After wife and sons die in tsunami, finding solace in working with the dead

The first time Yuya Kawamura saw his newborn son, the baby was already dead.

The infant’s brother, just 11 months old, was found in the arms of his mother. They, too, were dead, victims of the tsunami that swept away their house in Iwate Prefecture two years ago.

Listless for months after the disaster, the grieving father thought about killing himself.

But with so much death haunting his life, the 28-year-old found a rather unorthodox place to come to terms with his loss and find a reason to live.

“I am working as a mortician because I lost my wife and children,” Kawamura said. “My right hand is my elder son, and my left hand is my younger son. I think my skills will improve when my children grow.”

Kawamura, who is training to become an embalmer, finds meaning in his work because he says it draws him closer to his family members.

His job also allows him to help people see their dead loved ones for the last time in a way that they should be remembered, something that Kawamura was unable to do with his own family.

Kawamura was in Morioka on a business trip when the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the northeastern coast on March 11, 2011.

His wife, 20, was with the two boys at their home in a coastal town. She had returned the previous day six days after giving birth to the younger son.

Fifteen minutes after the temblor, Kawamura contacted his wife on her cellphone. “We are about to flee,” she said.

Kawamura sped back in his car and reached the town the following morning. It was gone.

He spotted the red roof of his house 200 meters inland from where it originally stood. After desperately removing the debris, he found his wife holding the elder son.

“My wife was strong-minded, but she appeared as if she were sleeping. She looked peaceful and beautiful,” Kawamura said. “Only her arms were rigid, as if she would never let him go.”

He asked police to keep the two bodies as they were. Before the bodies were transferred to a crematorium, Kawamura removed his son and held him in his arms.

“I am sorry. I am sorry I could not save you,” he kept saying.

The body of the younger son was found in April. Kawamura went to a morgue, where the tiny body was laid beside a hooded blanket that his brother had also used.

Kawamura was already on the business trip when his second son was born. “I had seen his face only in photos e-mailed to my cellphone,” he said.

Police officers advised Kawamura not to look at the body of the boy.

“But I wanted to hold him in my arms by any means,” he said.

He told the baby, “We are together at long last.”

After the funerals of his family members, Kawamura resigned from his company and left the town.

“I did not feel like doing anything,” he said.

He did not want to return to Miyako, his hometown, and instead stayed in the prefectural capital of Morioka.

“All of a sudden, I thought I wanted to die,” he said. “When I was driving a car, I wondered whether I could die if I crashed into the one running in front.”

But a former classmate from Miyako told Kawamura about an embalmer who was volunteering her time to restore the remains of disaster victims. He found a flier in his mailbox seeking morticians and immediately called to apply.

Kawamura said one of the main reasons he applied was because he could not do anything for his three beloved ones before they were cremated.

“I laid a dress over my wife before the coffin left, but I was not able to put it on for her,” he said. “I was not able to put on some makeup for her, either. If I had known how, I might have been able to restore the face of my younger son to look like the one in the photos.”

It was a demanding job looking at one dead person after another, and he wanted to quit countless times.

But he embraced the work after listening to a speech by the volunteer embalmer in May 2012.

She told Kawamura that she was glad he was alive and cried for him.

“An embalmer puts dead people back in shape and returns them to their families so that the families can cry,” she said. “An embalmer re-connects dead people with their families.”

When Kawamura helps clean the bodies of children, he recalls how he felt when he lost his sons and recounts his experiences to the parents to help them cope with their loss.

After listening to his story, some parents speak about their memories of their loved ones, such as their lovely smiles.

“Working as a mortician drives home how family members hold their lost ones near and dear,” Kawamura said, mentioning the way they touch the faces of the bodies in the coffins. “I am learning how valuable lives are.”

The disaster struck before spring arrived in the Tohoku region.

Kawamura keeps cherry blossoms, a favorite of his wife, in his funeral makeup box. He said he wants the victims to see the spring flowers in the afterworld.

He said he might not have survived if he had found a different job.

“I kept apologizing to my wife and sons for one year after the earthquake, saying, ‘I am sorry I could not save you,’” he said. “I now thank them for being with me.”

His wife’s cellphone appeared to have been destroyed by the tsunami, but it suddenly turned on when Kawamura was toying with it in November.

When he opened a video stored in the phone, the elder son called to him, “Dad!”

“A long time ago, I might have felt so sad to see this that I would want to die,” Kawamura said. “Today, I am glad to see him. I can say this from the bottom of my heart.”

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201303050084

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Blaze kills 9 children at Koranic school in Senegal

A child’s sandal, a charred begging bowl, some fire-singed tin plates. Little else but cinders remained Monday of the house here where 60 children were crammed in by a Muslim holy man to study the Koran — and beg.

At least nine children died in the fire late Sunday night in the dense Medina neighborhood here, residents and Senegal’s state news agency said. Seven of them were Koranic students, or talibés, as they are called here, small boys entrusted by impoverished parents to study under the holy man in the evenings and beg for him by day.

The seven had been locked in their room in the wooden dwelling and could not be saved, residents said, as flames, fanned by high winds from the nearby Atlantic Ocean, consumed the house. The other children managed to escape, they said, or had been sleeping outside.

Human rights groups say there are some 50,000 of these children here, some as young as 5, forced to beg on dangerous streets by the holy men, known as marabouts, and kept in precarious living conditions in flimsy dwellings, often given little to eat.

For years, Western rights groups and foreign documentary makers have denounced the practice. Governments here promise reforms to appease outside donors and embassies, but then backtrack in the face of opposition from religious leaders.

Within Senegal, there is sporadic pressure to end the system, and last month the government promised, again, to end forced child-begging by 2015. Human Rights Watch, which reported extensively on the practice three years ago, said Sunday’s fire underscored the urgent need for reform. In its 2010 report, the group said the children were often severely punished if they failed to meet a begging quota each day.

Cases of talibés being crushed in traffic while begging are frequently reported in the local news media, but the number of deaths in the fire made it one of the worst accidents involving the boys in recent years. The marabout was not even on the premises when the fire started, residents said.

