At least 12 dead in blast at China explosives plant

At least 12 people died and 11 were missing Monday after a blast destroyed an explosives workshop in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, state media said.

The explosion scattered rubble up to 200 metres away, killing at least a dozen people at the factory owned by the Poly Explosives (Jinan) Company in Shandong's Caofan township, the semi-official China News Service reported.

Thirty-four people were in the workshop and eight others were working nearby at the time of the explosion Monday morning, the agency quoted officials as saying.

By late afternoon, rescuers had recovered 12 bodies and sent 19 injured people to hospital, including two in serious condition, the agency said.

Firefighters were still searching for 11 missing people, it said.

State television showed footage of the rescuers using a crane to sift through the remains of the flattened concrete and brick building.

Poly Explosives specialises in explosives for civilian use. Its plant in Caofan covered an area of 66 hectares and produced more than 30,000 tons of explosives annually, reports said.

Monday 20 May 2013

http://www.enca.com/world/factory-blast-kills-5

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Exhumation of Tawergha mass grave completed

Searchers have uncovered a total of 11 bodies in the mass grave in Tawergha, at the end of the first stage of the delicate operation.

The final stages of the exhumation was watched by the Minister of Martyrs and Missing People, Ali Gadour during a visit to the site today.

It had been suspected originally that there were 25 corpses in the three graves discovered in the Subkha area of the town. The authorities had been directed to the site by information given by a former officer in Qaddafi’s army.

” The second stage of the operation will begin tomorrow, Sunday,” said Hamed Malki, the spokesman for the ministry told the Libya Herald. “This is to take the bodies to Misrata hospital to do autopsies and begin the [DNA] sampling process in order to identify them.”

The discovery of the mass grave led to angry protests yesterday in Misrata, against the return of Tawerghans to their town. Tawerghan leaders have denied any of their people were involved in the killings and called for an independent investigation into the Subkha grave, which reportedly contained victims who had been handcuffed.

Ten days ago the community’s leaders announced a peaceful return to their city on 25 June. They asked that protection be provided them by the local authorities as well as international bodies such as the Red Crescent and the Red Cross.

It has been reported that another mass grave, with at least seven bodies, has been discovered at Qalaa, in the Nafusa mountains. Ministry officials will shortly start an exhumation there.

Monday 20 May 2013

http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/05/18/exhumation-of-tawergha-mass-grave-completed/

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Rescuers recover 6 more bodies from collapsed Indonesian mine

Rescuers recovered six more bodies from the collapsed Freeport Indonesia mine, a report said on Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14 while the same number is still trapped.

The remains of victims Retno Arung Bone, Artinus Magal, Hengky Ronald Hendambo, Ma’mur, Petrus Frengo Marangkerena and Petrus Padak Duli were recovered by the Emergency Response Team, according to a release from Freeport.

Thirty-eight of Freeport Indonesia’s permanent and contract workers were in safety training program on Wednesday when the Big Gossan underground facility collapsed. The confirmed death toll has hit 14, while 14 others are still trapped and 10 have been saved, according to the company.

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, who lead a team of lawmakers in a visit to the tunnel, called on the government to investigate the accident.

“We suggest the government to inspect and investigate it and it should be initiated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,” Priyo said in a press conference in Timika on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Priyo said the ministry should establish a team to inspect the condition of the 250-kilometer underground tunnel, which has been used since 2000.

He also asked Freeport Indonesia to also compensate victims and their families.

“We want to ensure that the compensation and other social costs would be prepared as soon as possible by Freeport,” Priyo said, adding that the company should also pay attention to the children of the victims.

Monday 20 May 2013

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/rescuers-uncover-6-more-bodies-from-collapsed-freeport-mine/

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Bangladesh National DNA Profiling Laboratory requires expensive DNA software for collapse victims

The National DNA Profiling Laboratory cannot match DNA samples taken from more than 200 bodies recovered from Rana Plaza, with the DNA samples taken from more than 450 people claiming the bodies, because they do not have special software required for conducting the tests.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) laboratory officials said they needed software known as MFISys (mass fatality identification system), which costs over Tk10m, and would enable them to conduct around 100,000 DNA sequencing tests from the samples collected so far. They also cited a shortage of lab technicians as an obstacle to performing the crucial task.

