31 killed in Doti bus mishap

31 people were killed when a passenger bus met with an accident at Rupskada, Chatiban VDC-9 of Doti in an early Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, 11 are reported to be injured.

The ill-fated bus (Na 4 Kh 3603) heading from Jaigad, Accham to Tikapur, Kailali skidded off the road nearly a kilometer down. In a recent update, Police have recovered dead bodies of 22 male, 7 female and a child.

Deceased have been identified as Ujjwal Buda , bus driver Makkhuram Chaudhary, co driver Ganesh Chaudhary of Kailai, Pashupati Thakulla, his daughter Roshani Thakulla (2) of Kanchanpur, sister Kalpana Thakulla of Achham, Pawan Shah,Krishna Khadka, Rup Bahadur Rawal, Gagan Thapa,Chandra Devi Regmi,Bimal Buda,Tapendra Thakulla,Bharat Thakulla of Achham district.

Similarly, Kamala Rawal, Chakra Thakulla, Debananda Khanal, Rangi Devi Rawal, Tek Bahadur Buda, Bahadur Sodari,Ramila Shah,Sher Bahadur Saud,Devi Sara Thakulla and Dambari Kumari Thakulla of Achham and Tularam Regmi.

Identification of four other killed is yet to be established.

Police have suspected that the slippery road might have caused the accident.

According to the police, injured Indrasara Khadak (45) of Kailka Gajara -2 , Tapendra Rawal of Kalika Sugali- 2, Gulabi Rawal (23) and her daughter Manju Rawal (2) and Pabitra Bohara (40) of Darna VDC-9 of Achham, Janak Regmi of Mangalsen VDC of Achaam, Kishor Chaudhary and two others are undergoing treatment at Zonal Hospital in Dhangadhi.

Among injured, Pabitra, Kishor and Janak are in critical condition.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=31+killed+in+Doti+bus+mishap&NewsID=361520

Haiti quietly marks quake's 3rd anniversary

President Michel Martelly urged Haitians to recall the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in a devastating earthquake three years ago, marking the disaster's anniversary yesterday with a simple ceremony.

Martelly also thanked other countries and international organizations for their help after the Jan. 12, 2010 disaster.

"Haitian people, hand in hand, we remember what has gone," Martelly said as a gigantic Haitian flag flew half-mast before him on the front lawn of the former National Palace, a pile of tangled steel reinforcement bars nearby. "Hand in hand, we're remembering, we're remembering Jan. 12."

Clad in black, several dozen senior government officials gathered where the elegant white palace had stood before it collapsed in the temblor and was later demolished. Foreign diplomats and Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova, earlier named by Martelly as one of Haiti's goodwill ambassadors, were also there.

In the speech, Martelly announced a government contest seeking designs for a monument to honor those who died in the quake. He also said the government had just released a new construction code aimed at ensuring new buildings are seismically resistant but didn't provide details.

Later in the day, Martelly, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and former US president Bill Clinton placed a wreath at a mass burial site north of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Crosses that once spiked the makeshift grave have since vanished.

Haiti's previous presidential administration said 316,000 people were killed but no one really knows how many died. The disaster also displaced more than a million others.

Most of the rubble created by the quake has since been carted away but more than 350,000 people still live in grim displacement camps.

Many people had hoped the reconstruction effort would have made more headway by now, but progress has been stymied by political paralysis, the scale of devastation and a trickle of aid.

Jan. 12 was observed as a national holiday the last two years to remember the quake. This year, the government said the day would no longer be a holiday but called for the Haitian flag to be flown at half-mast and for nightclubs and "similar establishments" to close.

The anniversary this year has been used by Haiti observers to criticize the reconstruction process and by foreign aid groups to promote their work and raise money.

But for some Haitians, it was just another day.

"We can't remain focused on Jan. 12th," said Asaie St. Louis, a 56-year-old teacher and devout church-goer, Bible in hand. "It's passed already."

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.philstar.com/breaking-news/2013/01/13/896467/haiti-quietly-marks-quakes-3rd-anniversary

10 Bangladeshis killed in Bahrain fire

Ten Bangladeshis along with three other foreign workers were killed when a fire swept through a three-storey labour camp in the Bahraini capital Manama on Friday.