“They were here alone,” said Ismael Gakou, 32, a shopkeeper who lives next door. “How can you leave them alone like that?”

“They read the Koran until 8 p.m., then he leaves for his apartment,” Mr. Gakou said, referring to the marabout. “He treats them badly.”

There is little electricity in the neighborhood, and residents said that an overturned candle in the boys’ room had started the fire. By the time the fire department arrived, at least 15 minutes after the alarm was raised — pushing through the warren of narrow, sandy alleys leading to the house — it was too late.

“When the fire started, the children were locked in the room,” said Awa Sow, who also lived in the one-story, 12-room house. “They were yelling. But nobody could get in.”

Hadi Sane, 30, a waitress who lives next door, saw flames begin to engulf the building around 11 p.m. “I came running,” but it was too late, she said.

“They were living there alone, 5, 10 years old,” she said. “I wouldn’t give my child up for that. They didn’t eat well, or sleep well. We’ve got to put that marabout in prison.”

The ground at her feet was blackened, and the air still smelled heavily of the fire, despite the ocean breeze. A crowd of onlookers pressed up against the site, and government officials stood around awkwardly. The state news agency said there would be an investigation.

“In the face of this tragedy, the Senegalese government must finally tackle the country’s widespread abuse and exploitation of young boys through forced begging,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement Monday. “Tens of thousands of boys continue to live and beg in extremely precarious conditions, enriching teachers who have twisted the country’s proud tradition of religious education.”

Mr. Gakou, the neighbor, saw the victims’ remains carried out early Monday in plastic bags. “The whole neighborhood is in mourning,” he said. “Nobody around here has slept.

Rescue workers recovered the bodies of nine other children, but their ages and identities were not immediately known. Large crowds of residents were at the scene of the blaze on Monday as a number of government officials visited the site, promising a thorough investigation.

After visiting the scene, Senegal's President Macky Sall, a Muslim, said Koranic schools that exploited children and failed to ensure they were safe would be shut.

The children would be sent back to their families, he said.

The BBC's Thomas Fessy in Dakar says human rights groups have repeatedly warned of the poor conditions in which children are housed in Koranic schools, and some teachers have been accused of abuses.

Most of the pupils - known as "talibes" in the local language, Wolof - end up begging on the streets for money and food which they have to take back to their teachers, our correspondent adds.

Fire engines were reported to have struggled to drive down the narrow road leading to the school, hampering efforts to extinguish the blaze.

Dakar's mayor, Khalifa Sall, told local RFM radio that the ramshackle development of densely populated residential areas in the city made it impossible for the emergency services to operate effectively.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21671889

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/world/africa/fire-in-senegal-kills-child-beggars-trapped-in-house.html?_r=0

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Mexico's disappeared

The full scale of Mexico's bloody drug war during the last six years is only now becoming apparent. Nearly 70,000 people died and more than 26,000 went missing between 2006 and 2012. A scathing new report by Human Rights Watch casts substantial blame for the problem on the country's security forces, which it says have not only been implicated in many of the underlying crimes but have failed to adequately investigate claims by friends and family members of the victims. The result, the report says, is the "most severe crisis of enforced disappearances in Latin America in decades."

Human Rights Watch researchers looked into a few hundred cases and confirmed 149 examples of enforced disappearances by security forces. They described a pattern in which uniformed soldiers or police detain people without arrest orders or probable cause — at their homes, in front of family members, at checkpoints or in public settings. The arrests are almost never officially registered and the arrestees are not turned over to the prosecutor's office, as required by law. When relatives arrive to ask about the detainees, the report said, "they are told that the detentions never took place."

These are familiar allegations. But Human Rights Watch also shows how the authorities fail to follow up or investigate — declining to trace cellphones or obtain footage from security cameras or track the bank transactions of the disappeared.

It now falls to President Enrique Peña Nieto to address the crisis of the disappeared. Clearly, there is no single solution to the problem of drug violence and impunity in Mexico; myriad reforms are needed. But a good and simple place for the new administration to begin is to create a central and accurate database of missing people and unidentified remains. Those records would provide an important resource for prosecutors, police and family members of those who are missing.

Until late last month, there was only an unofficial list of names, which has since become public. Before that, local authorities who received reports about disappearances could share information only by calling individual agencies in other states. Often, they simply failed to do so.

The list of missing persons is still too vague, often failing to include basic information such as age, height or even scars. The registry should be expanded to include a more comprehensive profile, including DNA samples of family members. That information could then be used to test against unidentified human remains, including those found in recent years in mass graves.

The United States has pledged nearly $2 billion in aid since 2007 to help Mexico fight a shared drug war. The Obama administration should encourage the new government to ensure that the database is up and running quickly, and that the disappearances are fully investigated.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-disappeared-mexico-human-rights-watch-20130305,0,4235175.story

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Update: 7 killed in plane crash in Congo's east city of Goma

A plane crash in the center of the eastern city of Goma killed seven people and injured three, Congolese officials have now confirmed.

The Ukrainian pilot of the plane for CAA managed to avoid buildings in the densely populated area, and crashed the plane on the fences in the backyard of a housing plot. The plane had taken off from the city of Kananga in the country's southwest, stopped in Lodja and was on its way to Goma before the crash, Goma's mayor said.

"There was a thunderstorm and we heard a loud noise. We went out and saw a plane in the backyard. I hadn't realized a plane had crashed, I was under the impression that it was loud thunder," said Lauren Welsh, a resident of the nearby house.

As night fell, the rescue team arrived on site and started tearing apart the plane to extract the bodies of six people. The body of one crew member is still missing, said an authority with the airplane company, Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation, or CAA. The authority spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the press.

The CAA official and rescue authorities confirmed that 10 people were on board. Rescue officials found six dead bodies, including the pilot. An official with the company said five crew were among the dead, one crew member was missing and one passenger was killed. Three Congolese men survived the crash and were taken to the hospital, he said.

Goma mayor Naasson Kubuya confirmed that seven were dead. The mayor had earlier said 40 people were on board and only four people survived based on initial police estimations.

"The pilot managed to avoid houses," said Kubuya. "It's a horrifying accident. The city of Goma has become a field of disasters. We sympathize with the families of the deceased."

