5 deadliest disasters in the Philippines in 2013

The year 2013 proved to be one of the most challenging years for the country because of the sheer number of fatalities the Philippines had sustained from earthquakes, cyclones and even a military crisis.

But the year only tested our capacity as Filipino people. Truly, we are resilient, our spirit remain disaster-proof.

Here is a list of the deadliest disasters the country has been through this year:

Skyway bus accident

A speeding bus toppled over Skyway in Bicutan, Taguig City, fell over a closed van underneath the highway, and claimed 18 lives in an instant.

The video footage looks like it was taken from a movie scene. Only, there were no actors.

Who would have thought that in an instant, by simply riding a bus, 18 lives will be taken?

One thing is for sure, their families will be spending their Christmases and New Year longing for them.

The authorities suspended the Don Mariano Bus company and inspected every single bus unit it owns. The driver, who supposedly had to face criminal charges, died a few days after the incident.

Maritime mishap

A collision of two sea vessel happened on the evening of August 16 at the vicinity of Lawis Ledge, Talisay City in Cebu, killing more than a hundred people.

The cargo ship M/V Sulpicio Express 7 bound for Davao City and the passenger ship M/V St. Thomas Aquinas 1 of 2Go Shipping bound for Cebu were involved in the incident.

M/V St. Thomas Aquinas was about to reach the Cebu port when it collided with M/V Sulpicio Express 7, which was about to leave the port.

The passenger ship carried 870 passengers, while the cargo ship had 38 crew onboard.

M/V St. Thomas Aquinas sank 30 minutes after the collision, which happened at night while some passengers were asleep. Some, thus, found it hard to find their way out because of darkness. Many did not survive.

As of now, several bodies are still missing.

Zamboanga attack

On September 9, before dawn, a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) infiltrated Zamboanga City and engaged in a series of firefight with government troops.

The 30-day crisis in Zamboanga took 140 lives. Twenty-four were reported dead in the defense team, 11 were civilians and 105 were from the MNLF faction allegedly led by MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari. [See the related story.]

Civilians were taken hostage while the MNLF rebels took over some houses, buildings and barangays and exchanged gun shots with the defense team.

Some victims died of bullet strains amid the encounter and some hostages were intentionally killed.

People in the area were helpless, everyone was rushing to evacuate. Relief was immediately sent to address the affected population’s needs.

As of now, there were 117 MNLF members under the custody of the government, though their Misuari has not been captured yet.

The trauma and experience will stay in the victim’s heart and mind, especially to the young children who experienced and witness violence.

Bohol quake

Two hundred twenty-two people died after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Bohol and nearby provinces, including Cebu, in the morning of October 15.

The earthquake occurred around 8:12 a.m. with the epicenter located in Sagbayan, Bohol.

As reported, 209 people were confirmed dead in Bohol, 12 in Cebu and 1 in Siquijor.

Buildings collapsed in a second and claimed the lives of many and some were buried alive in a landslide.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) recorded 3,198 aftershocks from the 7.2 magnitude quake, 94 of which were felt in the areas nearby.

Around 700 families were affected by the tremor and the cost of damage went up to P3 billion.

Until now, people were tensed with the threat that another strong earthquake can happen again.

Megastorm

But ultimately, the deadliest disaster the country has experienced this year is Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Yolanda flattened the Visayas area, destroying houses, uprooting trees, toppling down electrical posts, and leaving more than 6,000 people dead.

Most of the victims died in storm surges, while some were killed by falling debris.

Storm surges were unbelievable; houses were like a toy being carried and crushed by angry waves and strong winds.

Typhoon Yolanda made landfall six times in the provinces of Samar, Leyte, Cebu (Bantayan Island and Daanbantayan), Iloilo and Palawan.

On November 11, President Benigno Aquino III placed the country under a state of calamity due to the massive effect of the super typhoon.

The National Risk Reduction Management Council’s (NDRRMC) latest report showed that the number of affected people is at 17 million. Yolanda left 6,155 dead and the number of families who remained in the evacuation centers remained at 890,895.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2013/12/31/5-deadliest-disasters-philippines-2013-321102

Trailer, minibus collision kills 10 in Bolivia

At least 10 people were killed and another five were seriously injured Monday in Bolivia when a minibus collided with a trailer, media reported.

The accident occurred at an exit along the highway linking the capital La Paz with El Alto, when the minibus rear-ended the trailer, the press said, citing Juan Luis Cuevas, chief of the Police Departments' Traffic Division.

The driver of the minibus, belonging to public transportation line 233, died in the crash.

Cuevas said 15 passengers were on board the minibus, and five were seriously injured in the incident.

Initial police reports suggest the crash may have been caused by speeding or mechanical failures, but an official report is not expected until the investigation is completed.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8500334.html

Ghana: Road accident at Antado claims 15 lives

15 people lost their lives on the spot Monday afternoon when a Mercedes Sprinter Benz Bus landed in a ditch in an attempt to swerve an articulated truck that has blocked its way at Antado near Komenda Junction in the Central Region.

The bodies made up of six females and nine males including both drivers have since been deposited at the Central Region Hospital Morgue for identification, according to the police.

Elmina Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) commander, DSP Godfred Asare who confirmed the accident in a telephone interview with the Ghana News Agency said the articulated truck was heading towards Takoradi from Cape Coast direction while the Mercedes Sprinter Benz Bus was heading towards the opposite direction.

He said the driver of the articulated truck in an attempt to overtake some vehicles sighted the Mercedes Benz approaching from the opposite direction and applied a break which made the head of the truck turn, blocking the lane of the Mercedes Benz Bus.

An effort by the driver of the Mercedes Sprinter Benz Bus to swerve the truck ended up in a ditch leading to the accident.

As at the time the story was filed, the registration numbers of neither vehicles nor the exact number of passengers in them were yet unknown.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

http://vibeghana.com/2013/12/31/accident-at-antado-claims-15-lives/

Philippines: NBI to resume identifying Yolanda victims

Forensic experts from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) are cutting short their vacation to attend to the thousands of corpses rotting in the open in Tacloban City, two months after the devastation of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

This was according to Health Secretary Enrique Ona, who revealed they were making arrangements with the Department of Justice for the immediate resumption of processing of the bodies. The NBI is under the DOJ.

“This has been discussed with them. I hope as soon as possible they will go back there. We want the bodies to be buried soon,” Ona said in a telephone interview.

The corpses are being processed by NBI for possible identification by their relatives before they are buried in mass graves. The NBI procedures generally involve the collection of DNA samples from the victims.

Ona said more forensic experts would be dispatched to the calamity zone to speed up the identification and burial processes.

He reiterated that while dead bodies themselves do not pose a health hazard, they have to be buried as soon as possible so that they don’t contaminate water supply or get eaten by stray animals.

The onslaught of Yolanda left more than 6,000 people dead and close to 2,000 missing, based on official estimates.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/12/30/13/nbi-resume-identifying-yolanda-victims

Andhra Pradesh: Bodies of all Nanded Express fire victims identified

The confusion over the identity of passengers charred to death onboard the Bangalore City-Nanded Express was ended on Monday with the Railway authorities confirming the identity of all the 26 deceased passengers, including two children.

Additional Chief Medical Superintendent of Bangalore Railway Hospital Dr. Vasudev said the families of the all the deceased passengers had identified the bodies.

Anil Kumar, a resident of Adoni, who was listed among the dead, was on Monday found to be alive. Also, Kishore Kumar from Vijaywada, who had been listed as missing or feared dead, was also contacted by the authorities.

But Pratap Vinay, 43, an engineer with Cement Corporation of India in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh and Sreenivas from Bangalore, who had been listed as “missing”, were confirmed dead.

A total of 42 have been declared safe, the officials added.

Pratap’s body was among the three more that were claimed by their relatives on Monday, taking the total number of claimed bodies to 14. R.P. Singh, a family friend of Pratap Vinay, said the body was identified through a ring he was wearing.

While 14 bodies have been claimed, the remaining 12, including those of five women, will be claimed by the families after the DNA report is obtained by Tuesday evening.

The officials said the families had decided to wait for the DNA reports before claiming the bodies. The police have directed the relatives not to cremate the bodies until the DNA report is received.

The officials said the transportation of the bodies would be taken care of by the railway department.

The families of the deceased are being given Rs. 50,000, out of the Rs. 5 lakh ex-gratia announced by the Railways, after identification, while the rest of the compensation will be provided after a formally application is submitted to the Railway Claims Tribunal.

Four of the victims, who had sustained serious injuries in the train accident, have been given Rs. 50,000 and another victim with minor injuries was given Rs. 5,000 for medical expenses,” said Gopinath, Divisional Commercial Manager, South Western Railways.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bodies-of-all-nanded-express-accident-victims-identified/article5519973.ece

Nigeria: Benue boat mishap - 17 bodies recovered

Two days after the Boxing Day boat mishap that claimed the lives of over 40 persons at River Buruku, in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State, the state Police Command says it has recovered 17 bodies from the river.

