Fire breaks out at collapsed factory in Bangladesh, 3 rescuers injured

A blaze broke out in the wreckage of a Bangladesh factory block Sunday, killing a woman whose 110-hour battle for survival had touched the nation following its worst industrial disaster, the country's fire chief said.

Earlier, the owner of the complex, property tycoon Sohel Rana, was detained as he attempted to cross into India and was flown back to Dhaka where he will face charges over the building's collapse which has so far claimed 381 lives.

Fire fighters were seen weeping live on television after failing to save the female garment worker, a widowed mother-of-one identified as Shahnaz, whose courageous struggle became a symbol of hope in the wake of the catastrophe.

"The fire broke out as we were cutting a beam to bring out what we believe was the last remaining survivor from the collapsed building. We managed to douse it, but as we came back we saw her dead," Ahmed Ali told AFP.

"She was a brave lady and fought until the end. We worked for 10-11 hours today just to try to bring her out alive. We took the challenge but we lost."

Three rescuers were also injured in the blaze which was put out in a matter of minutes, fire service director Zihadul Islam said. More bodies are expected to be found as workers, who had been digging manually to avoid harming survivors, switched to using earth-moving equipment to lift slabs and reinforced concrete to clean up debris.

Fire fighter Abul Khayer, who spoke to Shahnaz throughout the rescue attempt, said she had an 18-month-old son. "She clung on for the boy... She told me you're my brother, please don't leave me alone."

The eight-storey Rana Plaza, which collapsed Wednesday morning, violated building regulations like many structures around the capital Dhaka.

Rapid Action Battalion chief Mukhlesur Rahman told AFP that tycoon Rana "is the one most responsible for the accident. The building was declared abandoned. But he forced the garment factories and workers to work on the building."

As Rana's arrest was announced, garment workers and relatives of the missing cheered and began shouting "Hang Rana, Hang the killer!"

A police spokesman said they had also arrested Anisur Rahman, owner of Ether Tex garment factory. He is the fourth garment factory owner held by authorities.

By Sunday evening, the confirmed death toll had reached 381, according to police officer Liakot Hossain.

About 2,500 people have been rescued from the scene of the disaster, some only after undergoing amputations to free them from the pancaked slabs of reinforced concrete.

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7AXPhyjej1OKAzJYxAxbALvTUxw?docId=CNG.1c2a4d71622d3abe9dd917fbb9bc4788.51

Three more fishermen's bodies found off Goa coast after mishap

The joint search operation by the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard today recovered three more bodies of fishermen who had drowned after their trawler was hit by a Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel on April 25.

"Three more bodies of fishermen who were on board fishing trawler 'Sea Messiah' which capsized after being hit by Indian Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel 'ICG Vaibhav', were recovered from around where the accident happened," Goa region's Indian Coast Guard Commander S D Bhanot told PTI today.

He said that a fleet of six ships – three each of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, besides a Dornier aircraft and a Chetak helicopter, is still searching for two fishermen who are still missing.

"The search is in full swing," Commander Bhanot said.

With the recovery of three bodies, the total number of casualties in the mishap has gone reached four, after one body was recovered on the day of the accident.

Officials stated that 23 fishermen were on board, of which six went missing, while the rest were saved by another fishing trawler.

The Indian Coast Guard has already initiated a Board of Inquiry into the accident, whose report will be submitted soon, Commander Bhanot said.

Meanwhile, the Goa police have already registered a case in this regard, but events took another twist when police officials from Mumbai's Yellow Gate police station arrived in Goa on Saturday to investigate the incident.

Indian Coast Guard officials had earlier stated that the accident happened 13 nautical miles off the Agonda coast in Goa's southernmost Canacona taluka.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had expressed his helplessness to book the Coast Guard official reportedly responsible for the offence, as the accident happened outside state waters.

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/329064/three-more-fishermen039s-bodies-found.html

4 Dead, 4 Missing in SW China's Landslide

A landslide in Bijie, Southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Saturday afternoon had killed three villagers and left five others missing by late Saturday, local authorities said.

Eight villagers were buried after the landslide hit Mawo village near the city of Bijie at 12:50 pm, said an official with the publicity department under the CPC Qixingguan District Committee of the city, which administers the village.

Two residential structures were buried, the official said, adding that an all-out rescue effort is under way.

Firefighters are still detecting the missing with devices.

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/778107.shtml

40000 visitors

To all readers. Many thanks for supporting the DVI blogger website. As of today, this website has attracted over 40000 page visits since its creation just over a year ago with 200-300 page visits on average a day. Its now indeed a global website, attracting readers from over 100+ countries. Visitors are mostly from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Canada, Australia, India, Brazil, France, Italy, Poland, Mexico and African countries. Due to its success, its now highly ranking in Google searches for disaster related news. I hope you will continue to visit this blog and make it one of the prime websites for global disaster victim identification news.

