Northwest Pakistan Bus Crash Kills 16

At least 16 people were killed and 23 others were injured when a bus, en route from Karachi to Peshawar, rammed into a 22-wheeler trailer-truck on the Indus Highway on Saturday morning.

Police confirmed the accident took place at 3:00am near Kaniza Speena Turn, in Karak district.

District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Khan said 15 people – among them four children and as many women – were killed in the deadly crash.

He added that a state of emergency was declared in the district headquarters hospital (DHQ) where some of the injured were taken. However, those with critical wounds were ferried to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

DPO Khan blamed the bus driver, who is also among the fatalities. The truck driver, on the other hand, fled the scene. “We have started investigation and will soon reveal who was responsible for the tragedy,” he added. Dr Lal Sharaf Dawar, the medical superintendent of DHQ Karak, told The Express Tribune that despite a shortage of medics and paramedical staff, his team performed surgeries on over 10 wounded passengers.

The victims mostly belonged to different areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa who worked as day labourers in Karachi, he added. A one-year-old baby girl miraculously survived the crash – however her entire family, which hailed from the Chhauta Lahor area of Swabi district, was killed. The child was shifted to the house of government administrator.

District Coordination Officer Ali Anan Qamar said a large number of locals volunteered for the rescue operation. “The residents even rented vehicles to take bodies of the victims to their hometowns,” Qamar said, adding that the people living near the hospital and highway provided food and medicines to the injured and relatives of the deceased on an emergency basis.

Locals demanded National Highway Authority (NHA) officials to remove Kaniza Speena Turn – termed “the deadly turn” – from the highway as it has been the cause of several fatal accidents in the past.

Provincial Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul, along with local politicians, visited the hospital to enquire after the victims.

The fatalities were identified as Hunar Shah and Dawa Khan from Khyber Agency, Sartaj Khan from Nowshera, Nisar Hussain, Anwar Ali, Shakeel Khan Sani, and Arbaz, from Swabi, Fawad and Fatima from Khairpur in Sindh, Zeba from Peshawar, Seema Bibi and Istemarija from Karachi. One of the deceased could not be identified.

Pakistan has one of the world's worst records for fatal traffic accidents, blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Sunday 25 november 2012

http://tribune.com.pk/story/470884/road-rampage-deadly-crash-kills-15-in-karak/

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Landslide kills 5 in Tasikmalaya

At least five people were killed in a landslide in Taraju village, in Tasikmalaya regency on Sunday evening.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in statement on Sunday evening that the search and rescue team would continue the evacuation tomorrow as it was already dark at the scene.

The bodies of the four victims, identified as Nur, 20, Intan, 14, Wulan, 22, and Pipit, 5, were taken to the nearest community health center (Puskesmas). The remaining victim was identified as Ulung, 18.

Heavy rains lashed the are on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.The five victims were bathing in Cipalasari river when the landslide hit

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/25/landslide-kills-5-tasikmalaya.html

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Zambo City holds mass burial for unclaimed cadavers

The remains of 25 unclaimed cadavers stored for almost a year at the Villa Funeral Homes here, were buried in a mass grave Friday at the city government-owned cemetery in Barangay Talabaan.

The burial was done after blessing rites officiated by a priest, a pastor and an imam.

Evelyn Las Marias, officer-in-charge of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), said 21 of the 25 cadavers were male adults, two adult females and two babies.

The mass burial was jointly organized by the CSWDO and the City Health Office.

Las Marias said the victims were either found dead in different areas in this city or were abandoned in hospitals. Cause of death varied — gunshot wounds, stabbing, old age, still born.

She said the city government decided to hold a mass burial since the remains were stored and unclaimed at the funeral parlor for almost a year. A city ordinance sates that unclaimed cadavers can be buried 30 days after storage.

She said the local government every year initiates a mass burial of unclaimed cadavers.

The city government shoulders the embalming, storage and burial expenses year round, she added.

The previous mass burial was on November 30, 2011 where 34 unclaimed cadavers were buried at the Talabaan public cemetery, where all unclaimed cadavers are buried.

