Chile Admits Irregularities in Identifying Disappeared Persons

Santiago, Chile - Chilean authorities admitted today the persistence of irregularities in the identification of bodies of the disappeared, with the resulting trauma for relatives, victims of the genocide...

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Peru Identifies Civil War Victims

LIMA - Of the 69,000 people killed during the 1980-2000 armed conflict in Peru, at least 16,000 were buried in secret unmarked graves. So far, only 2,064 of these bodies have been recovered, and just...

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Indian military helicopters collide in mid-air, nine killed

Two military helicopters collided in mid-air during a training sortie over the western Indian state of Gujarat on Tuesday, killing nine air force personnel, the government has said. Television pictures...

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Japan estimates monster quake could kill 320,000

Japan's government on Wednesday unveiled a worst case disaster scenario that warned a monster earthquake in the Pacific Ocean could kill over 320,000 people, dwarfing last year's quake-tsunami disaster....

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Navy recovers 10 more bodies off Libyan coast

The Navy recovered 10 more bodies on Wednesday evening, who were victims of a boat that sank while transporting 40 illegal immigrants off the coast of Libya on Sunday evening. “The bodies were completely...

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Nine passengers dead in DG Khan road mishap

DERA GHAZI KHAN - Nine passengers died while 70 others received injuries when two coaches collided at Indus Highway near Kala Town on late Tuesday night. The Local people later joined the Rescue 1122 personnel dragged out the bodies and the injured passengers from both the buses which were bound for Karachi and coming from Swat. The injured said that both the buses stopped at a hotel for dinner and had just moved when met the fatal accident. Most of the passengers were going back to their work station after celebrating Eid at their native towns. As per police officials, the two coaches (LZ 1475 and LRT 1467) collided at sharp turn while making an attempt to overtake when an oil tanker came from the opposite side at the highway in the town near some 40 km from here towards North. The deceased were identified as Mohammad Iqbal, the driver of a coach, Mohammad Sadiq, Shazia Bibi, Saddam Hussain, Ali Zai, Gull Tahir and Sajid Hussain while...

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Amnesty Urges Balkans to Investigate War Missing

Amnesty International is calling on Balkan governments to investigate the fate of some 14,000 people who are still unaccounted for since the region's conflicts in the 1990s. This is nearly half the...

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Death toll climbs to 19 in SW China mine explosion

CHENGDU, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in a gas explosion that occurred Wednesday afternoon in a coal mine in southwest China's Sichuan province has climbed to 19, rescuers said Thursday morning....

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Authorities ID 5 victims of Tahoe plane crash

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Authorities say the five victims of a single-engine plane crash near South Lake Tahoe include a Fresno trucking company owner and a 6-year-old girl. El Dorado County sheriff's...

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26 victims identified in fatal bus accident

YAN'AN - The identity of 26 people, who were killed in a bus-tanker collision in Northwest China's Shaanxi province on Sunday, have been confirmed, the local government said Tuesday. DNA testing...

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11 die in Haiti mudslides, rains

A storm set off mudslides and flooding that killed at least 11 people in impoverished Haiti, officials said yesterday. Rains engulfed the capital for several hours Monday night, turning hilly streets...

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18 bodies recovered as Cameroon dam floods 250 Nigerian villages

UPI – A massive release of water from a dam in Cameroon submerged 250 villages in neighboring Nigeria and killed an unknown number of people. Eighteen bodies were recovered Monday from the Benue...

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Flash floods: 18 feared dead as bus swept away in AJK

AJK / MIRPUR: At least 18 people, including eight women, are feared dead, while nine others were injured, after a passenger bus was swept away in a flash flood in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday....

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DNA advances help identify dead buried in NYC potter's field; 54 bodies exhumed

NEW YORK, N.Y. - On a wind-swept island off New York City, the remains of 850,000 people rest in pine boxes in a grid of covered trenches — but many are not resting in peace. They are the unidentified...

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Crash victims’ identification process continues

The Indonesian disaster victim identification (DVI) team has found it difficult to identify the remains of the victims of last week’s Cessna Piper Navayo Chiftain PA31 crash in East Kalimantan due to their condition. Budi, of the Indonesia DVI, said that the remains that were severely damaged and too difficult to identify at the AW Syahranie hospital in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and would be sent to Jakarta for further investigation. “We have been working very hard round the clock, matching the DNA of the victims and those of their respective family members,” Budi said on the phone on Tuesday. Matching the DNA, according to Budi, was the most effective way of revealing the identities of all the victims, especially due to the condition of the remains. He said the family members of each of the victims had arrived in Samarinda for that purpose. He also expressed gratitude to the Australian Embassy for having brought the son of...

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Chinese fishermen killed as typhoon hits South Korea

A powerful typhoon has struck South Korea, killing at least eight people including five fishermen. Strong winds and heavy rain churned up rough seas and smashed two fishing ships on to rocks, forcing...

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36 Egyptians missing, 3 dead after boat sinks trying to reach Europe illegally

Three bodies washed ashore in Libya Monday after a boat carrying illegal Egyptian migrants trying to reach Europe capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, and officials say 36 people are missing. The...

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Flood Situation Worsens in Adamawa as 15 Bodies Wash Ashore.