The State police public relations officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent, DSP, Daniel Ezeala, who spoke yesterday in a telephone interview in Makurdi ,said search and rescue operation was still going on at scene of the disaster.

His words, "We have so far recovered 17 bodies from the river but we are still continuing with the search and rescue operation until we are convinced that there are no survivors or bodies in the river.

"I can also assure you that we have commenced investigations into the matter with a view to finding the immediate and remote causes of the tragedy."

Meantime, Buruku has been in a somber mood since the tragedy. Many families were yet to come to terms with the Boxing Day disaster that claimed the lives of young men and women of the area.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that families of the deceased have been making frantic efforts to identify the remains of their loved ones who have so far been recovered from the scene of the accident.

However, those who had not seen their children since the tragedy have continually besieged the Buruku police station to make inquiries.

Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, James Ajor, who said he lost two of his friends to the disaster, wept uncontrollably as he disclosed that the duo were also part of the committee of friends who recently supported him to solemnize his wedding.

"This is a major tragedy in our state because most families in the area have been directly or indirectly touched by this disaster. It is even more painful when one realizes that people are daily ferried across the river without life jackets and the authorities did not deem it fit to call the ferry operators to order", Ajor said.

"I lost two of my very close friends in this disaster. They were young promising men who were full of life and contributed immensely to the success of my wedding ceremony.

"That is the more reason we will continue to urge the federal government to construct a bridge across River Buruku in order to avert further loss of lives there.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312300836.html

Body remains of 14 Bosnian war victims found

Body remains of at least 14 persons were found at the Rogatica site, southeastern Bosnia, spokeswoman to the Institute for Missing Persons (IMP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina Lejla Cengic confirmed to the Anadolu Agency.

According to Cengic, excavation of the bodies was conducted for the last three weeks, and it is believed that these are body remains of Bosniak victims who were killed in the Bosnian war.

"So far more incomplete human bodies have been found. These are bodies that were thrown in a garbage dump and that is why the terrain is inaccessible," said Cengic and added that along with the body remains during excavations numerous unexploded mines and explosives were found as well.

"We still search for around 300 Bosniak civilians who were killed in the Bosnian war at the Rogatica site," said Cengic.

Mortal remains will be transferred to the morgue near the Bosnian capital, for the forensic processing, determining the cause of death and taking bone samples to DNA analysis in order to determine the identity of the victims, said a statement released by the Prosecution Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Excavation process is ongoing and operated by experts from the Special Department for the War Crimes at the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the presence of IMP, doctor of forensic medicine and police officers from Rogatica.

20 years after the war, the Prosecution Office along with the IMP actively continues process of search for 6,500 missing persons throughout the country.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=125968

10 prefectures say Nankai quake toll may top state’s estimates

Ten prefectures predict they will see more deaths than the state’s estimate if a big earthquake occurs along the Nankai Trough off central and western Japan, based on tougher conditions, such as the collapse of seawalls and coastal embankments, a Kyodo News study found.

Among the 10, Hiroshima Prefecture forecasts a massive quake could kill 14,759 people, 18.4 times as many as the state’s prediction, while Osaka Prefecture expects 133,891 to die, a 13.7-fold increase.

While the state calculated the possible death toll on the assumption that embankments will not be affected by the quake, many local governments compiled their own data assuming subsidence of embankments will increase the area of land submerged by tsunami, resulting in more deaths.

Nagasaki Prefecture, where the state estimated 80 people would die, said, “While up to 5,360 people could die under the worst-case scenario, no one will be victimized if we carry out appropriate evacuations.”

The Cabinet Office said in August last year that the nationwide death toll could hit 323,000.

A government panel predicted earlier in 2013 that there is a 60 percent to 70 percent chance that a major earthquake could occur along the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years.

The Nankai Trough runs from Suruga Bay in Shizuoka Prefecture to the Hyuganada Sea off Miyazaki Prefecture.

Remains unidentified

Police in areas affected by the March 11, 2011, disasters in the Tohoku region have not given up hope of identifying the remains of victims.

According to the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectural forces, more than 2,500 people have yet to be accounted for and the remains of 104 have not been identified yet: 70 in Iwate, 33 in Miyagi and one in Fukushima.

The Fukushima police were the first to start taking DNA from relatives of missing people to create a database. Thanks to these efforts, more than 90 percent of remains were identified within a year of the quake.

The police in Iwate and Miyagi also established DNA databases, and the three prefectural forces exchange information using their respective records.

However, many of the dead are believed to be elderly people with no known relatives, and the lack of documents and other related material have held up progress in identifying them.

The Iwate and Miyagi police published sketches of unidentified victims, but the amount of information provided by the public has fallen over time.

Stepping up its efforts, the Miyagi force has organized meetings where those searching for loved ones can exchange information with sketch artists, who give detailed explanations of the bodies, including clothes.

Helped by such interaction, Misako Sakaki, 24, from the tsunami-ravaged coastal city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, found her mother, Hitomi, who died at age 51, in November.

A sketch distributed as a flier hardly looked like her mother, but a character printed on the sweatsuit in the picture caught her eye. Sakaki talked with the coroner and continued communication until her mother was identified at last by dental records.

“I thought she would never come back,” Sakaki said.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/12/30/national/10-prefectures-say-nankai-quake-toll-may-top-states-estimates/#.UsGjIxxdVow

State program identifies remains of bodies found in Mahoning County

Ohio Attorney General DeWine announced late last week that remains found in Mahoning County nearly 17 years ago have been identified through DNA technology. The remains, discovered in December 1996, were identified as 35-year-old Jacqueline Rowe, of Youngstown. She disappeared from the city earlier that year. Her cause of death was ruled undetermined.

The identification was made through a free service offered by the Ohio attorney general's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also known as BCI, for participation by police, coroners and families of missing individuals. The LINK Program, which stands for Linking Individuals Not Known, was established through the attorney general's office in 1999 to match DNA taken from family members of missing individuals to unidentified remains.

"The things that can be done with DNA technology today are absolutely amazing, and we urge those with a missing loved one to consider submitting a DNA sample," said DeWine. "There are hundreds of people missing in this state who, sadly, may have been killed and never identified, and this process could help provide some answers."

Samples of DNA submitted by family members for the LINK Program are compared only to DNA samples of unidentified remains submitted through similar programs nationwide. So far, family members of 128 missing people in Ohio have submitted their DNA, and law enforcement and coroners have submitted the DNA of 33 unidentified individuals who were found deceased.

The identification of Rowe's body marks the 23rd identification made through the LINK program since its inception. Officials with the Mahoning County coroner's office submitted DNA from Rowe's then-unidentified body in 2006. In August, Rowe's daughter, who was 18 when her mother disappeared, met with Youngstown Police to submit her DNA. Following DNA analysis, the match was made on Dec. 5.

Two other identifications made through the LINK Program in 2013 are Sharon Kedzierski and Diann Lynn Tatum.

Kedzierski's unidentified remains were located in April 1992 in Mahoning County. Her DNA was submitted to LINK by the Mahoning County coroner's office, and a match was made in January after family members in the state of Oregon submitted their DNA through a similar program. Kedzierski went missing in 1989 from Miami Lakes, Fla.

Tatum's unidentified remains were located in St. Clair, Mich., in 1994. She went missing from Jeffersonville in 1988. Family members submitted their DNA to LINK in 2005, and a match was made in March, when Michigan authorities submitted DNA from her remains to the system.

For more information on the LINK Program, residents and law enforcement can contact BCI at 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).

A full list of unidentified remains cases and missing persons cases submitted to BCI can be found on the Ohio attorney general's website at wwwohioattorneygeneral.gov.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://www.the-review.com/local%20sebring%20mahoning/2013/12/30/state-program-identifies-remains-of-bodies-found-in-mahoning-county

Tacloban buys lot for mass grave of 1,400 unburied Yolanda dead

The city government of Tacloban, Leyte has bought a 6,000-square meter lot for the mass burial of at least 1,400 corpses that remain unburied almost two months after super typhoon Yolanda struck on November 8, Councilor Jerry Uy told PNA on Monday.

Interviewed by phone, Uy said the unburied bodies have caused anxiety among Tacloban residents after millions of flies invaded the city.

They are also complaining that the stench from the cadavers was disrupting even their sleep.

Uy said the burial site is in Barangay Basper, some 10 kilometers north of Tacloban.

The bodies have been placed in a muddy field in Barangay San Isidro where forensics experts work to identify them.

However, Eutiquio Balunan, the San Isidro barangay captain, said the processing of the cadavers had been suspended over the Christmas weekend as the forensics experts went on holiday.

