Rains kills at least 28 in southeastern Brazil

JAMAPARA, Brazil — Civil defense officials say a mudslide caused by two days of downpours has killed at least 13 people in a small town in southeastern Brazil. Rio de Janeiro state civil defense chief Sergio Simoes tells local CBN radio that five bodies were pulled from underneath tons of mud and debris on Tuesday. Eight bodies were found on Monday. He says 11 people are listed as missing in Jamapara, a district of the town of Sapucaia. Among the missing are five members a family whose car was caught in the mudslide. Floods elsewhere in the state have forced more than 30,000 people from their homes. In neighboring Minas Gerais state, more than 14,000 people have left their homes, and 15 have died in floodwaters or mudslides. updated 1/10/2012 10:21:15 AM ET Associated Press http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45931960/ns/weather/#.Tw10brKj...

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NADRA sends team to Jakarta for boat victims

Islamabad—National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has dispatched a special team to Indonesia to help identify the dead bodies of Pakistanis lost their life in boat tragedy. Deputy Chairman NADRA Tariq Malik on Saturday told APP that the team has been sent to Indonesia on the direction of President Asif Ali Zardari. He said that the team is equipped with state of the art bio metric identification system and would take finger and facial prints of the victims. He said the prints would be sent to NADRA and run it with National Data Ware House for citizen, for identification of the dead bodies. Minister for Interior A Rehman Malik has directed the authority and the Pakistan Envoy in Jakarta to help families of the victims by facilitating at earliest. Meanwhile, families of the board victims who were worried have expressed a sigh of relief on the quick response of the authority for identification of the bodies. With 200 passengers...

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Balloon victim identification to take time

Identification of the 11 victims of the fiery hot air balloon crash in the Wairarapa on Saturday is expected to take a number of days. The last four bodies that had remained at the Somerset Road site were taken to the Wellington mortuary on Monday evening. The disaster victim identification process is underway, but will take some time to complete, police say. Wairarapa police area commander, Inspector Brent Register, says a scene examination will also continue over the next few days. Police are working alongside the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), which spent Monday carrying out its own detailed examination. Emma Peel from the Civil Aviation Authority says the TAIC is looking into what caused the tragedy. "The CAA is not conducting the safety investigation, that's being carried out be the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and they're looking at what's caused the accident." The CAA is investigating under...

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