuna, Permanent Secretary at the ministry.

“I assure the governor of Lagos State that sooner than later, we shall conclude the issue of compensation”

Monday 3 Juni 2013

http://premiumtimesng.com/news/137381-governor-fashola-victims-families-unveil-dana-air-crash-cenotaph-in-emotional-one-year-anniversary.html

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Death toll in Oklahoma rises to 16; hunt for 6 missing continues

Oklahoma had barely started clearing the rubble from a monstrous tornado two weeks ago when another rash of twisters plowed through this ill-fated swath of Tornado Alley.

At least 16 people are dead across the state after a vicious storm tore through the area Friday evening, Oklahoma City Fire Chief Keith Bryant said Monday morning.

That number may continue to rise.

Authorities will resume their search Monday for six people still missing, including four who sought shelter in storm drains, Bryant said.

The storms left not only a trail of death and destruction, it also sent floodwaters surging. And the damage wasn't confined to Oklahoma.

In Missouri, a twister left more than 10 miles of significant damage "that caused dozens and dozens of houses to be literally blown up," Gov. Jay Nixon told CNN affiliate KSDK.

No one was killed in that tornado, but three people drowned in Missouri, Nixon said.

And in Arkansas, flooding killed at least four people: a sheriff's deputy, a wildlife officer and two women they were trying to save from a deluged home, officials said. The house collapsed in the middle of the rescue attempt, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Keith Stephens said.

The flash flooding that accompanied Friday night's storm swept some bodies up to five miles downstream, Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Marc Woodard said.

Two parents and a young child who sought refuge in a storm drain were among those killed.

Samuel Cifuentes, his wife Florinda Santos and their 5-year-old son, Alex Cifuentes, died in the Oklahoma storm, said Byron Cifuentes, Samuel's brother.

Officials had been searching for the three family members in a storm drain after the family had sought shelter from the storm on Friday. Oklahoma City officials were not able to confirm the identities or where the three bodies were recovered.

A trio of storm chasers who devoted their lives to hunting powerful storms died in the middle of a pursuit.

Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young were killed Friday while chasing a tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, relatives told CNN on Sunday. Their work tracking tornadoes was featured on the former Discovery Channel show "Storm Chasers."

At the intersection where authorities believe the men were killed, crews hauled away a mangled white truck that had been crushed like a tin can. The metal frame of their storm-chasing vehicle was twisted almost beyond recognition.

"They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they loved," Jim Samaras wrote in a statement posted on his brother's Facebook page.

Friday's tornado took a sudden turn that surprised many observers, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

"It was a wobbler. And it was big. ... I think the left-hand turn made a big difference on how this thing was chased as well and why people were killed and why people were injured in their vehicles," he said. "A vehicle is not a place to be in any tornado, especially a big one like that, and those men doing their job, those field scientists out there doing their jobs, were killed in the process."

Tim Samaras founded TWISTEX, the Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes Experiment, to help learn more about tornadoes and increase lead time for warnings, according to the TWISTEX website.

Samaras had received 18 grants from the National Geographic Society for his research, said Terry Garcia, the organization's executive vice president of missions.

Doug Kiesling, a fellow storm chaser, said the three men were bona fide researchers.

"A lot of times the storm spotters out there serve a very valuable purpose. They give ground truth to what meteorologists from the National Weather Service are doing," he said. "But seeing it in person, seeing it for real, and giving that real time information, I think really supplements the warning. It helps people take shelter ahead of time."

Monday 3 June 2013

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/midwest-weather/

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China poultry plant fire kills at least 55 workers

A fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in north-eastern China has killed at least 55 people, with more believed to be trapped, state media reported.

The fire broke out just after dawn in Mishazi township, near Dehui in Jilin province, Xinhua news agency said.

"About 100 workers have managed to escape from the plant, whose gate was locked when the fire occurred," Xinhua said.

"The complicated interior structure of the prefabricated house in which the fire broke out and the narrow exits have added difficulties to the rescue work," it said.

The fire appeared to have been sparked by three early-morning explosions in the plant's electrical system, Xinhua said. State broadcaster CCTV quoted unidentified workers as saying the fire broke out during a change of shifts and may have originated in a locker room when about 350 workers were at the site.

The provincial fire department said on its microblog that the fire was caused by a leak of ammonia.

The death and injury toll was given by a Jilin provincial government spokesman who gave only his surname, Ma. He declined to give further details. Calls to fire and rescue services rang unanswered and hospital administrators said they had no information about injuries among the dozens of people reportedly sent for treatment.