"We are requesting the city government to please bury the cadavers because our children and elderly residents are getting sick," he said. "This place has become a fly factory."

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the death toll from the typhoon, the world’s strongest this year, had risen to 6,155 with 1,179 others missing.

However, the NDRRMC earlier said it was uncertain if the number included the bodies in San Isidro.

Monday 30 December 2013

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/77746/tacloban-buys-lot-for-mass-grave-of-1400-unburied-yolanda-dead

12 die in Bayelsa boat mishap

At least 12 persons among them four undergraduates were killed in a boat mishap along the Ikoli River at Ayama in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa State leaving two others with fatal injuries.

The injured persons are in critical condition at an undisclosed hospital.

The tragic incident, we learnt, occurred on Christmas Day at about 8.25 pm when a passenger speedboat collided with a local cargo boat.

While the driver of the speedboat and 11 of his passengers were killed in the deadly collision, two others were said to have sustained fatal injuries and were in critical condition.

Those who lost their lives in the boat mishap include a lecturer in one of the higher institutions in the state, some students of Niger Delta University and University of Calabar.

As at press time, eight corpses had been recovered by local divers, who are still combing the bed of the river for other missing bodies.

The decomposing corpses of the accident victims, it was learnt, were, yesterday, deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa.

The passengers, including men and women, mostly students, were said to be fun seekers heading for Otuabula for a beach party to celebrate Xmas.

The incident reportedly occurred when the boat had taken passengers aboard and was heading back to Onuegbum when it collided with a wooden boat around Ayama on the Ikoli River.

A source from the riverine enclave, who blamed the accident on poor visibility, lamented that “the two boats involved in the accident had no light and were sailing blindly when they collided.”

Also, a member of Bayelsa State chapter of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Lloyd Sese, who confirmed the accident, expressed sadness, saying the incident happened at night on Christmas Day.

Boat drivers, he noted, are barred from operating at night due to the windy and treacherous nature of the rivers and creeks so as to avert avoidable mishap.

Contacted, the state police public relations officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the incident but said information at his disposal was sketchy.

So far 8 corpses have been recovered from the river, the search is still ongoing for the remaining bodies.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=141337

Some families prefer to wait for DNA matching

The agonising wait to claim the bodies of victims of the Nanded Express fire accident continued for their kith and kin on Sunday, as authorities struggled to expedite the process of matching the DNA profiles of those dead with their relatives.

Though 20 of the 26 bodies have been identified, authorities have handed over only 11 bodies to the relatives, based on the identification of the ornaments or watches worn by the victims. Relatives have not taken possession of the remaining eight bodies owing to a strange situation.

The State government has directed the relatives not to cremate the bodies but bury them, as it would be easier to exhume the bodies if there is any controversy.

“However, considering the religious beliefs, family members of the victims whose bodies have been identified have now decided to wait till the DNA profiles are matched,” explained P.K. Devdas, Head of Forensic wing of Victoria Hospital.

A pathetic scene was unfolding at the Victoria Hospital where the charred and unrecognisable bodies were preserved. Relatives were arguing with railway and police officials on the direction of “only burial” and also in respect of some victims who were declared missing or dead.

Authorities handed over six bodies on Saturday and five bodies, including that of Kandoba Kulkarni and Jui George, were handed over on Sunday. Railway authorities said that while 20 of the dead were identified, nine were found to be “feared dead or missing”. This observation was based on the list of passengers who boarded the train.

Railway Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge said in Humnabad on Sunday that the high-level team that is investigating the accident would also suggest steps to check such incidents.

“A comprehensive set of measures will be initiated to avert accidents in future,” he said.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/some-families-prefer-to-wait-for-dna-matching/article5515903.ece

18 killed in one of Jakarta's worst road accidents of the year

Eighteen people who were on their way to attend a funeral at a village were themselves killed in a road accident when a pick up truck they were travelling in collided with a lorry laden with flour in Tongas, Probolinggo, Jawa Timur, Saturday afternoon.

In what the authorities described as the worst road accident in the country of the year which is coming to an end, the pick up truck with 32 passengers was trying to overtake another vehicle when it crashed into an oncoming lorry at about 4pm.

The impact of the accident saw most of the passengers thrown off the pick truck, resulting in 15 dead at the scene and three at a hospital later.

Jawa Timur police station's public relations officer Awi Setiyono said police were carrying out investigations to find out the cause of the accident and determine whether it was caused by human error or mechanical (condition of the vehicle).

Local media reported that the Tongas General Hospital was filled with gloom as families of the dead passengers arrived to claim their bodies and make arrangements to bury their remains.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1004057

Remains of 104 Tohoku disaster victims still not identified

The National Police Agency says that the remains of 104 victims of the March 11, 2011 disaster in the Tohoku region have yet to be identified.

The NPA collated the information from prefectural police departments in the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. Fuji TV reported that the remains of 70 people in Iwate, 33 in Miyagi and one in Fukushima, still have not been identified.

Overall, more than 2,500 victims remain missing. Of the missing people, Miyagi has the most at 1,394, followed by Iwate with 1,205 and 211 in Fukushima. Local police and coast guard members still conduct searches on the 11th day of each month but no bodies have been found this year.

NPA officials said they are trying to identify the remains through DNA matches and facial sketches. A spokesman said such techniques had helped the NPA identify 252 bodies in the past.

Initially, police relied on physical features and personal belongings to identify the remains of disaster victims, but as time passes, DNA has become the preferred method, the NPA spokesman said.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/remains-of-104-tohoku-disaster-victims-still-not-identified

Andhra Pradesh train tragedy: 20 of 26 bodies identified, relatives wait for DNA confirmation

Bangalore's Victoria Hospital became the centre of grief as family and friends of those who died in Saturday morning's horrific train fire in Andhra Pradesh waited to claim the bodies that were brought here yesterday afternoon. There has been a delay in handing over the bodies because some of them are so badly burnt that positive identification is not possible without DNA testing.

Chandrashekar's 60-year-old stepmother and her twin sister were among those travelling on the ill-fated Nanded Express. Both women, musicians Lalitha and Padmini, died in the fire.

"I was able to identify the bodies based on the ornaments they had worn... Just to be very sure, we are trying to undergo DNA testing," Chandrashekar, who was at the hospital, told NDTV.

Another family member, Ganesh Rao, said that information was hard to come by. "We came here yesterday evening and had to wait for five hours for basic information of who to contact, what documents to provide to claim the body."

Dr Devdas, Professor and Head of the Forensic Medicine Department of Bangalore Medical College, is helping with the entire process.

"Some of the other bodies have been identified but relatives don't want to take a chance and have agreed for a DNA test. When we proposed that it's a better way of identification rather than the visual identification, they understood and are waiting," he said, adding the process would take another day.

A railway help desk was set up at the hospital, with a list of those travelling in the coach that caught fire - under the headings of dead, injured and missing.

"Out of 26 bodies, 20 have been identified. And eight bodies have been handed over to the people. DNA sampling has been done for almost everybody and the DNA report may be available by tomorrow evening or morning," Anil Kumar Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager told NDTV.

It will take a long time for the tears to dry for the families of those who lost their loved ones in Saturday's accident. The wait to claim the bodies to perform the last rites has only worsened their agony.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/andhra-pradesh-train-tragedy-20-of-26-bodies-identified-relatives-wait-for-dna-confirmation-464565?curl=1388334645

Nigeria: 15 bodies recovered from Benue boat mishap

No fewer than 15 corpses have been recovered after a boat capsized on River Buruku in Buruku local government area of Benue state.

The boat conveying over 50 passengers, including men and women that attended a picnic at the beach on Thursday night capsized. About 50 persons are feared dead and score others missing in the incident.

As at yesterday, the bank of River Buruku was crowded with family members and associates of the victims who went in search of their loved ones.

The development halted all commercial activities on the river bank.

Benue Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ezeala, said: "Fifteen dead bodies have been recovered so far by the search party and they are still searching for other missing persons."

According to Ezeala, the recovered bodies were found by men of the Boat Operators and Hirers Association at Buruku where the incident took place.

Meanwhile, family members of the victims have continued to lament the loss of their loved ones following the boat mishap. They appealed to the government to intervene in the rescue and recovery operations.

Sunday 29 December 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312280004.html

30 picnickers feared dead in boat accident

No fewer than 30 persons were feared dead in a boat accident which occurred at River Buruku in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State.

According to a source, the passengers, who were being conveyed in a boat across River Buruku around 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, died when the boat capsized at the middle of the river.

It was gathered from Buruku that the victims of the boat tragedy were fun seekers who had gone for a picnic across the river and were returning to their homes.

The source revealed that the young man who was driving the boat had earlier complained that the boat was over-loaded, of which the victims refused to heed the warning even as they urged him to go ahead.