Counselor and Head of Chancery of Bangladesh Embassy in Manama Mehdi Hasan confirmed the death of 10 Bangladeshi workers. Of them, four hailed from Brahmanbaria, three from Chittagong, two from Chandpur and one from Noakhali districts.

Out of the 10, four brothers came from two families in Brahmanbaria and Chandpur districts.

The deceased were identified as: Sapan and his brother Saiful Islam (Sabuj), sons of late Shahid Miah of village Kaitala in Nabinagar upazila of Brahmanbaria, Shahadat and his brother Titu Miah, sons of Alam of village Nawpura in Kachua upazila in Chandpur.

Two others from Nabinagar in Brahmanbaria are Jasem, son of Naser Miah of village Goali, and Mohammed Anowar, son of Abul Bashar of village Gurigram.

Three of the deceased were named as Nazir Ahmed, Mahbub Alam and Jamal of Patia upazila in Chittagong.

The tenth was identified as Md Osman Gani, son of Abdur Rahim of Sonaimuri upazila in Noakhali.

Two more Bangladeshi workers also sustained injuries in the fire, said Shameem Ahsan, director general (External Publicity Wing) of the foreign ministry, quoting Bangladesh mission in Bahrain.

The unlicensed building had 26 rooms occupied mostly by "free visa" workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, Bahrain-based newspaper Gulf Daily News reports.

"The majority were Bangladeshis and seven to 10 people lived in each room," it added

"In that building there are 28 rooms, of which there are three rooms occupied by Pakistani nationals and the rest occupied by Bangladeshis," one resident of the building told Reuters.

A fireman was injured when the roof of the building collapsed during the blaze.

The victims of the blaze, in the Mukharqa neighbourhood, are yet to be identified, said an Interior Ministry official last night.

The bodies have been transferred to the Salmaniya Medical Complex mortuary while the injured are undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The Civil Defence acting director-general said fire brigades rushed to the Mukharqa neighbourhood after the blaze was reported at 3:44pm (Bahrain time) and reached the site at 3:50pm.

Several tenants were rescued from the burning building and the blaze was brought under control before it spread to nearby buildings.

"We are still awaiting identification of the bodies which were recovered by Civil Defence personnel from the debris," the acting director-general said.

Capital Governorate Chief Prosecutor Fahd Al Buainain last night visited the site and ordered a probe into the blaze.

Officials said three Pakistanis suffered burns and were transferred to SMC.

"Mohammed Akram, 40, suffered burns to his hands and left leg, Saeed Ahmed, 38, suffered second-degree burns to his face, legs and hands, and Mohammed Aslam suffered minor burns to his hands and legs."

Thick smoke reached the sky and was visible from a distance.

"Initially we thought it was a minor fire but after sometime we saw thick smoke coming out of the building and neighbours panicked," said an eye-witness.

"Some called the Civil Defence and several fire brigades and ambulances arrived at the scene.

"They entered the building although there was a lot of smoke and flames were rising from the structure.

"It spread so fast that the whole building went down in minutes," he said.

"Police cordoned off the area. Firemen brought the bodies out one by one and I saw 13 bodies. They were still working at the site at 10pm when we left," he added.

Sources said the roof of the building collapsed in the fire and the structure could be razed because it is not safe.

The Pakistan Embassy last night called on the community to help identify the victims.

This is the second deadliest fire involving labour camps in Bahrain. A fire in a Gudaibiya labour camp killed 16 workers in 2006. Another blaze in East Riffa killed 10 last year.

BBC reports: According to the 2010 census, there are more than 660,000 foreign nationals living in Bahrain - the vast majority of whom are described as Asian - out of a total population of 1.23m.

Saturday 12 January

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=43895

Plane crash victims identified

The four people who died in a plane crash near Maxwell on Friday have been identified. They include Mark Bottorff, the pilot of the plane and owner of Bottorff Construction in Atchison, Kan. That’s according to Jerry Ernzen, vice president of operations for Bottorff Construction.

Ken Babcock, the owner of Ken Babcock Sales, a Hiawatha, Kan. company that designs and supplies farm equipment, also died in the crash. KBS confirmed his death on Saturday, as well as the death of Jason Drane, KBS operations manager.

Chris Nelsen was the fourth person killed, according to representatives from Scott-Hourigan, the farm and garden equip-ment company in York where Nelsen worked. Ernzen said Bottorff had been in North Platte for a project.

