Thousands attend a frugal mass cremation in Buleleng

Thousands of residents of the Sangsit Dauh Yeh customary village in Buleleng joined a mass cremation on Friday.

The ritual, known as a sawa karsian, is held once every five years and gives poorer residents an affordable way to cremate their deceased relatives.

Cremation is an expensive affair in Bali. Households typically spend up to Rp 50 million (US$5,200) to organize a simple ngaben cremation ritual for the deceased.

However, to participate in the sawa karsian ritual on Friday cost a family only Rp 1 million, paid to the customary village that organized the event.

The village leaders pooled the money received to finance the cremation of 682 deceased individuals from 73 dadya, or groupings of dozens of related families.

Unlike the more common ngaben ritual that calls for the cremation of the deceased on a pyre, a sawa karsian does not involve any bodies.

Instead, each family builds effigies of the deceased using precious wood, such as sandalwood, majegau, and golden flowers. The name of the ritual comes from the Balinese words used for effigy: sawa karsian.

Since early Friday morning, thousands of local residents, all dressed in traditional clothes, were seen flocking to the village’s soccer field, where the most of the preparatory rituals had taken place. In previous days, local residents participated in a massive street procession to fetch holy water for the cremation.

After hours of preparation, the people were ready to march to two cemeteries, the setra kaja and the setra kelod, carrying with them sawa karsian and other ritual paraphernalia. Walking under the sun with little shelter, the men and women formed a slow-moving procession that backed up traffic along the island’s main northern road.

After reaching the cemeteries, Balinese Hindu high priests led the faithful through a complex series of rituals that climaxed with the torching of the sawa karsian.

Each effigy was placed inside an earthenware bowl before being set afire with material that was previously sanctified by a sacred mantra.

The next step of the ritual takes place at dawn on Saturday, when the devoted will release the ashes of their sawa karsian into the sea.

Finally, in the last step, known as meajar-ajar, the families will conduct a two-day long pilgrimage to all the major temples of the island to announce to the gods that the mass cremation was successful.

For village elder Wayan Wisara, one of the true achievement of the ceremony was increasing the awareness of local residents of the vanity of using religious rituals as a pretext to flaunt their economic and social status.

“I am very happy that the people of Sangsih Dauh Yeh could organize a ritual in such a simple and modest way, and with a deep understanding of the essence of the ritual,” Wisara said.

He said that organizing a lavish and expensive ritual for the sake of displaying one’s economic power of the community is one of the main problems facing Balinese Hindus.

“In this mass cremation, we cut out several costly things that we sincerely believe have nothing to do with the essence of the ritual,” he said.

Among the things were new uniform shirts and kebaya for participants and a collective feast.

“We didn’t take out anything related to the offerings and ritual paraphernalia. In a sense, we have returned the ritual to its core,” Wisara said.

Saturday 10 November 2012

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/10/thousands-attend-a-frugal-mass-cremation-buleleng.html

More than 100 families yet to receive compensation

Several families which took away the bodies of their beloved ones from the factory without fulfilling legal requirements...

The families of around 185 victims of a Baldia garments factory fire have received monetary compensation, and the rest numbering more than 100 are still waiting to be paid, according to a labour leader.

The government is yet to release a list of families which have been paid compensation for the loss of their loved ones in the September 11 blaze. Most victims were the sole breadwinner for their families.

Two months have passed but the exact number of labourers who lost their lives in the Category III blaze is yet to be determined. The government has put the death toll as 259, whereas some labour organisations claim the figure is up to 300.

The general secretary of the Garments Hosiery Labour Association, Nawab Ali, said on Friday that around 185 affected families had been compensated so far. However, he said efforts were being made to get a list to ascertain the exact number of families that had received compensation.

Ali said there were several families which took away the bodies of their beloved ones from the factory, Ali Enterprises, without fulfilling legal requirements, and there were some families which buried the deceased but did not have the burial record issued by the KMC.

He said the unavailability of the Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) had also been the cause of some affected families not being provided with compensation. He alleged that there were some affected families from Lyari Town which had not got compensation due to the non-cooperation of the local administration.

Several announcements have been made to compensate the legal heirs of the fire victims. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had announced Rs400,000 for every deceased and Rs100,000 for every injured.

During his visit to Karachi on September 14, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif had announced a Rs300,000 donation. Likewise, Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah had also announced compensation for the affected families.

The deputy general secretary of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Nasir Mansoor, said on Friday that several institutions of the government which were supposed to safeguard the interests of the workers had pledged in the Sindh High Court to give the victim families all those facilities which, according to the labour law, every registered worker was entitled to.