Mayor Celso Lobregat, who ordered the mass burial, said unclaimed cadavers, regardless of the circumstances of death and regardless of personal background, deserve a decent burial.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2012/11/25/zambo-city-holds-mass-burial-for-unclaimed-cadavers/

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Needed: space for the dead

As bodies continue to pile up with violence in Karachi showing no sign of abating, every inch of the Edhi morgue’s cold storage in Sohrab Goth is precious, to say the least.

But for the past two months, the bodies of 28 victims of the Baldia garments factory fire have been lying in the morgue, which is causing immense space constraints at the city’s only public mortuary, say morgue officials.

“Here we can store up to 220 bodies at a time, and bodies from across the city flood in here every day — from road accidents to killings, to unknown bodies to even natural deaths for funeral preparations,” says Mohammad Mushtaq, the in-charge of the morgue.

According to Jahanzaib Khan, the investigation officer (IO) of the fire incident, which occurred on September 11, the bodies are awaiting DNA tests, and then will be handed over to the families.

“We sent the samples of the remaining bodies to Islamabad two weeks after the incident and have been waiting ever since. The families are also restless to bury their loved ones. The case now lies in the capital; the police have done their bit.”

An Edhi official says the bodies are beyond recognition and they do not know what to do with them. The families, he says, are not squeezing the authorities for the results, another factor causing the delay.

“The relatives of the victims seem quite passive on the issue, as the authorities are taking an endless time and nobody is making any noise,” says Amanullah, the head of Edhi Centre in Sohrab Goth.

According to the standard procedure, the Edhi morgue does not keep an unclaimed body for more than three days. It buries it with a tag number in the Edhi graveyard on the outskirt of the city if nobody turns up in three days.

“Usually, we take a picture and issue a tag number to the body before burying it,” says Amanullah. “If a claimant arrives after the burial we give him the tag number so they can track it in the Edhi graveyard in Moach Goth on the outskirts.”

“But in this case we cannot bury them as per our standard procedure, because that might hurt the emotions of the family members,” he explains.

Another factor which is holding back the Edhi morgue official from burying the bodies is the problem of recognition. The faces are beyond identification and getting worse by the day, which only leaves the officials with the option of a DNA test alone.

“The faces have melted. So even if we bury the bodies, taking pictures, they won’t be of any help,” says Mushtaq.

He cautions that the bodies are rotting bit by bit, as the morgue often suffers power outages and the storage is not in the best of conditions.

According to a report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in October, a total of 2,991 people died of unnatural causes, including target killings, till September 2012.

The three government hospitals in the city, namely Civil Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, do have mortuaries, but they are very small given the number of casualties that take place in Karachi.

A Civil Hospital official says the hospital has a place to keep only 15 dead bodies at a time. Put together, the three hospitals can keep not more than 40 dead bodies.

The News tried to contact Sindh Minister for Health Dr Sagheer Ahmed for his views on the issue, but he was not available for comment.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-144850-Needed-space-for-the-dead

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19 dead, 4 missing in China coal mine accident

Four miners remain trapped Sunday after a coal gas explosion killed 19 miners in a mine in southwestern China.

State media reported that, a total of 28 miners were working when the underground blast occurred Saturday at the Xiangshui coal mine, in Guizhou Province.

Rescuers were attempting to reach the trapped miners, Yin Zhihua, vice mayor of Liupanshui city, was quoted as saying.

Rescue teams were forced to wait until dangerous gases had receded before pulling out five miners. One of the rescued miners was in a critical condition.

The coal mine, operated by Pannan Coal Exploitation Co, Ltd, is located in Panxian county of the coal-rich Liupanshui city. It went into operation in 2006 with a designed annual output of 4 million tonnes. The mine sits on a coal deposit of 1.3 billion tonnes.

Coal produced by Xiangshui feeds Pannan Power Station in the region, which is considered a key part of the government's strategy to send electricity from its resource-rich western region to the power-hungry industry belts in the east.

China is the biggest consumer of coal in the world.

China has one of the world's deadliest coal mine industries, with 1,146 miners killed in 650 mining accidents as of mid-October this year. Safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years, but regulations are often ignored and accidents are still common.