“We have a crew pulling concrete there, and Mark was looking at other prospective work,” Ernzen said.

No additional information was given about the passengers flying with Bottorff. At 3:46 p.m., Bottorff took off from the North Platte Regional Airport in a Raytheon Beechcraft Baron registered to his construction company. He was headed for the York Municipal Airport.

“Shortly afterward, radar and radio contact was lost,” Ernzen said. Troop D of the Nebraska State Patrol confirmed that contact had been lost with the plane at 3:53 p.m., seven minutes after it left North Platte. A missing aircraft notice was issued when the plane didn’t arrive at its designation.

Jerome Kramer, Lincoln County sheriff, said the aircraft crashed 10 miles north and three miles east of Maxwell. The wreckage was found shortly after a search began. According to Ernzen, none of the bodies were inside the plane, but all four were recovered.

Kenny Roberg a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Platte, said there was freezing drizzle and a visibility of three miles at the time of the accident. The cloud ceiling was 900 feet.

According to Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transporta-tion Safety Board has begun an investigation, which could take up to a year to complete.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.nptelegraph.com/breaking_news/plane-crash-victims-identified/article_bef663ee-5cd0-11e2-ba7a-0019bb2963f4.html

Searching Lake Garda for WWII missing

In the final hours of World War II in northern Italy, a group of US soldiers set off across Lake Garda hoping to outflank German troops.

But the Americans never reached the shore. Their amphibious truck sank in a storm, and more than 20 men on board were drowned.

Now though, nearly 70 years on, there is suddenly hope that their bodies might be found.

The sunken American vehicle was located in the depths of the lake a few weeks ago.

"We have this policy of 'no man left behind'," said Val Rios, a spokesman for an association that represents descendants of troops who fought in the US Army's 10th Mountain Division.

"We've had 24 soldiers down at the bottom of Lake Garda for all these years, so it means a great deal for us to hopefully bring closure to this tragic accident."

Mr Rios believes that it may be possible to identify the remains of some of the troops, either in the hull of the vehicle or scattered nearby.

And he hopes that there might eventually be burials in the hometowns across America that the soldiers left so long ago.

"Accidents are also part of war," said Mr Rios.

"But it was tragic that it was so close to the end of the war that so many lives were lost."

The troops drowned on the night of 30 April 1945.

By then the Italian Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini had already been captured and shot. His body had been hung up for display in a street in Milan a few days earlier.

And within 24 hours of the accident on Lake Garda, the German forces in Italy surrendered.

But they had fought until the last moment.

Elite SS troops put up fierce resistance in the beautiful hills and villages on the lake's northern shores.

They had tried to block the Allied advance by blowing up tunnels and bridges.

And so the Americans had taken to the water, deploying their huge amphibious vehicles.

These were six-wheeled trucks called DUKWs, although the soldiers just referred to them as "Ducks".

The machines switched to propeller propulsion whenever they plunged into rivers or lakes.

On 30 April, men of the 605th Field Artillery Battalion were given the task of carrying one of their big weapons up to a point on the shore where it could be used to pound the German positions.

"A storm was brewing, but earlier in the evening another DUKW had made this crossing successfully," said Mr Rios.

It seems though that the height of the waves became too much for the heavily laden craft.

"Approaching the harbour at Riva, the boat took on water and the men began throwing heavy equipment overboard, but to no avail. The boat capsized."

The only survivor was Corporal Thomas Hough, from Dayton, Ohio, who had been a lifeguard before joining the army.

Nearby on the shore as the disaster unfolded was Carlo Bombardelli, who was nine years old at the time.

His family's home was metres from the water's edge.

"There were strong winds that night, and my father and I heard some screams from the lake," Mr Bombardelli said.

He remembers two US soldiers commandeering a boat to go out onto the heaving waters in the darkness to look for survivors.

"The day after, we found eight American backpacks on the beach."

Several years ago a team from the University of Texas mounted an unsuccessful search for the lost craft.

But in 2011 a local organisation that responds to emergencies on the lake, the Garda Volunteer Group, took up the hunt.

Group spokesman Luca Turrini said: "Other searches were based on the confusing testimony of the lone survivor, who had said that they had sunk close to the shore.

"But we went much further into the lake and had more time to look."

The group used a sonar device to scan the depths.

