22 body bags of Sukhoi plane crash victims checked

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, has examined 22 body bags of the victims of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane that crashed on Mount Salak in West Java last Wednesday. "Until last night, the disaster victim identification (DVI) team of the Indonesian police had examined 22 body bags, of which 18 contained body parts and four contained property," the head of the hospital, Brig Gen Agus Prayitno, said on Monday. "Three more body bags were sent to the hospital on Monday morning. The bags arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta at 8.05 a.m., after being flown from a command post near the plane crash site in Mount Salak," he added. "The three body bags are now undergoing a post-mortem check," Agus explained. He said since last night the DVI team had evaluated the post-mortems conducted after the body bags of Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash victims arrived at the hospital. "The results of the post-mortem checks will be compared with ante-mortem data to identify the victims," Agus added. "The medical center and health laboratory of the Indonesian police had started work ever since DNA samples were taken from the relatives of the victims. The DNA laboratory had begun comparing the DNA samples with the body parts of the victims,� he said. "We hope all of this will not take too long. We have done our best," Agus added. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 was carrying 45 passengers, including 34 Indonesians, eight Russians, two Italians, and one Frenchman. The plane crashed during a demonstration flight for potential Indonesian buyers. The National Committee of Transportation Safety (KNKT) earlier said it had located the black box of the ill-fated aircraft. "We have located it, but it has not yet been collected because it is buried under plane debris," KNKT chief Tatang Kurniadi said on Sunday. Monday 14 May 2012 http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/82091/22-body-bags-of-sukhoi-plane-crash-victims-checked

37 dead in NW China storms

MINXIAN, Gansu - The death toll had risen to 37 and 19 others remained missing as of 6 pm Friday after hail and torrential rains battered a mountainous county in Northwest China, authorities said late Friday. As of 6 pm, the storms had affected 358,000 people in Minxian county, Gansu province, forcing the evacuation of nearly 30,000 local residents. Another 40 people had been hospitalized. Roads were blocked, houses collapsed, and farmland destroyed by the extreme weather, according to Minxian county civil affairs bureau. China's National Disaster Reduction Committee and the Civil Affairs Ministry raised the level of emergency response from level 4 to level 3 on Friday afternoon. A disaster relief team led by Sun Shaocheng, deputy minister of civil affairs and consisted of officials from nine ministries is heading to the disaster-hit area. About 2,000 officials, as well as 800 soldiers and militiamen, have trudged through mud and water into storm-battered areas to rescue trapped villagers. Gansu provincial Red Cross said it was sending 1,000 quilts and 1,000 coats to Minxian to help with disaster relief efforts. The provincial finance bureau, meanwhile, has earmarked 2 million yuan ($317,460) to repair damaged water control facilities. Food and water had been allocated to the evacuated residents by local authorities. Minxian's civil affairs bureau said the stormy weather lasted just from 5 to 6 pm, but wreaked havoc in all of the county's 18 townships. In the worst-hit areas, precipitation measured nearly 70 mm.

Hail and torrential rain cut power in six townships, damaged several homes, hospitals and schools, disrupted traffic on two interprovincial highways and destroyed over 7,000 hectares of crops, county authorities said. Minxian is a mountainous county in the city of Dingxi with a population of 450,000. It is located 150 km from Zhouqu county, where a rain-triggered mudslide killed more than 1,500 people in August 2010. Thursday's rains also triggered floods in two other counties in Dingxi, as well as parts of the city of Longnan and the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. No deaths have been reported in those areas. The national flood control and drought relief headquarters on Friday issued fresh warnings to northwestern provinces, urging them to step up weather monitoring and flood prevention efforts. The provincial observatory said more rains were likely from late Friday to Sunday in Minxian. Sunday, 13 May 2012 http://english.sina.com/china/p/2012/0511/466968.html

11 Indians among 15 dead in Nepal plane crash

Eleven Indian pilgrims were among 15 people killed when a private plane crashed in northern Nepal today after hitting a hill top while trying to land at high-altitude Jomsom airport. The Dornier aircraft belonging to the Agni Air went down when it hit the top of a hill while landing at the Jomsom airport in northern Nepal, said an official at the Rescue Coordination Committee of Tribhuvan International Airport. “Eleven Indian nationals, two Danish nationals and two Nepalese crew members were killed in the crash,” the official said, adding rescuers have so far recovered nine bodies from the wreckage. Six people on board, including a crew member and five Indians, have been rescued alive from the crash site, he said. The injured people were taken to a hospital in Pokhara where condition of the three Indians was critical. There were altogether 18 passengers including 16 Indians and three Nepali crew members in the ill-fated aircraft. The aircraft was heading towards Jomsom in the morning from Pokhara when it hit the hill, the official said, adding that there are possibilities of a technical fault. The passengers had chartered the flight to take them from the central tourist hub of Pokhara to Muktinath, a famous Hindu pilgrimage in Jomsom near Tibetan border at the foot of the Thorong La Himalayan mountain pass, the official said. The high-altitude Jomsom airport, about 200 km northwest of the capital, is a gateway to a popular tourism and trekking destination situated more than 2,600 m above sea level. The plane turned into pieces but did not caught fire. The bodies of Pilot Prabhu Sharan Pathak and Co-pilot JD Maharjan have been recovered. When contacted, Indian Embassy officials said they were trying to collect the details as there was some confusion over the nationalities of the passengers on board the ill-fated plane. Agni Air marketing manager Pramod Pandey said two Danish nationals were among the passengers, although their condition was not known. “It’s not that much difficult to land at the Jomsom airport. We are using experienced pilots over there,”he added. Monday 14 May 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3417494.ece?textsize=small&test=2