City mourns as families bury fire victims

More news on the factory fire in Karachi..

As rescue teams concluded their efforts at the factory in Baldia Town on Thursday, around 40 relatives of the victims deposited their blood samples at hospitals for DNA tests that would enable the medical staff to identify some of the bodies of people who perished in the tragic fire.

Officials present at government hospitals said that 16 people had come forward at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), while 24 deposited samples at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for DNA matching.

Moving scenes were witnessed as 57 burials took place in Baldia and Orangi towns.

Over at the site of the catastrophe, firefighters and workers from the private sector ended their efforts to recover bodies or rescue survivors. The fire, which lasted for more than 24 hours, claimed nearly 300 lives.

According to the Chief Fire Officer Ehtisham Sami, further rescue efforts were not required as the raging inferno had finally been extinguished and there was no chance of recovering bodies from the basement as the accumulated water had been drained. Meanwhile, the debris had also been cleared, he told The News.

He said that the body parts of 11 people were recovered during Thursday’s rescue work. “Most of the bodies were so badly burnt that only DNA tests could establish their identity,” the chief fire officer observed.

Meanwhile, The News also learnt that the frequent visits of government officials and political leaders would cause interruptions in the rescue efforts.

Although government officials said that 277 people were killed in the fire, sources claimed that the figure was actually higher. The officials said that at least 88 bodies were brought to the CHK, 117 to ASH and 72 bodies corpses were taken to the Jinnah Post Medical Graduate Centre (JMPC). They added that no bodies were sent to the Edhi Morgue. However, sources claimed that 105 bodies were brought to CHK, 118 to the ASH and 72 to the JPMC.

A medico-legal officer (MLO) of the one of the hospitals, who chose to remain anonymous, said he only examined that bodies that came as a whole and not those that were brought in parts. “The bodies of at least 25 to 30 people would be examined over the next 24 hours,” the MLO of the public-sector hospital told The News.

Meanwhile, a CHK official said that the body parts of two more people were received, who were later identified 25-year-old Kiran Ikhlaque and 26-year-old Habib Khan.

Kiran’s body was identified by her elder brother through a ring on the victim’s finger, while Habib’s father identified his son’s body through the betel-nuts found in his pocket.

The owner of the factory, whose name was nominated in the FIR, was declared an absconder and remained at large till the filing of this report.

Friday 14 September 2012

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-131815-City-mourns-as-families-bury-fire-victims

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DNA samples being obtained from relatives

KARACHI, Sept 13: With bodies of 82 victims of the Baldia factory blaze still unidentified, the Sindh health department collected around 65 blood samples from the victims’ relatives for DNA analysis on Thursday.

A senior health official told Dawn that comparing the DNA was the best option to identify the victims.

DNA samples from the bodies will be compared to those of the grieving relatives to see which family they belong to.

The DNA samples were collected at camps set up specially for the purpose at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

The family members were required to provide photocopies of their national identity cards and also of the deceased members.

Paramedical staff and volunteers were present to guide them.

Javed Hassan, father of a young man who died at the factory, told Dawn that his 23-year-old son, Ahsan Javed, had left their home in Mujahidabad on Tuesday morning, never to return.

“I have inquired about his body at the JPMC and CHK, and also the Edhi morgue, but there is no trace,” he said. Then he came to know about the camps set up for DNA testing and I went there, he added.

Munawar George, the father of Saeed Munawar George, who had worked at the garment factory for the past two and a half years, said that he lived in Christian Colony, in Baldia Town, and had been unable to find his son’s body. He hoped that the DNA test would help identify has son’s body.

Another grieving man, Syed Hashmat Ali, who had come to the camp at the CHK, had lost his 20-year-old daughter, Zoya, in the fire. The family originally belongs to Kotri but has been living in Karachi for long.

Mr Ali said that Zoya had been working at the factory with four other women and a man, who were their relatives, for the past three to four years. All of them died.

“My daughter had recently said that she wanted to visit Kotri,” he said with tears in his eyes as the staff took his blood sample.

“Her wish will never come true now.”

Mr Ali condemned the factory management for negligence that resulted in so many deaths.

Till 8pm on Thursday, 39 samples had been collected at ASH, 16 at the CHK and 10 at the JPMC. Another official from the health department said that the collected samples would be sent through the police department to laboratories in Islamabad or Lahore.

