Joint Makati, K9 team retrieves 28 bodies in Comval

A combined team from the Makati Rescue and the Philippine K9 Search and Rescue Foundation has so far recovered 28 bodies from New Bataan in Compostela Valley since it started its mission last December 7.

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay said the 10-man team is assisted by “Ira” and “Drena” two Belgian Malinois dogs that were trained in France.

Binay said that among the bodies recovered were those of a pregnant woman (estimated to be between 24-30 years old), a girl and two soldiers.

Binay said Makati has invested in the acquisition and training of search and rescue dogs.

“We are devastated by the tragedy and our dogs and the team will remain as long as they are needed,” he said.

Binay said the search and rescue dogs delivered results in actual operations, particularly in locating the bodies of victims hidden from plain sight.

Binay added that Makati would get more search dogs to be trained by Philippine K9 for deployment to disaster stricken areas whenever needed.

In addition to the two dogs, the rescue team brought with them from Makati City two chainsaws, a vibrascope (an instrument that could detect victims trapped underneath debris and tree trunks), a vibraphone (an instrument to communicate with live trapped victims), and a hydraulic cutter or a hydraulic spreader commonly used to rescue passengers trapped in wrecked cars

Thursday 13 December 2012

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2012/12/13/885608/joint-makati-k9-team-retrieves-28-bodies-comval

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Search for bodies in Lion Air plane disaster suspended

The search for the bodies of the Lion Air plane downed in a terrorist attack has been suspended.

Police media spokesman SSP Prishaanta Jayakody said that excavations would be carried out in search of body fragments of passengers who had been in the Lion Air plane which is alleged to have been destroyed by an LTTE missile attack.

The Lion Air plane came under a missile attack by the LTTE on 29th September 1998. 48 passengers, two Ukranian pilots and six crew members were in the Antonov 24 aircraft of the Lion Air Company when it came under attack. This plane had gone missing while it was flying from Palali in Jaffna to Ratmalana. Details of the Lion plane had been revealed by an LTTE cadre in the custody of the Security Forces.

Speaking to our news team the Police Media spokesman said that although excavations had been carried out yesterday as well it had not been possible to recover any body fragment.

Excavations in search of the bodies were launched for three days in the Pooneryn, Iranativu and Kaddaarimunai coastal belt. As it covered a large area, it was difficult to carry out the excavations within a quick time. As such the Security Forces have decided to suspend excavations in this area.

Police media spokesman SSP Prishanta Jayakody said that steps had also been taken to make a special security arrangement in the area where excavation was being carried out.

Information about this plane had come to light through an LTTE suspect arrested by the Army on 13th June 2011 and handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Unit

Police Media Spokesman SSP Preshantha Jayakody said that action would be initiated in the future to undertake excavations in suspicious areas in the environs of Pooneryn.

Thursday 13 December 2012

http://www.hirunews.lk/49137

http://v3.itnnews.lk/?p=5050

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Jenni Rivera's remains identified

Music star Jenni Rivera's remains have been identified and turned over to her family, a government spokesman in Mexico said Thursday.

Rivera was killed Sunday when the plane she was aboard plummeted from 28,000 feet, Mexico's transportation secretary said. The private jet crashed in a mountainous area 9,000 feet above sea level.

The remains of Rivera's publicist and the plane's co-pilot have also been identified, said Jorge Domene, a spokesman for Mexico's Nuevo Leon state.

The medical examiner's office in Monterrey compared DNA samples from the remains to a swab taken from the singer's brother, Lupillo.

Employees at a funeral home in Monterrey said they will receive the singer's remains, which will be cremated and placed in an ornate red urn.

Family friends said that funeral plans had not been finalized but that a memorial would probably be held in Mexico before the ashes are taken to Los Angeles. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Two lawsuits against the company that owns the jet accuse the firm of lying about its links to a businessman convicted of falsifying maintenance records.

Rivera had left a letter for her loved ones and gave instructions to her sister Rosie regarding the circumstances under which it should be read, her brother Pedro Jr. told CNN en Espanol on Wednesday.

"Jenni always had advisers who helped her to work and to make things right," he said. "She prepared a letter about a month, month and a half ago, and Rosie has that letter. Because Jenni, a smart woman, the decisions she made were always based on what she felt in her heart, and she left Rosie in charge of all that."

The accident report will not be ready for nine months to a year, the secretary of communications and transportation said.

Rivera, 43, is mourned by millions of fans.

Rivera and six others were thought to be aboard the plane, which lost contact with air traffic controllers soon after takeoff.

Known as "La Diva de la Banda" or the Diva of Banda Music, Rivera was a musical powerhouse with her Spanish-language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. For fans, the nickname captured her powerful voice and personal strength.

In recent years, she had been working to crack the English-language U.S. market and was reportedly on the verge of a crossover with a sitcom inspired by the success of "I Love Jenni," a Spanish-language reality TV show on Telemundo's mun2 network.

Rivera sold 15 million records, according to Billboard, and had recently won two Billboard Music Awards, including favorite Mexican music female artist.

Thursday 13 December 2012

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/13/showbiz/mexico-singer-plane/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

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