Missing-Persons list in Washington mudslide disaster a work in progress

Five days after a catastrophic mudslide buried a rural area near Oso, Wash., killing at least 16 people, authorities raced to locate survivors. The list of those reported unaccounted for or missing after the slide fell Wednesday to 90 from 176, though officials said the status of 35 other names was now classified as "in question."

Authorities in any disaster initially cast as wide a net as possible in compiling a list of possible victims, erring on the side of overestimating, said Kim Zagaris, fire chief for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

Typically, officials start by consulting public records, such as property records, to calculate how many structures are in the affected area. Then, they try to determine how many of those buildings were known to be occupied, and how many other people potentially could have been in the area, including those who may have been visiting or traveling through, Mr. Zagaris said.

Ronald Klamecki, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain assigned to search and rescue, said it isn't unusual for the number of missing people to fluctuate, meaning it can take days to figure out the scope of a disaster.

Mr. Klamecki, who searched for survivors after the 2005 La Conchita landslide in Southern California that killed 10 and destroyed 13 houses, said that while he and other rescuers dug bodies out of ruined houses and dirt, other officials looked up property records and tried to contact owners to narrow down the number of missing.

It is especially tricky, he said, "when you've got a mix of year-round residents and some vacation homes," which was the case in La Conchita as well as in Oso. "It took a few days to figure out who was there and who wasn't."

Officials say they must assume that anyone who may have been in the affected area is missing until proven otherwise.

"It's not like an airline where you have an official manifest," said Bryan W. Koon, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and vice president of the National Emergency Management Association.

As to what could drive up the number on a missing-persons list days into a disaster, Mr. Koon said it could result from someone who missed a doctor's appointment or failed to return to work from a scheduled vacation and was reported missing. Or, he said, "it could be that they are in a shelter and their cellphone has died."

In compiling the list in Oso, officials drew from various databases, including property records, rental information and driver's licenses, said Marybeth O'Leary, a spokeswoman for Snohomish County. They also received reports on missing people from friends, relatives and neighbors who called a hotline.

"They are trying to make sure they get everyone," Ms. O'Leary said.

She said the county revised the number of names on the list—to 108, then to 176—as more records became available Monday and individual lists were combined.

The number, "as discouraging as that sounds, [it] is exactly what we were looking for, which was information and data," said John Pennington, Snohomish County's emergency management director. "A good analogy, I think, is John Doe, 123 Steelhead Lane, brown hair, brown eyes; John, brown hair; John, 58 years of age. Of the 176, it's probably the same person."

Three Snohomish County Sheriff's officers, including missing-persons investigators, are helping three other analysts and several volunteers sort through the list to narrow it down, said Ms. O'Leary.

They are checking the names against those who have reported themselves being safe. They also are searching for contact information for those reported missing and making calls to try to ascertain who should remain on the list, said Ms. O'Leary.

Officials later will reconcile the revised list with the list of bodies recovered, Ms. O'Leary said.

Thursday 27 March 2014

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303325204579463533604712424

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Uganda: Lake Albert boat disaster toll climbs to 251

More than 251 Congolese refugees perished in the weekend sinking of a crowded boat on Lake Albert, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, Kinshasa said Thursday.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende also declared three days of national mourning starting Thursday in the wake of Saturday's disaster.

Uganda had said Tuesday it had recovered 107 bodies including 57 children after the sinking of the boat, which was packed with refugees from the DRC hoping to return home from a camp in Uganda.

"It is with deep sorrow that we confirm to the nation the death of 251 of our compatriots who had boarded the boat from the Ugandan side of Lake Albert," Mende told reporters.

He said there had been about 300 people on the board at the time.

Navigation on central Africa's Great Lakes can be as perilous as sailing in high seas when the weather is rough. Accidents often lead to very high casualty tolls, partly because of a lack of life-jackets and also because relatively few people know how to swim.

Saturday's disaster happened just days after the DRC authorities launched a campaign to enforce the wearing of life jackets aboard all boats on the large nation's many waterways.

Thursday 27 March 2014

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140327/251-congolese-perish-lake-albert-boat-disaster

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Washington rescue workers continue search for mudslide survivors

Rescue workers were continuing to search for scores of people still listed missing after a catastrophic landslide in Washington state, as river water backed up behind the debris field.

Sixteen bodies had been pulled from the mud by Wednesday, and another eight have been identified but remain stuck. That brought the probable death toll to 24, although the tally remains at 16 until officials are able to recover the other bodies.

Snohomish County officials revised down to 90 from 176 the number of individuals still officially unaccounted for, and conceded that some of the missing may never be recovered. The status of another 35 people was described as "unknown".

The scope of this disaster has drawn international attention, along with direct federal aid and the personal condolences of President Obama. "While I won't get ahead of the response and rescue operations, we know part of this tightly-knit community has been lost," Obama said.



Mothers and sons, brothers and wives, babies and children: whole families were swallowed when the sparsely forested hillside gave way on Saturday morning, rushing downslope and across the north fork of the Stillaguamish river, filling its contours and ploughing through 49 homes clustered around Steelhead and East Steelhead drives, before burying a mile of Highway 530.

Even now, county officials are monitoring the Stillaguamish, which has backed up behind the debris, flooding more houses and creating a large pond that is cutting into the rubble, carrying it downstream. County officials said there were 120m cubic feet of water still held in abeyance; while Tuesday brought heavy rain, the water level dropped slightly between Monday and Tuesday.

"Sometimes, landslides that are this catastrophic just happen," said John Pennington, the director of Snohomish County's department of emergency management.

"People knew this was a landslide-prone area," he said, noting that he is still trying to understand whether a small earthquake could have shaken the hill loose. "Sometimes big events just happen; large events that nobody sees happen. The community did feel safe. They knew the risk, but they felt safe from the smaller events. This wasn't a small event. It was large, and it was catastrophic."

There were questions on Wednesday over whether it could be stated categorically that the disaster was unforeseen. The slide took place in the same location as a series of historical mudslides, the most recent of which occurred in 2006 and was later mitigated with retaining walls meant to shore up the sides of the slope. In 2010, Snohomish County commissioned a report that highlighted this exact hill as a high-risk landslide area. Elsewhere in the state, governments have been buying people out of their homes in communities susceptible to natural disasters.



The 2010 report, carried out by Tetra Tech, a California-based engineering firm, said the area affected by Saturday's mudslip was particularly vulnerable. "For someone to say that this plan did not warn that this was a risk is a falsity," Rob Flaner, the report author, told the Seattle Times.

