World Trade Center 9/11 construction debris to be sifted for human remains starting Monday

The city has collected about 60 dump truck loads of debris from construction areas around the World Trade Center site over the past two and a half years that will be sifted for fragments of 9/11 victims' remains, officials announced Friday.

The debris has been collected from the World Financial Center, West Street and a lot near Liberty Street since the last sifting operation in mid-2010.

The material amounts to 590 cubic yards -- 38 from the WTC, 13 from the western edge of the southbound lanes of West Street and 539 from the Liberty Street area, where four pieces of possible human remains have already been found.

The material will be combed for about 10 weeks starting Monday at a mobile sifting unit set up on Staten Island, city officials said.

Any human remains will be analyzed by the medical examiner's office for possible matches to 9/11 victims. Of the 2,750 people killed at the trade center, 1,634 have had remains identified.

"We will continue DNA testing until all recovered remains that can be matched with a victim are identified," Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway wrote Friday in a memo to Mayor Bloomberg.

The city expanded its search for remains of trade center victims in 2006, when several bones were found in a manhole.

Watch a time-lapse video of the 9/11 memorial being constructed from 2004 to 2011.

Since the discovery of the manhole bones, the city has sifted debris from various construction sites and subterranean areas surrounding the 16-acre trade center site. More than 1,800 pieces of potential human remains have been found.

The office has made 34 new identifications since 2006, and hundreds of fragments of remains have been matched to people who were already identified.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/World-Trade-Center-911-Victims-Remains-Sifting-Construction-200619641.html

Officials in Lanzhou say bodies floating in river not affecting water quality

Lanzhou officials say the quality of local water is actually improving – despite more than 100 bodies being discovered in the Yellow River each year.

Between 2008 and 2012 police extracted 417 bodies from the Yellow River, which runs through the region, Lanzhou authorities told the China News Service on Thursday.

Lanzhou environmental bureau deputy chief Li Lei said officers had been closely monitoring the quality of drinking water and did not find it had been affected by bodies in the river.

“Based on our overall measuring results in past years, water quality not only remained normal, but in some cases has even improved,” Li said.

His remarks reflect growing public concern about the quality of the drinking water. This comes after recent online rumours that more than 10,000 bodies were floating in the Yellow River, which flows through the capital city of Gansu province.

The rumours were sparked by a report in the Oriental Morning Post last October. Citing accounts from different authorities, it said that since the 1960s there have been at least 10,000 bodies found floating within an 80km-stretch of the Yellow River.

But Lanzhou police bureau spokesman Huang Xiaoping said most of the bodies in the river were people who died from accidents and suicides. Out the 417 bodies retrieved, only two were involved in criminal activities, he told the agency.

In 2005, Xiaosanxia Power, which owns two hydropower stations in the region, issued a report on the water quality.

“The bodies would generate much more pollutants than daily disposals if they remain in water and decompose,” the company said. It said it had found dozens of bodies floating with household rubbish every year.

Lanzou’s environmental authority said it would deal promptly with the matter. “We would put more effort into supervising the water quality. In the case of abnormal situations, we would issue more warnings,” Li said.

Earlier this month, over 10,000 dead pigs were fished from a Shanghai river. More than 1,000 duck carcasses were found in a river in Sichuan. The government has repeatedly claimed the water quality was still good.

The Yellow River is the second-longest in Asia after the Yangtze and has an estimated length of 5,464km. It runs through nine provinces in China, including Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shanxi and Henan.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1202481/officials-lanzhou-say-bodies-floating-river-not-affecting-water-quality

Landslide buries 83 in Tibet mine area

Eighty-three workers were buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet on Friday, China's state media reported.

A coal mine near the city of Kaili in China's Guizhou province after a landslide on February 18, 2013. Eighty-three workers were buried after a large-scale landslide hit a mining area in Tibet on Friday, China's state media reported.

The landslide took place at about 6:00 am (2200 GMT Thursday) in Maizhokunggar County in Tibet's capital Lhasa, and trapped workers from a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corporation, a mining firm, said Xinhua.

No deaths have been announced, and a local official reached by AFP confirmed that the landslide had occurred, but could not state the number of casualties.

State-run broadcaster CCTV quoted a member of China's People's Armed Police on the scene as saying that "the situation looks serious, the collapsed area is three or four square kilometres".

Rescuers have so-far found no signs of the trapped, the policeman added.

The landslide affected an area three kilometres long, Xinhua said, citing a local government department. The agency added that more than 1,000 rescuers are working at the site, which is at an altitude of 4,600 metres.

The buried include two Tibetans, Xinhua said, without mentioning the ethnicities of the other workers. Many members of the Han Chinese ethnic group have moved to Tibet in recent decades to work in state-run mines.

Mountainous regions of Tibet are prone to landslides, which can be exacerbated by heavy mining activity.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/343039/landslide-buries-83-in-tibet-mine-area-state-media

Ivory Coast to exhume bodies from post-election conflict

Ivory Coast officials say exhumations of mass graves dating back to the country’s 2010-11 post-election violence will begin next week. Both the government and rights workers say this process could produce a fuller picture of what went on during the six-month conflict and help in the fight against impunity.

The Justice Ministry announced this week that exhumations would begin on April 4 in the Abidjan district of Yopougon, which was a flashpoint during the post-election violence.

Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo attends a confirmation of charges hearing in his pre-trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, February 19, 2013.Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo attends a confirmation of charges hearing in his pre-trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, February 19, 2013.