Rescue workers found the bodies in the charred buildings, and rescue efforts were continuing. CCTV footage showed dark smoke billowing up from the cement structures.

Xinhua quoted survivors as saying that the plant's `'complicated" interior, narrow exits and a locked front gate made escape difficult.

The plant's owner, Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry, is a major producer of processed chicken and employs about 1,200 people. The plant is outside the city of Dehui, about 800 km north-east of Beijing.

Monday 3 June 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/03/china-poultry-farm-fire

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Calamity planning - Bangladesh role-plays quake response

As Bangladesh armed forces retrieve bodies from the country’s worst ever industrial disaster, a garment factory collapse killing over 700, contingency planning is taking place for something worse - a long-predicted earthquake striking the mega-capital of Dhaka.

“We can’t have people just showing up with a shovel,” said Pete DeFelice, a disaster response exercise designer for the US Pacific Command (US armed forces stationed in Hawaii to promote regional security and disaster response in the Asia-Pacific), which is co-hosting a planning workshop from 5-14 May with the Bangladesh Armed Forces.

Government officers, armed forces and humanitarian organizations working in Bangladesh and other parts of the Asia-Pacific who may be among the first responders post-quake, are being presented with the following scenario: a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake 25km northwest of Dhaka, along the Modhupur Fault.

Loose sediment holding together much of the city caves in, leads to the collapse of 100,000 buildings; ATMs are ransacked, looting begins, mobile phone communications are down, and most of the city's hospitals and 1,000 clinics are damaged or destroyed.

Some 400,000 people have gathered at national sports stadiums (with another 150,000 camped out in front of the national parliament); 100,000 are pronounced dead in the earliest days; railway tracks throughout the city have buckled, twisted or are torn from their rail beds. The capital’s international airport cannot accept fixed-wing aircraft; none of the electronic navigation aids work and a nearby military airfield is closed due to cracks in the runway. Seaports are operating at half-capacity, and “tortuous, single lane detours” have reduced traffic by 95 percent.

The government declares a national state of calamity during the first 72 hours.

The workshop’s goal

The goal of the workshop, co-facilitated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is to improve disaster relief coordination; lay out a “real estate” plan plotting humanitarian relief during such a mega-disaster; discuss forming a regional disaster coordination centre for South Asia (along the lines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management); and answer questions on how foreign militaries can support the country as well as how the government can request international assistance.

While the country has a general National Disaster Management Plan, extending to the year 2015, and drafted its first earthquake contingency plan in 2009, these plans are largely “stove-pipe” plans developed by one ministry which are poorly disseminated and understood, DeFelice said.

In December 2009 the government created an inter-ministerial, multi-agency Earthquake Preparedness and Awareness Committee - enshrined in the country’s 2010 Standing Orders on Disaster - that was meant to meet twice a year to review preparedness and awareness.

As of 2013, the committee is still not operational.

On the workshop agenda is the need to boost airport and seaport capabilities to handle humanitarian relief. David Eisenberry, a major and air logistics expert with the US Air Force, said previous US military simulations of a Bangladesh quake left questions unanswered.

“People look to air power to get the job done, especially in the first part of the disaster response. How will the country schedule aircraft? How to distribute relief with few planes? How to manage air space?”

Civil-military relations

World Vision’s national coordinator for humanitarian emergency affairs in Bangladesh, Farhana Islam, said Bangladesh’s military would be key in an earthquake response. “We [NGOs] are more equipped to respond to rural disasters, but in recent years, it is the military here that has taken the lead and has the expertise to handle the growing number of urban crises.”

Col J.M. Emdadul Islam with the Bangladesh Armed Forces told IRIN even though the military has led annual earthquake simulation exercises in Dhaka since 2010, “preparation has no limit” and handling disaster relief in the densely populated mega-city would be, at best, “complicated”.

Four large earthquakes (measuring at least 8.0 on the Richter scale) have struck Bangladesh since 1897, with the most recent in 1950.

The US Pacific Command’s DeFelice acknowledged the challenges of bringing together NGOs and armed forces. “The military folks are trained to solve problems on their own. We are here to help the military stay in its own lane and not to occupy every lane [in disaster relief].”

Thirty-one countries participate in the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team, which was established in 2000 by the US Pacific Command to improve multi-nation military operations and coordination with aid groups to respond to crises in the Asia-Pacific.

Monday 3 June 2013

http://www.irinnews.org/report/97990/calamity-planning-bangladesh-role-plays-quake-response

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Bodies of Myanmar migrants found near islands in Ranong province

The bodies of at least 12 migrant workers from Myanmar have been found in the sea off Thailand's west coast after their boat sank during bad weather.

