Last body found in Komi coal mine

The bodies of 17 workers killed in a methane explosion at the Komi Vorkutinskaya coal mine have been brought to the surface, coal mine chief engineer Sergei Moiseyev said at the daily briefing held by Russian Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov on Tuesday.

"Seventeen bodies have been retrieved; the methane concentration is reducing in the accident zone, it is down to 4% already," he said.

The 18th body has been found 15 meters away from the rock face. It will be raised to the surface, as well.

Methane exploded at the Vorkutinskaya mine of Vorkutaugol at the depth of 800 meters at approximately 10 a.m. on Monday. According to latest updates, 26 workers happened to be in the explosion epicenter; 18 of them died, three were taken to the Vorkuta hospital and five walked out of the mine unaided.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/last-body-found-in-komi-coal-mine-320285.html

Two bodies of storm victims recovered in Msinga, 4 still missing

Two bodies of six people who went missing in a thunderstorm in Msinga, northern KwaZulu-Natal, have been recovered, the co-operative governance and traditional affairs department said on Tuesday.

"Two bodies have been recovered today [Tuesday], but we cannot reveal their identities at this stage until their families have been properly notified," said spokesman Lennox Mabaso.

The six were swept away in their homes when the Isibumba river burst its banks and flooded.

"The floods have left 36 people displaced, 25 houses have been completely damaged, and 98 people have been affected," Mabaso said. The rain started on at 6pm on Monday.

"This is indeed a very sad day for us a province as we have come to comfort the families whose lives has been turned asunder as a result of the ferocious storms that hit this area," said co-operative governance MEC Nomusa Dube.

She said the department had spoken to traditional leaders about identifying appropriate land, away from the flood plain, on which families could rebuild their homes.

"Search and rescue crews are on the scene and are searching for those that went missing during the flood," she said.

Dube said families which had lost their homes were being housed at a community hall, and arrangements had been made for them to get all the necessary assistance to ensure they were able to rebuild their lives.

Damage to infrastructure was estimated to run into millions of rand.

Dube, arts and culture MEC Ntombikayise Sibhidla Saphetha, health MEC Sbongiseni Dlomo and Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi MEC visited the area to asses the damage.

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal sent its condolences to the families which had lost loved ones and those still searching for missing family members.

"We have no doubts that the emergency and rescue team will do their best in searching for the missing people," said spokesman Senzo Mkhize.

"We also want to commend the provincial government for their swift response in providing relief measure to the victims," he said.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2013/02/12/two-bodies-recovered-in-msinga

USS Monitor remains to be buried next month at Arlington Cemetery

For 140 years the two Union sailors lay entombed in the turret of the USS Monitor, doomed shipmates aboard the sunken Civil War vessel 40 fathoms down and 16 miles off Cape Hatteras.

Their remains were recovered when the turret was brought to the surface in an amazing feat of marine archaeology and engineering in 2002.

Next month, after a decade of trying to learn their identities, the Navy plans to bury the comrades as unidentified in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

The funeral, scheduled for March 8, will mark 40 years of research into the Monitor by the Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Va., and many other organizations.

And it will lay to rest perhaps the last of the over 600,000 soldiers, sailors and Marines who perished in the long ago war for the Union. The nation is currently commemorating the sesqicentennial of the war, which ran from1861 to 1865.

“These may very well be the last Navy personnel from the Civil War to be buried at Arlington,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s important we honor these brave men and all they represent as we reflect upon the significant role Monitor and her crew had in setting the course for our modern Navy.”

The Monitor is famous for battling the Confederate ship CSS Virginia, formerly the USS Merrimack, on March 9, 1862, at Hampton Roads, Va., in history’s first fight between ironclad warships.

Ten months later, the two men were aboard the Monitor when it sank in a gale off the North Carolina coast on Dec. 31, 1862. The ship capsized, and settled on the bottom upside down.

Most of the 63 crewmen escaped. Sixteen men perished, the bodies of the other 14 were never recovered.

The two unidentified sailors — an older sailor, about 35, who walked with a limp, wore a gold ring, and always had a pipe clenched between his teeth, and a younger man, about 21, with a broken nose and mismatched shoes — were trapped in the turret.

More than a century later, their almost complete skeletons were found, one on top of the other, amid the tangle of huge guns and debris inside.

“It’s extraordinary on a number of levels,” said David W. Alberg, superintendent of NOAA’s Monitor Marine Sanctuary. “There’s something comforting to know that, no matter what you go through, what sacrifice you make, that nation’s promise to look after you, bring you home, and honor you, is as good 150 years later” as it is was back then.

“Here we have two men who were lost in a storm, forgotten by even many of their descendants,” he said. “But the nation’s never forgotten.”

The wreck of the Monitor was located in 1973 by a Duke University research ship in the stormy region called “the graveyard of the Atlantic.”

The study of the bones yielded DNA, but few other clues: The younger man’s broken nose and indications of a possible limp in the older man, the ring on a fingers of his right hand and a groove in his front teeth where he bit down on his pipe.

The identities of all the lost Monitor sailors are known, and many crew members are depicted in old photographs — including a famous series taken on the ship by photographer James F. Gibson in July 1862.

