YouTube unearths 50's plane crash

The 60-year-old wreckage of a Second World War-era bomber in the mountains above Metro Vancouver prompted a search by RCMP for human remains.

Mounties in Pitt Meadows, BC, received a call about human remains found at the site of a 1953 crash.

Inspector David Fleugel says, "We received information from a group of ‘extreme’ hikers who posted a video on YouTube that suggested some human remains were missed in the original recovery and these were still at the site. With the area being so remote, it took a lot of planning and preparation. We are quite satisfied that the complaint we received was incorrect."

On Sept. 14, officers, along with a forensic identification specialist and a dog unit, flew into the area and hiked to the remote location to search.

Const. Alanna Dunlop says no human remains were found.

The Mitchell B-25 went down near Pitt Lake in January 1953 during a training flight.

The lead investigator, Constable Mathew Condon says, "Attending the scene of the crash was obviously a somber experience, considering that five Airmen lost their lives at the location. However, we had to make the attempt in order to ensure that none of their remains were still at scene. Thankfully, the report proved false."

Recovery teams, in 1953, found the site was so remote and the route so treacherous that they had to wait until the following September to recover the bodies.

Friday 21 September 2012

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/80744/YouTube-unearths-50-s-plane-crash

7 die, 5 still missing as boat sinks off Bongao

Seven people drowned – three of them children – while five others were still missing as of press time as passenger boat sank off Tampat Point, Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Wednesday morning.

Coast Guard Zamboanga Station Commander Eliezer Dalnay disclosed that the boat named “Siraina” owned by Munib Bakki, was carrying 27 passengers when it encountered big waves causing it to sink about two nautical miles from Tampat Point around 3:30 a.m.

Dalnay said the boat departed Sipangkot Island in Sibutu bound for Bongao without any proper clearance.

When the boat approached Tampat Point, big waves caused the boat to sink.

Vessels, mostly wooden-hulled, serves as the main mode of transportation from one town to the other in Tawi-Tawi province, which comprises 11 island municipalities.

Bakki and four others managed to swim to the shorelines and reported the sea mishap to authorities.

Coast Guard and Philippine Navy personnel assisted by other government agencies conducted search and rescue operations that led to the rescue of 15 persons. They also retrieved the bodies of the seven passengers who drowned.

The two unidentifed fatalities are females and are believed to be in their 30’s.

Only the bodies of Basira and the two unidentified females have yet to be claimed by their relatives.

Dalnay said search and rescue was temporarily halted Wednesday night due to the bad weather condition.

Dalnay said that search and rescue operation jointly conducted by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Philippine Navy (PN) personnel resumed Thursday morning in search for the five missing people.

Dalnay said that Ikan has already coordinated with the police for the filing of appropriate charges against the owner and skipper of the vessel, Bakki Munib, for operating unregistered boat and illegal carriage of passengers.

Ikan said M/L Siraina has been operating as a passenger-cargo vessel from Sitangkai town to Bongao municipality and vice-versa.

Friday 21 Septemebr 2012

http://zamboangatimes.ph/top-news/5709-7-die-5-still-missing-as-boat-sinks-off-bongao.html

Families give DNA to ID gas fire victims

DOZENS of grieving Mexicans have lined up to give DNA samples to help authorities identify 22 relatives who died in a gas plant explosion.

The inferno at a gas distribution centre owned by state-run energy company Pemex killed 30 workers, but only eight victims have been identified since Tuesday's tragedy near the US border.

An official from the prosecutor's office on Thursday told AFP that 22 of the bodies can't be identified because they were burned beyond recognition, requiring grief-stricken relatives to provide DNA samples.

The family members have been waiting anxiously outside the forensics lab in the border city of Reynosa since Wednesday.

"They told me yesterday to wait two or three days because they are all charred and unrecognisable," said the mother of 23-year-old victim Victor Manuel Gomez.

The blast injured more than 40 people, and 25 of them are still receiving treatment in hospitals.

Reynosa hospital director Arturo Justino Ibarra said 13 people were being treated for serious injuries and second-degree burns.

They are all men aged between 20 and 25.

It was Pemex's deadliest incident since December 2010, when an oil pipeline exploded after it was punctured by thieves in the central town of San Martin Texmelucan, leaving 29 dead, injuring more than 50 and destroying 32 homes.

In October 2007, 21 Pemex workers died during a gas leak on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Most drowned when they jumped into the sea in panic.

President Felipe Calderon has ordered the prosecutor's office to conduct an investigation into the blast, which Pemex described as an "unusual accident," ruling out foul play.

Friday 21 September 2012

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/families-give-dna-to-id-gas-fire-victims/story-fn3dxix6-1226478770139