The plane crashed due to bad weather conditions, he said.

Given the number of crashes in eastern Congo every year, the mayor of Goma called on national authorities to increase measures to improve air traffic and safety.

Last year, a plane crash in the city of Bukavu killed President Joseph Kabila's personal adviser, Augustin Katumba, and four others.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130305/af-congo-plane-crash/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage

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Update: At least nine die in plane crash in Congolese town of Goma

At least nine people were killed on Monday when a twin-propeller plane crashed as it tried to land in bad weather in the eastern Congolese town of Goma, the government said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were on board the Fokker 50, which was operated by domestic airline CAA. The flight was arriving from the town of Lodja, some 700 km (440 miles) to the west in Kasai-Oriental province, central Congo.

A government spokesman said that, as the plane was loaded with cargo, it was not carrying its full capacity of 50 passengers.

CAA declined to comment.

Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the world's worst air safety records. There have been numerous crashes in Goma, the main town in the east, where the runway has not been fully repaired after a volcanic eruption in 2002 left it covered in lava.

"For the moment we have counted nine dead, passengers and crew," said government spokesman Lambert Mende.

"No one on the ground was killed. The plane fell in an empty space, and because of the rain, no one was around. It was really lucky," he added.

A Reuters reporter at the scene saw four bodies removed from the wreckage of the plane, which was lying in several pieces.

Local authorities said at least three people survived the crash.

The plane came down in heavy rain in a residential area near government offices and a base used by United Nations peacekeepers.

Mende said the plane had been in good condition: "It was a Fokker 50 ... I'd taken it many times myself."

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://news.yahoo.com/least-nine-die-plane-crash-congolese-town-goma-191840677.html

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Haunted by trauma, tsunami survivors in Japan turn to exorcists

The tsunami that engulfed northeastern Japan two years ago has left some survivors believing they are seeing ghosts. In a society wary of admitting to mental problems, many are turning to exorcists for help.

Tales of spectral figures lined up at shops where now there is only rubble are what psychiatrists say is a reaction to fear after the March 11, 2011, disaster in which nearly 19,000 people were killed.

"The places where people say they see ghosts are largely those areas completely swept away by the tsunami," said Keizo Hara, a psychiatrist in the city of Ishinomaki, one of the areas worst-hit by the waves touched off by an offshore earthquake.

"We think phenomena like ghost sightings are perhaps a mental projection of the terror and worries associated with those places." Hara said post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might only now be emerging in many people, and the country could be facing a wave of stress-related problems.

"It will take time for PTSD to emerge for many people in temporary housing for whom nothing has changed since the quake," he said. Shinichi Yamada escaped the waves that destroyed his home and later salvaged two Buddhist statues from the wreckage. But when he brought them back to the temporary housing where he lived, he said strange things began to happen. His two children suddenly got sick and an inexplicable chill seemed to follow the family through the house, he said. "A couple of times when I was lying in bed, I felt something walking across me, stepping across my chest," Yamada said.

Many people in Japan hold on to ancient superstitions despite its ultra-modern image. Yamada, like many other people in the area, turned to exorcist Kansho Aizawa for help. Aizawa, 56, dressed in a black sweater and trousers and with dangling pearl earrings, said in an interview in her home that she had seen numerous ghosts.

"There are headless ghosts, and some missing hands or legs. Others are completely cut in half," she said. "People were killed in so many different ways during the disaster and they were left like that in limbo.

So it takes a heavy toll on us, we see them as they were when they died." In some places destroyed by the tsunami, people have reported seeing ghostly apparitions queuing outside supermarkets which are now only rubble.

Taxi drivers said they avoided the worst-hit districts for fear of picking up phantom passengers. "At first, people came here wanting to find the bodies of their family members. Then they wanted to find out exactly how that person died, and if their spirit was at peace," Aizawa said. As time passed, people's requests changed.

"They've started wanting to transmit their own messages to the dead," Aizawa said. Shinichi Yamada said life had improved since he put the two Buddhist statues in a shrine and prayed. He still believes the statues are haunted, but now thinks their spirits are at peace.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_haunted-by-trauma-tsunami-survivors-in-japan-turn-to-exorcists_1807563

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Karachi blast: Postmortem of 44 bodies completed

Postmortem examinations of 44 bodies of Abbas Twon blast victims have been completed.

Police surgeon Dr Jalil Qadir Memon told Geo News that postmortem of 32 bodies had been completed overnight at the Jinnah Hospital while a body of a female victim was shifted to the medical facility in the morning.

Assistant Police Surgeon Dr Saleem Raza said 10 bodies were handed over to families after completion of medico-legal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

According to Dr Qarar Abbasi a body was shifted to the Civil Hospital while Edhi spokesman said 26 bodies were kept in Edhi morgue, of which, six were handed over to their relatives. He said seven bodies were still unidentified out of the remaining 20.

More than 40 people including women and children were killed and 135 others sustained injuries after a powerful blast ripped through a densely populated area near Abbas Town.

According to sources, the perpetrators used a remote-detonated improvised explosive device (IED) planted at the entrance of Abbas Town to bomb their targets.

Another low intensity blast was also reported to have followed the main one, which the sources said could have been a CNG cylinder explosion.

The area plunged into darkness as the shock wave and flying debris felled many electricity poles. A Pole Mounted Transformer (PMT) was also reported to have broken down --some said it exploded-- after the blast.

"There were two blasts but it was not clear whether the second was also a bomb", IG of Police SIndh Fayaz Lughari told a foreign news agency.

Fire broke out in some of the apartment buildings after the blast, which the fire brigade was trying to bring under control with the help of tenders and a snorkel.

"Thick black smoke is billowing from the site of the blast. The whole area reeks of detonated explosives", said sources right after the blast.

The blast left a four-feet deep and ten-feet wide crater, security officials said later.

In the beginning the police said the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) was planted in a motorcycle, however the devastation the blast unleashed did not add up with the cops bike-borne-bomb theory, which bomb disposal squad proved wrong later.