Some coal mines were ordered to suspend production due to safety problems, but they illegally resumed production without tackling problems.

The coal mines which have failed to meet the safety standards should not be reopened and those who abuse their power to lower overhaul standards would be punished, the notice from the workplace safety authorities said.

Authorities intended to shut down 625 small mines this year to boost mining safety.

In August, a mine blast in southwestern China's Sichuan Province killed 44 people, the highest single accident toll for the industry in three years.

In September, 20 miners died after a steel cable broke in a coal mine in northwestern China's Gansu Province.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/11/25/19-dead-4-missing-in-china-coal-mine-accident

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Edhi gets ‘biggest’ mobile mortuary in world

The Edhi Foundation has acquired a refrigerated mobile mortuary for transportation of at least 16 and a maximum of 32 bodies at a time.

The mobile mortuary parked at the Edhi Centre near Tower for the time being will soon be moved to the Bilquis Edhi Free Hospital in Musa Lane where they provide free burial shrouds and other services for the dead.Providing details to Dawn about the special vehicle on Saturday, Edhi spokesperson Anwar Kazmi said that the idea for the mobile mortuary came to Abdul Sattar Edhi’s son Faisal Edhi while sensing the need for it.

“It was around the time the bodies of the victims of the Turbat carnage were brought here by Edhi ambulances in very bad and decomposed state. That prompted the Edhi Foundation to think about doing something for the preservation of bodies during transit,” he said.

“This is the first biggest mobile mortuary of its kind in the world,” Mr Kazmi said.

“The mobile itself is a four-by-four diesel Hino truck costing Rs7 million. The fabrication of its body was done free of cost as a donation by a philanthropist whose name has been printed on the side of the truck,” he added.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://dawn.com/2012/11/25/edhi-gets-biggest-mobile-mortuary-in-world/

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Public hospitals forced to foot burial bills for unclaimed patients

Scores of persons abandoned in life at public hospitals are also deserted at death, leaving the health facilities to bear the cost of burying these persons whose relatives do not turn up to claim their bodies.

Between early January and mid-September of this year, the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) spent close to half a million dollars to provide pauper burials for more than 40 of its patients who were abandoned by their relatives.

"Between January 8 and September 18, a total of 44 dead bodies had to be buried by the hospital. Of that total, six were unknown males while only six were women," said Dianne Duke, acting patient affairs manager at the KPH.

"If you have abandoned patients, you're going to have abandoned dead bodies as well," added Buela Stevens, CEO of the KPH.

She continued: "We have to pay to bury them and get burial orders from the RGD (Registrar General's Department). It is a cost to the institution."

Stevens told our news team that there are times when the hospital gets the person listed as next of kin to come in, but it all goes downhill after that.

"Sometimes you do have one or two visits before and then once the person is dead, you have to call for the next of kin to come in, and when they come in and get the information, they don't come back, and when you call there is no response," Stevens revealed.

"Each time we bury (one of the patients) in a pauper's burial, it costs about $10,000," added Stevens.

It is not clear whether the costs and hassle associated with private burials might be too daunting a proposition for very poor families or if there are other reasons for the abandonment. Costs for private burials, on family plots or in established cemeteries can run close to $200,000.

Mark Martin, chief executive officer of the Spanish Town Hospital, told The Sunday Gleaner that his facility has had to underwrite the burial costs for eight of its abandoned patients.

Everton Anderson, the chief executive of the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, St James, faces a similar problem.

"Since the beginning of 2012, the hospital has funded burial expenses for eight deceased individuals deemed as indigent," said Anderson.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead9.html

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Probe mine mishap

The Catholic Church is demanding an investigation into the real cause of the accident at a mining site in Paracale, Camarines Norte that is believed to have caused the death of at least 12 miners.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said only three of the 12 miners have been identified and they have only recovered one body, identified as 23-year-old Julian Cabarubia, on Thursday afternoon.

Another body was recovered on Saturday, but Bicol regional civil defense director Raffy Alejandro said the only identified fatalities are Cabarubia, Carlo Salen, 37 and Luis Sayson, 33.

