Soviet-era mass graves found in Samangan

Two mass graves probably dating back to purges under the Soviet-backed communist regime in the 1980s were found in northern Samangan province, residents and officials said on Monday.

Believed to hold the remains of 30 people, the discovery in Tapa Aaq Mazar on eastern outskirts of Aibak, the provincial capital, was first reported by a resident who found human remains in his fields while digging soil near his home.

The person informed police who recovered 20 skeletons from one grave and 10 from the second, said deputy police chief Col. Musdiqullah Muzhari. He told Pajhwok Afghan News most of the skulls had their eyes blindfolded with handkerchiefs.

A Pajhwok reporter at the site said he saw caps, turbans, coats, shawls for males and clothing in the graves.

Residents who recognised some corpses buried them again in the area. “I recognised my brother from his paint and shawl that I had sewn for him,” an old woman told Pajhwok Afghan News while crying. She said her brother was sent to jail in 1985 but later he disappeared from the prison.

Another resident Mullah Asadullah said he was jailed by the then communist regime in the 1980s. "Officials during the Soviet-era would come to the prison and would take away prisoners in groups from the jail, all were killed later," he said.

Mohammad Daud, who lives in a nearby Karwan Sarai area, said his mother recognised the body of his brother from his jacket. He said his brother was with the Mujahiddin, but had gone disappeared during the Soviet occupation.

Monday 15 April 2013

Read more: http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2013/04/15/soviet-era-mass-graves-found-in-samangan.html

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India: 12 killed in Himachal road accident

A village cricket team's celebrations after winning a local championship were tragically cut short when their vehicle skidded off the road and rolled down a 700-metre-deep gorge on the Bharmour-Badgran link road in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on Sunday night.

Twelve people, including four schoolchildren, from the tribal Bharmour subdivision of the district were killed. Their Bolero Camper, a multi-utility vehicle (MUV), fell into the Kuthar Palani Nullah about 30km from Bharmour and around 85km from Chamba town.

Police officials said the accident occurred between 9pm and 10pm when the driver lost control of the vehicle. All 12 occupants died on the spot. Eleven of the victims belonged to Palani village and one hailed from Dhuned village of Badgran panchayat.

Local residents said the team had won the local cricket championship and organised a victory party at nearby Tripan village in the evening before beginning the return journey.

Additional district magistrate (ADM), Bharmour, BR Kamal reached the spot with a rescue team comprising policemen, Home Guards personnel and health officials. However, the darkness and the steep slopes hampered the operation.

"All 12 bodies were recovered early on Monday," said Kamal, adding that prima facie, rash and negligent driving seemed be have caused the accident.

The badly disfigured bodies were cremated on the spot after a post-mortem examination.

"The administration has provided Rs. 10,000 each as interim relief to families of the deceased," Kamal added.

Chamba is one of remotest places in the state and the scarcity and low frequency of passenger buses in the district leads to overcrowding of vehicles.

Chatar Singh, former sarpanch of Badgran panchayat, alleged that the Bharmour-Badgran road was in poor shape. "We have repeatedly submitted a memorandum to the authorities for widening the road, but to no avail," he said.

The road has witnessed two major accidents in the past decade or so. Nine people had died in a mishap in 2002, while an equal number lost their lives in a 2009 incident.

Monday 15 April 2013

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/HimachalPradesh/12-killed-in-Himachal-road-accident/Article1-1044520.aspx

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Libya coastguard rescues 89 migrants from drifting boat - five dead

Libya's coastguard on Saturday rescued 89 sub-Saharan African migrants who had been drifting in a boat for five days and who had to dump the bodies of five people who died on the journey overboard, the state news agency said.

The Libyan authorities were alerted by a fisherman that the boat was adrift off the western port of Zawiyah, naval official Colonel Ayub Omar Gacem was quoted as saying by the Libyan news agency LANA.

"Many of them were taken to hospital when they were brought to shore, the rest were provided with food and medicine on the spot," Ayoub was quoted as saying.