Till 3pm on Monday, the National DNA Profiling Laboratory had DNA samples from 212 dead bodies and 464 persons who are laying claim to them.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, laboratory chief Dr Sharif Akhtaruzzaman said his facility was able to conduct primary DNA analysis but was not equipped to conduct the necessary tests. He confirmed they need the US licensed MFISys software. He stated the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs had been informed.

The DMCH lab chief, when asked how long it may take to complete the identification process, said it depended on how soon the software was procured.

He stated: “Although we are yet to get assurance about funding, we have already communicated with the US company that develops it, who said they would send two experts to train local forensic officers when we buy the software.”

Up until yesterday, 1,127 bodies were recovered from the rubble of Rana Plaza at Savar, 15 workers succumbed to injuries in hospitals, while some bodies were buried in Jurain graveyard after taking DNA samples.

The number of people looking for missing workers has gone up as relatives flock to the DMCH forensic laboratory to check the bodies taken there are not of their loved ones.

Dr Sharif stated after the Tazreen Fashions incident, the lab tested 65 samples to identify 69 workers who died in the devastating fire, out of which they were able to identify 41. He however warned, “The situation is different now. The number of samples is much higher.” Adding, “DNA sequencing for two samples must match and the numbers of tests we need to conduct will exceed 100,000. We have also kept bone and tooth sample from some of the badly decomposed bodies. It takes longer to test bones than to test blood samples.”

The fee charged for DNA sample test is normally around Tk5, 000 at the National DNA Profiling Laboratory, but it has not yet been decided who will pay for the tests needed for the victims of Rana Plaza. The DMCH laboratory head said he had also informed the concerned ministry about this issue.

Monday 20 May 2013

http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/14/dna-tests-requires-expensive-software

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Relatives still looking for a trace at Bangladesh collapse site

A middle-aged father, looking for trace of his only daughter, held on to the barbed wire around the now empty lot where the eight-storey Rana Plaza used to stand.

“I have nobody here and I cannot tolerate this anymore. Please help me find the body of my daughter, Monira Khatun,” Md Munnaf Miah, breaking down in tears, told Dhaka Tribune on Saturday.

Munnaf, 54, has already found the dead bodies of his only son and daughter-in-law, who also worked at a garments factory inside the collapsed building that killed 1,127 people.

Even five days after the end of the rescue operation, a good number of family members of victims, who are still unaccounted for, continue to throng the building site, nearby Enam Medical College and Hospital and Adhar Chandra High School at Savar.

Holding photographs of their missing relatives, many cry and ask the Almighty for help. Most of them come in the morning and wait until nightfall, only hoping to find the corpses of their loved ones.

But those still searching for the missing find it hard to get fresh answers, as all information booths have been removed from the area.

“I have searched every possible place, including hospitals and morgues, but did not find my daughter. The authorities said they would announce at the site if they find any match to (buried) bodies through DNA tests. So I come here almost every day,” said Kashem Molla, who lost his daughter, Parvin Akhter.

Upozila Nirbahi Officer of Savar thana, Md Kamrul Hasan Molla, told Dhaka Tribune that authorities are working to figure out the number of victims still missing, and they have opened a control room at his office.

“We will evaluate all information on the missing, and hand it over to the relevant authorities,” the official said.

The Rana Plaza, which housed five factories, a shopping mall and a bank, collapsed on the morning of April 24, a day after cracks were discovered in the eight-storey building. Last Monday evening, the army-led rescue operation was officially called off after 20 days. Authorities then put up a barbed wire fence around the site, after removing all the rubble.

Some 2,434 were rescued alive _ 12 of whom died in hospital later, while 1,127 bodies were recovered from the ruins. Only two unclaimed corpses remain at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital Morgue. Other unidentified bodies have been buried at the Jurain graveyard after keeping DNA samples, but it will take at least three months to match them with relatives, experts said.

Monday 20 May 2013

http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/19/relatives-still-throng-collapse-site

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