Sunday 28 April 2013

Cranes called in at Bangladesh disaster site

Bangladesh rescue teams working at the site of a collapsed factory bloc have called in heavy-lifting equipment with hopes of finding more survivors fading, fire chief Ahmed Ali told AFP Sunday.

"Apparently there is no more sign of life under the rubble," he said. "Together with the army we have decided to use heavy equipment like cranes to remove the debris and slabs vertically from mid-day today.

"Our hope is that we may still find some people alive under the debris."

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130428/cranes-called-at-bangladesh-disaster-site-fire-chief

Igbogun village motor accident: unidentified victims get mass burial

It was a day of outpouring of emotions, crying and wailing. Friends and family members of victims of the April 5 motor accident that occurred in Igbogui village in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, created time to say bye-bye to their loved ones at the scene of a mass burial at a cemetery in Benin City. BANJI ALUKO, who captured the melancholic mood of the people at the cemetery, reports.

IF Nnaemeka Anyawu knew that death was awaiting him on the road on Friday, April 5, he surely would not have embarked on the infamous journey that violently took his life that date. According to Judith Anyawu, his sister, Nnaemeka had left that morning to see their parents in Enugu, where they live. “He left early in the morning and I followed him to the door as he waved goodbye. I never knew I would not see him again,” Judith said of his 31-year-old brother who graduated from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) with a degree in Geology and Mining.

At the scene of the mass burial, Judith delivered an elegy-like short speech to the remains of his brother and those of 50 others who were all put into the ground early that morning. Describing her late brother as tall, chocolate-coloured, social and handsome, she asked why death took her brother at his prime. “Nnaemeka, you came to this world and departed quickly. You didn’t tell me it would all end this way. Anyway, God knows the best,” she offered while trying to control the tears that flowed freely from her eyes.

Off course she was not alone as families and friends of the victims of the accident involving an articulated vehicle belonging to the Dangote Group, a fuel-laden petrol tanker and an Enugu-bound luxury bus belonging to the Young Shall Grow Motors besiege the First Cemetery, Benin to pay homage to their departed loved ones. For many of them, the entire episode was like a dream as they watch as the remains of their people were neatly parked in polythene body bags and put into the dug ground that served as the mass grave.

While Judith only lost a brother to the accident, Kelvin Aniekwe was more unfortunate as he lost his wife and two young daughters.

Wearing a pair of black jeans, black shirt and a black sunshade, he could not offer a word throughout the time the bodies of the victims were conveyed from the lorry to the time they were put into the ground; he was just looking. Even when Apostle Barnabas Chukwukere of End Time Soul Winners Outreach, Benin City, prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims, he appeared not to betray emotions as he fixed his eyes on the mass grave in front of him.

His brother, who accompanied him to the site, informed that his brother’s late wife had left Lagos for Enugu with the two little girls to see her mother, the children’s grandmother. He was particularly concerned about the cause of the accident as he shouted, “Government should do something about this needless loss of lives o ! They should really do something. They must ensure that trailers and tankers are not allowed to move at night so that this kind of carnage will not occur on our roads again because if a petrol tanker was not involved in the accident, these people would not have died.”

There was also the pathetic story of Chika Nwafor, an accounting consultant with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) whose close friend, Billy Anyaji, said could have missed the accident. “To me, it was one bad dream. Chika Nwafor was not somebody who just passed by. He was a blessing to everyone he came across. The question is what is the reason why good things don’t last? I had accompanied him to Ekene (Motors) that very day and not to Young Shall Grow. When I heard about the accident, I went to Ekene (Motors) because that was where I dropped him. What happened and how he ended up at Young Shall Grow, I don’t know but God understands everything that happened in this world. I think Ekene (Motors) had a problem and he crossed over after I left. He came to Lagos on Thursday from Enugu and slept in my house. The following day, he was on the road again to attend a wedding in Enugu on Saturday and see his family. I was telling him that he was a workaholic and that he needed to give himself a rest. I never knew our friendship would in this world would end this way,” he said mournfully.

The story of Amaka Okonkwo, a final year student of History and International Studies of the Nnamdi Azikwe University, also evokes pity. Ubaka Onochie, his uncle who came from Lagos for the burial said Amaka was returning to Awka from Lagos where she had gone to enjoy the Easter break. “Amaka Okonkwo was a lovely young girl in her early twenties. The last time I saw her was January. Two weeks before the accident, we spoke on phone and she told me that she would be coming to Lagos during the Easter break.

“My sister called me that she learnt she died in a motor accident and I immediately put a call through to his brother, who confirmed that her name was among the people who boarded a ‘Young Shall Grow’ luxury bus that was involved in an accident. I immediately traveled down to Benin where the said the corpse were deposited. On getting to UBTH, I was taken to the morgue but I could not identify the corpse. None of the corpse was identifiable because they were all roasted alive.