The flood situation in Adamawa State worsened on Monday with the death toll in the disaster increasing as 15 bodies washed ashore the River Benue bank, in Jimeta—Yola, just as the state government commenced immediate evacuation of the communities along the bank of the River Benue across seven local government areas of the state. Adamawa State Secretary to Government, Chief Kobis Ari Thinmnu, told journalists on Monday that the state government was having serious crisis coping with the situation, as over 45 communities have been totally submerged. He appealed to the federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency to come to the immediate assistance of the Adamawa people, as the disaster was beyond the scope of the state government. Thinmnu said that it was unfortunate, that Nigeria has no bilateral protocol with the republic of Cameroom on the usage of the waters of Lagdo dam, adding that, the release of water...

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Hispaniola death toll from Isaac climbs to 10

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitians began to dig themselves out of the mud on Sunday, one day after Tropical Storm Isaac doused the Caribbean nation and killed eight people here and another two in neighboring...

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Flooding Kills 10 in Northeast Nigeria

An emergency management official in northeast Nigeria says 10 people were killed in floods that swept through the region. Adamawa state Emergency Management Agency official Shadrach Daniel Baruk...

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50 Die in 3 Accidents Within 3 Days in China

A bus and a tanker collided and burst into flames, killing 36 people in China’s northwestern Shaanxi Province, on Aug. 26. The accident occurred around 2:40 a.m. near the city of Yan’an. A double-decker...

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Tanker-bus crash inferno kills 36 in China

At least 36 people died in a fiery collision between a methanol tanker and a double-decker sleeper bus on a motorway in northern China on Sunday, officials and state media said. Both vehicles caught...

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Refinery Blast In Venezuela Kills At Least 39

A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery and unleashed a ferocious fire on Saturday, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 80 others in one of the deadliest disasters ever...

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Slovenia hot-air balloon victims identified, investigation underway

LJUBLJANA - Slovenia said Saturday it has identified the four people killed in Thursday's hot-air balloon crash as Slovenian citizens, among them a couple with their 11-year-old child. "The fourth person killed was a woman, also from Slovenia," Joze Balazic, head of Slovenia's forensic institute, said Saturday. The identification had to be carried out using the DNA of the victims since their bodies were found charred in the basket of the hot-air balloon that crashed and burst into flames near Ljubljana early on Thursday. The accident happened when a sudden change in the weather forced the pilot of the balloon with 32 people on board, mostly tourists, to attempt an emergency landing. Due to its size and the strong winds blowing close to the surface, the pilot lost control of the balloon, which hit a tree and caught fire, according to eye witnesses. Out of the 28 persons who were hospitalised on Thursday, six remain in critical...

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FIRE TRAGEDY VICTIMS TO UNDERGO DNA TESTS

A team of doctors from Nairobi is expected in Homa Bay District to carry out DNA tests on pupils of St Theresa Asumbi Girls Boarding Primary School who died in a fire. The doctors are expected tomorrow...

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Bagmati boat capsize: 3 bodies found‚ scores missing

RAUTAHAT: At least three persons died and an unknown number of people went missing as a boat, with about 50-55 people on board, capsized in the swollen Bagmati River bordering Sarahi and Rautahat districts on Saturday afternoon. The jam-packed boat was coming towards Laxmipur Ghat of Rautahat from Manpur of Sarlahi on the otherside of the river when it overturned at around 2:30 pm. Police said one person has been rescued alive and has been taken to Garuda of Rautahat for treatment. Two bodies were fished out from the swollen river, while one of the two persons who was rescued alive died. The deceased are identified as Apsana Khatun (13), Rajima Khatun (20) and Nisrat Khatun (37) of Gamariya, Parsa-7 Laxmipur. It has been learnt that Nisrat's two children were also on board the ill-fated boat. Their whereabouts is not known. Two boaters—identified as Ramjodhi Sahani and Wazir Sahani of Manpur, Sarlahi—are at large after the incident,...

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Bodies of 2 pilots flown to Cebu

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The bodies of the two pilots of the light plane that crashed off Masbate with Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo were flown to Cebu on Thursday. The body of Captain Jessup Bahinting,...

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10 die in Jaipur of rain-triggered disasters

Jaipur, Aug 22 (IANS) Rains continued to create havoc as the death toll rose to eight in this Rajasthan capital in incidents of wall collapses and electrocution, an official said Wednesday. Two more...

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Most Fukushima quake deaths were elderly

TOKYO, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Most of the people who died in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis were elderly, an agency report says. The Reconstruction Agency study found...

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Heavy rain, floods kill 14 in Pakistan: Officials

ISLAMABAD: Flash floods triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 14 people and destroyed dozens of houses in northern Pakistan, officials said on Thursday. Irshad Bhatti, a spokesman for the...

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Mass grave raises ghosts from the past

DO DONTREI, Cambodia — It was four grey skulls resting on a bed of jumbled bones that again triggered Chea Nouen's memories: breast-feeding her baby with her hands and feet shackled; her husband thrown...

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One body retrieved Nine feared drowned in Chenab

MUZAFFARGARH - Nine people were feared drowned in the River Chenab at Head Punjnad on Tuesday. Rescue 1122 officials said on Wednesday that a boat carrying 13 people capsized due to strong river...

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10 pupils feared dead in dormitory inferno

At least ten pupils of Asumbi Boarding Primary School, in Homa Bay County, are feared dead after a fire razed their dormitory on Wednesday night. Initial reports indicate that the ten were among...

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DNA Test Results Identify Phuket Fire Victims

BANGKOK – Authorities are awaiting DNA test results to confirm the identity of a third victim who died in an August 17 fire at a Phuket discotheque. At the Office of the National Police Bureau, Pol....

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