JAKARTA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers are searching for 15 crew members who remain missing after a wooden cargo-ship with 27 people on board capsized in waters off Maluku in eastern Indonesia on Sunday morning, rescuers said.
The ship sank at 10 : 25 a.m. local time (0125 GMT) in the waters of central Maluku, due to poor weather condition, Agung Sedayu, press officer at the National Search and Rewscue Office told Xinhua over phone.
"The waves were huge during the accident, they sank the ship," he said.
The ship was on route from Ambon city to Nangrole town in Maluku province, said Agung.
The boat, which had 27 passengers and crew on board, went down after it was battered by waves up to five metres (16 feet) high in Maluku province, provincial search-and-rescue team head Amin Bin Tongke told AFP.
"Twelve of 27 people on board were rescued alive.
We are still looking for around 15 missing," he said.
The boat, which was also carrying food and building materials, left Ambon city late Saturday but was lashed by towering waves and strong winds two hours into its journey, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a text message.
"The boat's engine stalled and the boat broke up and sank," he added.
Indonesia's 240 million people are spread across 17,000 islands and are heavily dependent on a network of ships and boats, which have a poor safety record.
Sunday 17 June 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-06/17/c_131658536.htm
Compilation of international news items related to large-scale human identification: DVI, missing persons,unidentified bodies & mass graves
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Sunday, 17 June 2012
Dana crash: LASUTH concludes autopsy
Lagos State University Teaching Hoaspital (LASUTH) yesterday said the process of autopsy on all recovered bodies from the scene of the Dana plane crash ended yesterday. This was just as Daily Sun gathered the reasons the victims of the Dana air crash would not be given mass burial.
According to a source, a management meeting was held at the Lagos State University Teaching Hoaspital (LASUTH) with the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Jide Idris, Commissioner for Special duties, Dr. Waler Ahmed and the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Wale Oke in attendance. The source said relatives of the victims would love to bury their loved ones because it was part of their cultural attachment in the society.
“Besides, a thorough investigation such as autopsy carried out on the victims would help unravel the major cause or causes of death and even help investigate the cause of the accident by the probe panel,” said the source. He explained further that an autopsy would reveal what went wrong mid air before the plane crashed and determine whether a victim died before the actual crash or after the crash. Reports from investigations could be subsequently picked up by relevant agencies to avert similar disasters in future, the source added.
The source said with the cooperation of relatives of victims, the remains of every affected passenger and people on ground would be handed over to their families for proper burial no matter how charred or dismembered the bodies may have been. Investigations revealed that some families were yet to show up to either identify their relatives or submit samples for DNA.
That, another source disclosed, would only last for as long as the state government determines but could be influenced by the Federal Government because aviation is under the purview of Federal Government and it may choose to prolong period of identification and DNA sampling.” Our source further explained that unlike public belief, DNA was just one of the processes of identification while other necessary scientific examination carried out locally and overseas were being done on bodies.
“It is only when all of the processes are concluded and results of analysis from the victims are cross-matched with samples collected from families that a comprehensive post-mortem report will be issued and bodies released.”
Friday 15 June 2012
Fire kills 13 in southeast Turkey prison
ISTANBUL—Thirteen prisoners died from smoke inhalation after inmates started a fire during a mutiny in a jail in southeastern Turkey, officials said Sunday.
The prisoners set fire to blankets and beds in a cell in the Sanliurfa city prison late Saturday, but it was brought under control before it could spread throughout the jail, which holds 1,000 inmates, the Anatolia news agency reported, quoting governor Celalettin Guvenc.
Another five prisoners were hospitalized, as well as 12 prison staff who were injured during the rescue.
The fire broke out during a fight in a dormitory with 18 inmates, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told media, relaying a survivor’s account.
“I was also informed by the governor that the conditions in the cell were not suitable to accommodate 18 inmates,” he added.
After an initial investigation, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin noted that there was resistance from the prisoners when security forces tried to remove them.
“Entrance to the room was physically blocked by beds stashed at the door, which they set on fire,” he said, adding that the five rescued survivors were on lower bunks, closer to the exit.
Sanliurfa, the city’s largest jail, reportedly had an initial capacity of around 250, but was upped to 600 in recent years with additional bunk beds.
The mutiny may have been in protest at poor conditions and lack of air conditioning, the NTV news channel reported earlier, citing prison sources.
Local media frequently criticize conditions at the jail, which also holds several political prisoners including a lawmaker from the opposition Peace and Democracy Party, security sources told AFP.
The fire broke out in a cell for ordinary prisoners.
Police and gendarmerie were deployed as large crowds gathered outside the jail.
Police blocked road access and resorted to pepper spray to disperse angry families demanding to be informed of the dead prisoners’ identities.
Families were allowed to visit their relatives on Sunday after calm was restored in the prison where news of the deaths had spread panic and protests.
An investigation was under way to establish what happened.
In September 2010, a political prisoner set himself on fire in the same prison after he was transferred to the ordinary prisoners’ section, triggering protests from other inmates, but no one was killed.
The government has commissioned 196 new prisons to be built throughout the country, including a large establishment in Sanliurfa, within the next five years, according to the justice minister.
Sunday 17 June 2012