“Sadly, as they got to the middle of the river, the boat capsized, throwing all passengers on board into the river. About 30 persons were missing of which only six bodies had been recovered on Friday morning,” the source said.

Rescue operation was still on at the time of filing this report, even as members of families of victims from both Buruku and Logo local government areas besieged the area wailing while others were making frantic efforts to recover the bodies of their families.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/news-headlines/item/29524-30-picnickers-feared-dead-in-boat-accident-7-killed-in-tiv-fulani-clash.html

Group helping families of Guatemala's wartime missing returns to LA

When a federal court in Riverside sentences an accused Guatemalan war criminal on immigration fraud charges next month, onlookers will include members of a forensic anthropology team from Guatemala.

Their goal: connect with members of Los Angeles' Guatemalan immigrant community and collect their DNA in hopes of identifying some of the long-unidentified dead from that country's civil war, which ended in 1996 after 36 years of conflict.

Members of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation were last in Los Angeles in October. That's when Jorge Sosa was convicted on charges that he omitted information on his U.S. citizenship application about his involvement in the Guatemalan military during the war.

Sosa, who is to be sentenced Jan. 13, is a former member of an elite unit involved in a notorious 1982 massacre that nearly wiped out the entire village of Dos Erres. He stands to lose his U.S. citizenship and eventually be deported to Guatemala to stand trial for his alleged crimes there.

For Fredy Peccerelli, a forensic anthropologist who directs the non-profit foundation, the closely-followed Sosa trial has provided a way to connect with Guatemalan immigrants who lost – and never found – family members during the war.

“It is important that they understand that they are entitled to know the truth about what happened," Peccerelli said. "That is something that a lot of people have forgotten throughout the years.”

Since 2004, the Guatemala-based group has been exhuming and identifying the bodies of desaparecidos - the disappeared - excavating clandestine mass graves and military sites. Of the estimated 200,000 people who lost their lives during the war, about 45,000 simply vanished, most of them kidnapped by Guatemalan military.

The non-profit NGO receives U.S. and international funding. In 2008, they began collecting DNA from family members with missing relatives in Guatemala. So far they’ve identified more than 3,000 bodies, almost 250 through DNA.

They now hope to expand their reach into the United States. In October, Peccerelli and a technician collected five DNA samples in L.A. In January, he and two technicians plan to come armed with a hundred DNA kits.

In anticipation of their trip next month, they've been working with community groups in Los Angeles to set up meetings and appointments here.

Rosa Posadas heads a Guatemalan immigrant group in L.A. and is among those helping spread the word. She said at least being able to bury a missing loved one provides survivors with a measure of comfort.

“Spiritually, it helps," Posadas said in Spanish, "because being able to have a loved one buried in a holy place at least provides some sort of satisfaction. At least, for our customs – to be able to leave them a flower, to at least be able to speak with them, although we know their souls are in the air, but that their remains are there.”

Peccerelli, who grew up in New York after his own family fled the war, said some family members of desaparecidos are reluctant to come forward because they're still not ready to accept the loss, even decades later.

“You actually only begin to look for your loved one among the dead when you decide to give a DNA sample," he said. "Every single one of these family members still hopes today, even though it is very improbable, that their loved one is alive.”

But he says the likelihood is that they aren’t.

Peccerelli said he's become aware of another need for closure among Guatemalans after meeting with immigrants here last fall, one that has little connection to the long-ago war.

"We have encountered that a lot of their loved ones are disappearing en route to the United States today," he said.

To that end, he hopes to expand the DNA bank to the families of missing migrants, both in Guatemala and the United States, and make that data available to authorities in hopes that more families can find answers.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2013/12/27/15482/group-helping-families-of-guatemala-s-wartime-miss/

Gaul trawler crew DNA test results 'in January' after human remains found in Russia

Families of the lost crew of the Gaul could know the results of DNA tests on human remains discovered in Russia by the end of January. Up to ten bodies are being examined after they were discovered buried under rocks in the Murmansk region of Russia.

The crew of the Gaul was lost when the trawler disappeared during a fierce storm in February 1974. The vessel was lost in the Barents Sea, 70 miles off Norway, with the loss of her entire 36-man crew.

Now, Russian authorities have agreed to send over samples to the UK for testing after relatives of the crewmen were swabbed to compare their DNA to the remains.

One relative, who lost their father aboard the Gaul but asked not to be named, said: "The latest update is that the Russians have agreed to send samples to the UK for our authorities to do some DNA tests."

Humberside Police, who are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Russian Authorities, have confirmed progress has been made.

A spokesman said: "The methods applied so far have been unable to extract DNA samples from the available bones and examinations are continuing.

"The Russians have indicated that the approximate date for genetic analysis completion is December; however, advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is that this is likely to be January.

"The Russian authorities have indicated that they are considering providing samples for place of origin and DNA testing.

"We are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office how best to resolve this on behalf of the families but this is anticipated to be a lengthy process."

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Leaver, of Humberside Police, has already confirmed the sheaths found with the remains are unlikely to belong to Russian nationals.

He had said: "There were sheaths found among the remains and the leather is of a very good quality, which is better than that used by the Russian military or the local fishermen at the time. That leans towards them not being from Russia."

The Mail understands the sheaths were commonly used by Hull fishermen.

Having found out about the remains in September last year, Humberside Police decided to tell the families this month.

The remains had initially been found on the Rybachy peninsula in the Murmansk region of Russia in the mid-1970s by people living nearby.

The bodies reportedly washed ashore in 1974 or 1975 and were then buried by locals under rocks as the ground was too hard to dig holes. They were rediscovered 18 months ago by a local researcher, who is aware of the Gaul. He and his team are known to often do a sweep of the peninsula where bodies are regularly washed up and the locals told him about the burials.

He then alerted the Russian authorities and made his findings public.

The current role of Humberside Police is to support the families and then ensure the tests are carried out. The force admits it will take time to establish whether the remains belong to crew members from the Gaul.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Gaul-trawler-crew-DNA-test-results-January-human/story-20375087-detail/story.html

Memorials for those killed in Tay Bridge disaster

Memorials to commemorate the Tay Bridge disaster have been unveiled.

It is 134 years since the bridge collapsed during a storm sending a train plunging into the river below.

Fifty-nine people are known to have died, although there was confusion over the numbers killed as many bodies were not discovered for months.

Granite memorials with the names of those who lost their lives have been put in place on both sides of the river.

Newspapers at the time claimed that about 75 people died when the the central navigation spans of bridge gave way on 28 December 1879.

But members of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust have since said the true number was 59.

Unveiling ceremonies

The original crossing had been the longest railway bridge in the world but during the storm the wind was said to have blown the iron girders in the central section away "like matchwood".

The trust has been campaigning for memorials to those who died.

Both sides need to have a memorial for the simple reason that many of the victims had connections on both sides of the River Tay”

"I think possibly there was a feeling that they didn't want to commemorate a tragedy," he said.

"But surely those feelings are long gone and now its high time that we did something about it."

The memorials on either side of the river are each are made of three pieces of granite and positioned so they face where the central span of the bridge once stood. They are inscribed with the 59 names of those who died.

Ian Nimmo White, secretary of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, said he is aware that some believe more people were killed but they had to stick with the evidence they had.

"These are the 59 victims who are known to have died," he said.

"That means for whom we have death certificates. You can't really say that there is more than 59 unless you can prove them with the appropriate documentation."

Unveiling ceremonies took place on both sides of the river on Saturday, followed by a reception for descendants of the victims.

Prof Swinfen added: "Both sides need to have a memorial for the simple reason that many of the victims had connections on both sides of the River Tay.

"Typically they were people who were working in Dundee but had families in Fife so they were coming back after visiting their families at the weekends are were sadly lost as a result."

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-25527719

Indian train inferno kills at least 26 people in Andhra Pradesh

Fire raced through an Indian train carriage packed with sleeping passengers on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, and forcing terrified passengers to smash windows in a frantic bid to escape.

Some passengers were able to break the toilet windows of the train, but other victims were overcome by the thick, swirling smoke and bodies were found heaped at the windows and doors, reports said.

"We were suffocating because we couldn't get the windows open, the windows are really strong," one young man who survived but who lost his cousin to the flames told India's NDTV news.

Rescue officials said many bodies were charred beyond recognition and would have to undergo DNA tests to determine their identity. "Rescue teams have so far recovered 26 bodies from the three-tier coach of the train while five of the eight injured have been admitted to hospital for emergency treatment," South Western Railway spokesman S Biswas told AFP.

Forensic teams were on their way to the train site to collect body samples for analysis, The Press Trust of India reported. Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh expressed "shock and grief at the loss of life in the train accident in Andhra Pradesh" in a statement on his official Twitter account.