The migrants told their rescuers that five people had died and they had disposed of their bodies at sea.

North Africa is a launch point for maritime migration to southern Europe, with Italy the main destination. Thousands of people have been killed attempting the dangerous crossing in overcrowded and frequently unsafe vessels.

Ayoub said this was the second such incident in two weeks after Libya's coastguard saved another 34 people, including women and children, off the west coast.

On Friday, the Italian coastguard said it had rescued almost 500 migrants crammed into five small inflatable boats off the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean Sea after receiving distress calls overnight.

Most of the migrants were taken to Lampedusa, a tiny island south of Sicily that receives thousands of immigrants each year. Improved spring weather conditions have increased the numbers trying to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean, but thousands have died due to shipwrecks, harsh conditions and a lack of food and water.

An estimated 1,500 migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean in 2011, many of them trying to escape the turmoil caused by the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa, according to Human Rights Watch. It estimated the death toll in 2012 at more than 300.

Monday 15 April 2013

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130415/world/libya-coastguard-rescues-89-migrants-from-drifting-boat.465669

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Mass Graves Excavated in Argentina

Forensic experts in Buenos Aires are working around the clock to identify some of the thousands of victims of Argentina's military dictatorship in the 70s and 80s.

With the start of the Condor Trial, excavators, medical examiners and others are still uncovering some of the thousands of anonymous corpses buried throughout Argentina during the "Dirty War."

Luis Fondebrider, founder of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team works daily with human remains in an effort to produce a biological profile.

At his headquarters in Buenos Aires, several hundred bodies a year are brought in for examination and hopefully identification.

Currently there are still about 10,000 missing people in Argentina whose remains have not been identified or found.

While current government officials estimate about 13,000 people died during the military junta years, human rights groups claim the number is as high as 30,000

As recently as 2011, mass graves containing the remains of victims of the Dirty War have been found. Kidnapped and killed by the military regime, the victims were accused of being leftists.

Monday 15 April 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerry-nelson/mass-graves-excavated-in-_b_3080034.html

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Galamsey pit collapse: 16 bodies retrieved; more feared dead

Reports indicate that at least 16 bodies, comprising 2 females and 14 males have been retrieved from a spent-mining pit at Kyekyewere in the Upper Denkyira East Municipality of the Ashanti region.

The victims, all illegal miners, who were between 18 and 50 years, according to the Assemblyman for Kyekyewere Jacob Nicodemus Aboagye, got trapped and killed under the pit which they entered illegally.

It is feared that more bodies could be retrieved in the next few hours.

A team comprising officers from the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), the Ghana National Fire Service and the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is currently at the scene of the accident attempting to rescue any survivors.

The concession, according to Mr Aboagye belongs to a private mining firm.

The wall surrounding the pit collapsed on the illegal miners as they dug under the pit for gold on Monday April 15, 2013.

He told XYZ News that: “We saw that the wall had [fallen] on them. As of now, we have 16 dead bodies” retrieved from the pit.

He said they cannot tell how many people are still trapped under the pit.

“As of now we don’t have the number right now…we don’t know the actual [number of] bodies underground right now”, he said.

He said the site owner has completed working on the pit but the illegal miners have been digging under the wall surrounding the pit in their quest to scavenge gold from the spent-site.

He said the owner who has completed mining the concession started refilling the pit as required by practice.

Mr Aboagye however noted that each time the concession owner’s operators went to the site to refill the pit with gravels and sand, the illegal miners, some of whom were trapped under the pit on Monday April 15, 2013 chase them away with crude weapons amidst death threats.

“Even this morning, the operator who is filling the site came to work…[but] the galamsey workers threatened to kill him or hack him if he dare[d] filled that pit because they were working there”, Mr Aboagye noted.

Monday 15 April 2013

http://vibeghana.com/2013/04/15/galamsey-pit-collapse-16-bodies-retrieved-more-feared-dead/

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