But it was not known which identities might go with the recovered remains.

Last year, at the Navy Memorial in Washington, experts from Louisiana State University displayed clay facial reconstructions of the two men, based on models of their skulls.

The remains were then at the military’s Joint Prisoner of War Missing in Action Command in Hawaii. The turret resides at the Maritime Museum.

Experts hoped the clay images might, through public exposure, provide leads to the identities.

Officials noted a strong resemblance between the reconstructed face of the older sailor and that of the Monitor’s Welsh-born first-class fireman, Robert Williams, 30.

In two of Gibson’s pictures, Williams appears in a cap and mustache, standing with his arms folded. He is surrounded by other members of the crew, who lounge on the deck, playing checkers and smoking pipes.

But investigators could come up with nothing more definitive, and the sailors must now go to their graves unidentified.

Officials said the case will remain open, should further information be discovered.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/uss-monitor-remains-to-buried-next-month-at-arlington-cemetery/2013/02/12/3a1a7abe-7497-11e2-8f84-3e4b513b1a13_story.html

Families of accident victims accuse police of looting

Some family members of the Post Bus accident victims have accused the police of ransacking bodies and looting money and luggage.

But police spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela has denied the allegations and instead blamed it on unknown people.

Some of the money lost by survivors and those that died includes, a K23 million (KR 23, 000), K10 million (KR 10, 000) and K3 million (KR 3, 000).

But Kanjela said passenger who lost luggage and money should report to Central Province police saying the looting was done by unknown people.

Meanwhile, accidents victims have been buried at a mass burial in Ndola.

Speaking at the burial, President Michael Sata has urged RATSA and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that motorists follow road regulations.

President Sata regretted the continued death of people on the road and that something should be done about it.

He took time to reflect on the road accidents and how the problem can be solved.

He has since indicated the intention to construction a duo carriage way from Lusaka to Kabwe as one of the solutions to the road accidents.

“We urgently need the Road Transport and Safety Agency and other law enforcement agencies to work closely with motorists and other road users to ensure that road traffic rules are followed to avoid these accidents,” said President Sata.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://zambiareports.com/2013/02/12/families-of-accident-victims-accuse-police-of-looting/

Colombia authorities uncover mass grave

Colombian authorities have uncovered the bodies of five men buried in a field in a remote part of Antioquia department, and the country's largest rebel group, FARC, are the intitial suspects, local media reported on Tuesday.

The bodies, in an advanced state of composition, were allegedy found on Monday buried in a field in the village of La Bamba, two hours from the town of El Bagre, in Colombia's north-west Antioquia department. They were in an advanced stage of decomposition and had not been buried with any identifying documents.

According to national police commander General Jose David Guzman, the five men appear to have been members of the paramilitary gang "Los Urabeños" who had, along with five other men, arrived from the port city of Cartagena two months prior, reported El Universal.

The men, reportedly of African descent, were allegedly kidnapped by the FARC on December 30 2012, and had not been seen since.

It is not yet known how long the bodies were buried for.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/28118-colombia-authorities-uncover-mass-grave.html

Bodies of 17 miners lifted to surface at Vorkutinskaya mine

The bodies of seventeen miners who died in a methane blast at Vorkutinskaya mine early on Monday have been raised to the surface, Sergei Moiseyev, the mine’s chief engineer, told an emergency meeting held by Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov.

“Seventeen miners have been raised to the surface. The methane concentration in the blast-affected section is decreasing and has already dropped to 4%”, Moiseyev said.

The body of the 18th missing miner was found 15 meters away from the longwall. His body is being lifted to the surface too. Works to degas and ventilate the mine are under way. Moiseyev said that they would finish in 1.5 or 2 hours.

For his part, Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov warned that the operation should stop immediately if there was even the slightest threat to the life and health of the mine rescuers.

Eighteen people died and three more were injured in a methane blast explosion at Vorkutinskaya mine early on Monday. One miner has been taken to Moscow for treatment.

In the meantime, a reserve of gear and equipment for mine rescuers will be created in Vorkuta, according to Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov, who visited the Vorkutinskaya mine on Monday.

“I’ve decided that an Il-76 plane will leave Moscow soon to deliver the gear and equipment. This is going to be a reserve for the mine rescuers who will cover the whole region,” Puchkov emphasized.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://news.silobreaker.com/bodies-of-17-miners-lifted-to-surface-at-vorkutinskaya-mine-5_2266603712329809941

Trying time for relatives as they search for missing victims

Many survivors were left with little, as all their belongings were lost in the stampede. The administration claimed that at least 19 of the 24 identified bodies had been sent to their native places

Even as 24 of the 36 dead were identified during the day, many people ran from one hospital to another looking for their kin who had gone missing since the stampede at Allahabad railway station on Sunday evening.

Sitaram Prasad came to the mortuary of Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Hospital looking for his wife Mamta Devi and mother Bachcha Devi. “I have already looked at the list of the injured. I have come here to see if their bodies are here. They were with me when the stampede occurred. After that I have not seen them,” he said.

After seeing the photographs of the dead at the mortuary, Prasad did not have any idea where to look for his family members.