The carriage was gutted by the inferno and was a mass of twisted metal and melted plastic seats. Adjacent coaches also bore scorch marks, testifying to the ferocity of the fire.

There were conflicting reports about the number aboard with police saying 65 while national Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said there were 67 people in the carriage, sleeping six to a compartment.

Kharge told AFP the blaze was believed to have been caused by an electricity fault.

India's underfunded, accident-prone rail network, one of the world's largest, is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country despite fierce competition from private airlines.

The coach caught fire in the pre-dawn hours as it travelled from the high-tech city of Bangalore to Nanded, 300 kilometres from the Hyderabad city.

Two of those who died were children, railway officials said.


The exit doors of Indian trains are customarily locked at night, reports said, while the carriage windows are covered with bars, making escape all but impossible.

The toilet windows are the only ones that have no bars and the spaces and berths are narrow.

The tragedy comes a little over a year after another train accident in the same state of Andhra Pradesh killed 32 people and shone the spotlight again on the Indian rail network's dismal safety record.

That train was also carrying sleeping passengers and was also attributed to an electrical fault.

It was not immediately known whether more bodies would be found, police said.

Initial relief efforts were hampered by winter fog, local reports said, while the first people to reach the blazing train carriage were from nearby villages.


Railways Minister Kharge said the railway board chairman would lead an inquiry into the cause of the accident and a more complete report would be issued later.

The engine driver stopped the train when he spotted flames about an hour away from Nanded, a police officer was quoted on The Hindu newspaper website as saying.

Rescue workers brought out the bodies as the smoke abated.

The prime minister said he had told railway and state government authorities "to extend all possible help to the victims in rescue and relief operations".

India's worst rail accident was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/indian-train-inferno-kills-at-least-26-people-in-andhra-pradesh/story-fnh81fz8-1226791244689

Last 4 bodies found from Russian plane crash

Emergency workers have recovered the four remaining bodies of the nine victims of a plane crash outside the eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk, a local official said Friday.

The bodies, along with the plane’s black boxes that may provide crucial information about the causes of the crash, were discovered inside the plane but have not yet been recovered, said Valentin Nelyubov, head of the Irkutsk Region’s Emergencies Ministry.

The Antonov An-12 transport plane crashed on Thursday afternoon, killing all six crew members and three individuals accompanying the cargo on board. Five of the bodies were found immediately, and Emergencies Ministry officials had said the search was ongoing for the remaining four.

Officials said that all the victims were residents of the Irkutsk region.

The plane, owned by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant and reportedly transporting industrial cargo from Novosibirsk, damaged the roofs of two military warehouses in the crash.

Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said a criminal case has been opened into possible violations of transport safety rules.

A number of An-12s have been involved in fatal accidents in recent years, including one operated by Russian charter firm Avis-Amur that crashed in Russia's far east in August 2011, killing all 11 on board, following a fire caused by a fuel leak.

That particular aircraft was within 130 hours of its 20,000 hour design airframe life, according to the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigated the accident. The last Soviet-built An-12 rolled off the production line in 1973.

Pilots generally praise the An-12 as a sound design, and it has a good safety record in its long service with the Russian Air Force. Many, however, are now operated by small airlines, often based in third-world countries, that fail to properly maintain their planes or overload them in a bid to make extra profit.

Friday 27 December 2013

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/160628/last-4-bodies-found-from-russian-plane-crash-official.html

1,000 copses remain unburied in Tacloban City

Close to two months after monster typhoon Yolanda in Tacloban City, people find it hard to move on, as thousands of bodies have yet to be identified and buried.

A lot at Suhi Village serves as a temporary mass grave of more than one thousand unidentified fatalities.

As the days go by, the chances that the remains will be identified become slimmer, and they may forever be written off as "missing."

The bodies are in an advanced state of decomposition, and some are beyond recognition.

It is a very grim sight, reminding one of the horror during the night of the tragedy.

Residents here complain of the stench, which they say clings to one's clothes.

It bothers them, especially when they are eating or when they are about to sleep.

In fact, the residents have put up signboards asking authorities to bury the bodies immediately.

Authorities, however, ask their constituents to be patient, as they need more time to work on the remains.

City Administrator Tecson Lim says forensic operatives are still doing their best to document each body.

That includes taking fingerprints and jotting down detailed descriptions of each one.

The clothes on the bodies have been taken off and set aside for safekeeping.

These will be used to help relatives confirm the identity of the bodies.

Work on the bodies slowed down when personnel from the National Bureau of Investigation went on Christmas break.

But they have now returned to Tacloban to carry out the mass burial of a first batch of remains on Saturday.

Friday 27 December 2013

http://www.solarnews.ph/news/regional/2013/12/27/1000-copses-remain-unburied-in-tacloban-city

The corpse collector on the Yangtze River

Rope, pole and life jacket: These are the mundane tools of the unpleasant trade plied by 62-year-old boatman Chen Yangxi, a corpse collector on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Central China.

Living a kilometer from the country's longest river on Yangluo Jie in the Hubei Province capital city's Xinzhou district, Chen has harvested more than 400 corpses in 42 years.

Despite initially opposing his ghoulish occupation, family and neighbors have come to accept Chen for doing a job nobody else would want to do. Indeed, finding a successor was a serious problem until a middle-aged neighbor from a nearby village volunteered to become Chen's apprentice.

Back in 1971, Chen was working in a textile factory when an old man by the river asked him to help collect corpses. Reluctant at first, Chen says he agreed later when the old man said, "This is to do good and accumulate virtue."

He came to know Ding Dongsheng as one of the few remaining members of the Peixin Shantang charitable organization, established in 1848 to aid river rescue and cadaver collection.

Grieving families

Peering at the puffy bodies, Chen at first was frightened stiff. "My heart skipped a beat, and I had trouble eating or sleeping for a few days," he told the Global Times.

The aging Ding quit in 1981. Five years later he died, leaving Chen the sole member of the charity group.

Before the 1990s, the way it worked was like this: Whenever news came of a floater, Chen would go get it. He wanted to avoid damaging the body by using hooks and so he roped it carefully, pulling it slowly onshore.

Sometimes a family reclaimed the body. Other times, with the unknown cadavers, Chen jotted down their clothes, shoes and other physical features, rolled the corpse up in a straw mat and buried it in a nearby hill.

If families came looking, he would dig the body up and burn it with gas, letting the families take the ashes.

"But that was what we did before," Chen said. "Now I need to send it to a funeral home for cremation. And today I only collect bodies with police approval."

Honor in death

Chen never asks for money.

"I'm not the sort of man to profit from the dead," he said.

Chen handles every corpse carefully and never demands payment, civil affairs department official Yu Bingyan told the Wuhan-based Chutian Metropolis Daily.

Of course he won't turn down cash if it's volunteered, Chen explained, whether small or large.

"I accept their courtesy as a mark of respect to them," he said.

The daughter of a drowned man who went missing eight days proffered Chen 1,000 yuan for retrieving the body on December 8.

The police also sometimes summon him to help handle corpses in other places. Each time he is paid 100 to 400 yuan.

The police conduct forensic identification before sending the bodies to a funeral home, he noted.

Unlike Chen, some other corpse collectors had stirred controversy for demanding money from family of the dead.

A boatman in the city of Jingzhou, Hubei Province, for example, triggered nationwide anger on October 24, 2009, by refusing to collect a corpse from the water unless paid 36,000 yuan ($5,930). The dead body was of a student who had drowned trying to rescue two children who had fallen into the river.

Corpse collectors Wei Yingquan and his 38-year-old son Wei Zhijun charge at least 500 yuan for their services to bereaved families along the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River in Gansu Province, Northwest China.

They collect only what they deem "recognizable" corpses and fasten them to the riverbank where the current is slow. If nobody comes within three weeks, they let the bodies float away.

Touching a dead body is bad luck in traditional Chinese thinking. Fearing neighbors' ostracism, Chen's wife Lü Xueping has many times begged Chen to quit. Nevertheless, Chen is widely respected for what he does.

"We all know what he's doing. He is doing good," said neighbor Zhang Meiying.

One of Chen's daughter-in-laws opened a small restaurant at home and business is pretty good. The healthy returns from the business have helped convince the family that Chen's job has not brought bad karma. But nobody in the family wants to inherit his unusual line of work.

"Both my sons refused," Chen said. "They said they were too timid to do the job."

His 37-year-old son Chen Fang works at a machinery plant and his 34-year-old son Chen Yuan is a driver.

He understands the young men's concerns, Chen said. He himself has seen too many corpses, and inferred too many sad stories and probable suicides.

It's a taboo among fishermen to let their boats touch a corpse.

Even if someone lends a boat to Chen, they demand he use his rope to keep the body away. If contact occurs, Chen must burn paper and banish the bad luck.

The civil affairs bureau has hunted for more people like Chen, but applicants balk at the job description.