He said the Workers Welfare Board had pledged to award a grant of Rs350,000 to each victim family, and Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) had vowed to start releasing pensions to the families.

He said negotiations were being held to get compensation from the German Company, KiK, which was having its products made at Ali Enterprises.

The company is reported to have promised financial help but is yet provide it.

Saturday 10 November 2012

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-142044-More-than-100-families-yet-to-receive-compensation

Sri Lanka deploys troops as prison riot kills 27

Heavily-armed troops guarded Sri Lanka's lone maximum security prison Saturday after helping to crush the country's worst jail riot in three decades, which left 27 people dead and 43 wounded.

Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said the soldiers handed back the sprawling Welikada jail in the capital Colombo to the prisons department after ensuring calm had been restored following Friday's riot.

"We have withdrawn troops from the prison, but we are still maintaining a presence along the perimeter," Wanigasooriya told AFP.

Prisons Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera said 11 of the dead were recovered from the prison where inmates fought with elite police commandos who were carrying out a search for drugs and mobile phones on Friday evening.

"Sixteen bodies are at the hospital and another 11 were found in the prison today," Gajadeera told parliament Saturday. "I have appointed a three-member committee to investigate the incident."

Friday's violence was the worst prison riot since July 1983 when more than 50 ethnic Tamil prisoners were massacred at the same jail by majority Sinhalese prisoners during anti-Tamil riots that had gripped the country.

A number of inmates climbed onto the prison roof and fired at troops and police on the ground while a handful hijacked a three-wheel auto rickshaw taxi which was stopped by heavy gunfire from security personnel.

Inside the jail there were intense gun-battles lasting several hours between rioting inmates and the police Special Task Force (STF) commandos who had been drafted in to carry out the search.

The prisons minister said inmates seized 82 weapons, including automatic assault rifles, after storming an armoury and grabbing weapons from commandos. They were all later recovered.

The rioting caused extensive damage to the prison headquarters inside the jail complex.

"Sixteen people were already dead when they were brought to hospital last night and another 43 are being treated," Colombo National Hospital director Anil Jasinghe told AFP.

Officials said the 11 bodies recovered from the prison Saturday would be taken to a morgue for autopsies.

"Among those in hospital are 13 STF personnel, four soldiers and one civilian bystander," Dr Jasinghe said, adding gunfire also wounded the head of the STF, deputy inspector-general R. M. Ranawana.

It was not immediately clear if any convicts managed to escape.

Afghan, Indian and Pakistani inmates being held at the jail were unaffected, a prison source said, adding that they were being held in a different wing.

Witnesses said the dead appeared to be mainly inmates but a hospital source said at least one jail guard was among the dead.

"The STF search inside the prison went on for about five hours and they recovered a lot of contraband," another security official told AFP. "As commandos were completing their raid, the inmates turned on them."

There was similar violence at the same penitentiary on January when 25 inmates and four guards were wounded.

In 2010, more than 50 police and prison guards were wounded in a riot during another raid to seize illegal mobile phones.

Friday 10 November 2012

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlDa-DsefPuyQql_z4YDwCP8AYBA?docId=CNG.dbe07130abf81259ecce6e53b08c2de6.f1

25 killed in Myanmar tanker train explosion

YANGON, Myanmar - Twenty-five people were killed in northern Myanmar when a derailed tanker train burst into flames as they were trying to skim fuel from its overturned carriages, state television reported Friday

The report said 62 other people were injured Friday morning after the train hauling seven carriages of gasoline and two of diesel derailed near Kantbalu about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Yangon. It was travelling from Yangon to the Kachin state capital of Myitkyina.

The report said the injured were being treated at two nearby hospitals.

A witness, Myint Kyi, told the U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia that the dead included 16 men, seven women and two bodies so badly burned their gender was not immediately apparent. He gave the number of injured as 74.

No explanation has been given for the accident, but Burma's railways are in poor condition after years of neglect.

Officials told the BBC Burmese service that three wagons overturned and burst into flames.

There were seven wagons carrying petrol and two more of diesel, officials said.

The number of people killed in the accident was unclear. The government said 25 people died and 62 people were injured.

But emergency officials told the BBC that more than 80 were wounded, and that 27 had been killed.

Two people died after being transferred to hospital, emergency officials said.

Saturday 10 November 2012

http://www.klfy.com/story/20052873/25-killed-in-myanmar-tanker-train-explosion

Algerian military plane crashes in south France

Rescue workers have found four bodies amid the wreckage of an Algerian military cargo plane that was carrying six people from Paris to Algiers when it went down in flames in a mountainous region of southern France.