The results would become available after 15 to 20 days.

According to the data provided by the health department, a total of 259 bodies were recovered from the inferno site, out of which 236 were of men and 23 were of women. Around 82 bodies, of which 72 are of men and 10 of women, have yet to be identified to be handed over to their relatives.

Friday 14 September 2012

http://dawn.com/2012/09/14/dna-samples-being-obtained-from-relatives/

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Dana Crash: Lagos issues 89 death certificates to victims’ families

Ikeja – No fewer than 89 families of victims of the June 3, ill-fated Dana plane crash have been issued death certificates.

Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State disclosed this on Thursday while speaking to newsmen shortly after holding a closed-door meeting with some of the families at the Government House, Ikeja.

He said that those who were issued certificates were families of 141 victims whose bodies had been successfully identified so far, adding that 51 families were yet to collect the certificates.

The governor also said nine bodies were yet to be identified, explaining that the DNA samples of five were not initially supplied by their families while the remaining four could not be identified immediately.

“We have, however, taken fresh samples of the five bodies and have in fact sent them abroad.

“If that is successful, it will leave us with how to proceed with the remaining bodies because we cannot identify them,” he said.

Fashola said talks were in progress with the families on holding a memorial service to honour the victims and build a cenotaph around the crash site or any other site to immortalise them.

He praised the understanding and patience of the victims’ families, saying even in their moments of grief, they worked with the government in resolving the problem of identification of the bodies.

“The crash, though very regrettable, should make the nation ponder about all that is wrong about the aviation sector and do the right things to reposition it,” the governor said.

Speaking with newsmen, family members of some of the victims demanded a total overhaul of the aviation sector to forestall a recurrence of the mishap.

One of them, Mr Seke Somolu, urged the Ministry of Aviation to publish the findings of the investigation into the crash.

He said if the report was not published and the whole process was not made transparent, it could mean that the authorities and the airline were unwilling to inform Nigerians about the actual cause of the incident.

Somolu also queried what he described as “the hasty restoration of Dana’s operating licence”, saying, “it portrays insensitivity of what families of the victims are going through.”

Mrs Onyinye Okocha, who lost her husband to the crash, said the only thing that could provide some consolation to the families was for the government to make the country’s skies safer.

She said the country’s aviation sector was bedevilled by many problems, calling on the Federal Government to take radical steps to address the problems.

Okocha commended the Lagos State Government for the `compassionate way’ it had handled the unfortunate incident so far, and for DNA analysis of victims, which she said was highly appreciated.

Dana’s aircraft carrying 153 passengers crashed at Iju-Ishaga, a suburb of Lagos, on June 3, killing everyone on board.

Friday 14 September 2012

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/dana-crash-lagos-issues-89-death-certificates-to-victims-families/

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Death toll rises to 18 as search for bodies called off

KARACHI - The search for the bodies of drowned fishermen of Al-Rahman fishing trawler was called off on Wednesday after the volunteers found two more bodies from the sea, bringing the total death toll to 18 people.

The boat, carrying around 37 fishermen, had capsized after being hit by a huge wave off Ibrahim Hyderi at around 9pm on Sunday. Eighteen fishermen were rescued soon after by another passing boat and out of them three later died in at the hospital.

Of the remaining, 18 bodies were recovered by the volunteers involved in the search and recovery operation later, while one body remains at sea.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum’s media coordinator, Sami Memon, told Dawn that the all efforts of volunteers have been exhausted in the search for drowned fishermen. “They were able to find two more bodies on Wednesday,” he said. “Only the body of Mohammad Yusuf, the boat-guard who also worked as a fisherman, hasn’t been found.”

Yusuf’s brother, Faisal, a tailor master, has been waiting for news at the Jamote Jetty in Ibrahim Hyderi since Sunday night, when he first heard about the unfortunate accident.

“Who will find my son now? I think only God can help us,” said his mother, while speaking to Dawn on Wednesday. Earlier, Faisal had said on Tuesday that though he knew that there were no chances for Yusuf’s survival but they wanted his body to be found so they could at least give him a proper burial.

Al-Rahman’s captain also said, “All human efforts to recover Yusuf have failed. Now it is up to the sea to give him up and bring him to the surface.”

