8 Bodies Found in Guatemala Clandestine Grave

Forensic experts say they have discovered eight bodies in a clandestine grave in western Guatemala that dates back to 1982, when former Gen. Efrain Rios Montt was ruling the country amid a civil war.

Guatemala's Forensic Anthropology Foundation director Jose Suasnavar says the excavation in the village of Laguna Burra was conducted at the request of an organization called Oxlajuj Ajpop.

Oxlajuj Ajpop representative Flor Gonzalez says witnesses approached the group with information of several massacres in 1982. She says witnesses told them soldiers kidnapped people in the state of Quiche and then brought them to neighboring Huehuetenango state, where they were killed and buried.

Gonzalez says the group has also requested excavations in Paquish, another village in Huehuetenango where other clandestine graves are believed to be located.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bodies-found-guatemala-clandestine-grave-19094667#.UYLHEzRzA34

More than 60 killed in gold mine collapse in Sudan's Darfur

Dozens of people have been killed in a gold mine collapse in Sudan's Darfur, said the chief of the district where fighting over gold in January led to the region's worst unrest in years

It is not known how many people may still be missing after Monday's accident.

"The number of people who died is more than 60," Haroun al-Hassan, the local commissioner in Jebel Amir, North Darfur, said on Thursday, adding that rescue operations were still taking place.

"I cannot give exact figures because no one got precise numbers of how many people were going inside the tunnel," which went down 40 metres (yards), he said.

Rescuers were using traditional tools to try to reach the victims, he said, without specifying whether anyone might still be alive.

"We cannot use machines because if they came near, the ground will collapse. People are using traditional tools and because of this, the rescue is very slow," Hassan said.

Seven weeks of clashes between two Arab tribes in Jebel Amir during January and February killed more than 500 members of the Beni Hussein tribal group, a Benni Hussein member of parliament for the area said earlier.

The violence uprooted an estimated 100,000 people.

Fighting erupted on January 5 between Beni Hussein and another Arab tribe, the Rezeigat, when a Rezeigat leader who is an officer in Sudan's Border Guard force apparently laid claim to a gold-rich area in Beni Hussein territory, Amnesty International said.

Humanitarian sources said at the time that the incident was the worst example of inter-Arab violence to emerge in the past two years as government-linked Arab groups got "out of control" and turned on each other.

One humanitarian source said the Beni Hussein had refused to pay newly imposed government mining fees adding up to "huge, huge money".

Gold has become a key commodity for cash-strapped Sudan since South Sudan separated two years ago with the loss of about 75 percent of the country's oil production.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/70581.aspx

Vietnam-era sailors' remains to be buried at Arlington

Human remains from the Vietnam War have been identified as four U.S. Navy sailors who were reported missing in 1967, officials said.

The bodies of the men are to be buried together Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery, Stars and Stripes reported.

Lt. Dennis Peterson, Ensign Donald Frye and Aviation Antisubmarine Warfare Technicians William Jackson and Donald McGrane had been missing since July 1967 after their helicopter was shot down over North Vietnam, a U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday.

The sailors were attempting to find a downed pilot when they were fired at, Stars and Stripes said, and the aircraft caught fire and crashed.

In 1982, five boxes of remains were given to U.S. officials and a subsequent investigation by U.S. and Vietnamese officials involved excavation of the crash site, where more human remains as well as aircraft wreckage were recovered.

Last year, Defense Department scientists used forensic tools and circumstantial evidence to identify the remains, Stars and Stripes reported.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/05/01/Vietnam-era-sailors-remains-to-be-buried-at-Arlington/UPI-17811367411820/

20 more bodies recovered in collapsed Bangladesh building rubble

Many of the people killed in last week's collapse of an 8-story garment factory in Bangladesh already have been buried, but the death toll continues to rise.

Police say 20 bodies were recovered overnight, bringing the death toll to at least 430. And another 149 people are still missing.

Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hassan Suhwardy, the commander of the area's army garrison supervising the rescue work, dismissed reports that up to 1,000 people were missing and accusations from some relatives that authorities are hiding the bodies to keep the death toll low.

"Don't listen to such rumors," he told reporters.

Suhrawardy said Thursday that 20 bodies were recovered overnight, bringing the death toll to 430. Rescue workers believe more bodies are buried on the building's ground level, and they're using cranes and cutting machines to clear the tons of rubble.


On Wednesday, a mass Muslim funeral was held for 34 victims whose bodies were too battered or decomposed to be identified. Cemetery workers have dug several long rows of graves where scores more unidentified bodies are expected to be buried in the coming days.

Rescue workers believe more bodies are buried on the building's ground level, and they're using cranes and cutting machines to clear the tons of rubble.

Five garment factories occupied upper floors of the eight-story Rana Plaza building that collapsed April 24, a day after huge cracks appeared in the building and police ordered an evacuation. The owner of the building is accused of telling tenants it was safe despite the order.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://www.azfamily.com/news/world/205728071.html

Chisamba accident: Only 4 bodies identified so far

Only four bodies out of the 17 Chisamba bus accident victims have been identified.