Same was the case with Arjun, who was looking for his wife Sushila Bai. Baliram Pandey from Gorakhpur had been looking for his relative Teg Bahadur and had been to the GRP post and the hospital. “There is one Tej Bahadur in the list of the injured. But I am not sure whether he is the person I am looking for. I will take a look and then go to Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital,” he said.

Many survivors were left with little, as all their belongings were lost in the stampede. Raj Kumar Kesri of Patna said: “I was wearing a jacket. All the money and ticket was in that jacket. It is gone. My elder sister’s mobile and purse is also lost. Luckily, I had my mobile phone safe. My son is there back home, but he cannot come immediately. We are left with no money.” His sister Shanti Devi was injured in the stampede and was being treated at SRN hospital.

Bansi Dhar Thakur from Delhi, whose neighbour Manorama Devi was injured, said: “Let alone our purse and mobile phones, even our bags and other belongings have been lost. We are left with no money and no clothes.” In the morning, however, somebody came and gave him Rs 500.

The administration claimed that at least 19 of the 24 identified bodies had been sent to their native places. “Three bodies were cremated at Rasulabad crematorium, as their families requested us to get the last rites done here,” said Additional Director (Health) and in-charge (health and sanitation) of Kumbh Mela, Ramesh Kumar. The officer had been camping at SRN since morning.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/trying-time-for-relatives-as-they-search-for-missing-victims/1072983/

Search for remains of disaster victims conducted in Iwate, Miyagi

Local police and coast guard conducted an intensive search Monday for traces of those whose remains have not been found since the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami disaster in the coastal areas of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.

“Families of the missing people cannot go undersea by themselves. We hope we can recover (their remains) or something that could identify them,” said Nobuki Fujita, 38, who led a team of four divers who were involved in the search activities in Kesennuma, Miyagi.

Overall, 2,698 people remained unaccounted for as of Feb. 6 following the disaster, of whom 2,483 were from the two prefectures, according to the National Police Agency. The death toll stood at 15,880.

In Rikuzentakata, Iwate, some 90 officers from the local coast guard and fire headquarters observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims on the seashore before launching the search.

Monday 11 February 2013

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/12/national/search-for-remains-of-disaster-victims-conducted-in-iwate-miyagi/#.URmgVajVWCA

Seeking redemption: Baldia owners offer groceries in exchange for loyalty

On Monday afternoon at a godown in Baldia, Nazia, who lost her husband in the Ali Enterprises inferno, was handed a white envelope of Rs 5,000. The mother of four was told to come back again on the 16th of this month and collect her ration she ‘deserved’. In return, she was told to keep her mouth shut and not to speak ill against the factory owners.

Such pressure tactics being carried by the officials of the gutted factory, Ali Enterprises is likely to increase after the bail of all the men accused in the Baldia fire incident, claim activists.

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) executive director Karamat Ali told The Express Tribune that the owners and managers of Ali Enterprises, the factory in which hundreds of people lost their lives, have been intimidating the witnesses and the workers for a while. The purpose of these threats is to pressurise people into agreeing to drop murder charges against the owners.

“Even from inside the jail, the brothers had been giving directions to their men to threaten the people to move back from the case,” said Ali. “Now that they are out of prison, we expect an increase in their dirty activities.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer representing the owners, Amir Raza Naqvi, insisted that the company has been providing groceries and medicines to the families since day one. “We understand that these families are poor so we have been helping them out on a humanitarian basis,” he told The Express Tribune. Denying that these were pressure tactics, Naqvi explained that they took it upon themselves to help these poor because the government had failed to do so.

Last September, more than 250 workers had died in a massive inferno that engulfed a factory in Baldia. Termed as the country’s worst fire disaster, social activists had joined hands with the affected families to help them raise their voice over the missing bodies and the delayed compensation payments.

However, activists now see a change in heart in some of the affected families as the owners are using pressure tactics. While some families have been threatened on the phone and paid visits by factory managers, others have been presented groceries and offered money to keep their mouths shut.

“The poor and weak status of the affected families is being abused by the powerful and influential owners. They are taking advantage of their situation and forcing people to dislodge themselves from the case,” said trade unionist Nasir Mansoor. He said that the managers were operating from a godown near the burned factory. “The people are being called to their office and told to sign documents. God knows what those documents are.” He was worried that these illiterate people may be fooled into signing pardons.

Shahida, who lost her husband Akmal, said that within the past one month, she has received Rs10,000 and a month’s ration from the factory authorities. Even then, she was saddened by the news of the owners’ bails. “I am sad because it is the owners’ fault that my husband died, but if the seth [owner] bears the responsibility of my children, I will forgive them.”

Meanwhile, there are some families who claim they are not interested in what happens to the owners as they are still caught up in identifying the missing bodies. Azmat, a resident of Baldia, who lost his four daughters and a son, said that they are surviving on debts. “Poor people can’t do anything. Even if the owners are set free, we can’t do anything about it.”

Monday 11 February 2013

http://tribune.com.pk/story/505970/seeking-redemption-baldia-owners-offer-groceries-in-exchange-for-loyalty/