The devastated riverside community was built below a hill of glacial sediment undercut by a flood-prone river and exposed to higher water saturation after repeated logging. Those risks came together to form a deadly dynamic during one of the wettest Marches on record for the area 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

When asked if the country should have been more prepared, Pennington said: "I'm not sure that we could have. It haunts me. We did everything we could have done, and the community did feel safe."

Teams of national guardsmen, fire fighters, police officers and volunteers are now slogging through the mud, using heavy equipment to remove splintered trees, crushed cars and collapsed houses, searching for the bodies of the missing.

Thursday 27 March 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/washington-mudslide-rescue-workers-search-survivors

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MH370 Crash: Spiritual rites dim as uncertainty of finding bodies abound

Perth braces as hundred of grieving and agitated families of MH370 passengers are expected to travel as soon as wreckage is found. Traveling to Perth is the closest they can get to the final place where their loved-ones were.

About 227 passengers from 15 nations and regions aboard MH370 plane. The passengers were a combination of different nationalities, spiritual beliefs and religions.

Finding the bodies of their relatives was particularly essential to consummate funeral rites that are vital to their spiritual beliefs.

Chinese Culture

Among the 227 passengers of the missing plane, two-thirds were Chinese, including 19 artists with six family members and four staff. They came from a calligraphy exhibition of their works in Kuala Lumpur.

The Chinese were notably the ones being agitated about the tragedy. Experts said the Chinese were behaving this way because of the funeral rites are embedded deeply in their culture.

According to Gary Sigley, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia, Chinese believed the souls of those who die tragically into the unknown, or whose bodies are not recovered (as in the case of the MH370), will remain lost to the unknown.

In an interview with ABC News, Joy Chen, cultural icon and author of the popular Chinese-language book, "Do Not Marry Before 30," explained that Chinese culture needs the presence of a body to complete the funeral rites.

"In a Chinese culture, the living and the dead are part of the same family. There is such a strong sense of family. You are separated from your ancestor, but they are still a part of you."

Chen cited the Chinese viewed the holiday Qing Ming , meaning "sweep the grave," of particular importance. It is impossible to have this ritual without the presence of a body.

The idea of a funeral without the bodies being mourned is beyond the understanding of the Chinese culture. Chinese usually hire professional wailers to cry during funeral rites.

"When person first dies it's incredibly important to have a body. You have a wake for a whole day or more. The body is cleaned and dressed up in their best clothes and all the friends and relatives come around to pay respects. Then after that, there is a funeral procession and everyone goes to the grave site," Chen noted.

"Because in Chinese tradition, death is not just the end of a person's life, they are going to another world and the family continues to maintain our relations with our ancestors. We live among them all the time and even seek their help."

With this belief, the MH370 tragedy created a sense of uncertainty for the Chinese that their loved-ones will be peaceful.

"There is no sense of certainty. You haven't had the opportunity to pay respects from the passing of this world to the world of the dead. You don't get to acknowledge and respect their passage into the afterlife."

Hindu

As written in the book titled, "Hindu Rites of Passage: The Funeral," details of the exact date and time of a loved-one's death is important for the final rites.

"Otherwise, the soul will not rest in peace and it will become an earthbound spirit. The authorities should declare a date and time because there are specific ceremonies for a send-off of the dead," author P.S. Maniam wrote.

Hindu G. Subramaniam, whose son Puspanathan, 34, was on the flight, said he cannot imagine performing the final passage without the body of his son.

"I still believe my son will return as there is no death certificate issued on his status," he noted.

Tao

Tan Hoe Chieow, president of the Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia, said closure can only be complete with the information of exact location and time of death.

"We need to know where it happened and go to the scene of the accident to perform rituals and prayers. It can be done without the physical body, but the priest and family must be in the same area. If the relatives are not given their final rites, they become lost souls," Chieow explained.

Muslims echoed the same sentiments. A funeral cannot be consummated without the body.

Christians And Bhuddists

While the Chinese families were agitated of the Malaysian government, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's defense and acting transport minister, noted the families of the Australian passengers were calm.

"But the Chinese families must also understand that Malaysia also lost loved ones and many other nations also lost loved ones. I have seen images [of relatives] from Australia: very rational, understanding this is a global effort, not blaming Malaysia, because it is co-ordinating something unprecedented."

For Catholics, the body was not necessary to perform rites as they believe prayers will suffice. The same belief involves Bhuddists.

Chief Monk of Malaysia Datuk Rev K. Sri Dhammaratana said the Buddhists do not need body to perform the funeral rites.

"We don't need the body, we can just do the prayers as normal," he added.

"The body is not important as the mind and soul have already departed," Rev Sri Saranankara of Maha Karuna Buddhist Society noted.

Sardar Jagir Singh, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, called for the Malaysian government to conduct memorial or tribute for all those who were lost in the MH370 tragedy.

"When it comes to prayers, whether to hold a funeral, the family must decide. Perhaps, there can be prayers for the soul before the last rites are held," he said.

Thursday 27 March 2014

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/545193/20140327/mh370-missing-malaysia-airlines-christianity-buddhism-hinduism.html

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Chinese relatives of those on MH370 flight to make spiritual journey to Perth

Hundreds of relatives of the passengers and crew of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight are expected to travel to Perth in coming days if wreckage is found, a journey that is particularly significant for Chinese families with traditional spiritual beliefs.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said on Wednesday he expected ''several hundred'' grieving family members to arrive.

''My understanding is that particularly relatives of the Chinese passengers who presumably have lost their lives will want to come to Perth to be as close as possible to the final place,'' he told 6PR radio. Gary Sigley, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia, said there was a traditional Chinese folk belief that those who die tragically in the wilderness, or whose bodies are not recovered, cannot find their way to the ancestral spirit realm.

''There is a special festival to placate these spirits called the 'hungry ghost festival','' he said. ''The living will want to make special offerings … and hopefully help them on their way.'' Advertisement

He said many loved ones would simply want to be close to the accident site, as would be expected in any culture. ''The idea of being lost in a vast, wild and remote ocean is particularly disturbing,'' he said.

Sammy Yap, the president of the Chung Wah Association, which represents the Chinese community in Western Australia, said many more families would make the trip if bodies were recovered. ''Most will be Buddhist or Taoist, so we can organise for any religious practitioners to carry out the ceremonies which they may look for,'' he said.

Mr Yap said Chung Wah would work with more than 40 other Chinese associations in Perth to prepare for the arrival of relatives, with dozens of local Chinese people volunteering support.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-relatives-of-those-on-missing-plane-to-make-spiritual-journey-to-perth-20140326-35ixl.html

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Yolanda victims’ bodies still being found; identification process to last 3 years

Vernabeth Amarilla and her family were both relieved and heartbroken when the authorities recovered the body of her grandmother last Sunday.