​​The conflict began after former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to leave office despite losing the November 2010 election to his challenger, current President Alassane Ouattara.

Although Gbagbo was arrested in April 2011, rights groups documented reprisal killings in Yopougon allegedly committed by the pro-Ouattara Republican Forces of Ivory Coast, or FRCI, that lasted into the following month.

Earlier this month, officials also began investigating more mass graves discovered outside the western town of Duekoue.

Unlike the graves in Yopougon, these graves are believed to have been dug after the post-election conflict - following a July 2012 raid on a camp for displaced persons.

Florent Geel, Africa director for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), praised the beginning of the probes, but urged judicial officials to carry out a thorough investigation.

“It was the search and identification on the ground by the investigative judges of two mass graves identified by our witnesses," said Geel. "It was concretely the beginning of the inquiry by the investigative judge. It’s a first step of the judiciary machine in a way, and a concrete step to go forward and to have a real and clear investigation.”

FIDH documented interviews with witnesses who said that FRCI soldiers were involved in the raid on the camp. Officially, the attack claimed eight lives, though rights groups have said the death toll was likely much higher.

One mass grave found in the area was exhumed last October, yielding six bodies. But Geel said there are about a dozen others that have not been investigated.

The army commander in the region was reassigned after the attack on the camp, and officials have not formally responded to the allegations of military involvement.

Geel said a credible investigation would help to dispel the perception that Ouattara’s army is above the law.

“If justice is done on this case, it will show there is not orientated justice, and that the FRCI is not out of the scope of justice and that the FRCI can be judged in Côte d’Ivoire," he said. "That’s why this case is symbolic, important, and could show the good will of the political authorities in Abidjan.”

Soriba Kone, communications chief for the Justice Ministry, said he did not know how many mass graves officials would need to investigate, nor could he provide a timeline for when the effort might be completed.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://www.voanews.com/content/ivory-coast-to-exhume-bodies-from-post-election-conflict/1631121.html

9 killed, 12 hurt in Mewat bus accident

Nine persons, including three women and two children were killed and 12 were critically injured in a road accident in Mewat on Thursday afternoon when a dumper and private bus collided on Delhi-Alwar Road near Nasirbas village. While eight persons died on the spot, a woman died during treatment.

Four among the injured were critical and were referred to the medical college, Nalhar in Mewat, and Delhi. Other injured are under treatment in Al-Afia hospital in Mewat. The police and local administration reached the spot and arranged for transfer of injured.

According to police, both the dumper and the bus were coming for Firozepur Jhirka side and were going towards Nasirbas. After crossing Bori Kothi, the dumper collided with the bus from the driver's side around 2.30pm.

The collision was so massive that no passenger escaped without injuries. Glass shards, personal belongings and even parts of bodies lay strewn on the road as local residents rushed to help.

Three among the killed have been identified as Ratti, a resident of Jhimrawat village, Arshida, a resident of Dhond village, and Shakeel, a resident of Maholi village. The other six were not identified till late evening on Thursday and peoples were reaches in hospital for searching their family members.

The injured persons are identified as Jamshed, Akbar, Charan Singh, Mohmmad Hamid, Junaid, Asubi, Tayyab Hussain, Mazid, Islami, Suman, Rumisa, Sirdar, Laiba, Miskina. Jamshed, Asubi and others two were reportedly critical and they refer in other hospitals of Delhi and Nalhar.

Though the police have booked the owner of the dumper for negligence, local residents are up in arms against the administration for not checking illegal entry of dumpers.

"Everyday one or the other man loses his life to a rash dumper, but authorities turn a blind eye. There is fixed time for entry of dumpers but they throng roads throughout the day because our officials take money to allow them. Thousands of times different organizations have moved to administration seeking respite but of no use. Mewat roads are so dangerous but they do nothing because our lives are don't matter to them," said a local sarpanch.

"Police is doing its duty, but at this moment its safety of injured is that we bothered about," said Sukhbir Singh, SP, Mewat.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/9-killed-12-hurt-in-bus-accident/articleshow/19268263.cms

Deaths reported in Tanzania building collapse

At least 15 people have been killed in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, when a building under construction collapsed, a police officer has said.

Witnesses at the site, where some people were using their hands to pull away fallen masonry, said on Friday the building fell near where children had been playing, and many might be still trapped.

"Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the rubble," Suleiman Kova, Dar es Salaam Police Commander, told reporters at the site.

"So far, only two people have been rescued alive, but the rescue operation is still ongoing."

The building of 12 or more storeys fell in the Kariakoo district of the city, where a buoyant economy has fuelled a construction boom.

Kariakoo in particular has been in the focus for building, and the speed of construction has raised concerns over standards.

Witnesses said dozens of construction workers were in the building when it fell. Others said boys had been playing football in a mosque playground next to the building.

"There are several people trapped inside the building," said Hamisi Mgosi, a trader in Kariakoo.

"A boy called his father through his cellphone from inside the collapsed building and told him he can't breathe." Senior government officials also gathered at the scene.

The building belonged to the state-run National Housing Corporation in partnership with a private investor.

Mr. Kova told journalists who rushed to the scene that investigation started immediately to establish the cause of the disaster which, apparently, was not unprecedented in this commercial capital of Tanzania that is witnessing a mushrooming of tall sky scrapers.

In recent times, some structures have crumbled while under construction and blame has, in many cases, been on poor engineering.

Friday 29 March 2013

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/201332911935186458.html