30 found dead in Himachal bus accident

In Himachal Pradesh bus accident, rescue teams have so far retrieved 30 bodies from the bus submerged in Beas River in Jhiri village of Mandi district along Chandigarh-Manali highway. The ill-fated private carrying passengers had plunged into river at around 4 pm on Wednesday.

Rescue operation has been launched with the help of river rafts as bus is buried deep in river water. All the bodies are being taken to Regional Hospital Kullu for postmortem. Around 14-15 injured are already hospitalized.

According to sources, ill-fated private bus left for Ani from Kullu and when it reached at Jhiri it fell into Beas river. Many are feared to be drowned in the gushing river which is overflowing these days due to melting of snow in the mountains.

It is feared that many of the bodies have been washed away in the river. After coming to know about the accident police and district administration has launched massive relief and rescue operation at the accident spot.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/30-found-dead-in-Himachal-bus-accident/articleshow/19954493.cms

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Death toll in Italian cargo ship crash rises to 7

Rescue workers in diving gear found seven bodies Wednesday in the wreckage after a cargo ship slammed into the dock at Genoa, toppling the busy Italian port's control tower into the harbor.

Four people were hospitalized and two others remained unaccounted for, Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire rescue teams at the scene, told The Associated Press.

The crash occurred around 11 p.m. Tuesday during a shift change in the control tower, as the Jolly Nero cargo ship was leaving port accompanied by tugboats.

By Wednesday morning, all that was left of the tower was its mangled exterior staircase, tilted on its side. The tower itself - which was located on the edge of a dock jutting out into the harbor - was either in the water or in a heap of rubble and steel on the dock.

Cari confirmed the seven dead, saying rescue crews recovered several of the bodies from an area near the tower's submerged elevator. There were fears that those still missing might be trapped inside the elevator, Cari said.

There were no reports of missing ship crew.

"This event is unbelievable because we had the best weather navigation conditions," said Luigi Merlo, president of the Genoa port authority. He declined to speculate on a cause, saying the ship had plenty of room to maneuver in the harbor and shouldn't have ended up so close to the dock.

One theory prosecutors were considering was that a possible mechanical failure aboard the ship left the captain unable to steer it properly, Italian news reports said, citing prosecutor Michele de Lecce.

Mauro described the ship, the Jolly Nero of the Ignazio Messina & C. SpA Italian shipping line, as somewhat unique in its height, so that the full weight of the ship slammed "violently" into the tower itself, not just the dock.

"The ship directly impacted the control tower," he told Sky TG24.

The Genoa-based Messina Line has a fleet of 14 cargo ships, with the Italian-flagged Jolly Nero listed at 239 meters (784 feet) long and 30 meters (98 feet) wide, according to its website.

The five bodies recovered included three coast guard officials in the tower at the time of the crash, a port captain and a tugboat operator, said Cmdr. Filippo Marini, a coast guard spokesman. The bodies of the other two dead were being recovered, he said.

In a statement, Messina said it was fully cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the "tragic" accident, which it said occurred during a normal maneuver to leave the port. It said Messina Line ships do the maneuver with regularity and are always accompanied by tugboats.

"There aren't words to express the dismay and profound condolences for the victims of this tragedy and their families," Messina said in a statement.

Andrea Furgani, an ambulance doctor and one of the first rescuers, said crews brought four injured to hospitals in Genoa.

"The conditions were critical. They mainly suffered wounds caused by compression, broken bones and wounds on the chest," he told the AP.

The disaster shook a nation that just a year ago witnessed another shipping tragedy when the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef off Tuscany on Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people.

Parliament held a minute of silence Wednesday for the victims in Genoa, the mayor of Genoa proclaimed a period of mourning and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano sent his condolences to the victims' families on behalf of the nation.

Genoa's port, located on Italy's western Ligurian coast, is Italy's busiest in terms of cargo handling, according to the port authority website. It is also a major port of call for cruise ships sailing the Mediterranean.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57583426/death-toll-in-italian-cargo-ship-crash-rises-to-7/

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Bangladesh: Rana Plaza death toll reaches 772

The death toll from the country’s worst-ever industrial accident reached 772 as 12 more bodies were pulled from the rubble Wednesday.