Although the body was now in an advanced state of decay, they were able to identify her through her clothes.

She was found inside a ruined radio station in Tacloban City by authorities who were cleaning up rubble. A victim of Typhoon Yolanda, her body had lain there since November, while all this time her family searched for her and feared the worst.

Only 8 out of 2,241

What happened to Vernabeth's grandmother is not an isolated case. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, bodies of Yolanda victims are still being discovered almost five months after the super typhoon devastated central Philippines late last year.

"Actually, last week may dumating na 15 bodies [sa amin]," NBI Disaster Victims Identification team leader Dr. Nicacio Botin told reporters on Wednesday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection retrieves the bodies, which are then transferred to the NBI for identification.

The United Nations Development Programme provided sniffing dogs that made retrieval operations more thorough, Botin added.

Last Sunday, the NBI finished its postmortem investigation of 2,241 bodies that were temporarily buried in Holy Cross Memorial Cemetery (189), or permanently buried in Brgy. Suhi (1,200) and Brgy.Basper (852).

Out of the total number of identified bodies, only eight have been claimed.

Identification process to last three years

The anti-post-mortem phase of the identification will commence after Holy Week. During this stage, the NBI will ask the relatives of those still missing to come forward and provide identification documents, photos, and DNA samples. This stage will take about six weeks, Botin said.

However, he added, the matching of the identifying documents and DNA could take as long as three years.

There are currently eight members of the NBI's Disaster Victims Identification team, on rotational basis. At the height of retrieval activities, the team has about 21 members. This number does not include the volunteers.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/354237/news/regions/yolanda-victims-bodies-still-being-found-identification-process-to-last-3-years

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Jet fragments could help locate body of pilot missing since 1962

First Lieutenant Yakir Naveh and flight cadet Oded Koton were killed 52 years ago when their Fouga plane crashed into the Sea of Galilee • It took a year to recover Koton's body; Naveh's remains are still missing.

Pieces of the cockpit of a plane that crashed 52 years ago, killing pilot 1st Lt. Yakir Naveh and cadet Oded Koton, have been discovered in the northeast part of the Sea of Galilee.

Naveh, 23, served as a flight instructor in the Israeli Air Force. On May 6, 1962, he and Koton took off for a training flight in an IAF Fouga jet. The plane crashed into the Sea of Galilee and sank. Both Naveh and Koton were killed.

Searches for their bodies began immediately, but it took a year before Koton's body was found and laid to rest.

Every year, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy launch new searches of the Sea of Galilee in an attempt to find Naveh's body and bring the tragedy to a close. A few years ago, Navy teams working with fish farmers from Kibbutz Ein Gev found parts of the plane on the floor of the lake at a depth of 35 meters (115 feet.) Five years ago, Naveh's gun and watch were discovered and identified by his family.

On Monday a few parts of the cockpit were recovered, but the pilot's body is still missing. According to some assessments, Naveh's remains are covered on the floor of the lake, and divers are excavating the area around where the latest plane fragments were discovered.

Naveh's 79-year-old brother accompanies the teams on all their excursions. One team member said "Every year we get closer to the goal of finding [his] body."

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=16423

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Washington mudslide: More bodies found, many missing

Authorities say they have recovered the bodies of two more people killed in a massive mudslide in the US state of Washington, bringing the total to 16.

The officials said they thought they had located eight more bodies under the mud but were unable to retrieve them.

As many as 176 people remain unaccounted for.

A 177ft (54m) wall of mud buried the town of Oso, north of Seattle, on Saturday. Officials said the search would resume at first light.

"We haven't lost hope that there's a possibility that we could find somebody alive," local fire chief Travis Hots told reporters on Tuesday night.

"We are coming to the realisation that that may not be a possibility - but we are going full steam ahead.

"We are going at this hard to get everybody that's out there that's missing"

The sudden, catastrophic mudslide on Saturday destroyed about 30 houses, temporarily damming a river and leaving a square-mile field of muck and debris in its wake.

Survivors were last pulled alive from the mud on Saturday.

But as many as 200 search-and-rescue workers at a time - aided by dogs, helicopters, laser imaging and excavation equipment - have not let up since, pausing only when darkness made the work too dangerous, officials said.

The search-and-rescue operation was further complicated on Tuesday by heavy rain, Mr Hots said, as the workers were forced to contend with slippery mud, upturned nails, wreckage, and deep pits of water.

At least 16 have been confirmed dead. And on Wednesday, rescuers will work to salvage another eight bodies they believe they have located under rubble of the landslide that covers about a square mile.

At least 176 people are unaccounted for. But officials have stressed that some names of those missing have been duplicated, so there is hope the actual number may be smaller.

Finding them will be toilsome in Oso, with a population of about 180, and Darrington, a town of about 1,350. In some places, the debris is 30 to 40 feet thick.

And it will also be dangerous, since some of the mud has the consistency of quicksand and is filled with the wreckage of nearly 50 structures damaged or destroyed.

On Wednesday, rescuers will work to salvage another eight bodies they believe they have located under rubble of the landslide that covers about a square mile.

President Barack Obama, in the Netherlands on Tuesday, asked that "all Americans to send their thoughts and prayers to Washington state and the community of Oso."

Obama said he had spoken with Gov. Jay Inslee and signed an emergency declaration.



Closure

Nichole Rivera has returned to her hometown of Darrington in hopes that someone will find her loved ones.

But after seeing the wide swath of devastation and the unyielding mud, she has no optimism of ever seeing them alive again.

"I can tell you with great soundness they're not going to find my parents, or daughter, or her fiancé," she said.

Now, she and her family just want closure -- the bodies of their loved ones, if possible.

But if they don't turn up, they take comfort in knowing that they will rest in a place that they loved.

Her relatives had plans to put their burial plots on their own land.

The waiting came to an end Tuesday for the family of U.S. Navy Cmdr. John Regelbrugge -- at least in part. His brothers found his body and that of his dog.

But his wife, Kris, is still missing.

"They were both home when the slide hit, but they haven't found her yet," his sister-in-law Jackie Leighton said.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.krdo.com/news/washington-mudslide-more-bodies-found-many-missing/25168846

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Death toll in western Ugandan boat accident rises to 108 people

The death toll in the weekend boat accident in western Uganda has risen to 108 from 19 that were reported on Saturday.

David Kazungu, Commissioner for Refugees in the ministry of relief, disaster preparedness and refugees told Xinhua in an interview here that 108 bodies have been retrieved from Lake Albert as of Monday afternoon.