"At least 150 kilograms of explosives were used in the VBIED, which you cannot hide inside a bike. Our findings suggest a four-wheeler was used as the carrier of the bomb evident from parts of a car engine found from the site", sources quoted the bomb experts as saying.

However an eyewitness said he saw a Suzuki Bolan and a rickshaw entering the area minutes before the explosion.

The local residents did not wait for the government officials or other rescue services and started pulling people out of the rubble and rushing them to the hospitals on their own. They complained that no government team or machinery showed up after the blast.

In the wake of the blast security personnel did arrive at the spot but backed off soon after.

"Lawmen including Rangers are nowhere near the site of tragedy. They are shy of facing the bereaved and the catastrophe which befell them. We can see them deployed at a distance", they said.

According to DSP Sachal Qamar Ahmed, the explosive device was planted inside a motorcycle, which the perpetrators parked in populous residential/commercial area.

"There are many teashops and eateries in the area so we fear the casualties might rise", said police. Police added that the target of the bombing were the worshipers coming out of a nearby mosque.

The blast left two apartment buildings, dozens of shops, and a couple of nearby bank branches in ruins, sources said.

"So powerful was the explosion that the facades of several apartments facing the site of blast were blown off the buildings. Windowpanes of most of the surrounding buildings turned into smithereens. Even some doors came off the hinges", they added.

Moreover the natural gas leaking profusely from broken the plumbing is also posing a serious threat as people have been warned not to strike matches or smoke in the area, sources warned further. Later the gas company announced it had disconnected the supply to the area.

The injured were shifted to different hospitals of the city.

Sources in Patel Hospital confirmed seven fatalities along with seven cases of critical injuries.

On the other hand Abbasi Shaheed Hospital authorities say they have received seven dead bodies and ten injured.

At least 20 dead bodies and seven injured including three children and a married couple were in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre emergency room, said Dr Simi, In-charge Emergency JPMC.

Also, three dead bodies reached Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) where at least 70 injured of the blast were also under treatment , the sources told Geo News.

Liaquat National Hospital authorities also confirmed receiving two dead bodies.

Sindh Chief Minister, Qaim Ali Shah condemning the incident in strongest terms announced Rs1.5 million for each bereaved family and Rs1 million per injured.

Meanwhile the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has announced a day of mourning, while the Jafria Alliance has announced a strike on Monday.

Moreover, Majlis e Wahdat Muslimeen, Tahaffuz-e-Azadari Council,Shia Ulema Council, and Quetta Yekjehti Council have also announced three days of mourning.

According to a statement issued by Private School Association, all the associated private educational institutes will remain closed on Monday.

The All Pakistan Tajir Ittehad has also declared Monday as a shutter-down day, which means no business would be conducted in any market of the metropolis.

The Goods Transport Association has also declared that truckers will not hit the roads on Monday.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-90650-Above-40-dead,-dozens-injured-in-Karachi-blast

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-90695-Karachi-blast:-Postmortem-of-44-bodies-completed

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Bodies of Egyptian balloon crash victims identified, return to Japan

The bodies of the four Japanese tourists that were killed in the hot air balloon crash in Egypt last week returned to Japan on Monday, arriving at Narita International Airport. The four victims, two married couples, each in their 60s, were accompanied by nine relatives who flew to Egypt last week in order to confirm their identities.

The identities of the victims have been released, with both couples coming from Tokyo: 66 year old Kazuo Tsuge, the chairman of a transport company that specialized in moving racehorses, and his wife, Harumi, 63. The others were Yasuhide Terada and his wife Asako, both 63. Their relatives traveled to Cairo on Thursday, February 28th in order to view the bodies in a local morgue, as well as visit some of the tourists spots, like the Great Pyramid of Giza, last visited by the victims before the accident that killed 19 people in total.

On Tuesday, February 26th, a hot air balloon carrying 21 people, including its pilot, caught fire and fell to the ground in the city of Luxor, a popular tourist spot. Two people managed to survive by jumping from the basket when it was still at a low altitude, before the fire caused the balloon to soar. Recent years have other balloon accidents within Egypt’s tourism industry, resulting in the questioning of safety standards and the government to call for an investigation into the accident.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://japandailypress.com/bodies-of-egyptian-balloon-crash-victims-identified-return-to-japan-0524513

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DR Congo 'plane crash' in Goma, many passengers killed

A plane has crashed in Goma, the main city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, witnesses say.

A Fokker airplane of the private airline CAA was carrying 40 people and only four people survived, said Goma's mayor Naasson Kubuya.

The plane was flying from Lodja in East Kasai Province in the center of the country. The aircraft crashed in the center of Goma, near the electoral commission's building, but it did not hit any people on the ground, he said.

"The pilot managed to avoid houses," said Kubuya. "It's a horrifying accident. The city of Goma has become a field of disasters. We sympathize with the families of the deceased."

Last year, a plane crash in the city of Bukavu killed President Joseph Kabila's personal adviser, Augustin Katumba

DR Congo has a poor air safety record, with 74 people killed in a crash at the airport in the central city of Kisangani two years ago.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21660308

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6th body found in Leyte landslide area

Searchers on Sunday night recovered a sixth body from the landslide-hit area inside the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) complex in Kananga town in Leyte.

The decomposing body of worker Marlon Boanghog was dug out manually at 8:10 p.m. amid bad weather several hours after it was located, Kananga Mayor Elmer Codilla said in an interview on Monday. It was buried by debris at least four meters deep with one foot pinned down by a rock.

Boanghog, a native of Barangay Aguiting in Kananga, was one of the nine workers of JE Arradaza, a subcontractor of EDC project contractor First Balfour, who were declared missing after a landslide occurred in Upper Mahiao, Barangay Lim-ao, 10 kilometers away from the town proper, on March 1.

Still missing were Abelardo Permanghel, Uldarico Taboranza, Salvador Yabana, Jorden Salcedo, Romeo Yazar, Salvador Lascañas, Jr., Alfredo Arabis and Danilo Mabatis.

Rescuers earlier found the bodies of five workers—Bonifacio Polinio, Edgardo Cabarsi Sr., Belly Abella, Joel Milay and Etchield de la Austria.