And after one particular pass along the mud on the lake bed, there was a sudden, ecstatic moment of discovery.

"We saw the camera hovering over a vehicle," said Mr Turrini.

"And we could see the insignia of the US Army. There were shouts of joy."

He said that he and his fellow volunteers would continue to explore the site.

They will examine small objects around the wrecked craft, and see if they can identify human remains.

"It's difficult because the mud has covered everything," he said.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20991123

Eight workers killed in Turkish mining disaster

On January 7, eight coal miners were killed as the result of a methane gas leak in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Zonguldak. Rescue teams have managed to recover only five of the bodies from the mine. One miner was found alive under the coal dust. The miners were trying to reach a coal deposit Monday when they were hit by a sudden discharge of methane gas that caused an explosion, burying the miners in coal dust.

According to Burhan Inan, general manager of the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise (TTK), which runs the Kozlu district mine, the eight workers were killed by the blast while a number of others were evacuated without injury.

TTK has identified the miners killed as Huseyin Kurekce, Hasan Bozaci, Muharrem Yapici, Yuksel Koca, Ahmet Sekerci, Koksal Kadioglu, Muhsin Akyuz and Satilmis Arslan. Hayrettin Dagkiran has been identified as the only worker found alive at the scene.

Inan claimed that the blast occurred while TTK was in the process of issuing LED chips, which detect the location and depth of miners, to all its 8,800 employees working underground in the catchment area. He also told the media that areas leading out of the mine were being monitored for dangerous gas coming from the coal.

Despite these claims, the most recent accident has exposed the failure of the company to implement recommendations included in a safety report prepared by the Turkish Audit Courts for Turkey’s parliament in 2011. Referring to the Kozlu coal mine, the report stated, “It is a coincidence that a fatal incident has not occurred yet.”

The report also pointed out that TTK was subcontracting work to a construction firm, instead of a mining company, and that the former failed to meet safety regulations. The study furthermore cited multiple earlier reports, which exposed negative practices carried out by TTK.

Faruk Celik, a minister in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, told reporters about an inspection of the mine November 16, 2012. Celik said, “Five issues were discovered during that inspection and the necessary warnings were issued against the facility’s management at that time. The facility was fined for the infractions. However, they were all routine procedures.”

The mining company was also responsible for a disaster in 2010 that killed 30 miners and incited public outrage. Like the recent accident in Kozlu, the earlier incident took place in Zonguldak province and was caused by a flammable gas setting off an explosion in a mine.

Kozlu was also the scene of the worst mine disaster in Turkish history when in 1992 an explosion in the Incirharmani mine led to the death of 270 miners.

Mine disasters occur with great frequency in Turkey. Today’s Zaman reported that four workers died when a coal mine collapsed in the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir last April.

In 2011, according to Turkey’s Chamber of Mining Engineers, 79 miners died and 117 were injured as a result of mine accidents. The Work Health and Work Safety Assembly reported 81 casualties at Turkish mines in 2012. Hurriyet Daily News informed its readers, “A total of 2,554 miners were killed and more than 13,000 lost the ability to work between 1991 and 2008. Turkey has the worst safety record in terms of mining accidents and explosions in Europe and the third worst in the world.”

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/12/mine-j12.html

A generation wiped out: Nineteen children among 46 bodies recovered from landslide which swept away entire village in southern China

Nineteen children were among 46 people killed in a devastating landslide that swept through a mountain village in China.

Mud and rocks smothered 16 homes in the village of Zhaojiagou area of Gaopo Village, in the south of the country, which has a population of just 468 and 73 households. Rescuers dressed in orange jumpsuits faced the grim task of pulling the dead from underneath debris and had to use heavy machinery to sift through mud and soil.

On Saturday, the state-run China Central Television said the bodies of all victims had been recovered after a 700-strong emergency team used joined the rescue effort.

The Zhenxiong government said in a statement the mudslide was caused by soil that had become heavily saturated from continuous rain and snow over the past month.

There were other factors, including the slope's steepness, its poor soil composition and the impact from an earthquake, the government said.



The statement denied any direct relation between the disaster and mining activities in the area and concluded that the mudslide was a natural disaster.

Mudslides occur periodically in the region, which is prone to earthquakes and heavy rains. In a nearby county, 81 people died in an earthquake in September. A month later, a landslide buried a primary school, killing 18 students and one other person.