Most of the passengers on the boat were Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees returning home.

"So far on Saturday we retrieved 19 bodies from Lake Albert, on Sunday we retrieved six bodies and today by two o'clock 83 bodies have been retrieved by the police marine unit," Kazungu said.

He said the total number of the people who were on the boat is not yet known. Fourty five people survived the accident.

"The bodies are being taken by the DRC officials with whom we have been working with since Saturday on identification of the bodies and return of the bodies for decent burial," he said, adding that some bodies especially those for children have not yet been identified.

He said the refugees were returning home after the UN Intervention Brigade neutralized the Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan rebel group operating in eastern DRC.

"These were returning back to Congo. This comes after the intervention forces have created peace majorly within the Kamango region. The King of Kamango area has been calling on his people to return home," he said.

He said the search for more bodies is still continuing and the chance of finding more survivors is slim.

Charles Ssebambulidde, the police commander for Uganda's Albertine region, said that rescue teams pulled scores of bodies — mostly women — from the lake over the weekend.

Lake Albert lies on the Uganda-Congo border, and most of the drowning victims were Congolese refugees returning home from a resettlement camp, according to the United Nations refugee agency and Ugandan officials.

Ssebambulidde said the authorities confirmed the boat carried more than 150 passengers as well as their belongings when it capsized. That boat, which is now in police custody, should only have carried 80 people without luggage, he said.

"This tragedy has shocked me profoundly," U.N. Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a statement sent from Geneva. "My thoughts are with those who have lost dear ones, and the survivors. I am grateful to the government and other actors who have mounted a rescue-and-recovery operation and are assisting the survivors."

The U.N. statement said as many as 250 people may have been aboard the boat, one of two transporting Congolese refugees returning home, suggesting the death toll could rise even further as more bodies are recovered.

Boat accidents are common in Uganda, as transport providers take advantage of lax policing to load their boats with more passengers than they can safely transport.

Ssebambulidde, the Ugandan police official, said it appeared the victims of the latest accident were so desperate to return home that they did not bother about safety. He said the boat was clearly "overloaded."

Uganda hosts more than 320,000 refugees and asylum seekers from violence-prone neighboring countries. More than 175,000 of them are Congolese, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2014-03/25/c_126310046.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uganda-boat-accident-death-toll-rises-107-23035504

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30 people killed in Thailand bus crash

A double-decker bus carrying municipal workers on a field trip in western Thailand plunged off a steep road and into a ravine, killing at least 30 people and injuring 22 others, officials said on Tuesday.

The accident on Monday night was the latest fatal crash on a mountain road in Tak province known for its treacherous dips and turns where 300 accidents occurred last year, said provincial governor Suriya Prasatbunditya. The road is frequented by buses and trucks travelling to and from the border with Myanmar.

The driver was trying to pass cars on a winding downhill road when it skidded off the edge and flipped several times as it tumbled about 30m into a valley before crashing into a tree, Suriya said, recounting what other drivers who witnessed the accident told police.

The driver, who survived the accident with a broken rib, said he tried to slow down but claimed the brakes stopped working, Suriy said.

The bus was one of four carrying local workers and villagers on Monday night from Tak to north-eastern Thailand.

"Accidents happen on this road very often," Suriya said. "We've put warning signs up to caution road users but the accidents keep happening."

Road accidents are common in Thailand, where safety standards are poor and road rules are rarely enforced. Last year, more than 8 600 people died in accidents on Thai roads.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.news24.com/World/News/30-people-killed-in-Thailand-bus-crash-20140325

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Typhoon Haiyan: Storm victim’s body left to hang on a tree

The body of a boy was dug up in this city almost five months after super typhoon “Yolanda” devastated the Eastern Visayas region, but the authorities just left the boy’s cadaver in a body bag literally hanging from a tree branch for two weeks.

The body was found in San Jose district’s Barangay Cogon by a canine search team on March 11 in a shallow grave near an old chapel.

Barangay Cogon residents said no one in the village could identify the boy so he could not have been a resident of the barangay, but residents decided to temporarily bury the boy in the grounds of the village’s chapel.

Under current arrangements, bodies of Yolanda fatalities are usually sought with canine teams and dug up by a search team. Crime scene investigators will then take photographs and DNA samples from the cadaver for possible identification.

After processing, the Bureau of Fire Protection is supposed to retrieve bodies for burial at one of the mass grave sites in the city.

But in the case of the body dug up in Barangay Cogon, the BFP never came for the body although village leaders repeatedly told them over a period of two weeks about the body abandoned in their barangay.

“The stench of the corpse that they dug up was already horrid and everyone could smell it because they hung it on a fallen tree by the road side,” one resident said in the vernacular after asking not to be identified.

“Residents are already afraid of catching disease so we are pleading with the authorities to please get the corpse,” the resident added.

Village chief Arlie Go-Perez said she repeatedly told the BFP about the body and it took them two weeks to return and get the body.

When asked about the incident, the local police’s crime scene investigators disavowed knowledge of the body that was dug up last March 11 and they claimed that that was the first time they heard about the matter.

Later in the day, however, the authorities finally retrieved the body and buried it in a mass grave in Barangay Suhi.

The incident has become common in the city, where 2,669 are known to have died, excluding the deaths from nearby towns and provinces. More than half of the Tacloban number come from the San Jose district.

The government’s confirmed death toll is at 6,268 with 1,785 still missing, but the data has not been updated for a month and information on the dead or the missing cannot be found on the website of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The NDRRMC could not explain why the fatality figure has not been updated, although its spokesman Reynaldo Balido confirmed that bodies were still being found in Tacloban four months after the diaster.

“Sometimes they find two or three a day, then there are days where they find none,” Balido earlier told a news wire agency.

United Nations undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs herself was shocked that bodies were still turning up when she visited the city last month.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/03/25/storm-victim-s-body-left-to-rot-on-a-tree/

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Malaysia plane: How do you mourn a missing person?

The relatives of passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines plane have been told the plane crashed in the ocean, with no survivors. So how hard is it to mourn a missing person?

When flight MH370 went missing, Prahlad Shirsath travelled from his home in North Korea to Beijing and then on to Malaysia as he searched for news of his wife's whereabouts.

Kranti Shirsath, a former chemistry professor and mother of two, was travelling to see her husband who worked at a non-profit organisation in Pyongyang.

When there was no news and the days passed, Shirsath's family called him back to his home country of India, where they could endure the uncertainty together.

This is called an "ambiguous loss", says Pauline Boss, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, who treats people undergoing this unique kind of bereavement. There is no physical proof of death - no body - so people cling to the hope that the missing are still alive.

