Eighteen dead in gas tanker blast in Mexico City suburb

At least 18 people died and 36 were wounded when a gas tanker exploded outside Mexico City on Tuesday, an official said, raising the toll of the blast.

"The number is updated to 18 people dead and 36 wounded in the emergency in Ecatepec," Salvador Neme, the public safety secretary for Mexico state, wrote on Twitter.

The blast rocked a neighborhood of Ecatepec, north of the Mexican capital, in the early hours of the day, affecting 15 cars and 20 homes, Neme said earlier.

The truck was traveling on a highway linking Mexico City to the central city of Pachuca.

Television images showed charred vehicles on a highway, road cement barriers thrown to the side and buildings in smoke as firefighters and rescue workers sifted through the damage.

Local media reported that the explosion, which closed the highway between Mexico City and Pachuca, could have been caused by a collision.

A giant plume of smoke reportedly rose over the area, about 10km (6.2 miles) north-east of the Mexican capital, after the blast, which happened at about 05:00 local time (10:00 GMT).

Tuesday 7 May 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22438925

Border project seeks to identify migrants who die in Arizona

The harsh Sonoran Desert claims the lives of hundreds of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each year. Many of the dead — about 1 in 3 — go unidentified. Now there may be an easier way to put a name to some of the suspected border crossers who died north of the international boundary.

On Monday, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and the human rights organization Humane Borders Inc. started an online system that will allow the public to identify the deceased found in southern Arizona — more than 2,000 deaths over 13 years.

"I'm glad to be able to help a small amount. I wish I could do more," said John Chamblee, research chair for Humane Borders.

Although Humane Borders and the medical examiner's office have distinct missions, both agencies want to raise awareness about migrant deaths and lessen the suffering of families. They can do that by helping to identify the dead and return the remains, said Dr. Gregory Hess, chief medical examiner for Pima County, speaking at a Tucson news conference.

The Arizona OpenGIS Initiative for Deceased Migrants will feature a map documenting deaths as far back to 2001. Any user can make inquiries online; the lists of the dead will be updated four times a year.

An anonymous donor gave $175,000 to develop the project, Hess said.

Since 2001, officials have found about 2,100 remains that are believed to belong to migrants. About 700 of those remain unidentified but were determined to be border crossers, based on personal items found on the bodies and other factors.

In cases where only bones are found, medical examiner officials tend to assume the person is a migrant, and they are rarely wrong, said Dr. Bruce Anderson, forensic anthropologist for the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.

It is unclear whether deaths before 2001 will make their way into the system because information about them is incomplete, Hess said.

The hope is that the online portal will become a repository for migrant deaths throughout the Southwest, but that will depend on cooperation from other states and on future funding, he said.

The vast majority of those who die in the desert are Mexicans, followed by Guatemalans and Salvadorans, according to a report provided by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner. The causes of death for 68% of the migrants are undetermined. Many, however, die of exposure, Hess said.

The website is expected to serve as a tool for humanitarian border groups who leave water along routes in the Sonoran Desert, said Jill Nunes, spokeswoman for human rights organization Border Action Network in Tucson.

"We'll be studying how migration patterns have shifted," Nunes said, adding that the maps will help the group know where to allocate its water.

So far this year, the Pima County Forensic Science Center has discovered 48 sets of remains it believes belong to border crossers. They expect the number to climb during the summer.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ff-migrant-deaths-20130506,0,1831570.story

Sudan: North Darfur refutes death figures at gold mine

The government of North Darfur dismissed death figures circulated in the media this week of miners who got trapped inside a collapsed gold mine.

In a statement signed by North Darfur acting governor al-Fatih Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Nabi the government said that a committee headed by al-Siraif mayor visited the mine area on Saturday.

The committee concluded that only one mine was impacted and that five people were killed. Three of the bodies were retrieved while efforts to get the remaining two failed.

A delegation from the African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) accompanied the committee and certified the findings, the government said.

The statement said that they had no reports of missing persons in the period of April 29-May 4 in the gold mine area.

Earlier this week it was reported that 100 miners have died at the gold mine in the Jebel Amir district, more than 200 km northwest of North Darfur capital of El-Fasher. Nine other rescuers were killed as well.

On Thursday, the Jebel Amir district chief, Haroun al-Hassan, said "the number of people who died is more than 60," but added it was unclear whether anyone might still be alive according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

The East African country is looking for gold to make up for the budget deficit it incurred as a result of losing three quarters of its oil production due to the secession of South Sudan in July 2011.

But a significant portion of Sudan's gold production comes from thousands of artisanal miners who have joined the gold rush across the country.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201305060927.html

Kin of Seti flood victims remember loved ones

A function was organized at Kharpani riverside to pay tribute to those killed in the Seti river flash flood that took place exactly a year ago today (Baisakh 23).

Jog Maya Gurung could not help bursting into tears while remembering her octogenarian father Bal Bahadur and mother Buddhisri, who were swept way by the flash flood on May 5 last year. “This day reminds me of my parents. The riverside always haunts my memory,” she said.

Bal Bahadur´s nephew Bam Bahadur said the flash food caused his family indelible pain. “This day is very painful for us,” he said.

As per government information, 27 people were killed and 32 went missing in the flood. However, the families of the flood victims said that their pain has been exacerbated as the government has not declared the missing people dead even after one year. The victims´ families want the government to declare people who are still missing in the flood dead.

“If the government cannot provide relief to the families of the missing, it can at least declare them dead,” said Komal Prasad Joshi, whose son is among the missing.

“Neither could we rescue our family members nor recover their dead bodies. We are unhappy that the government has still not declared them dead,” said Joshi.

“It´s already one year since the incident. My wife´s eyes fill up with tears whenever she remembers our son. The pain becomes really unbearable when I see him in my dream,” Joshi added.

Dilip Shrestha, who lost a daughter in the flood, could not help bursting into tears while announcing a permanent fund of Rs 150,000 in her memory.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the flood, various institutions organized the program to pay tribute to the dead and missing.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=54278

Floods, mine collapse cause deaths in Shan State

Several people have been killed by heavy flooding in Shan State, with at least nine corpses recovered from a gold mine in Kalaw Township which collapsed on Thursday.

According to a local police station, a heavy rainstorm hit the area on the morning of May 2 and quickly caused floods.

Speaking to Mizzima on Friday afternoon, second police chief Kyaw Min Tun said, “We heard that a mining operation has collapsed and rescue teams have been deployed.”

A hospital official confirmed on Friday that the local hospital in Kalaw had received dead bodies and wounded miners.

“The hospital received nine corpses between 4pm and 5pm on May 2,” he said. “There are also three inpatients. Another four patients were taken to Taunggyi Hospital.

“We heard that the gold mines located between Shweminphone Village and Lepyin Village had collapsed because of the heavy floods,” he said.

Tuesday 7 May 2013

http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/9345-floods-mine-collapse-cause-deaths-in-shan-state.html