The job demands not only an absence of superstition, Chen explained, but also a strong character. Luckily in 2003, Zhang Xingwang, now 50, agreed to give it a try.

"The first experience with me, he was so scared he nearly fell into the water," Chen joked. "And he dared not look at the body, let alone touch it."

Chen Yangxi is a "household name" around Wuhan, explained Feng Weihua, a manager of the Yangluo online community. He is the last living inheritor of the traditional Peixin Shantang customs, Feng stated.

"The local government should subsidize him and his apprentice, and have the cause be passed down," Feng told the Global Times.

Apprentice Zhang is more used to his job nowadays. As Chen's assistant, he shares 40 percent of the income.

"But he still refuses to touch a body," Chen said.

With a monthly pension of more than 2,000 yuan, Chen could kick back and enjoy a more leisurely life with his two grandsons.

But he has no plans to retire. "I'm still physically healthy," he said. "I can still collect for another 10 years."

Friday 27 December 2013

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/834420.shtml

South Korea identifies remains of police killed in Korean War

A South Korean police officer who was killed in the Korean War has been identified 63 years after his death in battle, the defense ministry said Friday, marking the 10th set of remains sent home for burial through DNA testing.

The Defense Ministry's Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) retrieved his remains in Chuncheon in Gangwon Province in May last year, along with his uniform, personal equipment and belongings.

The police officer, Kim Se-han, was dispatched to the battle site shortly after the Korean War broke out in June 1950. Kim died five days after the dispatch at the age of 24, the ministry said.

The military recovery team discovered his identity through a DNA test, as his daughter, now 64, had registered her DNA samples in search of her father's remains six decades after the three-year conflict.

MAKRI has collected 26,673 DNA samples from bereaved families to verify the identities of the fallen soldiers so that their remains can be returned to their loved ones. The agency has retrieved 8,744 remains of fallen soldiers since 2000 and collected DNA samples from 6,373 bodies.

The agency has only been able to return 83 sets of remains to families, while the rest of the remains are awaiting DNA and other forensic tests.

Friday 27 December 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/yonhap-news-agency/131226/s-korea-identifies-remains-police-killed-korean-war

Asian tsunami disaster anniversary

Bitter memories of December 26, 2004, were relived in the coastal villages of Chennai, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts when the ninth anniversary of tsunami was observed on Thursday.

In Nagapattinam, the town which lost the largest number of people, next of kin were still grappling with the loss of their loved ones. For 38-year-old Anbarasi, who had lost her young son to the killer waves, time is yet to play the healer. The fishing hamlets were littered with hoardings bearing eulogies of the dead and commemorated memories of loved ones. Occasional wails, solemn silences, and choked tears punctuated the sordid atmosphere.

And for the children of Annai Sathya Home for tsunami orphans, who were too young to cope with a loss so intense, this annual floral tribute stoked emotions forcing them to relive those times and come to terms with their loss.

Earlier, tributes were paid at the Tsunami memorial erected in memory of 6,045 victims. Similar tributes were paid at the Keechankuppam memorial.

Fishermen – from Arockiapuram to Neerodi in Kanyakumari and Periyathalai to Vembar in Tuticorin - stayed away from sea as a mark of respect to the hundreds of people swallowed by killer waves.

As many as 43,804 families, comprising 1.88 lakh people, were affected in the coastal areas of Kanyakumari district.

People offered floral homage at the ‘Tsunami Stupi’ at Triveni Sangamam Park in Kanyakumari. Special prayers were offered at the Anthirayas Church at Manakudi, St. Alex Church in Kottilpadu and Kanikkai Matha Church in Colachel, places of mass burials.

Fishermen, along with their family members, offered flowers to the ‘Tsunami Stupi’ at Colachel, Kottilpadu and Manakudi. Residents of Kottilpadu took out a silent procession and lit candles.

In Tuticorin, fisher folk, mostly clad in black, took out a silent procession towards Threspuram coast and paid floral homage in the shore. The mourners carried candles and flowers.

Children of a special school run by National Child Labour Programme at Inigo Nagar conducted a candle light prayer.

“Nine years after the tragedy, coastal families are slowly returning to the mainstream. Their social status has also improved, post-tsunami, due to mechanisation of fishing craft. In future, the focus should be on education, health and hygiene,” says Rev. Fr. Gildos, Director, Coastal Peace and Development, Kanyakumari.

Pereliya

A special tsunami commemoration ceremony at the tsunami memorial in Pereliya was held under the patronage of the Maha Sangha led by Southern Province Chief Sangha Nayake and Ruhunu University Chancellor Ven. Rajakeeya Panditha Pallaththara Sumanajothi thera. The ceremony commenced with floral tributes being placed at the Tsunami Memorial by all present, on Thursday (Dec.26).

Chief incumbent of Telwatta Raja Maha Viharaya and Galle and Matara District chief Judicial Sanganayake Ven. Pituwala Sumana thera administered Pansil. Catholic religious rites were performed by Rev. Brother Suren Fernando. Ven Rajakeeya Panditha Pallaththara Sumanajothi Nayaka Thera delivered an anusasana.

The refurbished ill fated train in the 2004 tsunami, reached Paraliya yesterday carrying a large crowd to pay tribute to the tsunami victims.

A special tsunami victim commemoration was also jointly organised by the Ruhunu Medical Faculty Judicial Medical Unit and Akmeemana Pradeshiya Sabha at the mass grave of tsunami victims at Kurunduwatta, Akmeemna where over thousands of unidentified bodies of victims were buried.

Tsunami commemoration functions were also held in Thotamune in Matara, in the Tangalle and Hambabtota towns.

Phuket

The Phuket community yesterday morning honored those who died in the devastating tsunami that struck the island in 2004 with a ceremony at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao followed by the traditional “Light Up Phuket” candle-lighting ceremony on Patong Beach last night.

About 50 people turned out at the Tsunami Memorial Wall in Mai Khao, including a few foreigners. The service in Mai Khao began at 8:30am with Buddhist monks conducting a mass prayer, followed by a Muslim service and then a Christian service.

After the religious ceremonies, attendees observed one minute of silence to remember their loved ones lost to the waves on December 26, 2004.

Wreaths were laid along the wall starting at 10:30am, with the ceremony drawing to a close at midday.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people attended another tsunami memorial service at Baan Nam Khem in Takuapa, Phang Nga.

Friday 27 December 2013

http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-honors-victims-on-ninth-anniversary-of-the-tsunami-23113.html

32 killed as bus plunges into ravine in Thailand

At least 32 people were killed and five critically injured today when a speeding bus plunged into a ravine in northeast Thailand.

The bus, coming from Khon Kaen was enroute to Chiang Rai province, crashed into the guard rail of a bridge in Phetachbun district and fell into the 50-metre deep ravine, police said.

The bus was carrying 40 people, they said, adding 27 bodies were found in the bus and many more outside.

Five critically injured were rushed to two hospitals where one of them died.

Information about the remaining three persons was not immediately available.


The mishap occurred as millions of Thai motorists are expected to travel during the New Year holidays.

Traffic accidents are common in Thailand. Earlier in October, at least 20 people were killed when a tour bus carrying elderly Buddhist devotees plunged into a ravine in the country's northeast.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organisation, Thailand witnessed some 38.1 road deaths per 100,000 of population, compared to an average of 18.5 in Southeast Asia as a whole.

Friday 27 December 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/32-killed-as-bus-plunges-into-ravine-in-Thailand/articleshow/28003278.cms

Turks and Caicos Islands: Search resumes for more migrant bodies from capsized boat

At least 17 migrants from Haiti died on Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat capsized as it was being towed to shore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials in the British territory said.

A marine unit of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the packed sloop about two hours earlier and was escorting it to shore when it abruptly overturned, sparking a frantic search and rescue operation in the pre-dawn darkness.

Karlo Pelissier, the Haitian consul to the Turks and Caicos, said he was told by survivors that several migrants attempted to jump off the 28-foot boat and flee to land as they neared the island of Providenciales and that the surge caused the overloaded sloop to overturn.

Officials had not confirmed that as the cause of the capsizing.

Police and private divers will resume their search on Thursday December 26th for more bodies from the capsized boat from which 17 Haitians plunged to their watery grave off the island of Providenciales in Turks and Caicos Islands on Christmas Day.

Police Commissioner Colin Farquhar, Commissioner said the search for additional casualties was called off yesterday due to “worsening light conditions and sea state”.

“A scaled down search will begin again tomorrow, but no further casualties are anticipated,” Farquhar said.

Officials had previously reported that around 59 bodies were spotted in waters off Providenciales following the tragic accident that occurred while the boat was being towed into the harbor at South Dock by the Turks and Caicos Islands Marine Branch.

Police also originally said there were 18 fatalities, but in a press release issued through Neil Smith, the Governor’s spokesman, Farquhar revised that figure to 17.