"People can't begin mourning when there is ambiguous loss - they're frozen," says Boss. "Frequently, society thinks they should be mourning but, in fact, they are stuck in limbo between thinking their loved one might come back and thinking they might not."

This is a kind of suffering that freezes their grief, says the professor, author of Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief.

The latest news that the plane probably crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, with no survivors, is unlikely to release them from this limbo, she says. "There is no closure even if they find definitely that the plane is in the ocean. They still have no body to bury. It will always be ambiguous until remains are found or DNA evidence."

People need to see evidence before they are assured that the death has occurred, says Professor Boss, and without that, grief is frozen and complicated. A more clear-cut death is undoubtedly painful but funeral rituals can take place where there is a body, and family and friends come together to re-affirm that the person has died.

In the absence of a confirmed explanation for what happened, relatives imagine their own outcomes. Before the latest news, Kranti's family, including her 16-year-old son, were inclined towards the one that offered most hope - that the plane was hijacked, a scenario in which it was more likely that Kranti was alive.

"We don't really have the strength to entertain the possibility of any bad news at the moment," says Satish Shirsath, Prahlad's younger brother, speaking a few days ago. He was the one who booked Kranti's tickets online.

"I also feel that maybe if I had chosen another route - maybe if I had booked my sister-in-law from Pune instead of Bombay, then to Delhi and Beijing - perhaps it would have been different," he says.

When there is no knowledge of what happened, there is no one to attribute responsibility to, so blaming oneself is typical, says Boss. The first thing she tells families in therapy is that it is not their fault.

Catastrophic events like 9/11 and the Asian tsunami left many relatives and friends waiting in vain for definitive news, but this kind of loss can also happen when someone walks out the door and never comes back.

Valerie Nettles - whose son Damien went missing 17 years ago in the Isle of Wight when aged 16 - has learned to compartmentalise the pain.

She says she lives with one step in two different worlds - one in an "abyss of not knowing" and the other in the practicality of everyday life.

"I always thought that if something happened to my child, I would die - but you don't," she says.

She remembers a vivid dream about her son, in which she saw him across a motorway with her husband and younger son.

"I was elated they had found him, but then I woke up," she says.

Dreams about loved ones are common for people whose relatives are missing. Sometimes, people even dream the ends of the incomplete stories of the missing person - that they are either dead and at peace or happy somewhere far away.

Some cultures attach a lot of significance to these dreams, says Boss, and it helps people to cope better with the ambiguity.

Ambiguous loss is less difficult to negotiate if you live in a culture - for example, where religions such as Hinduism and Islam are dominant - that tend to "accept the fate that a higher power has delivered," Boss says.

"The more 'mastery-oriented' people are, the harder time they seem to have. Because you can't manage it, you can't master it, you have to live with not knowing and that is very hard for most of us to do."

Telling someone who has a missing relative to simply begin the mourning process is not helpful, she adds, because you cannot push those who are suffering in this way to accept any one scenario.

"My first question to the family is - what does this mean to you? And you get the answer and you can build on that," she says.

Nettles is closely following the developments of the missing airplane from Texas, where she now lives. Having every detail played out so publicly must be a "rollercoaster" for the passengers' loved ones, she says.

"It tears you apart - all the 'what-ifs' and 'maybes'." Nettles still wrestles with having decided to relax Damien's curfew deadline the night he disappeared in 1996.

Seventeen years on she has tried to move on for her family but she says she is "limping through life".

"I'm still hoping for something - I don't know what," she says.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26715476

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El Salvador: Digging to solve hundreds of gang murders

El Salvador is a nation riddled with gangs - and consequently has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Most crimes go unpunished, but one man spends his time in the mountains, digging up the forgotten victims.

It had taken a few furtive phone calls, but eventually Israel Ticas, known as The Engineer, agreed to meet me high up on a mountainside.

I had wanted to interview him and see the latest site he was working at, but his bosses weren't having that.

"I have been told off for talking to the media recently," he explained, his voice a hoarse whisper down the line.

"I can talk to you but solely in a personal capacity."

A couple of nights later, we drove up the snaking mountain roads to Juayua, a small town outside San Salvador.

Surrounded on both sides by rich jungle, the altitude makes it the perfect environment for coffee plantations. And the perfect environment for hiding dead bodies.

Although he doesn't like the title, Israel Ticas is El Salvador's only forensic archaeologist.

A short, wiry guy with a dark, lined face, the result no doubt of so many hours working outside, he is shivering in the bitterly cold mountain air. We retire to a nearby restaurant to get warm.

Still wearing his hard hat, the dig he has come from was no hunt for Mayan pottery or dinosaur bones. It was a mass grave.

In El Salvador, Ticas is also known as The Engineer, a reference to the fact he initially studied computer engineering before turning his mind to solving murders.

"Forensic archaeology was unknown here in El Salvador," he tells me, his hands cupped around a mug of hot chocolate.

He learnt his skills as a criminal investigator abroad, particularly on visits to Africa where he worked on sites of mass killings and genocide.

Then he brought the DNA and victim identification techniques he had seen back to his native El Salvador - until recently the country with the highest murder rate in the world.

"What I did was fuse those methods," he says, "adapt and apply them to the criminal gangs and their modus operandi here."

Certainly El Salvador's drug war has kept him in work.



"I've identified 25 different methodologies of murder," he explains with the matter-of-factness of a scientist.

"Every criminal mind is different. But each of them innovates too.

"For example, when dismembering a body, if one person disposes of it in seven parts, someone else says 'I'm going to turn it into 20'," he says.

It is a sobering thought, and over the course of our conversation, he reveals many more grisly details, most of which are far too gruesome to repeat.

I want to know how such daily exposure to the country's extreme violence makes him feel - as a citizen rather than as a scientist.

"It makes me sad," he says, his first reference to emotion.

"I don't agree with anyone's right to take away the life of someone else - especially when it's a Salvadoran taking the life of another Salvadoran," he adds.

But then, it's quickly back to the relative safety of empirical science.

"I've worked on more than 2,000 crime scenes. Thanks to God for giving me this little bit of intelligence, I've been able to recover bodies from places no-one could have recovered them from.



"I've recovered people who were buried 60 metres deep, got all 206 bones of the body back, all that evidence. That is what gives me professional satisfaction."

Ticas was the subject of a recent documentary in which the filmmakers followed him as he exhumed remains from quarries and mines, shallow graves and deep pits across the country.

Often, the grieving mothers of the victims come to urge him personally to find their missing loved ones, heaping further pressure on a man already under considerable strain.

At times that strain begins to show.