Codilla said the body of Boanghog was brought to Kananga Municipal Hospital where it was identified by his wife.

“She was able to identify him through his belt and the casing of his mobile phone,” the mayor said.

The body was brought to Saint Peter’s Funeral Home in Ormoc City and later to the worker’s house in Aguiting.

Codilla said members of the safety and rescue group of EDC, the city government of Ormoc and the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion would continue retrieval operations until all the missing workers are found.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/368503/6th-body-found-in-leyte-landslide-area

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12 children, school bus driver killed in Jalandhar accident

Twelve children were among 13 killed and eight other students injured when a truck collided with their school bus on the Jalandhar-Nakodar road this morning.

The condition of three children is serious.

The children were on their way to school when the mishap occurred near Jaheera village in Lambhra, close to Nakodar, Jalandhar Range's Inspector General of Police, Gurpreet Deo said.

The driver of the school mini bus, which was carrying 24 students, all in the age group of 8-10 years, was also killed in the mishap, she said.

A case of rash and negligent driving was registered against the truck driver, who fled after the accident.

"The mishap took place at 8:AM in Jaheera village when the bus of Akal Academy was taking students to the school," Jalandhar Rural SP (D) Rajinder Singh said.

While seven succumbed at the accident spot, others died on way to the hospital. Three students are serious and are admitted in a hospital while others are out of danger, he said.

The area where the mishap occurred is said to be prone to accidents.

The impact of the accident was so bad that the roof of the school mini bus was torn off and the vehicle was virtually reduced to a heap of metal.

School bags, tiffin boxes and colourful pencil boxes lay strewn at the site.

Most of the victims belonged to nearby villages. The bodies were taken to the Nakodar hospital and later handed over to their parents.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal expressed grief over the loss of lives and directed the district authorities to provide immediate medical aid to the injured.

Jalandhar deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of those who died and free medical aid to the injured.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/316356/12-children-school-bus-driver.html

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15 killed in Palpa bus accident

A bus carrying a wedding party fell some 300 meters down from the road along the Siddartha Highway late on Sunday evening in Palpa, killing at least 15 people aboard.

The bus (Lu 1 Kha 2795) carrying wedding guests from Amdanda, Khanichhap-7 to Budhikot, Chidipani, met with the accident at Dhaireni, Chidipani-2 here in the district at around 9:30 pm.

Around 45 people were on the bus when the mishap happened. The bus driver Milan BK had consumed alcohol at a hotel while waiting for the guests at Ramdi before driving the bus to the destination. “The bus seemed to have lost control in several places,” Bishal Saru, who got injured in the accident, told Republica at around 2 am in Mission Hospital, Tansen where is undergoing treatment.

“Four of us were on the top of the bus. Our bus went from left to the right side of the road and crashed into a parapet. Losing control, it hit three or four more parapets before finally falling some 300 meters down from the road”, the victim said.

The bride was hurled out of the bus as it began rolling over down the hillside. The bridgegroom was still inside. “Just when the bus was about to leave the road, he (the bridegroom) embraced me tightly. We both screamed,” the bride Bishnu Charti, who has also been admitted at the same hospital, said. She recalled: “When I got stuck on the cliff, I called his name aloud. He screamed back from down the cliff. We managed to find each other and then stayed holding each other there only."

Police, who reached the site soon after the incident, carried out rescue works. Nepal Army personnel reached the site at around 1 am today. All injured were rescued and the dead bodies were collected by Monday morning. 34 people were killed in a road accident at the same place some five years ago.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=50937

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Athletic field used as burial site after Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami returned to former status

An athletic field here that served as a temporary burial site for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami has been returned to its former status.

Miyagi Prefecture was the only prefecture unable to immediately cremate all its victims after the disaster, and 2,108 bodies were temporarily buried.

The Kamikama Fureai Hiroba athletic field, where 200 people were buried from April 2011, was one of the largest burial grounds. However, with help from inland regions and other prefectures, all the bodies were dug up and cremated by August 2011.

At the end of February 2012, the city government began working to make the fields useable again, as per an agreement with the local neighborhood association. In October that year, the soccer, futsal and baseball fields were reopened with new artificial turf in place, and the shouts of children now once again fill the area.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130304p2a00m0na014000c.html

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China grave-robbers sold dead brides for 'ghost marriages'

Four people have been jailed in China for digging up corpses to sell as brides for traditional "ghost marriages" — where dead single men are buried with a wife for the afterlife — local reports said.

The grave robbers snatched the bodies of ten women and sold them in the traditional practice where dead women are united with bachelors to stop them wandering the afterlife alone.

It is not clear whether the bodies of the women were recovered.

Marriage is an important part of Chinese society and, while the practice is increasingly rare, it is still kept up by some families whose young adult sons pass away before having a chance to wed.

Normally it is agreed between the families of the dead, but the Xian Evening News said the group "stole female corpses and after cleaning them, fabricated medical files for the deceased and sold them for a high price".

A court in the northern province of Shaanxi sentenced the four to terms between 28 and 32 months, it said, adding they "took advantage" of the "bad tradition" of ghost marriages in parts of Shaanxi and neighbouring Shanxi province.

Citing the court, the report said the gang made a total of ¥240,000 (Dh143,000) from the sales of 10 corpses.

China's Communists attempted to stamp out some traditions such as 'ghost marriages' after taking control in 1949.

Although rare, the practice has regained popularity in recent years in some parts of China.

The practice is normally agreed between two families, but this group 'stole female corpses and after cleaning them, fabricated medical files for the deceased and sold them for a high price', according to The National.

The gang made a total £25,000 (240,000 Yuan) from the sales, according to the reports.

The court in the northern province of Shaanxi said the gang abused the 'bad tradition' of ghost marriages.

Officials have failed to eradicate the tradition and a thriving underground industry now exists in some parts of the country.

Last year, another gang of grave robbers were caught trying to sell a dead woman days after her family had already tried to use her as a ghost bride.

The woman's body was snatched and the gang of five offered the woman to another family for £3,000 before being caught.

In 2007, a man was arrested after killing and then selling six women.