“I can confirm that 33 people were detained as suspected illegal Haitian immigrants. This group consisted of 21 males, including one child, and 12 females. These people will be repatriated to Haiti at the earliest opportunity,” the Commissioner added.

Last year the Turks and Caicos Islands spent more than US$1million repatriating illegal Haitians.

“There is actually one fewer casualty than was reported earlier with 17 confirmed fatalities. This group consists of 12 male and five female adults. The remains will also be repatriated following post mortems (autopsies) to establish the cause of death.”

Farquhar thanked various partners, including local police and emergency services and the US Coast Guard who provided aerial support in the form of a helicopter and a C-130 maritime patrol aircraft.

“The stricken vessel has now been removed from the water and will be central to our ongoing investigations into this matter,” Farquhar continued.

“Our patrols of the waters surrounding our islands have recommenced, and as ever, we appreciate the support of the general public, especially other water users, in helping us identify and track suspicious vessels n our waters and around out coastline. We must all remain vigilant to combat illegal migration.

Haitians have for years risked their lives travelling via wooden boats on a dangerous voyage to the Turks and Caicos Islands, The Bahamas and the United States in search of a better living.

The migrants, mostly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the northern city of Cap-Haitien, had set off on their voyage Sunday night, Pelissier said.

They paid $500-$1,000 (about £305 to £610) each and were trying to reach Miami or the Bahamas as well as Turks and Caicos, which has an established community of migrants from Haiti working in construction, tourism and service jobs.

Haitian officials said they try to discourage migrants from risking these journeys.

"We are saddened by such tragedy and present our condolences and prayers to the families and friends of those affected by this accident," said Salim Succar, an adviser to Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.

The rescued migrants are expected to be repatriated to Haiti in the coming days.

Authorities had not yet identified the captain of the vessel or any of the human smugglers from among the survivors, police spokesman Audley Astwood said. "Right now, the focus of our operation is search and rescue, trying to save as many lives as possible," he added.

The Turks and Caicos, in addition to being a destination for Haitian migrants seeking to escape their impoverished country, is also a favoured route for smugglers. The waters surrounding the islands are dotted with many tiny cays, reefs and patches of shallow water, making it treacherous for sailors, especially when boats are overloaded.

In November, an overloaded migrant sloop overturned in the southern Bahamas and an estimated 30 people drowned.

In July 2009, a sailboat with estimated 200 Haitians aboard ran aground on a reef off Turks and Caicos, killing at least 15 people.

In May 2007, at least 61 migrants died when their boat capsized, also just off shore from Providenciales.

Thursday 26 December 2013

http://suntci.com/search-resumes-today-for-more-bodies-from-capsized-boat-p1163-108.htm

9 dead as Russian transport plane crashes in Siberia

A Russian An-12 cargo plane has crashed near the Siberian city of Irkutsk. None of the nine people onboard survived the crash, the Emergencies Ministry said.

Rescue workers were working at the scene of the crash, recovering bodies from the wreck of the plane, an Emergencies Ministry spokesman in the region has said. The ministry has also raised the number of people who were on board the An-12 to nine, according to Itar-Tass, saying that three people had accompanied the crew of six.

Six of the nine bodies of the crash victims have been reportedly recovered. None of the flight data recorders have yet been found, a law enforcement source has said.

The plane was being relocated from an aircraft factory in Novosibirsk to another such plant near Irkutsk, an aviation source said, following initial reports of the crash.

The An-12 was not transporting any passengers or cargo, the source added, saying that the plane was used for “experimental aviation”.

“The An-12 came in for landing at low altitude and grazed military depot buildings 10 kilometers away from the landing strip, after which it crashed,” a law enforcement source told the agency.

The spilled fuel from the plane caused a fire, but the blaze was promptly brought under control by the firemen, according to an RIA Novosti source in law enforcement.

No casualties were reported at the military depot, where the plane crashed.

The crashed An-12 had been routinely used for transporting aircraft replacement parts between the Irkutsk aircraft repair plant and the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAPO), according to a NAPO source quoted by Itar-Tass. The cargo plane crashed during landing at the Irkutsk plant airfield, an air traffic control source told the agency.

Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry has already launched an investigation into the accident, a ministry source told Interfax.

The Antonov An-12 type aircraft first entered service in the Soviet Union in 1966. The plane is capable of carrying up to 20 tons of cargo and can accommodate up to 14 passengers between the flight deck and the cargo bay.

The plane’s production stopped in 1973 after the Soviet Union produced over 850 civilian and military models, and exported hundreds.

The An-12 is now regarded as outdated and the Russian Air Force is seeking a replacement.

Wednesday 26 December 2013

http://rt.com/news/plane-crash-siberia-russia-828/

Body in France crash site surprises police searching for Chinese billionaire Kok Lam

French authorities have fished out a body from the Dordogne River, the site of a helicopter crash thought to have killed Chinese billionaire Kok Lam and a French winemaker – but the find was not what they expected.

Colonel Ghislain Rety, head of the gendarmerie, or police force, in the Gironde region, said the body was that of a person reported missing several months ago.

“A body was found on Saturday in the Dordogne. It was a person who had disappeared in the river in April,” Rety said on Monday, adding that the April accident had occurred about 30 kilometres from the site of the helicopter crash.

Efforts to find the remains of 46-year-old tea and property magnate Kok Lam, his interpreter and financial adviser, Peng Wang; as well as pilot and French entrepreneur James Gregoire are still ongoing after the helicopter fell into the river.

Only the body of Lam Kok’s 12-year-old son, Kok Shun Yu, has been recovered.

The group had been taking a celebratory aerial tour of a chateau estate that Kok had just bought from Gregoire. Kok’s wife, Liu Xiangyun, was meant to join them but declined at the last minute, saying she was afraid of helicopters.

On Monday, French police launched a delicate operation to lift the aircraft from a river bed to find clues. ”The aim is to preserve the wreckage in its current form, for small details that can explain why it crashed,” Rety said.

Investigators also conducted a sonar search on Sunday night to scan for bodies in the Dordogne, a 430-kilometre-long river in the region of the same name, which runs from a mountain and flows into the Gironde River.

The search is focused on a 20-kilometre stretch along the river from where the chopper crashed.

The wreckage of the Robinson R44 helicopter, which is used by the police and army in several countries, was located early on Saturday in seven metres.

“Every lead is being followed – the weather, the rules, maintenance, the pilot’s qualifications and the characteristics of the flight,” said Philippe Mole of France’s air transport investigation department.

Kok and his wife head a Hong Kong company, Brilliant Group, which handled upmarket teas, luxury hotels, and the construction and management of shopping centres.

A day before the crash, they bought the Chateau de La Riviere and its 65-hectare vineyards for a reported ¤30 million (HK$318 million) with the aim of turning it into an elite tea- and wine-tasting retreat and plans to build a hotel nearby.

Gregoire himself had bought the property in 2003, a year after the previous owner died in a plane crash.

Wednesday 25 December 2013

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1389713/body-france-crash-site-surprises-police-searching-chinese-billionaire

Bangladeshi workers still missing eight months after Rana Plaza collapse

Almost 200 workers are still missing from the Bangladesh factory that collapsed eight months ago, compounding the misery for relatives who have received little in the way of compensation.

More than 1,134 people died in the disaster on 24 April, mainly workers making clothes for sale on western high streets by retailers including Matalan, Primark and other household names. The tragedy was the worst industrial accident anywhere in the world for a generation.

The failure to finalise the death toll and to unite bereaved relatives with the remains of their loved ones will raise questions about the capacity of local authorities to effect the wide-ranging reforms of the garment industry that brands, campaigners, labour activists, consumers and local officials all say are necessary. The garment industry employs around four million people in Bangladesh and produces 80% of the country's exports.

In the days after the tragedy, more than 800 bodies were visually identified by relatives or by identity cards or other personal possessions, officials said. Their families received 20,000 taka (£160) for immediate funeral expenses from the local administration and later a further sum of at least 100,000 taka (£790) from a special fund set up by the Bangladeshi prime minister's office.

Relatives of victims who were identified have also received payment of outstanding wages by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and sums equivalent to monthly wage payments from Primark, the British retailer which sold clothes made in Rana Plaza. But those people whose family members are still officially missing have received almost nothing.

"I am still waiting for any compensation. They found my daughter's phone but nothing else, even though she had her identity card on her," said Abu Kashem Mollah, who last saw his daughter Pervin when she left their one-room home to walk to the factory where she and 3,600 others spent 10 hours each day stitching clothes for western retailers.

Mollah recalls that both he and his daughter were worried on the day of the accident. The previous day workers had been sent home early when cracks had been discovered in the walls of the nine-storey building.

"I asked her if she had to go … and she said that if she didn't go her pay would be blocked," Mollah, 57, said.

