Bus plunges into ditch in Bangladesh, killing 15

DHAKA, Bangladesh (BNO NEWS) — At least fifteen people were killed on Friday when a bus plunged into a water-filled ditch in central Bangladesh, police said. Dozens more were injured. The accident happened when the overcrowded bus was crossing a diversion road built for temporary use during the construction of a bridge on the highway. The bus went out of control due to the dilapidated condition of the road and plunged into a ditch, leaving 15 dead and 50 others injured. Witnesses told the Daily Star newspaper that fourteen people died on the spot of the accident while another succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The injured were transferred to a nearby hospital, including six in critical condition. The bus was heading to the southern Barisal district and was carrying more than 100 passengers who were due to attend a congregation. Many also got onto the top of the bus, witnesses said. Road accidents are common in Bangladesh...

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Valentine’s Day Mass Burial For Over 120 Bodies

Over 100 unclaimed bodies at the Police Hospital in Ghana will be buried in a mass grave at the Awudome Cemetery in Accra. The Police hospital Mortuary in Accra designated for unknown bodies is congested and cannot admit new dead bodies by the middle of next month. The hospital has two fridges, one for identified bodies and the other for unknown bodies, which though designed to accommodate 30 bodies, now has over 120. The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Inspector Juliana Obeng, Speaking to the Times yesterday said the situation had compelled the hospital authorities to transfer some of the bodies to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital Mortuary. To solve the problem, the Police Hospital will from Tuesday February 14, begin disposing of all such bodies through mass burial. There hospital is therefore giving relatives and the public who have deposited their dead bodies at the hospital mortuary up to February 14 (valentine’s day) to...

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Anger as Argentina finds 51st train victim

Rescue workers in Argentina have found another body in the wreckage of a train that crashed two days earlier, raising the death toll to 51 and prompting angry reaction from family and friends of the victim. Lucas Menghini Rey's body was missed in the chaotic response to Wednesday's crash, which has focused widespread anger at the government's failure to protect passengers from long-known safety threats in the train system. Relatives and friends were in tears at Friday's news, while others keeping vigil at the station threw objects at passing buses and taxis. Menghini Rey's identification was confirmed by sources investigating the crash, Argentina's state-owned Telam news agency and official Channel 7 reported. Riot police responded to the protest with tear gas and batons, clearing the station and making arrests. At least one police officer was injured. Some rioters started small fires and looted stores in the station as Menghini Rey's...

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Bangladesh: Dhaka ill-prepared for quakes

Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, is ill-prepared for earthquakes due to lack of awareness and unplanned urbanization, say experts. “Total disregard for the national building code by the builders has left Dhaka extremely susceptible,” said earthquake expert and civil engineer Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET). In 2011 Dhaka’s roughly 11 million people were rocked by three earthquakes each registering at least six on the Richter scale - but without any casualties or damage, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. The Department said the most recent quake in September did not cause casualties due to “sheer luck” because the tremor stopped in less than two minutes. But had luck not been on the capital’s side, the population would have been ill-prepared for any fallout, said Manish Kumar Agarwal, a programme manager for disaster preparedness at Oxfam’s Dhaka office. In...

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Families want NZ mine photos released

The families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River Coal mine have applied to have photos showing the bodies of two workers made public. Spokesman for the families, Bernie Monk, says they have been...

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