Fifteen days into the terrible collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza in Savar, rescuers are finding more bodies, most of them badly decomposed.

“Almost all of the bodies being pulled from the rubble are disfigured,” said Kamrul Hasan, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Savar. “The stench of rotten bodies is growing,” he said.

Rescuers discovered 44 more bodies yesterday, according to information from the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) control room at 9pm.

Since the exact number of people inside Rana Plaza at the time of the collapse was unknown, no one has been able to say how many more bodies should be found.

With Tuesday’s recovery, the number of people rescued dead and alive so far stands at 3,152, including the 2,437 people rescued alive.

Rescuers expect more bodies from the rubble as many are still reported missing. A large number of people continue to wait near the site of the collapse for the news of missing relatives. Their gathering point is a school playing field where bodies retrieved from the ruins are taken for initial identification attempts.

The task of identification is made more difficult by the decomposed state of many of the bodies. The recovery effort is expected to continue for several more days, according to rescuers.

Authorities have so far handed over 560 bodies to relatives of the victims while 63 bodies remain at Adhar Chandra High School playground awaiting identification and 47 bodies have been taken to different hospital morgues.

A total of 34 unclaimed bodies that had not been identified because of bad decomposition were buried at the Jurain graveyard in the capital.

Meanwhile hundreds of garment workers who survived the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza blocked a major highway near the accident site to demand wages and other benefits. No violence was reported, although traffic was disrupted for hours.

The agitated workers withdrew the blockade at noon after officials of the district administration assured them of taking steps in this regard.

Rana Plaza, which housed several garment factories, collapsed on April 24 after owners forced several thousand workers to work there even after cracks had developed on some pillars and floors of the building the day before.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/08/rana-plaza-death-toll-reaches-734

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Italy deaths as Genoa ship hits control tower

At least six people have died and four are missing after a container ship crashed into a control tower in the Italian port of Genoa, officials say.

The Jolly Nero smashed into the 50m (164ft) concrete and glass tower late at night, reducing it to rubble.

Three of those who died are believed to have been trapped inside a lift as the tower collapsed.

Rescue workers have been searching in the rubble for survivors while divers scoured the water around the dock.

The accident occurred at about 23:00 on Tuesday night (21:00 GMT), when a shift change was taking place in the control tower and about 13 people were thought to be inside.

The ship was manoeuvring out of the port with the help of tugboats in calm conditions, on its way to Naples, reports said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but Genoa's Il Secolo XIX newspaper quoted the Jolly Nero's captain as saying that two engines appeared to have failed and "we lost control of the ship".

The head of the Genoa Port Authority, Luigi Merlo, told the newspaper: "It's very difficult to explain how this could have happened because the ship should not have been where it was."

He described conditions in the port at the time of the crash as "perfect".

"It's a terrible tragedy. We're in turmoil, speechless," Mr Merlo told local TV.

The ship's owner, Stefano Messina, who arrived at the port soon after the crash, had tears in his eyes as he told journalists: "We are all utterly shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened before, we are desperate."

Genoa is Italy's busiest port. Mayor Marco Doria said there were an average of 14 accidents a year, but that the incident late on Tuesday was unprecedented.

All that was left of the control tower after the crash was a buckled metal exterior staircase.

"It was an incredible sight: the control tower was leaning perilously," the port's nightwatchman told La Repubblica newspaper.

Three of the victims were coast guard or port workers in their early 30s, while the other bodies had yet to be identified.

Four people were being treated for injuries, two of whom were in critical condition, Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Genoa's prosecutor is investigating the incident, Corriere Della Sera newspaper says. The ship has been impounded and the captain is being questioned.

The Jolly Nero is almost 240 metres (787 feet) long and has a gross tonnage of nearly 40,600 tonnes. It is owned by the Italian firm Ignazio Messina & Co.

The crash revived memories of the crash involving the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Italian island of Giglio in January 2012, which left 32 people dead.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22444421

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