Speaking at the scene of the mass burial, the Chief Mortician of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, (UBTH) Mr Wilfred Aikhonogie, said 51 out of 53 bodies of the accident victims were given the mass burial as their bodies could not be identified while two victims, who could be recognised, were released to their families for burial.

It was not that the family members were contented that there people should be given mass burial anyway. Ani Justin, who lost a brother, Chibuzor, to the accident said he made frantic efforts to identify his brother. “I have no option but to accept the fact that my brother would be buried in another land,” he said while Chika Odiamah said he spent three days at the UBTH trying to identify his brother but when he could not, he finally agreed to the mass burial.

There were also knocks for the transport company over the manner the accident was handled. Billy Anyaji narrated his experience in the hands of the transport company, berating them for what he called their inhuman treatment. “I first went to Ekene Motors because it was there that I dropped my friend. I later went to the Young Shall Grow office at Jibowu. The people there denied that they didn’t have the identity of the people in the bus. They asked us to go to their headquarters at Maza Maza. On getting to Maza Maza, they said I should go to the computer room. From the computer room, they asked me to go to another place at Navy Town. When we got to Navy Town, I knew they were just dribbling us and that my guy had died. Throughout this period at their office, they were loading as if nothing happened.”

The same thing goes for Ubaka Onochie who said that the transport company kept families members of the victims in the dark. “They didn’t show enough concern and there were laxities on their part. They did not provide useful information and they kept turning people around. When I left UBTH on Monday, three days after the accident, none of the managers of the company had visited the hospital,” Ubaka stated.

The families were further peeved when they learnt that officials of the transport company were not present at the cemetery. Even when one of the bereaved family members shouted that the transport company was not present at the burial site, nobody said anything contrary to the effect, accentuating the fact that the transport company did not actually send any representative to the burial.

However, a policeman who spoke with the reporter said the decision of the transport company to shun the burial was understandable. “If they had sent any representative, that person could have been killed here. Remember they were accused of not doing enough when the accident happened. That may explain reason they did not send anybody here,” the policeman said while the burial was ongoing.

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/10568-igbogun-village-motor-accident-crying-wailing-as-victims-get-mass-burial

Japan: Survivors of 3/11 tsunami disaster issue newspaper to pull people together

Iwate Prefecture—Disaster survivors who lost family members and friends in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami are publishing a newspaper to help others overcome their grief.

The Inochi Shimbun (Newspaper of life) was started in tsunami-hit Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture, to bind people affected by the disaster on March 11, 2011, that killed more than 15,000 people and left 2,600 missing.

Ruiko Sasahara, 40, who has restored about 400 bodies of disaster victims as a volunteer, is the chief editor of the newspaper, which is produced in an office she owns in the city.

“People can live when they have ties with others. But the size of a circle one can connect to is limited,” Sasahara said. “I hope this newspaper can connect people. I hope it will be delivered especially to people who feel isolated.”

Tomoe Ito, one of the editors at the Inochi newspaper, is a 35-year-old part-time teacher at a junior high school in Kitakami. She met Sasahara in March last year, a year after the disaster.

“There isn’t anyone else other than her who can understand my feelings,” Ito said she thought when she read a newspaper article about Sasahara.

Ito, whose 59-year-old mother and 93-year-old grandfather were killed in the tsunami, contacted Sasahara.

“A year ago, all I could do was to live day by day,” Ito said. “After I met Sasahara and talked about many things, I was able to stand and live on my own feet.”

Another editor at the Inochi newspaper is Yuya Kawamura, 28, a resident of Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. His wife, 20, and two sons aged 11 months and 7 days, died in the disaster.

Kawamura had lost his will to live, but after he started working as a mortician, he started to think more about life and death. He also said Sasahara taught him many important things for his job.

The starting point of their activities dates back about half a year ago.

Last fall, the future editors of the Inochi newspaper talked about the meaning of life and death with a young person whose friend died in the disaster. They also discussed how they felt when they identified bodies in morgues.

They came up with the idea of preserving their discussions in written form, and decided to publish a newspaper to share their feelings and thoughts with the outside world.

“I have managed to accept the death of my family members,” Ito said. “But there are still many people around me who cannot. I want to deliver our newspaper to these people and live together with those who read it.”

The first edition of the newspaper was completed on March 4, a week before the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Sasahara currently distributes the newspaper when she gives speeches across Japan. She said audience members handle the newspaper delicately and take it home.

Sasahara and her colleagues plan to publish the newspaper regularly and are soliciting written contributions.

The address of the Inochi newspaper’s office is: Inochi newspaper editorial desk c/o Sakura Inc., 18-17-5 Kamiezuriko, Kitakami-shi, Iwate Prefecture 024-0071, Japan.

Sunday 28 April 2013

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201304280041