The twin-engine CASA C-295 plane was carrying a cargo of banknote paper for the Bank of Algeria, according to a source familiar with the matter.

One body was found in the pilot's seat and three others in the cabin, which had become separated from the front of the plane, said Samuel Finielz, a prosecutor from Mende in the Lozere department, on Friday.

Emergency workers are still searching for the other two bodies after extinguishing a fire in the wreckage, which burned for about an hour after crashing.

The plane had left Algiers early on Friday with five military officials and a representative from the Bank of Algeria on board, according to an Algerian military statement cited by the APS news agency.

The military said the plane was delivering equipment from France for the Bank of Algeria. It was on its way back to north Africa when the crash occurred.

Around 90 firefighters attended the scene of the crash in a forest clearing near the village of Trelans, the fire service said.

One witness said he thought he had seen a parachute in the sky, but a source close to the investigation said the object was in fact a piece of cabin.

It's the second incident involving a military aircraft in the south of France in recent months.

In July, a Cougar helicopter carrying six Eurocopter workers crashed, killing all on board.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/algerian-cargo-plane-crashes-in-france/story-e6frfkui-1226514151504#ixzz2BoJqxT8d

Turkish soldiers killed in helicopter crash

Seventeen Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter crashed in southeastern Turkey due to bad weather conditions, the area's governor has said.

The Sikorsky helicopter crashed in heavy fog on Herekol mountain, in the Pervari area of Siirt province, according to Governor Ahmed Aydin.

The victims were members of special police forces.

The group was traveling to southeastern Turkey for military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group which has battled the Turkish government for decades, demanding more rights for Kurds, including autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast of the country.

Several days ago, Turkish media reported that soldiers were airlifted into northern Iraq for a brief operation against suspected rebels, who have bases there.

There were no reports of casualties on that mission.

Turkey periodically carries out artillery and air strikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq, but reports of cross-border incursions are rare.

Since summer there has been an upsurge in PKK attacks in southeast Turkey, notably in the Hakkari region.

Turkish jets and helicopters have pounded PKK positions along the border with Iraq and Iran for three days, killing 42 militants, Hakkari's governor said late on Friday.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out a separate state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

Saturday 10 november 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/11/201211108515163949.html

Nerul teen's death on tracks shocks family, hospital adds to trauma, hands wrong body

It was a double tragedy for the family of HSC student Rakesh Pote (18), who was one of the three youths killed near the railway tracks between Nerul and Juinagar on Thursday.

Rakesh's body was wrongly claimed from the municipal morgue at Vashi by the family of the second deceased, Rahul Ghodke (19), who was Rakesh's classmate. Both the boys lived in Sarsole village, Nerul, and had gone with a third friend, Santosh Malekar (17), towards Nerul after lunch on Thursday. However, they were later found dead on the tracks with severe head injuries and multiple fractures. All three were class XII students of Shiravane Vidyalaya & Junior College in Nerul, Sector 2.

Talking to TOI on Friday, Rakesh's uncle Ramdas Pote, said: "On Thursday evening we were shocked to learn that our boy (Rakesh) was killed along with two of his friends near the railway tracks. We told the NMMC hospital authorities that we will claim the body on Friday morning as many relatives were yet to arrive in Navi Mumbai for the last rites."

But the family was in for another shock as they learnt that Rakesh's body was not there in the Vashi morgue on Friday morning. "Rakesh's body had been wrongly claimed by another victim's family on Thursday night and already cremated near Nashik. We are very disturbed about this.''

Rahul Ghodke's family had somehow taken away the body of Rakesh to their native place at Alephata on Nashik Road and cremated it. When informed about the mix-up, Rahul's family rushed back to the morgue to claim the right body and conducted the last rites again. They also handed over Rakesh's ashes to his grieving family members so that they could perform a special puja.

When TOI contacted the Vashi municipal hospital, the authorities refused to take any blame for the situation. "The railway police gave us the three bodies of the youths for post-mortem on Thursday. Later, we handed the bodies back to the railway police in order to be given to their respective families. It is unfortunate that such a mix-up took place,'' said a senior official at the hospital.

However, senior inspector of Vashi GRP, Purushottam Karyakarte, blamed the hospital. "The hospital should have at least properly labeled the bodies and given them to the right families. In situations like these, the family is usually in a state of shock and is therefore not in a position to identify the body," he said.

"We are still investigating how the three boys died on the tracks. By Friday afternoon, all the three bodies had been claimed, though we are not aware if one body was wrongly claimed,'' said an official.

Saturday 10 November 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Nerul-teens-death-on-tracks-shocks-family-hospital-adds-to-trauma-hands-wrong-body/articleshow/17162585.cms