Marine Police Division 8 inspector Niran Chuayjit said officers on Sunday found nine bodies, six men and three women, floating near Chang Island in tambon Koh Phayam of Ranong's Muang district.

A day earlier, the bodies of three Myanmar females were found in the sea in same area, near Myanmar territorial waters.

Police Major General Taweeporn Churin added that 38 people were rescued.

Ranong is 460 kilometres south of Bangkok and borders Myanmar. Police say it is common for migrant workers to travel by boat to illegally enter Thailand.

Police are in the process of contacting Myanmar officials, asking that they beef up measures to prevent people travelling to Thailand illegally by boat, Pol Lt Col Niran said.

Monday 3 June 2013

http://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/393729-RohingyaMuslimsAFP-1339687488-249-640x480.jpg

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Fierce rain, winds kill 17, injure several across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

At least 17 people, including seven minors, were killed and several others were injured in separate incidents as heavy winds followed by rainstorms hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday.

Strong winds blowing at 75 kilometres per hour caused heavy destruction across the province, inflicting losses to livestock and property.

Walls and roofs collapsed killing two minors in Lady Sarak Charsadda Road. Similarly, a child, identified as Sher Ali, was killed in Naugaman, Daudzai.

Three bodies were also brought to a hospital in Takht Bhai, Shergarh where an emergency was declared. They were identified as Hikmat Khan, a resident of Qudratabad, Saleh Gul, a resident of Moi Bhanda and a minor girl whose identity could not be ascertained.

A house on Harichand Road collapsed on three passenger vans, injuring 30 people. The wounded were taken to the tehsil Headquarters Hospital. In Hathian, a house collapsed injuring two teenagers and a wall fell on a car in Maikh Kohi injuring three others.

A woman was killed and a minor was injured when a wall collapsed storms in Risalpur, Nowshera.

Chaman was on her way home with her granddaughter when a wall fell as a result of heavy winds.

In Shabqadar, heavy downpour killed two persons in separate incidents in Mian Kallay and Rawal Kor.

According to an official of the agency’s political administration, Ahmad Ali was sitting against a wall in an attempt to shield himself from the storm when the wall collapsed, killing him on the spot.

Twelve-year-old Amreen was killed when a wall in Panjigram Village, Mingora, collapsed. In Amankot, seven people were injured where another wall fell while three others were injured in Shagai, Qambar and in Gogdara.

A teenager was killed while another sustained severe injuries after a wall collapsed in Yadgar Mohallah, the capital city of Gilgit. “Two boys, between the ages of 14 and 16, were playing when the roof collapsed due to the storm,” said Maysoor, a resident. One of them died on the spot while the condition of the other is critical, he added.

In Lower Dir, a house in Qadafi Village collapsed. Muhammad Shoaib was severely injured as a result and seven buffaloes tied near one of the walls of the house were killed.

In Katlang, four houses turned to ash when fire erupted due to storms in the area. However, no loss was reported. Three people were killed in Peshawar, three in Shergarh, one in Risalpur, two in Shabqadar, one in Mingora and one in Gilgit.

Six people were killed in Charsadda as a result of the harsh weather. Alamzeb was killed in Daryab Korona, Ali was killed in Umerzai Sabir when a tree fell on him, in Sheikhan Bari a wall fell causing the death of a minor and injured two others.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Met Office Director in Peshawar Mushtaq AlI Shah said the dust storm continued for an hour. “The temperature has dropped to 24 degrees Celsius in Peshawar,” he added.

The main Indus Highway remained blocked for the third day leaving hundreds stranded in vehicles after landslides near Speena Morh on Thursday.

Muhammad Ghani, an official of the Bhanda Daud Shah police, said they had informed the district government and National Highway Authority to clear the highway but no one had showed up. On Sunday morning, he and residents of the area gathered to clear a side of the road to allow vehicles to pass.

Dust storm and gusty winds hit the twin cities on Sunday evening. Strong winds created a dust storm which made conditions difficult for motorists on city roads.

The Met Office said that a shallow westerly trough was expected to affect upper parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining areas from Monday.

It said that further gusty winds were expected in Islamabad and Rawalpindi during the next 24 hours.

The weather will remain hot and dry in most parts of country during the next 24 hours, the Met office said.

The maximum recorded temperature in Islamabad was 39° Celsius, while in Rawalpindi it was 40° Celsius.

