9/11 families appeal court decision

New York (CNN) -- Seventeen family members of people killed in the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks are appealing a court decision that ultimately will decide where unidentified victims' remains will rest.

The appeal comes in a New York court decision of a lawsuit brought after the 9/11 Memorial Museum decided to keep the unidentified remains of ground zero victims underground near the museum. According to the 9/11 Memorial's website, the repository will be located between the footprints of the two towers and will be accessed, operated, and maintained solely by the city's office of the chief medical examiner.

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum received "overwhelming feedback" from families that led to the decision to house the remains in a repository "on the sacred ground of the site," according to the website.

But the plan has sparked opposition, with some families saying in a statement, "The families of those who were killed were neither meaningfully notified nor consulted about this plan, and many have objected to it."

Jim Riches, chairman of the Families and Parents of Firefighters and WTC Victims, told CNN that one of his group's members polled families on a list of about 1,000 e-mail addresses. "Of the 350 families who responded, 95% said they wanted the remains to be above ground like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," Riches said, referring to the Washington site dedicated to U.S. service members whose remains were not identified.

Those families filed a petition requesting contact information for the 2,749 family members of 9/11 victims. On October 25, the New York trial court denied the petition on the grounds that releasing that information would violate privacy laws. On Friday, the 17 families filed an appeal in New York County Supreme Court.

The goal of the appeal is to have the city release a list of family members to "(seek) their input regarding the City's current plan to place the unidentified human remains in the Museum." The 17 family members that are appealing believe the state's Freedom of Information Law should allow them access to the list of names.

"The city has already given the names and addresses to the 9/11 Memorial Museum," Riches said. "You can't pick and choose who you give the names to. Let the family members pick where they want the remains to be put. They're not letting us have any say."

Monday 20 August 2012

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/19/us/new-york-9-11-families/index.html

'300 go missing every month in Haryana'

CHANDIGARH: Data compiled by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) of Haryana has revealed that around 300 persons (men, women and kids together) go missing every month from the state, and most number of cases are reported from the national capital region (NCR). The data also revealed that bodies of around 250 unidentified persons are recovered from across the state every month.

According to SCRB, 60% of missing reports or unidentified people come from NCR areas of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Mewat and Rohtak. SCRB is now setting up a centralized control room with an updated data on missing persons at the police training complex in Madhuban. The centre will be linked to all the police stations across the state to provide information and assistance on missing person. The centre will be operational by September 1.

According to figures released by SCRB, the number of persons missing in the state between 2008 to August 1, 2012 has reached 11,073. While the number of unidentified bodies cremated by police in the same period has touched the figure of 5,040.

SCRB director Layak Ram Dabas admitted that inadequate infrastructure in police stations and police posts across the state was to be blamed for failure in tracking down missing persons. Dabas also claimed that lack of coordination among states too was responsible for increase in unsolved missing persons' cases.

"There had been cases where families fail to inform police when persons whose missing report is filed returned home. Sometimes it turns out to be a case of runaway couples or kidnapping for ransom,'' Dabas said.

About 40% of those who go missing are minors while the number of adult males going missing is also the same. Rest 20% are adult females. About 250 bodies of unidentified persons are found every month and only around 50 such bodies are identified, while the rest are cremated as unidentified.

Monday 20 August 2012

http://m.timesofindia.com/articleshow/15564304.cms

Six S. Africa mine victims still unidentified

Six of the 34 people shot dead by South African police in an illegal miners' strike have not yet been identified, four days after the deadliest crackdown since apartheid, the government said Monday.

A ministerial team working in Marikana to help arrange burials and aid the families of victims said that all but six men had been identified from the fatal protest at the Lonmin platinum mine.

Some of the dead are foreigners, most likely migrant workers who came from neighbouring countries in search of work, the government said in a statement.

Authorities were working to issue the documents needed for families to transport the bodies back home, it added.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi was at the Phokeng government mortuary helping families identify the bodies, North-West provincial spokesman Lesiba Moses Kgwele said in a statement on Facebook.

"Bereaved families request government to request Lonmin not to put pressure on them to return to work while they are mourning and arranging burials," he said.

Monday 20 August 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/six-africa-mine-victims-still-unidentified-160654398.html

15 Killed, 16 Injured In Kazakh Road Accident

fficials say at least 15 people have been killed and 16 others injured in a road accident in northern Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh Emergencies Ministry said a commuter bus collided with a truck and a car late on August 19 near the village of Babatai, in Akmola Province, on the Almaty-Yekaterinburg highway.

The bus, which had 31 passengers, was en route from Astana to Karaganda.

An investigation into the accident has been launched.

Monday 20 August 2012

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-road-accident/24682254.html