He claimed that 'killing people and selling their bodies is less work than stealing them from graves.'

The ancient tradition of ghost marriages is performed for many reasons including uniting a couple who were previously engaged before one member died or to ensure a family line in continued.

Monday 4 March 2013

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/asia-pacific/china-grave-robbers-sold-dead-brides-for-ghost-marriages

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287821/Grave-robbers-dug-female-CORPSES-China-sell-ghost-brides-jailed--women-stole.html

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6 charred to death in cracker unit blast

The state has been shaken yet again by a catastrophic cracker unit blast. Six persons were charred to death and one was seriously injured when a cracker manufacturing unit caught fire at Panniyankurissy near Cherpalassery on Saturday. Four persons died on the spot and two on way to hospital.

The accident occurred at 12.15 pm when a makeshift tent caught fire and exploded with a loud bang.

The deceased were identified as Katampazhipuram Sadasivan, Palathingal Sukumaran of Cherpalassery, Thazhathethil Musthafa of Nellaya, Cherikottil Suresh, 36, son of Chandran of Panniyankurissy, Raman of Puthenkurisshu and Puthenpidiykiyil Musthafa. Sadasivan, 46, died on way to the Kozhikode Medical College.

The seriously injured Mani of Kongad has been admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College.

The tent went up in flames and the tarpaulin was seen hanging from atop a nearby coconut tree. Grass and trees in an area of around 300 metres were blackened in the impact of the fire which blazed for more than an hour.

District fire officer K K Shiju said that four units from the fire stations of Shoranur, Mannarkad and Perinthalamanna battled for one hour to douse the fire.

The bodies were lying scattered in pieces and the locals could not go near the site as the fires were blazing and there were three more sheds with ingredients stored in them. It was only after the fire unit came from Shoranur that the people came near the site, said station officer of the Shoranur fire station S L Dileep.

Around 20 workers had taken permission to go for a marriage around 12 noon, just 15 minutes before the blasts, said M Madhu, the leading fireman. Or else, the casualties would have been higher.

The site of the accident was a plateau and there were three more sheds at the site on the higher and the lower reaches which did not catch fire.

Shiju said that one of the sheds was used for storing ingredients, one for casing and the other to fix the wicks to the crackers. In one shed, there were three categories of sacks. While one contained sulphur, the second was of charcoal and the third a white powder which resembled potassium nitrate.

Shiju said that it could also be potassium chlorate which was ten times more powerful than potassium nitrate. Only after examination at the laboratory, the ingredients could be identified. He said that the upper reaches were used to fix the wicks.

The personnel of the bomb detection and disposal squad and forensic expert Unnikrishnan were also at the site. Unnikrishnan said that finger prints could be collected even after the place was watered with hose pipes.

The site belonged to Kalakunnath Mohammed, who is the licensee. The licence was reported to be valid till the end of the current financial year.

Sunday 3 March 2013

http://newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/article1486351.ece

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Descendants of Flight 410 victim visit Blue Ridge Mountain site

With a light snow blowing under overcast skies, brothers Marshall and A.B. Reid clambered over car-sized boulders and between snagging mountain laurel branches trying to find every piece that remained of a Douglas DC-4 that crashed on Blue Ridge Mountain in 1947.

"It's amazing there's so much wreckage after these years," Marshall observed. "We'll be able to describe this for our mother. She never got to come up here."

"It will be an epilogue for our mother," A.B. added. "I'm glad to have seen it."

Marshall Reid, left, and A.B. Reid stand between the landing struts of a DC-4 that crashed on Blue Ridge Mountain in 1947. The brothers’ great-uncle, Cecil Eaton, was killed in the crash.

Their mother is Marjorie "Mickey" Reid, 83 years old, but in 1947, she was 18 years old and the man who had raised her as his own, Cecil L. Eaton, died in what was, at the time, one of the most deadly airplane crashes in the United States.

Eaton was her uncle, who, along with his wife and Mickey's aunt, Laura, took her in when she was orphaned at 9 years old. They lived in High Point, N.C.

The Reid brothers grew up in Raleigh, N.C., and drove to the Eastern Panhandle Saturday morning by way of Charlottesville, Va., where they stayed with friends.

"I heard the stories all my life," Marshall said. "I began searching for more information about a year ago."

His Internet search took him to the Shannondale & Beyond website, which is maintained by Willis Nowell. The website features a detailed history of the plane crash, which happened a little after 6 p.m. Friday, June 13.

Through the Shannondale & Beyond website, the brothers were able to connect with Nat Hughes, who lives not far from the crash site. He and his wife, Diana, hosted the Reids Saturday. Hughes, Nowell and local resident Carey Ingram took the Reid brothers on a tour of the site, which is on private property.

Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Flight 410 had left Chicago a little before 2 p.m. headed for Norfolk, Va., with stops in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

Eaton, 53, boarded the plane in Pittsburgh. He was headed home to High Point at the end of the workweek.

A graduate of Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., he was a consulting industrial engineer specializing in time and motion studies - he increased the efficiency of factories.

He was going to then-National Airport in Washington to catch a flight to North Carolina.

The weather was not good. It was raining with low-lying clouds, obscuring the crest of the Blue Ridge.

The plane was circling, waiting for air traffic control to clear it before descending to National.

When the pilot, Horace Stark, of Alexandria, Va., got the OK from air traffic control at National, he began his descent.

The airliner, with its 47 passengers and three crew, apparently flew directly into the side of the Blue Ridge near Lookout Rock. It disintegrated upon impact and burst into flames.

Everyone on board was killed.

"According to some reports, the pilot thought he was circling on the east side of the mountain, but he was on the west side and when he began his descent, he crashed into the mountain," Hughes said.

Lookout Rock is about 1,680 feet high. The surrounding mountain ridge is between 1,500 and 1,600 feet high. The plane crashed about 175 feet below the crest of the mountain.

Other reports conjecture that the pilot was trying to get below the cloud cover to find landmarks for his descent to National and did not realize he was as low as he was and as close to the mountain as he was.

Planes in those days were not equipped with the high-tech flight and safety equipment that are standard on today's aircraft.

