Sri Lanka: 1700 persons registered missing after the Civil War

The Mannar Citizen Committee – a voluntary organization is now involved in collecting details of persons missing in Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts.

The registration of persons missing started on 14th October and according to reports, so far nearly 1100 registration have been made about 1700 persons went missing.

It is said that those are persons missing during the LTTE – Sri Lanka security forces confrontation (war) period.

Earlier, Sri Lanka Government appointed three members to the Commission tasked with investigating cases of persons who went missing from the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the war on 14 August 2013.

They are Mr. Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama (Chairman) Ms. Dimingu Badathuruge Priyanthi Suranjana Vidyaratne and Mr. Mano Ramanathan.

The Commission has been given the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations necessary, and submit a report to the President within six months.

President Rajapaksa has instructed the Commission to identify the person(s) responsible in cases where abductions or disappearances are found to have taken place and to take legal action against those person(s).

The Commission appointed by the Sri Lanka Government has called for submissions in writing from general public details of any persons went missing on or before the end of October 2013.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.asiantribune.com/node/65029

Cyclone, flood toll rises to 38 in Odisha

With flood waters receding in five districts, the Odisha government on Thursday stepped up relief and restoration work as the death toll rose to 38 with the recovery of two bodies.

The State government also updated the number of affected persons in the cyclone and floods at 1.23 crore and the number of disaster-hit villages in 17 districts to 18,117.

The floods substantially subsided in five districts, but two blocks of Baliapal and Bhogarai in Balasore district were still facing a problem, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P.K. Mohapatra told reporters in Bhubaneswar.

“We hope the water will recede from Bhogarai and Baliapal blocks soon,” he said.

The two bodies were recovered at Kendrapara and Puri, Mr. Mohapatra said.

Stating that Ganjam, Balasore and Mayurbhanj were identified as the worst cyclone-flood hit districts in the State, Revenue and Disaster Management minister S.N. Patro said that relief and restoration was the focus of the government now.

With eight lakh families hit by the cyclone in Ganjam, he said that 494 relief centres were being opened in the district from Thursday.

Relief would also be provided from Thursday in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, he said.

Questioned about reports that relief was unavailable, the Minister said “So far 91,000 families in Ganjam district have been provided 50 kg of rice and Rs 500 in cash from 310 centres.”

The Minister said, families living in very severely affected villages were entitled to 50 kg of rice, Rs. 500 in cash for dal and a polythene sheet.

Those in severely affected villages would get 25 kg rice and Rs. 300 for dal.

Most of the affected persons have left for home, Mr. Patro said while 23,000 people were in still in relief camps in Balasore district and 15,000 people in Mayurbhanj district, while in Ganjam district there were only 1610 people.

Stating that relief was being provided as per the 2011 census data and National Population Register, he said, “There is no need of ration card or any other identification to avail relief.”

Admitting that the pace of work by government officials had slowed after successfully evacuating people before the cyclone, Mr. Patro said “The officials are requested to show seriousness and take active role in relief and restoration.”

He warned that officials guilty of dereliction of duty would be severely dealt with and face suspension and action under Essential Services Maintenance Act).

“Action will be taken against officials if found not cooperating with the administration in relief and restoration work,” he said.

On incidents of loot of relief materials, Mr. Patro said that the police have been directed to take action.

People disrupting movement of relief materials through road blockades and attacking people restoring power would be punished, the minister said.

The cyclone that made landfall near Gopalpur on Saturday night claimed 21 lives, while 17 others perished in subsequent floods.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cyclone-flood-toll-rises-to-38-in-odisha/article5244012.ece?homepage=true

Death toll in Central Visayas quake rises to 163, more bodies found in Bohol

The number of fatalities from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that shook Central Visayas has climbed to 163 with 21 still missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said at a news briefing on Thursday.

NDRRMC spokesman Maj. Rey Balido said Bohol now accounts for 149 fatalities; but Bohol's provincial information officer Tootsie Escoba said in a phone interview two more fatalities were added to the list of Bohol, for a total of 151 already.

Cebu has 11 deaths and Siquijor, one.

Balido said 375 individuals have been reported injured while 3.4 million people or 676,065 families were affected. Of the number, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is serving 32,941 families inside 85 evacuation centers.