More than once he mentions the difficulty of working on the bodies of dead children, of holding a six-year-old's skull in his hands and having to think of it as just evidence, as "material".

"I give conferences in university psychology departments and I tell them 'you should study me. What's wrong with me?'

'How can I work cleaning the face of a dead baby with a brush for two days and not feel anything?'"

His rhetorical questions hang in the mountain air.

"But then sometimes I might suddenly drop the brush, look to the heavens and ask God 'how can you allow this to happen?'"

His morbid fascination could just be the natural by-product of work which has undoubtedly brought some closure to hundreds of families in El Salvador.

An inherently private man, Ticas insists he is unaffected by post-traumatic stress.

Yet something he said revealed a little of what it must be like to be The Engineer of El Salvador: "Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a film. But then, when I open my eyes, it's reality."

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26662942

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Hub bus disaster: Victims put to rest in mass grave, DNA taken

Funeral prayers were offered for the victims of a road tragedy in Hub that claimed 38 lives, according to a media report.

The bodies of 29 victims and body parts and ashes of others were buried in a mass grave in Hub. The dead were transported by Edhi ambulances from Karachi to Hub for burial.

Prior to the funeral, families of the victims protested against the government and criticised them for not sending anyone to take notice of the issue. On March 22, two trucks collided with two passenger buses in the Gadani area of Hub, burning to death at least 38 people, including several women and children.

The police had registered cases against the three drivers and officials collected DNA samples to identify the victims who were charred beyond recognition.

The Sindh Health Department had collected DNA samples of 30 bodies and 24 family members in order to enable cross-matching.

Medical experts from the Sindh police and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital took samples on the night of the accident.

The results of the DNA tests are expected to be received in 15 to 20 days.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.nation.com.pk/national/25-Mar-2014/victims-put-to-rest-in-mass-grave

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Washington mudslide: death toll rises to 14 with 176 reports of missing

Authorities say the death toll from a massive mudslide in a rural part of Washington state has risen to 14 after searchers found six additional bodies among the debris, as dozens more remain unaccounted for.

It was virtually impossible to pin down the number of those missing. Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington said late Monday that officials were working off a potential list of 176 people, but he stressed that authorities believed that included many duplicate names.

Other authorities said they have not been able to determine whether there were multiple calls about the same missing person.

"It was Saturday and probably a higher number than what you would see on a week day," Pennington said of the victims during a press conference Monday. He added that it remains unclear how many structures were impacted at the time.

The 1-square-mile mudslide struck Saturday morning in Snohomish County, critically injuring several people and destroying about 30 homes. Authorities have described the search for additional survivors to be "grim" as crews battle uneven ground and rising waters.

Crews were able to get to the muddy, tree-strewn area after geologists flew over in a helicopter and determined it was safe enough for emergency responders and technical rescue personnel to search for possible survivors, Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said Sunday evening.

"We didn't see or hear any signs of life out there today," he said, adding that they did not search the entire debris field, only drier areas safe to traverse. "It's very disappointing to all emergency responders on scene."

Hots said the search under way is technically still a "rescue" operation but added that no survivors have been found since Saturday.

Before crews could get onto the debris field late Sunday morning, they looked for signs of life by helicopter. Authorities initially said it was too dangerous to send rescuers out on foot.

Rescuers' hopes of finding more survivors were buoyed late Saturday when they heard people yelling for help, but they were unable to reach anyone. The soupy mud was so thick and deep that searchers had to turn back.

The slide wiped through what neighbors described as a former fishing village of small homes -- some nearly 100 years old.

As the search for the missing continued, authorities said some may have been able to get out on their own. The number unaccounted for could change because some people may have been in cars and on roads when the slide hit just before 11 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Officials described the mudslide as "a big wall of mud and debris." It blocked about a mile of State Route 530 near the town of Oso, about 55 miles north of Seattle. It was reported to be about 15 feet deep in some areas.

Authorities believe the slide was caused by ground made unstable by recent heavy rainfall.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee described the scene as "a square mile of total devastation" after flying over the disaster area midday Sunday. He assured families that everything was being done to find their missing loved ones.

"There is a full scale, 100 percent aggressive rescue going on right now," said Inslee, who proclaimed a state of emergency. The slide

blocked the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. With the water pooling behind the debris, authorities worried about downstream flooding and issued an evacuation notice Saturday. The water had begun to seep through the blockage Sunday afternoon, alleviating some concerns.

Snohomish County officials said Sunday that residents could return home during daylight hours. Even though the evacuation had been lifted, Inslee urged residents to remain alert.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Snohomish County through Monday afternoon.

Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County sheriff's office, said Sunday that several people were injured in the slide.

A 6-month-old boy and an 81-year-old man remained in critical condition Sunday morning at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said two men, ages 37 and 58, were in serious condition, while a 25-year-old woman was upgraded to satisfactory condition.

Bruce Blacker, who lives just west of the slide, doesn't know the whereabouts of six neighbors.

"It's a very close knit community," Blacker said as he waited at an Arlington roadblock before troopers let him through. There were almost 20 homes in the neighborhood that was destroyed, he said.

Search-and-rescue help came from around the region, including the Washington State Patrol and the Army Corps of Engineers. More than 100 were at the scene.

Evacuation shelters were set up at Post Middle School in Arlington and the Darrington Community Center.

Dane Williams, 30, who lives a few miles from the mudslide, spent Saturday night at a Red Cross shelter at the Arlington school.

He said he saw a few "pretty distraught" people at the shelter who didn't know the fate of loved ones who live in the stricken area.

"It makes me want to cry," Williams said Sunday.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/03/25/2-killed-in-big-wash-mudslide-sheriff-office-says/

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Bad weather halts search for missing Malaysian jet

Bad weather and rough seas have suspended the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

The delay will only prolong the agony for the relatives of the 239 people on board the jet, which officials are now sure crashed in the remote Indian Ocean.

On Monday Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak made the sombre announcement.

Declaring that all those on board must be presumed lost, he referred to fresh analysis of satellite tracking data which could only conclude that flight MH370 had flown along the southern corridor and ran out of fuel in the ocean south west of Perth.

China has demanded to see the satellite evidence as most of those on board the jet were Chinese nationals.

Distressed relatives have reacted with anger at the Malaysian handling of the search and many remain sceptical of the conclusions as no wreckage as yet been found.

“They said the plane went down in the Southern Indian ocean, but they have not found the plane yet, what are they basing this on?” said one woman whose husband was on the missing airliner. “We do not trust what the Malaysian government is saying,” she added.