Monday 3 June 2013

http://tribune.com.pk/story/557983/dusty-day-fierce-rain-winds-kill-17-injure-several-across-k-p/

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Archaeologists unearth the bones of at least 20 French First World War dead after chance discovery by hikers in the forests of Verdun

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of at least 20 soldiers killed during the First World War after a chance discovery by a group of tourists.

The bones were pulled from the earth at the scene of the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont, in Meuse, north-east France, after hikers spotted a bone sticking out of the ground.

Many personal belongings belonging to the deceased have also been uncovered, including ammunition, rings, watches, scissors, military books and wallets.

It is believed the location where the remains were found was a first aid station located in the basement of a house, which was completely blown apart by the impact of an artillery shell in June 1916.

Watches found amongst the bones set the time of the artillery strike to just after 11am.

A group of German tourists found the remains entirely by chance as they took a walk through the forest of Verdun on Tuesday, prompting a full-scale dig to recover more bones.

The site where they were found is an ancient village which was completely destroyed in 1916 during the Battle of Verdun and never rebuilt.

The remains of the soldiers are mixed up and estimates of how many bodies have been found range from 13 to 26.



Experts say that the place were there soldiers were discovered is not the place where they were killed.

Rather it is believed they were killed or injured on the battlefield and kept there ahead of their planned burial.

However, the German artillery shell which struck the first-aid station hastened that process.

Seven of the soldiers have already been identified through the military identification tags they wore. According to official records, these soldiers were killed in combat between March 28 and April 5.

Investigations have already begun to find the descendants of the men.

In cases where the family does not want to recover the body, the soldiers will be buried in the Fleury military cemetery under a white cross.

Where no identification can be made the bones will be kept at the the Douaumont ossuary, a memorial containing the remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun



During the 300 days of the Battle of Verdun, which lasted from February 21 1916 to December 19 1916, approximately 230,000 men died on a battlefield covering less than eight square miles.

Most were killed by artillery.

The battle became known in German as Die Hölle von Verdun, or in French as L'Enfer de Verdun. Both names translate to English as 'the Hell of Verdun'.

It was the longest and one of the most devastating battles in the First World War and the history of warfare.

Sunday 2 June 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2334354/Archaeologists-unearth-bones-20-French-First-World-War-dead-chance-discovery-hikers-forest-Verdun.html?ico=news^headlines

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Nine killed during tornado outbreak in central Oklahoma

The Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Saturday morning that nine people, including two children, were killed during the tornado outbreak in the Oklahoma City metro area Friday evening.

According to the Medical Examiner's Office, four victims have been identified, and five others have not been identified.

In addition to the fatality numbers released by the medical examiner's office, two other victims were identified by the Oklahoma and Okfuskee county sheriffs' offices in towns east of the metro.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's office identified a man who died when his vehicle ran into high water in Harrah, Okla. and the Okfuskee County Sheriff's office identified the body of a woman who also drowned after driving into high water.

Authorities have not released the victims' identities pending notification of family members.

The bodies of a mother and her baby were found at I-40 and Cimarron Rd. in Canadian County. Two other victims were found in a car near S.W. 15th St. and Choctaw Rd. in Union City.

One other person near N.W. 10th St. and Radio Rd. in El Reno.

Hospital officials said at least 75 people were hurt.

If you are missing a loved one from Friday night's tornado, you are encouraged to call the Medical Examiner's office at (405)-239-7141. Officials say they need help identifying the five unidentified victims.

Sunday 2 June 2013

http://www.newson6.com/story/22475903/9-killed-including-2-kids-during-tornado-outbreak-in-okc-metro

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Skeletal remains uncovered In Arizona desert

Five sets of skeletal remains were uncovered in the Arizona desert on the Tohono O’Odham reservation. The Pima County Medical Examiner announced that they will examine the remains.

While the remains were found in an area commonly used for smuggling between the United States and Mexico, authorities have said they were hidden in unusual circumstances.

US Border Patrol agents discovered the five sets of remains, partially covered by rocks, on Tuesday near Sells. Chief Medical Examiner Gregory Hess explained:

“It’s not a typical migrant death site. Usually that’s people laying under a tree because it got too hot, and they’re on the surface of the ground and nobody tried to bury them.”

He added, “The remains were partially covered with rocks and we’re not sure if that’s an attempt to hide [them] or if somebody just buried them there for some other reason.” Hess added that foul play is a possibility that has not yet been ruled out.