NDRRMC added that 19,309 houses were partially or totally damaged: 2,926 partially damaged and 15,574 totally damaged in Bohol; 12 partially damaged and 797 totally damaged in in Cebu.

Before noon Thursday, the death toll climbed to 158, with officials reiterating the casualty count from the powerful quake was likely to rise as disaster response units begin reaching areas that had earlier been isolated by downed bridges or landslides.

At a briefing in Camp Aguinaldo Thursday morning, NDRRMC executive director Eduardo del Rosario said the number of injured persons also climbed to 374: 188 in Bohol, 182 in Cebu, three in Siquijor and one in Negros Oriental.

The NDRRMC said that 1,213 aftershocks had been recorded from Tuesday to 5 a.m. Thursday, with around 24 of these felt by residents in the affected provinces.

But the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, in the update page of its website, recorded at least three more aftershocks, the strongest a 5.5-magnitude tremor at 7:37 a.m. The other two were a 4.4-magnitude quake at 6:19 a.m. and one of 4.6-magnitude at 11:29 a.m.

The NDRMMC said the affected population also rose to 671,000 families, or more than 3 million people.

Of these, 6,511 families, or 32,954 people, are staying in 61 evacuation centers.

At least 605 houses were destroyed while 1,461 were damaged.

Damage to roads, bridges, and flood control was initially estimated at P75.15 million: P17.65 million in Cebu and P57.5 million in Bohol.

As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, the NDRRMC said 75 percent of power in Bohol had been restored.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/72923/death-toll-for-central-visayas-quake-rises-to-158----ndrrmc

Typhoon Nari kills 11 in Vietnam, leaves 5 missing

Rescuers have recovered more bodies after a typhoon flooded thousands of homes in Vietnam, raising the toll to 11 dead and five missing, officials said Thursday.

Floods inundated more than 34,000 homes in three central provinces after Tyhoon Nari, which already had destroyed or damaged about 13,000 homes in seven provinces, the national floods and storms control department said. The typhoon damage included homes that collapsed or had roofs blown off by the winds.

Nari hit Vietnam's central coast early Tuesday after crossing the Philippines over the weekend, killing 13 people there.

Three people were killed in Quang Nam province, the department said.

Two flood victims' bodies were recovered Wednesday in Quang Binh province, raising its total to five dead and one missing, provincial disaster official Ngo Duc Song said. The floods submerged nearly 19,000 homes in the province, many of them up to 2 metres (6.5 feet) under water, and left four villages isolated, he said.

The Gianh river in Quang Binh province reached a record high but was receding slowly, he said.

Nearly 5,000 people were evacuated from their flooded homes to higher ground, Song said, adding that soldiers and police officers were sent to help villagers deal with the floods.

Floods also killed a teenager in Nghe An province, a disaster official there said.

In the neighbouring province of Ha Tinh, the floods killed two people and authorities were searching for two others missing there, disaster official Tran Quang Duc said.

One person each was missing in Thua Thien Hue and Binh Dinh provinces, the national floods and storms control department said.

The department said the floods has disrupted traffic on some parts of several highway and parts of the North-South railway in Quang Binh province.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Typhoon+Nari+kills+Vietnam+leaves+missing/9045431/story.html

8 bodies recovered after Laos plane crash

Rescuers in fishing boats pulled bodies from the muddy Mekong River on Thursday as officials in Laos ruled out finding survivors from a plane that crashed in stormy weather, killing 49 people, including one Canadian.

Backpacks, an airplane propeller and passports were among the debris scattered on the riverbank where the Lao Airlines turboprop plane apparently hit hard before skidding into the water and sinking Wednesday.Cambodia's civil aviation office said the pilot was one of its nationals and had "many years" of flying experience.

The QV301 flight set off from Vientiane on time at 2.45pm (0745 GMT) and was supposed to arrive in Pakse just over an hour later.

French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was new and had been delivered in March.

Founded in 1976, Lao Airlines serves domestic airports and destinations in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Impoverished Laos, a one-party communist state, has had 29 fatal air accidents since the 1950s, according to the Aviation Safety Network, whose data showed that the country's safety record had improved dramatically in the last decade.

The last fatal air accident was in October 2000 when eight people died after a plane operated by the airline -- then called Lao Aviation -- crashed in remote mountains in the northeast of the country.