According to the official report by the Civil Aeronautics Board, the precursor to the Federal Aviation Administration, "The Board finds that the probable cause of this accident was the action of the pilot in descending below the minimum en route altitude under conditions of weather which prevented adequate visual reference to the ground. A contributing cause was the faulty clearance given by Airway Traffic Control, tacitly approved by the company dispatcher, and accepted by Flight 410."

When Flight 410 did not arrive in Washington, the authorities throughout the region were notified.

The then-Martinsburg Journal reported the next day, June 14, 1947, "The local officials were alerted because the last word from the plane had been its routine report to Washington that it had passed just south of Martinsburg at an altitude of 5,000 feet with Washington only 20 minutes flying time away."

West Virginia State Police, Loudoun County, Va., sheriff's deputies and planes from Martinsburg scoured the countryside, but could not find the wreckage.

"The wreckage was finally located by James Franklin, of Washington, (Pennsylvania-Central Airlines) maintenance official, from a chartered plane which flew there and simulated what would have been normal flying practice for the airline," The Journal reported.

The debris from the plane was spotted by Franklin at about 8 a.m. the day after the crash. Parts were spread over a 100-yard area on the side of the mountain, reports said.

Reportedly, the search party was not able to reach the crash site until Sunday, June 15, 1947.

"Uncle Cecil was thrown free of the wreck - he was one of the few who wasn't burned," Marshall Reid said. "He was returned home to be buried in Greensboro (N.C.). He's with Aunt Laura now."

Included in Eaton's personal effects was his pocket watch, which was returned to his wife.

"Items that were recovered from his pockets were returned about two weeks later," Mickey Reid writes in a posting on Shannondale & Beyond. "There was a handkerchief which had minute tears all through it, currency and coins and his pocket watch. The watch crystal was broken and the watch had stopped at the exact time of the crash (6:16 p.m.). We wound the watch and it began working immediately. I have the watch and it works perfectly today."

Marshall said she keeps it in a glass case.

"Mom still works," he said. "She's still sharp. She does crossword puzzles to keep her mind sharp."

She was the first woman to graduate from Duke University with a degree in geology, Marshall said. She worked for the U.S. Geological Service for 30 years, he said.

She got $8,000 from the airline in a settlement agreement.

"I wonder how would my life have been if the plane hadn't crashed," Marshall said. "Would my mom have met my dad? In a split second, things can happen."

Strewn among the boulders and mountain laurel are several pieces of the plane's body still bearing green paint, the pistons from a couple of its four engines and engine cowlings with exhaust pipes as well as the front struts for the landing gears apparently all lying where they came to rest that evening in 1947.

The DC-4 was widely used by civilian airlines and armed forces around the world. It was a little over 93 feet long with a wingspan of 117 feet and 6 inches. It could carry up to 86 passengers.

The passenger list of Flight 410 included J.M. McIntosh, 29, who had graduated from Pittsburgh University the Wednesday before the crash; Mary Bryan and her 10-month-old baby from Indianapolis; Dr. Courtney Smith, Silver Spring, Md., the national medical director of the American Red Cross; David P. Godwin, Washington, chief of fire control for the U.S. Forest Service; and 17-year-old Margaret Kueppers of St. Paul, Minn.

Eight of the bodies could not be identified and were buried in a mass grave in Leesburg, Va. Two bodies were never recovered.

"It's important to get the individual stories out," Marshall said. "They all have stories. There are 50 stories there."

Sunday 3 March 2013

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/591643/Descendants-of-Flight-410-victim-visit-Blue-Ridge-Mountain-site.html?nav=5006

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Hopes dim for missing landslide victims

Rescuers will continue looking for nine workers buried alive in a landslide inside the geothermal complex of Energy Development Corp. (EDC) in Kananga town, Leyte, company officials said.

If no survivor will be found by Tuesday, operations will be downgraded to retrieval of bodies, said Alberto Ignacio, senior vice president of First Balfour, EDC contractor.

“We don’t want to prolong the agony of anyone. I cannot tell them (families of the missing workers) that it would be indefinite. So, there must be a timetable as to when we complete the rescue and retrieval operations,” Ignacio said.

“I am also a Christian and I’m hoping for the best,” he added.

A landslide hit EDC’s Pad 403 in Upper Mahiao, Barangay Lim-ao, while 45 workers were constructing a concrete shelter to protect steam pipes from cascading soil and rocks. Five workers were killed, while 21 others were hurt.

9 missing

Nine remained missing. They were identified as Abelardo Permanghel, Marlon Buanghog, Uldarico Taboranza, Salvador Yabana, Jorden Salcedo, Romeo Yazar, Salvador Lascañas Jr., Alfredo Arabis and Danilo Mabatis.

Rains and unstable ground had hampered efforts to locate the missing by 50 rescuers belonging to the safety and rescue teams of EDC, city government and the Army’s 19th Infantry Battalion based in Kananga. The group is led by Ross Taguiam, EDC chief of the health, environment, security and safety unit.

Ignacio said the company would provide financial assistance to the families of the victims.

Promise of work

The wife of Bonifacio Polinio, 33, one of the five workers killed in the landslide, was given burial and financial assistance, as well as a job at the EDC complex.

“They promised to give me work at EDC. I hope they will make good their promise,” said Ruffa Polinio, 21.

She said her husband’s death was painful, especially since they had planned to finally get married in March after living together for six years. They have a 4-year-old son.

Sunday 3 March 2013

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/368015/hopes-dim-for-missing-landslide-victims

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HK balloon victims all identified

All the bodies of the nine Hong Kong tourists who died in last week's hot air ballon disaster in Egypt have now been identified. The Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, Song Ai Guo, says he's now liasing with the authorities to get the death certificates as soon as possible so the bodies can be returned to Hong Kong.

He was speaking after meeting the Egyptian Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zazou.

Relatives of the Hong Kong tourists held a ceremony at the site of the crash, near Luxor, on Saturday to remember their loved ones.

Wearing face masks and carrying black umbrellas, some of the relatives broke down in tears during the ceremony.