An hour later the news that one of the hundreds of garment factories in the neighbourhood had collapsed spread through its choked, narrow streets. Fearing the worst, Mollah ran to his daughter's workplace. Half of the building had fallen in. He found no trace of her. He has found nothing since.

"I have searched frantically. I have given DNA samples. I have given my phone number again and again at many different offices and to many different people but no one has contacted me. I can't understand it," he said.

Authorities are not always sympathetic. Officials at the BGMEA suggested that many claims were fraudulent. Mainuddin Khandakar, a senior home ministry official and author of a government report into the tragedy, blamed the victim's families.

"Even if there are some missing, that is because these are village people who are unclear about how they can properly trace [their relatives]," he said.

Most of the victims were young women from poverty-stricken rural areas who had come to Dhaka in search of work. Their relatives are ill-equipped to tackle Bangladesh's tortuous bureaucracy.

Though his daughter had completed secondary education, Mollah is illiterate and relies on his remaining children to decipher official documents.

But there are other explanations for his failure to find his daughter's body.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, technicians at Bangladesh's only DNA testing laboratory, a small facility set up and funded by the German government, were only able to take samples from half the 324 unidentified bodies buried by a local NGO at Dhaka's Jurain cemetery. Without more samples "further answers cannot be found," said Sharif Akhteruzzaman, who runs the laboratory.

There is another possibility too. In the chaos immediately after the collapse, many bodies were misidentified and handed over to the wrong families, according to Akhteruzzaman.

"When we investigated one particular claim we looked at four samples, and found three [of these four] bodies had been handed to the wrong relatives … so you can understand how far misidentification is possible," he told the Guardian.

Such continuing confusion has led to rumours that the government secretly disposed of hundreds of bodies to conceal the true toll of the collapse and limit compensation schemes. Negotiations are still continuing to establish the amount of compensation western retailers that were supplied by the factories in Rana Plaza will pay to survivors and families.

In September the global union IndustriALL called a meeting of some of the world's largest retailers in Geneva to discuss a £47.2m compensation fund for the workers injured in the disaster, and the families of those who died. Only nine brands using clothes from the factory attended. Union officials close to the talks say they are hopeful, however, that a deal will be concluded early next year.

An office has also been opened to help relatives and survivors by the Ministry of Labour in the suburb of Savar where the tragedy occurred. However, Massoum Billah, its co-ordinator, said he "had no real idea" what was being done to resolve the problem of the missing.

Mollah, the bereaved father of Pervin, said he simply hoped to return to his village, 150 miles from Dhaka, soon.

"As soon as I have sorted this out I will leave," he said. "There is nothing here for me now. Pervin went into work that day and they killed her."

Wednesday 25 December 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/25/bangladesh-workers-missing-rana-plaza

Brazil floods kill 20, force 40,000 to evacuate

Floods and mudslides caused by heavy downpours in southeastern Brazil have killed at least 20 people and forced another 40,000 to evacuate.

The heavy rains, which began last week, affected 45 Brazilian municipalities, causing some of their major roads to crumble.

The civil defense department of Minas Gerais said on Monday that 14 people died in the state because of floodwaters or mudslides, and about 700 others sought shelter in public buildings or the homes of friends and relatives.

Neighboring Espirito Santo state said another six people were killed there, and some 40,150 had to leave their homes due to mudslides and rivers overflowing their banks. In 24 hours, 130 millimeters of rain had fallen in the state.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/brazil/131223/brazil-floods-kill-20-force-40000-evacuate

Has the mystery of nine skiers who died in the Siberian wilderness in 1959 been solved? Author claims new 'scientific' explanation for the Dyatlov Pass incident

A mysterious case of nine experienced skiers who died in bizarre circumstances on an expedition into Siberia may have been solved by an America researcher.

Donnie Eichar, a film-maker and author, spent four years investigating the so-called Dyatlov Pass incident, and has now claimed that he has discovered a 'scientific' explanation for the baffling case.

The skiers, who were all students, were led into the wilderness of the Ural mountains by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov.

Their aim was to reach the remote Otorten Mountain, but - with the exception of one man who turned back early due to ill health - the entire party would be found dead beneath the snow.

Rescuers sent out into the -24-degree weather to track the party down at first found only a collapsed tent, still filled with all the clothing and survival gear needed to make the rest of the journey.

But the empty tent baffled investigators, as it still contained items of clothing and pairs of shoes - implying that some of the students had ventured out into the wilderness barefoot and without coats.

Even when later searches uncovered the frozen bodies of all nine victims, no convincing explanation could be found for why the experienced hikers - who would have been well-versed in winter survival techniques - had come to such a tragic end.

Search parties found one group of bodies lying in the snow on flat land near a river, a mile from the tent, next to the remains of a long burnt-out fire.

Around 350 yards away lay the corpse of Dyatlov, the engineering student from Ural Polyetchnic who had put the expedition together and was its leader. His name would later be given to the area where the tragedy took place, as well as the incident itself.

Nearby, a search dog sniffed out the remains of Zina Kolmogorova, 22, under four inches of snow, and then that of Rustem Slobodin.

The bodies were in a line 200 yards apart, as if they had been trying to crawl behind each other back up to the shelter of the tent, but never made it.

Another two months went by before the rest of the group were found, under 15ft of snow in a den they had desperately hollowed out for themselves before succumbing to the cold.

Some of this group had broken bones and terrible internal injuries but, strangely, no external wounds, not even scratches on the skin.

Post-mortem examinations of all nine bodies threw their own anomalies, as some bodies were fully clothed, others almost naked. One, belonging to Lyudmilla Dubinina was missing her tongue and eyes.

An investigation by a Soviet government inspector was also fruitless, and was quietly dropped after concluding nobody was to blame. Lev Ivanov, the inspector, concluded only that all nine deaths had been caused by what he described as ‘an unknown elemental force which they were unable to overcome’.

But in a recent interview with Failure magazine, Mr Eichar hinted at his conclusion, saying: 'The conclusion that I have come up with could only have happened with the help of modern science and the help of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.'

Jason Zasky, who interviewed Mr Eichar, also wrote that his theory: 'involves a particular type of repetitive wind event (one that could be produced by the topography of Dead Mountain), which in turn might have triggered panic-inducing infrasound.'

Mr Eichar has stayed tight-lipped about the specifics, but said the original investigator: 'couldn’t explain what happened because he lacked the science and technology to do so.'

The 'infrasound' theory to which the interviewer refers is a bizarre - but apparently plausible - explanation which argues that sound waves too low to hear could have subtly affected the minds of the skiers, panicking them and causing them to rush recklessly out into the snow, where the cold killed them.

These waves of infrasound, it seems, could have been produced by high winds resonating thanks to the shape of the mountains.

Studied have suggested that infrasound - soundwaves too low for humans to hear - can nonetheless produce feelings of unease, awe or even terror which cannot be explained any other way.

It is unclear how far this explanation matches Mr Eichar's - but supporters of the theory claim it can account for the bizarre situation in which the bodies were found.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2528696/Dyatlov-Pass-incident-Has-mystery-nine-skiers-died-Siberian-wilderness-1959-SOLVED-Author-claims-new-scientific-explanation.html

Tsunami memories build for mass return for tenth anniversary in 2014

Thailand's leading forensic expert, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, is to appear at a tsunami memorial service and a public workshop at this year's anniversary on December 26.

Next year's anniversary marks 10 years and it's expected to attract survivors, volunteers, and those who played a part in the identification of bodies from around the world.

Dr Porntip played a key part in the identification process during the first 40 days. She told Phuketwan: ''On Thursday at the Baan Bang Maruan cemetery, where 380 unidentified victims are still buried, we will be reviewing the lessons of the 2004 tsunami in advance of the tenth anniversary.

''We learned a tremendous amount about body identification [5400 tourists and residents were killed] but the big lesson remains how to cooperate better at every level during a natural disaster.''

The seminar will be followed on the evening of December 26 by a sky lantern release at the cemetery. A fair has been operating every evening outside the cemetery and locals have the grounds neatly trimmed and ready.

The identification of about 3000 nameless bodies by a team of Thai and international police, dentists and others was the remarkable forensic success story that followed the tsunami.

Students will paint the walls at the cemetery on December 25. The cemetery is just down the road from the 7-Eleven store in the village, on the main road not far on from the turnoff to Nam Khem, a fishing port where about 800 perished.

The ceremony in Nam Khem will begin about 9am on December 26. It is usually one of the most touching places to be.

On Phuket, the beach at Patong will be covered in candles during the evening of December 26. A multi-religious ceremony takes place at the Mai Khao Tsunami Wall of Remembrance - now among the construction site for the region 8 Police headquarters - at 8am.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/tsunami-memories-build-mass-return-tenth-anniversary-2014-19444/