“So far eight bodies have been found. We don’t yet know their nationalities,” said Yakao Lopangkao, director general of the country’s Department of Civil Aviation, who was at the crash site in Pakse, in southern Laos. “We haven’t found the plane yet. It is underwater. We’re trying to use divers to locate it.”

He ruled out finding survivors. “There is no hope. The plane appears to have crashed very hard before entering the water.”

Some bodies were found as far as 20 kilometres from the crash site, he said.

“We have asked villagers and people who live along the river to look for bodies and alert authorities when they see anything,” he said.

Fleets of small fishing boats and inflatable rafts plied the muddy, vast waterway as part of the search with men in life vests peering into the water. After storms Wednesday, the search took place under sunny blue skies.

Thailand, which borders Laos, was helping with the search. It sent 30 scuba divers to assist in the search for bodies, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee.

The state-run Lao Airlines released an updated list of the 44 passengers’ nationalities Thursday. It said the flight included 16 Lao nationals, seven French, six Australians, five Thais, three Koreans, two Vietnamese and one person each from Canada, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States.

The Canadian passenger has yet to be identified.

A Foreign Affairs spokesman in Ottawa said Wednesday that the department was working closely with local authorities to confirm if Canadian citizens had been affected.

Cambodian authorities said one of the plane’s pilots was a 56-year-old Cambodian with more than 30 years flying experience.

Details of the crash remained murky. Lao Airlines said in a statement that the plane took off from the capital Vientiane and “ran into extreme bad weather conditions” as it prepared to land at Pakse Airport. The area is known for its remote Buddhist temples, nature treks and waterfalls that draw tourists.

The airline said it had yet to determine reasons for the crash of the ATR-72 aircraft, which was virtually new and had just been delivered in March. The crash occurred about seven kilometres from the airport.

French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said in a statement that “the circumstances of the accident are still being determined.” It said that it will assist in the investigation which will be led by Lao authorities.

The ATR-72 has been involved in 16 crashes since it went into service in 1988, according to databases kept by the Flight Safety Foundation and the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. The death toll from Wednesday’s crash was the second highest on record involving an ATR-72; accidents in the U.S. in 1988 and Cuba in 2010 each killed 68 people. ATR had delivered 611 of the planes by the end of last year.

Among the six Australians on board, was a family of four. Relatives released a photo of the family, Gavin and Phoumalaysy Rhodes and their two children, a three-year-old girl and a 17-month-old boy.

The other two Australians were a father and son. They were identified as Michael Creighton, a 42-year-old aid worker based in Laos who had worked for the United Nations, and his father, Gordon Creighton, 71, a retired teacher who was visiting his son.

“We have lost a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a fiance and a best mate in one tragic circumstance and we are trying to come to terms with our loss,” the family said in a statement. Michael Creighton was living in Laos with his fiance, who was not on the plane.

Hazardous conditions

Rescuers battled hazardous conditions Thursday in the search for bodies from a Lao Airlines plane which plunged into the Mekong River.

As rescuers scoured the river for the submerged plane, a crane perched on a floating platform in the middle of the Mekong was on standby to try to winch up the aircraft.

About 10 boats of varying sizes plied the fast flowing waters and divers from a Thai rescue team were on the scene to assist.

"It's difficult to dive because there is a strong current and it's dangerous. So I think it's 50/50 that we will find something," said Thai rescue diver Aniwat Plaeng-ngaan, 20. Crowds of local people, monks and security personnel watched from the banks. Some recounted seeing the plane in trouble before it came down.

"I heard a boom! A sound like a bomb going off. There was smoke and flames before it crashed," said local village chief Buasorn Kornthong, 37.

Some debris was seen floating along the river and suitcases were wedged in mud on the riverbank.

Some of those killed were taken to a Chinese-run mortuary in Pakse town, which is a hub for tourists travelling to more remote areas in southern Laos.

Three bodies draped in blue plastic sheets were seen in the building, which was guarded by some 10 policemen, some armed, who turned away onlookers.

"They are foreigners from the crash," staff at the centre told AFP, adding that their nationalities were unknown.

Lao Airlines said the aircraft hit "extreme" bad weather while witnesses described seeing the aircraft buffeted by strong winds.

"The plane was about to land but appeared to be hit by a strong wind, causing its head to ascend and pushing it away from the airport area and out of reach of the air traffic control radar," state-run Laos news agency KPL quoted a witness as saying.

Cambodia's civil aviation office said the pilot was one of its nationals and had "many years" of flying experience.