The Tohono O’Odham Police Department is heading the investigation, since the skeletal remains were discovered in their jurisdiction. The Tucson sector Border Patrol also confirmed the discovery, though it did not comment on the investigation.

Arizona is home to a well trafficked corridor for both drugs and humans from Mexico. While border crossing deaths are fairly common, the circumstances in which the desert remains were found is unusual. It was not clear what state of decomposition the bodies were in when they were discovered on Tuesday. It is also not known if they had any marks on them that flagged the deaths as suspicious.

Border crossing deaths are more common in the summer months when the heat causes dehydration and migrants do not carry sufficient water to make it through the desert.

Hess added that he has not yet determined the gender or age of the skeletal remains found in the desert. He has also not determined their causes of death. Hess explained that autopsies will be performed on the remains next week.

Saturday 1 June 2013

http://www.inquisitr.com/683314/skeletal-remains-uncovered-in-arizona-desert/

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'Dozens of bodies found at mass grave in Jaffa'

An official at a Muslim cemetery in Jaffa said Friday that the remains of dozens of Palestinians killed in the 1948 War of Independence were discovered in a mass grave on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The discovery of six chambers full of skeletons was made during renovations at the cemetery, according to the report.

AFP quoted Jaffa fisherman Atar Zeinab, 80, as saying he had helped collect the bodies of those killed in fighting south of Jaffa during the 1948 war and bring them to the cemetery for hasty burial without ceremony.

“I carried to the cemetery 60 bodies during a period of three or four months,” AFP, quoted Zeinab as saying. “We used to find the people in the street and most of the time we didn’t know who they were.”

Zeinab added that because of the danger of ongoing fighting, the bodies were piled on top of each other in already existing burial plots in the cemetery, rather than in accordance with Muslim custom.

“We carried them early in the morning or in the night,” he added. “We put women, children and men in the same place... nobody prayed for these people.”

Arabs make up around a third of the 46,000 residents of Jaffa, where they were a majority before the 1948 War of Independence.

Saturday 1 June 2013

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Dozens-of-bodies-found-at-mass-grave-in-Jaffa-315073

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Farm workers killed in minibus accident in Turkey

Ten people were killed and 13 injured when a minibus carrying female farm workers in Turkey rolled over and fell into a creek, police said.

The accident took place Wednesday afternoon in the Adiyaman province, authorities said, as the minibus was taking the farm workers home.

The driver, Kazim Coban, lost control of the vehicle when its tire blew, and the minibus rolled and fell into a creek 100 feet below the road, officials told Today's Zaman.

Six of the workers were killed at the scene, and the others were transported to a hospital, where four others died.

The bodies of the women were taken to the morgue for autopsies.

Adiyaman Governor Mahmut Demirtas said that officials are investigating the incident.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/05/30/10-killed-in-minibus-accident-in-Turkey/UPI-98071369919389/

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Tragedy in Bayelsa: 20 feared killed in auto crash

NO fewer than 20 persons were reported dead in a motor accident in Amassoma, Yenagoa, on Wednesday.


Nigerian Tribune gathered that the 20 persons were mostly part-time students of the state-owned Niger Delta University, Amassoma who were returning from lectures in a 13-seater bus that collided with another that was returning to Amassoma from Yenagoa.

Confirming the incident, an eyewitness, Mr Inaikozia Fumgbe who is a 100-level Sociology student of NDU and whose vehicle was behind the bus, said the 13-seater bus with registration number RIVERS KNM 1415A clashed with another thirteen seater bus with registration number RIVERS SP 269 KPR from Yenagoa. It was without its headlight and was on high speed.

He said the accident occurred at about 8 pm on Tuesday night on the Amossoma-Ekpetiama road. He added that one pregnant woman was crushed while others with serious injuries and those that died on the spot were taken to nearby clinics and hospitals in Yenagoa.

He attributed the cause of the accident to over-speeding, When our correspondent visited the scene of the accident the mangled buses which belong to the Bayelsa State Transport Company were littered with blood stains and handouts of students and foodstuffs.

However, when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Niger Delta University, Mr Joe Alagoa, who confirmed the accident, said nobody died in the mishap.

In a related development a middle aged woman, Mrs Chinyere Celestine and four of her children suffocated to death from carbon-monoxide that emanated from a power generator that they left on while they went to bed in an enclosed apartment, on Wednesday at their residence in Azikoro suburb in Yenagoa.