Friday 14 September 2012

http://dawn.com/2012/09/13/death-toll-rises-to-18-as-search-for-bodies-called-off/

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Nigeria: 10 Drown, Three Missing in Taraba Boat Mishap

Kano — Ten teenage girls drowned while travelling by canoe to a wedding in Taraba, a region hit by severe seasonal flooding, Red Cross said, yesterday.

Three others, who were in the canoe that capsized on the Karim River, are still missing, said the head of the Red Cross in Taraba State, Manja Agwe Mathew.

He said: "The bodies of 10 passengers in the canoe were recovered by local fishermen, while search for the remaining three is still on."

He added that the accident occurred, late Tuesday, while the group was travelling "to a wedding ceremony in another village across the river."

On Monday, the Red Cross said at least 137 people in Nigeria have died since July from flood-related incidents. Water levels have surged on the River Benue, which feeds the Karim, causing at least 30 deaths.

Officials have urged thousands of people in the south and centre of the country, who live on the plains of the River Niger, to evacuate their homes, fearing it will overflow.

Friday 14 September 2012

http://allafrica.com/stories/201209131065.html

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30 bodies recovered from flood-hit areas in Balochistan

QUETTA: Rescue workers recovered 30 bodies washed away in heavy floods from different locations in the Naseerabad and Dera Murad Jamali districts of Balochistan on Wednesday.

The heavy rains triggered a flash flood in Balochistan and Sindh, causing widespread devastation across the two provinces as some 500 villages in Naseerabad district were submerged under water, according to reports.

So far, the flood has affected 7,361 people, damaged 3,357 acres of agriculture land and about 2,300 houses in various districts of Balochistan, Sindh and the Punjab.

Provincial governments, PDMAs, Army and Frontier Corps have launched joint rescue and relief operations for people trapped in the rain-battered areas of the provinces, said Balochistan focal person on floods and Secretary Information Technology Akbar Hussain Durrani here at the DPR office on Wednesday.

He said that 11 districts, including Qilla Saifullah, Lorali, Zhob, Shirani Musa Khail, Khuzdar, Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Dera Bugti, Sibi and Lasbella, were badly affected by the flash floods caused by the heavy downpour.

Referring to the inconvenience caused to private and public transporters due to the suspension of the road network, Durrani said that restoration of damaged portions of roads was the government’s top priority. After repairing the damaged portions, the Quetta-Zhob-Dera Ismail Khan Road and Quetta-Lorali, Dera Ghazi Khan Road linking Balochistan with the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had been restored while work was underway on the Och National Highway in Notal to restore the road that connects Balochistan with Sindh.

Meanwhile, gushing water breached the embankment of seasonal Nullahs following heavy rains, inundating several villages near the Rajanpur area. The flood damaged the standing crops and residential settlements, a private news channel reported.

Thousands of homeless people took shelter along the roadside after losing their homes.

A 14-year-old boy died when a rescue boat carrying affected families capsized. A rescue operation was kicked off in the Rojhan area of Rajanpur where several villages were inundated by the floodwater. Rescue 1122 teams were shifting the affected villagers to safer places.

Meanwhile, two children died when the roof of their house collapsed. According to the local police, the incident occurred in the limits of the Sibi city police station. A man was also injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, the ISPR said that the Pakistan Army had rescued over 1,200 flood-affected people and shifted them to safer places through MI-17 and boats in Naseerabad and surrounding areas in the last two days. The army has employed 860 troops, 6 Army Aviation helicopters, 60 motor boats, 12 dewatering pumps and engineering equipment for rescue and relief activities at the flash flood-affected areas of Dera Ghazi Khan, Sukkur, Larkana, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Zhob, Kalat, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali and Naseerabad. Troops were immediately moved to the flood-affected areas on the request of the civil administration.

Army engineers have plugged six breaches in Dera Ghazi Khan. As many as 200 tents and 20,000 dry food packets were distributed in Naseeraabad and adjacent areas of Dera Murad Jamali through six sorties of MI-17 on Wednesday. Food was also provided to over 5,000 affected people in Dera Murad Jamali, Rajanpur and Rojhan.

Friday 14 September 2012

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-17436-30-bodies-recovered-from-flood-hit-areas-in-Balochistan

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