Alejandro said the minders were trapped in a 200-foot-deep pit around 5 p.m. of Tuesday when the pit suddenly filled with water while they were conduction “guerilla mining.”

Camarines Norte provincial police chief Senior Supt. Juan Capinpin said the mining operation was being financed by a certain Agosto Jordan.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has already ordered an investigation into the accident and Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director Theodore Rommel Pestano said the explosion occurred in the property of United Paragon Mining Corp.

Pestano said an explosion may have caused water from the sea to flood into the collapsed area and trap the small-scale miners because the tunnel was near the shoreline.

The Catholic Church in Camarines Norte is conducting its own investigation into the mining accident and Rev. Edwin Visda, social action director of the Diocese of Daet, said they are conducting their own probe because of “attempts to cover up the tragedy.”

The priest said initial findings indicate that the mine collapsed because of a dynamite explosion, but the he admitted “there are news reports that are contradictory to what the people there are saying about the cause of the collapse which is dynamite explosion.”

“The sad news of course is that the financier will not admit this because of his liabilities to the law but that’s what really happened,” he said, adding that there were actually eight tunnels that collapsed.

“Logically, if there are eight holes, there could have been more than three people there,” said Visda.

According to him, it is the fourth such incident in Paracale this year. The others, he said, were not reported in the media because mining operators managed to cover them up.

Sunday 25 november 2012

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2012/11/25/church-probe-mine-mishap/

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Under-construction Chittagong flyover collapse death toll 12

Death toll reaches 12 as rescue teams until Sunday morning recovered more bodies from under the debris of three girders of the under-construction Bahaddarhat flyover, police said.

The girders collapsed on Saturday evening. It was one of the four huge girders between pillars No. 21 and 22 of the flyover being constructed to connect the Shah Amanat Bridge road with CDA Avenue at Bahodderhat intersection.

Over 50 others sustained varying degrees of injuries with the condition of many of them was stated critical.

Chandgaon Police Station Officer-in-Charge Babul Chandra Bhowmik on Sunday told bdnew24.com: "Two more bodies were recovered from the pond near the under-construction flyover in the early hours. Two had died on their way to hospital. We are confirmed about 11 deaths."

Police officials deputed at Chittagong Medical College Hospital police camp said another people died at hospital undergoing treatment.

Hundreds of Army, police, RAB and BGB personnel were continuing their rescue operation by cordoning off the accident area. They were not allowing anyone to get inside the cordon.

The collapsed girder completely blocked the narrow lane on the east side of the under-construction bridge and forced the city-bound vehicles get stuck on the other lane on west side of the bridge, said Assistant Commissioner (traffic – north) AKM Emran Bhuiyan.

Movement of vehicles along the busy road virtually came to a grinding halt. It was also hampering road communication of the port city with southern upazilas of the district and Cox’s Bazar through the 3rd Karnaphuli Bridge.

Bangladesh Army's 24th Infantry Division GOC Maj Gen Sabbir Ahmed on Sunday told bdnews24.com: "Two of the collapsed girders have been cut. Work to cut the other one is still going on. Machineries are coming from Dhaka."

Around 3:40am on Sunday, Chittagong Metropolitan Police's (North) Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Shahidullah told bdnews24.com that the fire service rescuers had pulled four more bodies from under the debris of one of the girders that fell on the nearby pond.

Until now, only three of the deceased were identified as – 'Sazzad', 20, 'Shahabuddin' and Kajal Chandra Dey, whose age could not be immediately known.

The girders between the number 12 and 13 pillars at the Bahaddar Barhi near the city's Shah Amanat Bridge connecting road cave in around 7:30pm.

bdnews24.com Senior Correspondent Mintu Chowdhury and Correspondent Uttam Sengupta reporting from the spot said they heard screams of the people trapped under the debris right after the accident.

They said the angry people demonstrated and set ablaze the flyover-construction materials after the incident protesting the delay in the rescue operations.

DC Mannan had urged the agitated people to calm down after arriving at the scene around 8:45pm. "We have informed the army. I hope the rescue operation will begin soon."

The police also fired several rounds of tear shells as the people started demonstrating again in front of the New Chandgaon Police Station and at the Bahaddarhat intersection around 9:20pm.