Sympathisers attributed the incident to the persisting power outage that has thrown the state into darkness over three weeks. Eyewitnesses told Nigerian Tribune that seven persons were affected by the incident but two persons at the time of filing the reports were receiving treatment while the dead bodies have been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/en/news/item/13174-tragedy-in-bayelsa-20-feared-killed-in-auto-crash.html

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15 die in Sindhupalchowk bus crash

A bus headed for Kathmandu from Bhotang of Sindhupalchowk district crashed at Thangpalkot-1 on Wednesday morning, killing 15 passengers and injuring 30 others.

The bus, carrying at least 55 passengers, fell around 150 feet down a cliff at a bend on a dirt road at Salledanda. Twelve people were killed on the spot. Two others died undergoing treatment in a Kathmandu-based hospital, while the third one died on a Nepal Army helicopter that was ferrying the injured to Kathmandu.

People who survived the accident were caught under the mangled remains of the vehicle. They were rescued by a joint team of the Nepal Army, the Armed Police Force and the Nepal Police.

Many of them are said to be in critical condition.

Some passengers travelling on the roof of the bus jumped to save their lives. It was immediately unclear as to what caused the accident. The driver of the bus, identified as Maila Tamang, fled the scene.

One of the survivors, Raju Sherpa, said he saw Tamang jumping off the vehicle just before the crash.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the 12 passengers killed in the accident refused to receive the bodies, demanding compensation for their loss.

] Friday 31 May 2013

http://ekantipur.com/2013/05/30/headlines/15-die-in-Sindhupalchowk-bus-crash/372451/

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Bodies of More Than 200 Stalinist Purge Victims Discovered

The remains of 208 people believed to have been victims of the Stalinist purges have been discovered by a search team near Voronezh, Interfax reported Friday.

Members of the Don Search Team, who were responsible for uncovering the bodies, said that the executions were almost certainly carried out during the most grievous months of the Great Terror, between January and February, 1938.

An anthropological investigation will now be carried out on the remains in a bid to compare any biological data with archival records.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of research groups have sought to find and honor the victims of political repression, as well as conducting proper burials for unknown fallen soldiers.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/bodies-of-more-than-200-stalinist-purge-victims-discovered/480903.html

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With few clues, Afghan pathologists try to put names to torture victims

When the mortal remains of a man named Nawab were brought to what is, in effect, the Kabul C.S.I. on April 30, they all fit easily into a wooden crate small enough to carry under one arm.

Afghan pathologists at the Directorate of Forensic Medical Services do not even have powerful microscopes, let alone sophisticated DNA testing, so identifying those remains was more a session of 20 Questions with family members than a scientific investigation.

Mr. Nawab was one of 17 people who, according to an investigation by the Afghan Defense Ministry, as well as interviews with many of their family members, were last seen being picked up by an American Special Forces A Team in the Nerkh district in Wardak Province. He was reported detained on Jan. 30.

The Afghan authorities have now determined that 10 of those men are dead, with the others unaccounted for as much as six months after their disappearances.

In the crate there were chunks of bone that appeared to have been blown to bits, scorched scraps of flesh, a jawbone with 11 teeth and, most important, pieces of clothing, including part of a shirt with elaborate embroidery. The wear on the teeth indicated a man age 30 or younger, which Mr. Nawab was. But if family members were going to be able to get and bury the remains of Mr. Nawab, a driver from Ibrahim Kheil village, they would have to describe the embroidery and the type of fabric.

It came down to the victim’s mother, who remembered the embroidery because she had done it herself, allowing the family to describe a perfect match with the clothing scraps. Dr. Najibullah said he was satisfied, made the identification and returned Mr. Nawab’s remains to his family. (Like many Afghans, Mr. Nawab used and Dr. Najibullah uses only one name).

The Nerkh disappearances led to a severe strain in relations between the Afghan government and the United States military, with President Hamid Karzai at one point ordering all Special Operations forces out of Wardak Province.

Afghan investigators have accused a man named Zakaria Kandahari, whom they identify as an Afghan-American man working with the American commando team, of detaining, torturing and murdering many of the missing men. They also accuse the American team of at the very least being aware of his actions, if not complicit in them.

The American military said it had repeatedly investigated the disappearances in Nerkh and had found no wrongdoing by any American military personnel. It also insists that Mr. Kandahari is not an American citizen, and that even though he had been employed by the military as an interpreter, he was no longer working for Americans at the time a videotape showed him engaging in at least one case of torture.

“The video surfaced in January, and we started looking into it,” a United States military official said. “Afghans asked us about it; we started digging into this guy’s background.”

In the background of what has publicly played out as a politically delicate and contested criminal case, family members and Afghan forensic investigators have struggled to pin down details of the disappearances and killings.