When the victims' remains would be returned, however, was uncertain. Egyptian, Chinese and local officials yesterday merely said they guaranteed a "prompt and safe" final return trip for the deceased.

The Government Laboratory received the body samples after 10pm on Saturday and announced confirmation of the victims' identities in Cairo at 5pm Hong Kong time yesterday - just hours after relatives paid a tearful pilgrimage to Luxor.

Samples from three bodies and those of family members were collected for DNA analysis, according to a government chemist, Leo Lam Tze-tsun. Relatives had been unable to identify the three in Cairo due to the condition of the bodies, which had probably fallen from 300 metres.

Yesterday, neither China's ambassador to Egypt nor Hong Kong immigration officials sent to Cairo were certain when a flight could be arranged for the deceased.

Senior immigration officer Lee Kwong-wah said discussions were under way with insurance and medical transport companies, the embassy and the Egyptian authorities "in the hope that the bodies can be transported back ... within the shortest time".

The issuance of death certificates was ongoing, Lee said.

China's ambassador to Egypt, Song Aiguo, said he was pressing Egypt's tourism minister, Hisham Zazou, to speed up the process yesterday. Zazou said the Egyptian government would "facilitate all procedures for the loved ones' bodies to go home safely ... in a very short period".

Commenting on the issue of culpability, Zazou said: "Once we get [the results of] the investigation, if there's any wrongdoing, rest assured that they [those responsible] will be penalised."

Zazou also said the matter of compensation would be raised with the operator of the balloon that caught fire and exploded last Tuesday, killing 19 people.

Sunday 3 March 2013

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20130304/news_20130304_56_906032.htm

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9 dead, 9 missing in Lopez's Leyte power plant landslide

Nine are confirmed dead and nine are missing in a landslide that hit the Leyte geothermal power plant of the Lopez Group on Friday, March 1.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, March 1, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said they are coordinating with the families of those affected by the landslide that occurred in its Upper Mahiao Geothermal Project in Leyte.

Upon confirmation with JA Arradaza Construction on Saturday, March 2, a subcontractor of First Balfour, which was working on the rig at the EDC plant in the mountains of Kananga, a total of 45 workers were affected by the incident.

This included some 21 workers who were receiving treatment in a clinic and 8 workers who were sent to hospitals.

Landslide

According to some survivors confined at the OSPA-Farmer’s Medical Center and Gatchalian Hospital, the landslide came rolling down from the top of a steep hill around 40 meters high near the rig.

They also shared that pandemonium broke out after a dense smoke enveloped the area where they were working. Due to panic, they just ran off in several directions.

They said they also heard a loud explosion, presumably the landslide. They were not sure if the the loud bang came first or the toxic fumes.

Confined at the Gatchalian Hospital are Ronelo Basan, 24; Romeo Binondo Jr., 32, Edgar Brigildo, 35; Mario Sergida, 22; Alimar Aseo, 19; Joebert Auman, 20 and Ramirito Manawatao, 40.

Attending nurses at the Gatchalian Hospital said that 4 of the confined patients suffered fractures while the remaining were confined for breathing problems after inhaling what is suspected as sulfuric smoke.

Treated for minor injuries were Roldan Rios, 28 and Bennie Leutero, 21.

Search and rescue

Rescuers are scrambling to find the 6 missing, hoping they still catch them alive.

“Time is of the essence here,” EDC Corporate Communications Officer Dave Devilles told local media. “EDC is using all its resources."

A joint emergency response team of EDC and the Leyte government is continuing their search and rescue operation for the missing workers.

"The Emergency Response Team and all available personnel as well as company resources and equipment have already been mobilized," the company said in the statement.

The staff of First Balfour, a sister firm of EDC, are prioritizing the retrieval operations but are sometimes interrupted by rain. They are awaiting a sniffing dog from the military.

Saturday 2 March 2013

http://www.rappler.com/nation/22868-9-dead-in-lopez-s-leyte-power-plant-incident

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Memorial: Bethnal Green Tube Disaster, 1943

Seventy years ago this weekend, 173 people died and 90 were injured on the staircase of Bethnal Green Tube station in the worst civilian disaster of the Second World War. Yet no bombs were dropped on East London that night.

As the air raid sirens rang out across London on March 3 1943, hundreds of people headed underground to safety at Bethnal Green where the tube station was under construction. Plagued by bombing raids, Eastenders were no strangers to taking shelter, even in the pitch dark of a blackout. Working their way down the temporary steps that night, however, a lady carrying a child fell. The crowd pressed on into the darkness not knowing about the accident in the stairwell below. The resulting crush led to the deaths of 173 people, including 62 children, and injuries to 90 more.

Kingston University graduate Harry Paticas, whose practice Arboreal Architecture is based just around the corner from the station, was unaware of the disaster until a plaque caught his eye one morning on his way to work. "Where it was placed was just the sort of spot that people would rush past on their daily commute," Mr Paticas said. "I was determined to find out more about the disaster and I couldn't understand why such a great loss of life warranted only a small plaque. I felt sure there was a way to use my skills as an architect to help create a fitting tribute for these people and their families."

After six years' fundraising, designing, planning and negotiation, phase one has now been completed. It includes a white concrete plinth set in a landscaped area of granite slabs. As well as listing all the names of those who died, bronze plaques placed along the memorial feature testimonials from survivors, emergency services personnel and relatives of the victims. A reclaimed teak bench overlooking the area offers passers-by and family members a place for reflection, while a small light set in the ground matches the 25 watt light bulb that served the stairwell that fateful night. Funds for a stairwell-shaped canopy, also to be made of reclaimed teak, are still to be raised. Mr Paticas hopes the memorial can be completed later this year - 70 years on from the disaster.

Mr Paticas had his model of the memorial accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2012. "I wonder how many thousands have passed through the station and never known anything about this tragedy. This project has been a labour of love but I hope, once the memorial is complete, people will take the time to visit and learn more about this historic event."

Saturday 2 March 2013

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/life/courtsocial/article3703400.ece

http://www.kingston.ac.uk/news/article/827/01-mar-2013-architecture-graduates-bethnal-green-memorial-marks-wwiis-worst-civilian-tragedy/

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