They also vandalised several vehicles including the DC's car, a fire service vehicle, the jeep of the Additional Commissioner of Police (Revenue) and an ambulance at that time.

At least 10 motorcycles, including the one of bdnews24.com correspondent Mintu, were also set on fire.

On June 29 of this year, a rickshaw-puller had been injured after a girder from the flyover collapsed.

The 1.4 km long flyover's construction had begun in December 2010, under supervision of the Chittagong Development Authority. Two firms – Parisha Enterprise and Meer Akter Enterprise – were building the flyover at an estimated cost of Tk 1.06 billion.

Wall collapse injures 12

Another disaster struck close by when at least 12 people were injured as a wall of a mosque beside the area of the mishap collapsed.

bdnews24.com's Mintu Chowdhury, who was at the site, said the wall of the Bahaddar Barhi Mosque collapsed around 10pm as at least 500 people gathered there and climbed on the nearly 30-feet wall.

He said the wall collapsed under the sheer weight of so many people.

The rescue team, drawn from the police, BGB and Army, pulled them out of the rubble and sent them to CMCH.

The rescue officials had asked to move away, but they did not listen because they were waiting to watch the rescue of many trapped under the debris of the girders.

Trapped

Shah Haji Mohammad Bokhtiar, owner of the Shah Amanat Decorators, situated right beside the under-construction flyover, told bdnews24.com: "I saw three girders collapsing one after another. It appeared to me that at least 60-70 people are still trapped under the debris."

Local people said that a large number of people generally walk underneath the flyover in the afternoon every day. Most of them are garment workers, while hawkers sit there with their goods, they added.

They suspect most of them were trapped under the debris.

Sunday 25 November 2012

http://www.daily-sun.com/details_yes_30-06-2012_Under-construction-flyover-girder-collapses-in-Ctg_190_1_1_1_9.html

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Update: At least 112 killed in Bangladesh clothing factory fire

The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late Saturday. By Sunday morning, firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Maj. Mohammad Mahbub said.

He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died at hospitals. The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said. It is thought to be the country's worst ever factory blaze.

Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed in the fire. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, and authorities have ordered an investigation.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.

Relatives of the factory workers were frantically looking for their loved ones. Sabina Yasmine said she saw the body of her daughter-in-law, who died in the fire, but had no trace of her son, who also worked at the factory.

"Oh, Allah, where's my soul? Where's my son?" wailed Yasmine, who works at another factory in the area. "I want the factory owner to be hanged. For him, many have died, many have gone."

Mahbub said firefighters recovered 69 bodies from the second floor of the factory alone. He said most of the victims had been trapped inside the factory, located just outside of Dhaka, with no emergency exits leading outside the building.

Many workers who had taken shelter on the roof of the factory were rescued, but firefighters were unable to save those who were trapped inside, Mahbub said.

He said the fire broke out on the ground floor, which was used as a warehouse, and spread quickly to the upper floors.

"The factory had three staircases, and all of them were down through the ground floor," Mahbub said. "So the workers could not come out when the fire engulfed the building."

"Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said.

Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition. The recovered bodies were kept in rows on the premise of a nearby school.

Army soldiers and paramilitary border guards were deployed to help police keep the situation under control as thousands of onlookers and anxious relatives of the factory workers gathered at the scene, Mahbub said. He would not say how many people were still missing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed shock at the loss of so many lives in the blaze and asked authorities to conduct thorough search-and-rescue operations.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it would stand by the victims' families.

Bangladesh's garment factories make clothes for brands including Wal-Mart, JC Penney, H&M, Marks & Spencer, Carrefour and Tesco.

Separately, a flyover under construction fell onto a busy market, leaving at least 14 people dead including three construction workers in southeastern city of Chittagong, an official said Sunday.

Local fire official Abdul Mannan said the concrete structure collapsed on Saturday night, and authorities recovered the bodies by Sunday morning from under the debris in the second-largest city after Dhaka.

Sunday 25 november 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/bangladesh/9701277/More-than-112-killed-in-Bangladesh-clothing-factory-fire.html

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