Human rights investigators have been reluctant to list victims like Mr. Nawab as positively identified in the absence of DNA testing. The only such testing available in Afghanistan is at the American military base at Bagram.

Although the American military has said it investigated the disappearances thoroughly, three times, the results of those inquiries have not been made public, and officials have not been willing to discuss the findings publicly in any detail. No DNA tests were performed by the American authorities on the remains that were found, according to the Afghan authorities.

Dr. Najibullah and a second forensic pathologist who worked on these cases, Gul Rahman, both said they had never been visited by American military investigators, although at least three bodies identified as belonging to the Nerkh missing and found close to the former Special Forces base have been brought to their Kabul facility since April 7. (The other seven dead had been found relatively soon after their disappearances and were easily identified, so were never brought to the forensic center.)

In one case, the video evidence described by Afghan officials directly made the link between a body and the accused man: They say it shows Mr. Kandahari torturing a Nerkh resident identifiable as Sayid Mohammad.

Mr. Mohammad’s body was found on May 21, close to the Nerkh base used by the Special Forces at the time of his disappearance on Nov. 21. Mr. Mohammad’s remains were relatively easy to identify because his body had been sealed in a military-style black body bag and had only partly decomposed, according to Dr. Rahman. His feet had been cut off, but otherwise the body was intact.

A third set of remains found near the Nerkh base has been identified by the pathologists as belonging to Mohammad Qasim, a farmer from Karim Dad village, who was detained by a Special Forces team while attending a wedding ceremony Nov. 6, according to his brother, Shaheedullah, who also attended it. He said the commando team had included both Americans and Afghans, among them Mr. Kandahari.

But when family members went to the Special Forces base the next day, “they didn’t even admit they had detained him,” Mr. Shaheedullah said.

Mr. Qasim’s badly decomposed remains, discovered April 7 within a few hundred yards of the base, were brought to the forensics center in a heavy black plastic bag. Dr. Rahman, who examined them, said many of the bones had been fractured, which he said could have been from torture or from an explosion.

With the remains, which were unearthed in a trash pit, there was a handkerchief with flowers embroidered on it, he said.

Mr. Shaheedullah said family members had been able to describe the flowers in detail, and the pathologists ruled that the remains belonged to his brother.

“We are sure these bodies belong to these specific families,” Dr. Rahman said.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/world/asia/afghan-torture-victim-remains-pose-challenge-to-pathologists.html

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Locals first robbed, then helped victims

br> The Mendhwan accident, which claimed 14 lives, including that of the driver of the container which rammed into an oncoming luxury bus on Wednesday, has brought to light a chilling demonstration of greed taking precedence over life.

The locals who came forward to help the accident victims did so not for nothing. They first rummaged through their baggages, took all valuables and then helped the victims.

This heart-rending story has been told to the police by none other than one of the two drivers of the ill-fated bus (GJ.3.AW.9914) who miraculously survived the big bang with minor injuries.

The fatal collision took place on the Mendhwan Khind bridge on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway when Lalaji Amarsingh Rajput, 28, was at the wheel and Mahesh Ramanlal Mina, 35, the additional driver, was sitting next to him.

Both of them visited the Kasa police station on Thursday to give their statement.

In his statement, Mina said that after the accident, he fell out of the bus cabin and saw around 10 locals reaching the spot.

Instead of picking dead bodies and rescuing the injured, they boarded the bus and took away bags. They not only removed valuables from the bags, but also snatched away jewellery from the dead and the injured, Mina said, adding that they came back to help the hapless passengers only after hiding the booty.

Assistant police inspector of Kasa police station Bharat Choudhary said, “We were informed about the theft at the accident spot, but at that very moment our primary responsibility was to save lives. We could only recover those items which were found on the locals. Some handbags are missing and we will look into the matter.”

Friday 31 May 2013

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Salvage mission at Mt Kanchanjungha called off

The search for the five climbers who went missing on Mt Kanchanjungha since May 20 and are presumed dead has been called off Thursday.

The families of the missing climbers including two Nepalis and three foreigners, and the expedition organizer Seven Summit Trekking Agency (SSTA) have decided to stop the search after the team sent for the rescue of the five returned citing extremely bad conditions. The rescue team said the thawing of snow with the advent of summer has made it extremely difficult to climb the mountain in eastern Nepal.

"Our agency tried its best to bring back the bodies. But, we could not continue rescue operation as thawing of snow has already started," said SSTA Manager Minga Sherpa. He also informed that rescuers themselves would be at risk as the snow start melting from the second week of May.