Saturday 12 January 2013

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261308/China-Landslide-Nineteen-children-amoung-46-bodies-recovered.html#ixzz2HnXMpsp6

Survivors of Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster mark first anniversary of sinking

A mass will be held in a church on the tiny island and 32 illuminated lanterns – one for each person who lost their lives in the accident – will be released into the sky at 9.45pm local time, marking the exact moment that the Concordia slammed into rocks, tearing a 230ft gash in its hull.

The huge chunk of granite that embedded itself in the ship's side will be returned to the rocky shoal from where it was ripped, with a plaque commemorating the disaster. Two of the victims are still missing, their bodies believed to be trapped in the rusting hulk of the ship – Russel Rebello, 32, a waiter from India, and Maria Grazia Trecarichi, 50, an Italian housewife.

Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin Rebello, is among the relatives of victims who are attending the anniversary commemoration. He said he had still not "found peace" because his brother's body remained missing.

"It's going to be very painful to relive the sadness and trauma of that night," said one islander, who asked not to be named. "Our thoughts are with the two people whose bodies have still not been found."

There were 4,200 passengers and crew on board the ship when it rammed into Giglio on the night of January 13 last year, and more than 150 survivors and their relatives are expected to attend today's memorial events.

As passengers and their families converge on the tiny island off the coast of Tuscany, salvage experts announced that bad winter weather has delayed the refloating of the wreck of the huge cruise liner until September.

It had been hoped that the 950ft-long luxury liner could be raised this Spring, but rough weather and the challenge of drilling into granite to secure anchor blocks and pylons has pushed the schedule back by months.

The cost of the operation has also blown out, from an initial estimate of $300 million to $400 million.

The delay was perhaps inevitable given the massive scale of the recovery operation. It involves constructing steel platforms and other structures which together weigh 30,000 tonnes – more than three times as much as the Eiffel Tower.

More than 400 divers, engineers, welders and other experts from 19 countries, including Britain, are working round-the-clock, seven days a week, to prepare the ship to be rolled upright onto an underwater platform, refloated and then towed away to be broken up for scrap.

More than 20 vessels are involved in the salvage experts, including tug boats, cranes and barges.

The ship will be rolled upright with the help of hydraulic jacks, massive cables and 30 giant boxes which will be welded onto its port and starboard sides in order to provide buoyancy. Each is the height of a seven to 10 storey building but they must be welded into place so precisely that there is a margin of error of just one per cent in their positioning.

The huge boxes will act like arm bands, raising the ship in the water.

"Imagine the challenge of building, transporting and installing structures of this size," said Sergio Girotto, an engineer from Micoperi, the Italian company conducting the operation in partnership with an American firm, Titan Salvage. "There is no precedent for an operation of this kind." Experts are hoping to roll the ship into an upright position by June. It will then take six to seven weeks to prepare it for being refloated and towed to an Italian port to be dismantled.

"We've lost 35 days due to bad weather since the start of the project," said Nick Sloane, a South African who is in charge of the salvage. "Before the winter is over we could lose another 20 to 30 days, which will put the schedule back a bit more. "The concept of rolling a ship like this is not unusual but given that it is three football pitches in length, the scale is something that has never been attempted before. Once we start rolling the ship upright, there's no going back – gravity takes over. There will be a lot of structural distortion and loud noises as she rolls over."

The few hundred inhabitants of Giglio are desperate to see the wreck gone from the pristine waters and picturesque bays just outside the island's main port.

But even when the ship is floated away, the multinational salvage team will stay for at least another three months, cleaning the seabed of debris and removing the steel platforms and the 20,000 tonnes of cement, pumped into sacks, on which the ship will have rested.

The captain of the vessel, Francesco Schettino, who is accused of gross negligence in sailing the cruise liner too close to the island, is expected to be sent to trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship in the next few weeks.

Nine other people, including some of the ship's officers, are under investigation. Another mystery surrounding the night the ship capsized emerged yesterday (sat) after claims that the Concordia's safes had held 1, 240,000 euros in cash, but that only 900,000 euros was recovered by officers escaping the vessel. The whereabouts of the missing 340,000 euros is unknown.

Saturday 12 January 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9797998/Survivors-of-Costa-Concordia-cruise-ship-disaster-mark-first-anniversary-of-sinking.html