Another whose brother had been on the plane said: “We do not believe what they say, if the relatives have died we need to see their bodies to believe they are really dead. “

Satellite data

The revelation that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean is based on new analysis by UK investigators and the British satellite firm Inmarsat, Malaysia's prime minister has said.

Najib Razak said relatives of the flight's 239 passengers and crew had been told of the "heartbreaking" news.

Inmarsat used new techniques to detect the plane's course, he said.

The UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch, which probes serious civil aircraft incidents, was also involved.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on 8 March.

Mr Razak's announcement came as the international search effort reached a fifth day of operations in the southern Indian Ocean.

Inmarsat has told the BBC it gave the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) the new data on Sunday - stressing it needed to be checked before it was made public.

Engineers spent all weekend looking back at a previous Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 flights, going back several weeks.

They compared the satellite data from those flights with flight MH370 and were able to work out it went south.

This is cutting-edge modelling, never tried before. It uses the Doppler effect - which is what makes a police siren sound different from different points.

They had it reviewed by other scientists before handing it over.

As far as they can tell, the plane was flying at cruising height, above 30,000ft. They found no evidence of fluctuating heights being reported.

This is it now - they cannot pinpoint the position any further. They handed this data over on Sunday morning.

The firm said its latest calculation involved a large amount of data analysis, focusing on a number of factors including the movements of other aircraft.

It involved an entirely new way of modelling which is why the analysis took some time, the firm said.

Inmarsat senior vice-president Chris McLaughlin said the firm had studied electronic "pings" - or bursts of data - which the plane had sent to one of its satellites.

He told the BBC: "We have been dealing with a totally new area. We've been trying to help an investigation based on a single signal once an hour from an aircraft that didn't include any GPS data, any time and distance information.

"So this really was a bit of a shot in the dark and it's to the credit of our scientific team that they came up and managed to model this."

Mr McLaughlin continued: "They managed to find a way in which to say just a single ping can be used to say the plane was both powered up and travelling, and then by a process of elimination - comparing it to other known flights - establish that it went south."

A spokeswoman for the AAIB said it could not comment on the investigation, but confirmed: "As set out by the Malaysian prime minister, we have been working with the UK company Inmarsat, using satellite data to determine the area on which to focus the search."



Oceanographer Dr Simon Boxall, from the University of Southampton, told the BBC: "The algorithms and the techniques [Inmarsat] have applied to try and locate - to within a certain area - where the last transmission was made is really quite phenomenal - but also quite tragic because it does show this plane was heading to an open area of ocean."

He continued: "They've probably crammed almost a year's worth of research into maybe a couple of weeks, so it's not a routine calculation they would ever, ever make.

"They've been looking at all the signals they have, all the recordings they have, and processing that many times over to try and pinpoint where the plane's signal came from. Technologically it's really quite astounding."

But Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International Magazine, said the mystery of the missing Boeing 777 jet had not been solved.

"We still believe there was a deliberate act that took place on board the flight deck inside the cockpit that resulted in the aircraft turning and heading south," he said.

"So until we find the black box we're really not going to know anything more."

Mr Razak told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur that work by the AAIB and Inmarsat had revealed MH370's last position was in the ocean west of Perth, Australia.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that - according to this new data - flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he said.

He added that for the relatives of those on board, "the past few weeks have been heartbreaking. I know this news must be harder still".

Malaysia Airlines said all relatives of those on board had been informed "face-to-face by our top management", as well as by text message.

Boeing said in a statement: "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies continue to be with the families and loved ones of those aboard."

British Royal Navy ship HMS Echo is due to arrive in the area on Tuesday to help with the search.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

http://www.euronews.com/2014/03/25/bad-weather-halts-search-for-missing-malaysian-jet/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26720772

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Update: Up to 108 missing after US mudslide

A large rescue operation began soon after the landslide struck on Saturday

Authorities say they have 108 reports of people missing or unaccounted for after Saturday's huge landslide in the north-western US state of Washington.

Eight bodies have been recovered so far after the 54m (177ft) deep wall of mud swept near the town of Oso, about 90km (55 miles) north of Seattle.

Search crews have worked day and night, using helicopters in the dangerous conditions that destroyed 30 homes.

Several people, including an infant, were critically injured.

'Situation very grim'

Snohomish County emergency management director John Pennington said the figure did not necessarily represent the total number of injuries or fatalities.

He said the list had been consolidated from a number of sources.

"It's a soft 108," Mr Pennington told a news conference, reports the Associated Press news agency.

"We have not found anyone alive on this pile since Saturday," he added.

Snohomish County fire chief Travis Hots told reporters: "The situation is very grim."



'Gone in three seconds'

Authorities have continued their search-and-rescue operations amid a tangled debris field that Washington Governor Jay Inslee labelled "a square mile of total devastation"

An 81-year-old man and a six-month-old boy were said to be in critical condition at a Seattle hospital on Sunday.

An eyewitness told the Daily Herald that he was driving on the road near Oso and had to quickly brake to avoid the mudslide.

"I just saw the darkness coming across the road. Everything was gone in three seconds," Paulo Falcao told the newspaper.

Robin Youngblood, another witness, told the Seattle Times: "All of a sudden there was a wall of mud. Then it hit and we were rolling.

"The house was in sticks. We were buried under things, and we dug ourselves out."

The landslide cut off the city of Darrington and clogged the north fork of the Stillaguamish River.

This prompted fears of severe flooding downstream if the build-up of water behind the debris breaks through suddenly.

The authorities say the landslide was caused by recent heavy rain.

The area has had problems in the past with unstable land.

Monday 24 March 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26723240

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World Trade Center museum to receive 9/11 victims’ remains

New York City plans to move the remains of unidentified victims in the 2001 terror attack to a new resting place within the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

The roughly 8,000 unidentified remains, which are in the custody of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, will be moved to the museum this year, spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said.

“We’re getting ready,” said city Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman Julie Bolcer. “We’re planning the move.”

Lee Ielpi, whose firefighter son, Jonathan, died on 9/11, said the remains should be moved in a solemn motorcade “with clergy of all religions to show the world how we treat our dead, murdered on 9/11, with respect and dignity.”

The “remains repository” will be hidden from view behind a wall engraved with a quote by Virgil: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” The space will include an ME’s office, to continue DNA-ID efforts, and a family visiting room.

Only medical examiners and families of victims will be given access to the repository, according to the spokesperson for both the museum and the medical examiner's office.

Some 9/11 relatives strongly oppose putting the remains in the museum — which will charge $24 for admission — saying visitors should not have to fork over cash to pay their respects.

The decision to house remains in the museum repository has been controversial.

In 2011, 17 families of 9/11 victims filed a petition in court to force the museum to consult with the victims' families before deciding what to do with the remains. They eventually asked for a congressional hearing. Both efforts were unsuccessful.