Two Hungarians, a South Korean national, and three Nepali climbers are believed to have died while returning to camp 4 [7,400 meters] after scaling the 8,586 meter peak.

The agency also tried to send a helicopter to bring back the bodies after the effort mobilizing the rescue team on foot failed. However, the chopper also could not reach the incident spot.

Hira Dahal, the pilot, who had attempted to land on the incident spot, said it was impossible to collect the bodies from the height of 7400 meter in bad weather.

"We tried but it is an impossible job to retrieve the dead bodies from the spot," Pilot Dahal said after making an unsuccessful attempt. He also said that the rescue operation would be costlier. "Moreover the bad weather was the greatest impediment in the rescue effort," Dahal added.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=55446

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Maharashtra to put info about missing children on internet

The state will now maintain an online database of missing children which would not only help it track them but would also enable it to monitor child trafficking into the state. Parents of missing children too will be able to access as well as post information about their child on the portal.

The state's women and child development department recently launched the missing child tracking system (MCTS), to monitor and track every child under the juvenile justice system.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-30/pune/39628143_1_child-trafficking-state-child-protection-society-tracking-system

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1 Dead, a dozen missing in Borneo river shipwreck

At least one person has been found dead and a dozen others remain missing after an overloaded passenger ferry sank in a river in the Malaysian portion of the island of Borneo, police said Wednesday.

The accident occurred on Tuesday near Belaga, in Sarawak province.

Authorities on Wednesday raised to 192 the number of survivors after another 11 people were rescued and taken to a shelter set up near the accident site.

Officials have been searching for survivors and/or bodies in a zone up to three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the spot where the ferry sank.

The ferry, the maximum safe operating capacity of which was 67 passengers, was traveling downriver with about 200 people on board, several of them sitting on the roof, when it hit some rocks in the river and capsized.

Most of the passengers were returning to their villages to celebrate the Gawai harvest festival, the most important of the year for members of the Dayak tribe, this coming weekend.

The Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Sabah occupy the northern portion of Borneo, while the remaining 73 percent of the island's territory belongs to Indonesia.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/agencia-efe/130531/1-dead-a-dozen-missing-in-borneo-river-shipwreck

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Divers recover 10 bodies from Nigeria ship sinking

A contractor for Chevron Corp. in Nigeria says divers have recovered the bodies of 10 sailors who drowned when their ship sank off the coast.

The Jascon-4 capsized early on Sunday due to “heavy ocean swells” while the vessel was “performing towing operations” at a mooring point around 30 kilometres off oil-producing Delta state, Chevron’s Nigeria unit said on Sunday.

Sea Trucks Group said in a statement Friday that one other sailor remained missing from the sinking of the tug boat Jascon 4 some 14 nautical miles off the coast of Escravos, Nigeria. The company says the boat overturned Sunday while trying to tow a tanker in the area.

The company says it has halted recovery efforts as the ship is now too unstable for divers to work in.

Offshore work can be dangerous, as sailors face Nigeria pirate and militant attacks. Industrial accidents happen as well. A sailor drowned in 2010 after falling overboard from a boat working for French oil firm Total SA.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/divers-recover-10-bodies-nigeria-ship-sinking-19296116#.Uai1bonbQ34

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10 killed in Balangir mishap

As many as 10 persons, including two children and two women, were killed and seven of a wedding party were injured in an accident near Khaprakhol in Patnagarh sub-division of Balangir district on Thursday morning.

The accident took place when the victims were returning to their village after attending the party at Khujenpali near Bolangir town. The four-wheeler they were travelling in hit a tree after the driver lost control near Jogimunda on the Patnagarh-Khaprakhol route.

Eye-witnesses said the victims were trapped inside the vehicle and it took hours to rescue the injured passengers. Seven persons were taken to the Patnagarh hospital for treatment. Four of them were injured to VSS Medical College and Hospital, Burla. "We rushed to the spot after hearing about the accident and rescued the injured. It took us hours to rescue the injured persons from the mangled vehicle." zilla parisad member of Khaprakhol Baijayanti Saraf and her husband Dhrub Saraf said.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families after conducting autopsy. "We have taken all steps to provide medical care to the injured persons with the help of the district administration. A compensation of Rs one lakh would be given to the next of kin of the deceased from the chief minister's relief fund," SDPO (Patnagarh) Sunil Joshi said.

Friday 31 May 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/10-killed-in-Balangir-mishap/articleshow/20358786.cms

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