Acting Central Province medical officer Abel Kabalo said by midday yesterday only four people had been identified out of the 17 who died in a tragic accident on Tuesday near Ibis Garden turn-off.

Residents have however continued to inspect the bodies at Kabwe General Hospital mortuary with the view of identifying the deceased.

Dr Kabalo said in an interview yesterday that he was hopeful that the remaining bodies would be identified before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, there was confusion at Kabwe General Hospital mortuary after word went round that 17 people had died in a road traffic accident involving a Kabwe minibus.

Quick action by the police saved the situation from degenerating into pandemonium.

A check on Tuesday evening at the Kabwe General Hospital found several residents busy trying to identify the bodies with others openly wailing as they could not hold their emotions.

Health personnel had a tough time to control the situation and police had to be called in to help.

The accident occurred after a Lusaka-bound Toyota Hiace minibus collided with a Volvo truck around 06:00 hours on Tuesday after a tyre burst.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://www.zedonlineads.biz/2013/05/02/chisamba-accident-only-4-bodies-identified-so-far/

16 die as torrential rains wreak havoc across Saudi Arabia

Torrential rains and flash floods in different provinces have left 16 dead and three missing.

The casualties include four members of a family in Baha, two people in Al-Kharj, three in Aflaj, one in Hariq and four in Taif, the Civil Defense said yesterday.

The missing are three expats in Baha.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has directed the Civil Defense Council to launch all-out efforts to ensure the safety of people. The king also ordered departments to take steps to offer financial and material support to flood victims.

“The king has been monitoring the situation since the heavy downpours began. He is also monitoring the efforts of all related ministries and government departments to provide relief operations and undertake safety measures,” Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Naif, who is also chairman of the Civil Defense Council, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The king urged council members to discharge their duty to implement all emergency plans to deal with the damage caused by weather conditions. The king’s order stated that the victims should be provided with relief and assistance, including shelters to those whose homes were wrecked and whose farms were destroyed, in addition to health care and all other daily needs, the prince said.

He added that the Interior Ministry is monitoring the field operations of Civil Defense teams in all provinces, ensuring that they are working in sync with civil defense committees under provincial governors.

Lt. Col. Jaman Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of the Baha provincial Civil Defense office, said three bodies of the missing family were discovered Tuesday night and the fourth was found Wednesday morning. The jeep carrying the family was carried away by the surging waters at Wadi Al-Lihyan in the Aqiq governorate in the evening.

After being alerted about the accident, Civil Defense sent rapid-intervention and rescue teams to the area while Baha Gov. Prince Meshari bin Saud closely monitored the operations.

About 300 officers under the supervision of Deputy Director of the Baha Civil Defense Brig. Ali Al-Sawat participated in the operations. Despite the darkness and continuing drizzle, the search teams at first located a submerged Toyota jeep with the body of a 75-year old woman in the deep valley. Search parties found the body of a 52-year-old man further downstream and that of a 30-year-old woman upstream. The body of the child accompanying the family was retrieved yesterday morning, Al-Ghamdi said.

Another team is continuing to search waters and submerged bushes looking for three Yemeni workers of a road construction company in the Aqiq governorate. The pickup truck that was carrying the three was found overturned in a valley close to the Aqiq dam.

Heavy rains led to the collapse of a ten meter-high dam in Bisha in Asir Province. The dam was temporarily built by the ministry of water and electricity to protect another dam which is still under construction. The construction work is still in its early stages, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

"The project consists of a large dam with a capacity of 68 millions square meters and is 49 meters high," the ministry said. Four villages located around the dam were evacuated. The Civil Defense said there were no casualties among civilians in the affected areas.

"Tabalah, Thnyah, Shedaiq and Subaihi villages have been evacuated as a precautionary measure," said Col. Mohammad Al-Asemi, spokesman of Civil Defense in Asir.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://www.arabnews.com/news/450071

India accident in Himachal Pradesh kills 10 people

even women and three children, all from Rajasthan, were killed in Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur district when their overcrowded jeep skidded off the road and fell into a 500-metre-deep gorge, police said Wednesday.

The victims, mostly labourers working in a road project, were on their way home when their Bolero jeep fell into a gorge near near Uhal village Tuesday evening, Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram told IANS.

He said seven women and three children had died. Five of the injured have been admitted to the zonal hospital in Hamirpur, some 175 km from here.

Local villagers helped police to retrieve the bodies.

Road accidents are common in India, often due to poor driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles.

Witnesses told police that the vehicle was overcrowded and the driver probably lost control while negotiating a turn.

Last month, 12 people were killed when an SUV carrying people returning from a cricket match fell into a gorge in Chamba district in the state.

India has the world's highest number of road deaths, with more than 110,000 people killed every year in accidents.

Thursday 2 May 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-22363026

http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/-killed-as-jeep-falls-into-himachal-gorge-22443.html