On its website, the museum said the decision to move the remains to the repository at the museum was because of overwhelming feedback received from families after the attacks.

The 9/11 Memorial Museum is scheduled to open this spring as part of the part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site.

DNA identifications of the unidentified remains will continue in the new repository, according to the museum.

In New York, 2,753 people were killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were intentionally crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. A total of 2,977 people were killed in New York, Washington and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Monday 24 March 2014

http://nypost.com/2014/03/23/world-trade-center-museum-to-receive-911-victims-remains/

http://www.abc15.com/news/national/911-remains-to-be-moved-to-spot-within-museum

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Uganda: Search continues for Lake Albert boat victims

The coxswain (pilot) of the boat that capsized on Lake Albert killing an unspecified number of Congolese refugees has been arrested by police in Kibaale as the search for more bodies continues.

As many as 60 people are feared dead -- with 22 bodies found so far -- in another of the worst boat disasters in Uganda’s recorded history that occurred early Saturday.

Four years ago, some 70 people were involved in a boat fatality when their boat capsized on the same lake - also on a Saturday.

The coxswain of the latest incident, only identified as Ocelle, is currently under police custody at Kitebere landing site.

Kibaale district police commander John Ojokuna Elatu, who identified the coxswain, said he will be transferred to the district police headquarters.

Ojokuna said the coxswain of the ill-fated boat will be charged with traffic offences of overloading, operating a boat under the influence of alcohol and recklessness “as soon as possible”.

‘Hopes fading’

Meanwhile the search and rescue operation for both survivors and bodies is going on, with the police and local fishermen teaming up in the efforts.

By Sunday morning the number of people rescued had reached 42 with at least 22 bodies already recovered.

It is believed that over 40 bodies are still in the waters.

Charles Kisembo, the fisheries officer in charge of Ndaiga sub-county declared that finding more people alive is unlikely, and that hope for any survivors is fading.

“We do not expect to get survivors, but the search continues,” he said.

The boat capsized near Kitebere landing site in Kibaale district en route to Ntoroko landing site where it was taking some 100 Congolese refugees who were reportedly fleeing from Kyangwali refugee settlement camp in Kyangwali sub-county Hoima district.

The refugees boarded at Senjojo landing site on Saturday morning but later encountered mechanical problems a few hours later at around 10am local time, leading to their boat tipping over.

The bodies of those who died were taken to Ntoroko health center mortuary aboard a Kibaale district speed boat.

Among the deceased are 14 children.

What survivors say

Alice Nanzeri, who survived with her children, said the boat was overloaded with people and luggage which could have caused the accident.

“We had mattresses and all our household items and the boat was very full,” she said Nanzeri.

Her theory was that the mattresses could have absorbed water along the way, which made the boat heavier and hence leading to the deadly mishap.

Nanzeri said that they clang onto the capsized vessel, and were lucky to be found by an advancing rescue boat.

Another survivor, Pastor Modest Kasongo, blamed the accident on the coxswain, whom he said was sipping on a sachet of alcohol the whole way until the accident occurred.

“The pilot must have been drunk and lost control because he was taking alcohol,” he said.

The refugees said that they were escaping from the settlement camp due to the unfavorable conditions there, especially inadequate food supplies.

“We have been having a single meal daily and we could not manage such an environment,” said one of them.

Costa Toyokana, 12, who lost all his relatives in the accident, told New Vision he does not know what to do next.

“All my parents and others have perished so am helpless now,” he moaned.

The survivors said they have not been getting food supplies from the leaders of the camp, which prompted them to return home where they say they believe is now secure and that they can practice agriculture to fend for their families.

One refugee said that they only received 10kgs of maize and beans and they do not know what next.

They said they are now planning to go to Ntoroko and then board commuter taxis to Bundibugyo and then proceed to their villages which are bordering Uganda.

The relocation of the Congolese refuges started in August this year when they fled their home area in Kamango in Western DR Congo after Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked them and they fled to Uganda.

Over 20,000 refugees have been settled in Kyangwali refugee settlement land by the United Nations High Commission for Refuges (UNHCR).

Monday 24 March 2014

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/653824-boat-disaster-pilot-arrested-as-search-continues.html

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11 killed, eight injured in road accident near Murree

Eleven passengers were killed while a dozen got multiple injuries when a Rawalpindi-bound passenger van plunged into a ravine at a Salgran, a picnic spot in Murree, on Sunday.

The bus, which was carrying 20 passengers from the hill town of Murree to Rawalpindi, lost traction on a slippery road amid rainfall, rolling on its side as it fell down a slope.

According to officials of Rescue 1122, a passenger van (LES 1923) coming from Rawalpindi with 25 people on board met an accident at Salgran, a famous tourist spot near Rawalpindi, and plunged into 150-meter deep ravine. As a result, as many as 11 passengers died at the spot while a dozen got multiple injuries, who were later shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad.

"Eleven passengers have been killed while a dozen got multiple injuries in the accident. The injured and dead bodies have been shifted to PIMS," In charge Rescue 1122 Rawalpindi told The Nation.

A spokesperson of PIMS also confirmed that 11 dead bodies were shifted to PIMS while 12 injured were admitted to the emergency ward.

Officials of Murree Police Station said rescue operation was over and initial investigations were on. The rescuers said the victims trapped in the wreckage of the wagon were pulled out after cutting the body of the vehicle.

"We will investigate thoroughly to sort out what had made the ill-fated van plunge into ravine," Muhammad Sohail, officer on duty at Murree Police Station, said when contacted. He did not rule out the possibility of bad weather causing the accident.

It is worthy of mentioning here that it was the second accident in the current year as on January 8, 2014, a dozen of passengers were killed when two passenger busses had collided with each other and plunged into ravine at the same spot of Salgran.

Since January 2013, more than 130 people have been killed or injured in 11 traffic accidents on the same spot at Salgran.

The popular hill resort Murree is situated around 50 kilometres northeast of Islamabad and attracts tourists from across the country.

Bus accidents are common on the mountainous track to the hill town because of careless driving and speeding.

However, after the latest accident, the residents of the area have criticised the local administration and the traffic police for their failure to check speeding and overloading by the public transporters which they said was the major cause of the increasing fatal accidents in the mountainous area.

Pakistan has one of the world's worst records for fatal traffic accidents, blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Monday 24 March 2014

http://www.nation.com.pk/national/24-Mar-2014/11-die-in-murree-van-plunge

http://www.dawn.com/news/1095190/10-killed-eight-injured-in-road-accident-near-murree

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