Identities of 60 victims of dictatorship will be known in a year

Within about a year, a team of forensic anthropologists from Argentina could lead the identification of the bones of 60 victims of the military dictatorship in Panama.

The news comes from officials of the Panamanian Foreign Ministry says La Prensa.

Since March 7 a group of anthropologists, Mercedes Salado, Carlos Vullo and Ute Hofmainer, the Panamanian government have worked ona report explaining the procedures they will follow to begin studies of human remains in custody of Panama’s Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences.

No starting date has been set because the Institute, has not received the comments of the Argentine forensic report submitted to the board members.

After the fulfillment of this phase, anthropologists will coordinate with the Institute of Legal Medicine to begin their work.

The investigations will be carried out in several stages, including the study of the bones and DNA testing ofrelatives of the victims.

The documentation available for each case will be collated and, the evidence divided into groups to create a genetic database of human remains with DNA samples from relatives. Some of the analyzes will be made in Argentina. .

The Argentine forensic experts were hired by the Panamanian government after the forming on January 5 of the committee to identify victims of the dictatorship. This committee is made up of by the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared, the Attorney General, Office of the President, the Red Cross and the Foreign Ministry.

The bones were exhumed by the Truth Commission (2001-2002).

MONDAY, 02 APRIL 2012

http://www.newsroompanama.com/panama/4118-identities-of-60-victims-of-dictatorship-will-be-known-in-a-year.html

Mexico bus-truck crash leaves 43 dead

XALAPA, Mexico — A truck crashed into a passenger bus Friday in Mexico's eastern Veracruz state, killing 43 and injuring around 20 others, officials said. "In total, 43 people died in this accident" near the town of Alamo, Veracruz government spokeswoman Gina Dominguez told Milenio television late morning. The bus was traveling from the port of Coatzacoalcos to the northern border state of Coahuila when the crash occurred at around 4:30 am (0930 GMT) in the north of Veracruz state on the Gulf of Mexico. As rescue workers recovered bodies from the wreckage, officials organized the transfer of the injured to hospitals in the nearby port city of Tuxpan. "The first report we have, which we need to confirm with investigators, is that the truck's trailer came loose and hit the bus," Dominguez said. The bus passengers were agricultural workers traveling to work, according to local newspaper El Diario del Golfo, citing witnesses, on its website. Another collision between a passenger bus and a truck on a road in Jalisco state, western Mexico, left 36 hurt and one dead Friday, a state civil protection official told AFP, without giving further details. On April 5, 14 sugar cane workers died and nine were hurt when the bus they were traveling in crashed into a tree and overturned, also in Jalisco. Around 24,000 people die from road accidents in Mexico each year, according to insurance companies -- a figure almost double the annual drug violence death toll. Fri 20 April 2012 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRAW2whNRnb_nH6H3QCAvvK4bi5w?docId=CNG.f07951d248e08c101c9eefe7c8769715.81

Charred wreckage litters Pakistan plane crash site

HUSSAIN ABAD, Pakistan — The smell of burning filled the air at the scene of Friday's deadly plane crash on the outskirts of Islamabad, where chunks of charred wreckage lay scattered across farmland. The Bhoja Air Boeing 737 from Karachi came down at dusk as it tried to land at the city's airport in a thunderstorm and officials say there is no hope of any of those on board, believed to number up to 130, surviving. Rescue workers in orange jumpsuits and local residents used torches to search through the wreckage after nightfall, assisted by soldiers carrying assault rifles. Part of the airline's name could be read on a large section of ripped white fuselage from the passenger cabin. Witnesses described seeing human limbs strewn over a wide area spattered with blood and an AFP reporter saw plane oxygen masks and luggage littering the wheat fields around the village of Hussain Abad. A long row of coloured sheets at the edge of the fields covered the remains of victims recovered from the crash site so far. Part of the plane's wing fell on a house in the village. The owner Intezar Hussain said it damaged a balcony but caused no casualties. "The plane came down with huge noise," his son Jaffer Hussain said. "Its pilot perhaps tried to land into the farmland. It hit trees and exploded," he said. "It all happened in front of my eyes. I rushed away to save my life. When I looked back I saw flames were coming out of the plane. "It crashed in heavy rains. There was thunder also." A large section of wing with the airline logo and an engine could be seen among the debris. There were emotional scenes at Islamabad airport as distraught relatives wept bitterly for the victims of the crash. "I had come to receive my newly wed son and daughter-in-law. My son Sajjad Ali married only 20 days back. He was coming with his wife Sania Abbas today, I had come to receive the couple," said one heartbroken old man. In the southern city of Karachi, hundreds of people gathered outside the airport to inquire about relatives who had departed on the flight to Islamabad. Women, men and children were seen crying after finding the names of loved ones on the list of passengers displayed by the airline. "My wife was on the plane, she was alone, going to see her parents," said Arshad Hussain, 27, tears rolling down his cheeks. He had married just a few months ago. "I have seen the name of my sister and her infant girl," said Mohammad Usman. "Our lives have been devastated." Fri 20 April 2012 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ipq46Vq-aps5nN1X0jSezGFf6pXQ?docId=CNG.fbce75d2eba2ecc24710f72328c3b9d9.4b1