The QV301 flight set off from Vientiane on time at 2.45pm (0745 GMT) and was supposed to arrive in Pakse just over an hour later.

French-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said the twin-engine turboprop aircraft was new and had been delivered in March.

Founded in 1976, Lao Airlines serves domestic airports and destinations in China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Impoverished Laos, a one-party communist state, has had 29 fatal air accidents since the 1950s, according to the Aviation Safety Network, whose data showed that the country's safety record had improved dramatically in the last decade.

The last fatal air accident was in October 2000 when eight people died after a plane operated by the airline -- then called Lao Aviation -- crashed in remote mountains in the northeast of the country.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://globalnews.ca/news/907554/8-bodies-recovered-after-laos-plane-crash/

Mexico finds missing plane; all 14 aboard dead

Mexican military and civilian personnel on Wednesday reached the site on the Baja California peninsula where a small plane carrying 14 people crashed, and confirmed all aboard died.

A photo from the crash site showed the shattered, partly burned wreckage of the plane on a steep mountainside.

The site was so precarious that soldiers had to use special mountaineering equipment to reach the wreckage, said Baja California Sur state's interior secretary, Armando Martinez Vega.

Federal transportation Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Esparza wrote in his Twitter account that the single-engine propeller plane carried a pilot and 13 passengers.

Martinez Vega said the bodies of those aboard had been found, but the task of transporting them to the nearest morgue would be difficult.

The plane was operated by a small local carrier. All those aboard are believed to have been Mexican citizens. It took off from the Baja beach town of Loreto amid bad weather caused by Tropical Storm Octave on Monday and disappeared shortly afterward.

The wreckage of the airplane was spotted by a helicopter Wednesday in the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range just west of the Loreto airport, where it took off Monday morning, the secretariat said in a statement.

A search-and-rescue mission was launched Monday, two hours after the plane took off, the statement added.

The airplane was carrying 13 passengers - mostly members of the same family, including two minors - and the pilot.

The aircraft, property of the private company Aeroservicio Guerrero, went missing 25 minutes after taking off from Loreto on a flight to Ciudad Constitucion, apparently due to bad weather.

The plane was authorised to fly despite adverse weather conditions in Baja California Sur state caused by Tropical Storm Octave.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.thestate.com/2013/10/16/3042749/mexico-finds-missing-plane-all.html

Japan typhoon: Rescuers search debris for missing

Rescuers in Japan worked overnight and into Thursday looking for survivors of Typhoon Wipha, which has killed at least 18 people.

Around 39 people are still missing on Izu Oshima island, south of Tokyo, after the typhoon triggered storms and landslides on Wednesday.

The island governor has been criticised for not ordering an evacuation.

In the Japanese capital, Tokyo, the typhoon led to schools closing and around 400 flights being cancelled.

More than 1,000 rescue workers at Izu Oshima searched through piles of mud, broken houses and debris for bodies.

Yoshinori Sano, a spokesman for the rescuers, said that they were "hopeful" of finding survivors.

Police officers used chainsaws and shovels to free the body of a woman who had been buried in mud and the wreckage of a wooden house, AFP reported.

"I'd like to offer an apology because some people could have been saved if the town had issued an evacuation advisory or order," the mayor of the island, Masafumi Kawashima, said.

He said that he had not issued an evacuation advisory at the time because he feared that doing so "in the middle of heavy rains in the dark could lead to a secondary disaster".

"But in retrospect, I think that was naive," he said.

Around 280 houses were damaged on the island, officials said.

Local TV footage showed residents struggling to remove mud from their homes.

"We don't have tools, so we can't do much to clear [mud] out of the house," one resident said.

Meanwhile, operators at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said they detected increased radiation levels after rain from the typhoon made contaminated soil flow into a ditch leading to the sea, broadcaster NHK reported.

They said they would begin a cleanup operation, NHK added.

Radioactive water had also overflowed from one of the tanks storing pumped-up groundwater, NHK reported, although it is not clear if this was related to the typhoon.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24561234

Body of missing Vittorio Missoni recovered from plane

The remains of five people have been recovered from an airplane carrying a party that included Italian fashion industrialist Vittorio Missoni and went missing off the coast of Venezuela in January, an ANSA source said Thursday.

The bodies have been recovered of Missoni, his wife Maurizia Castiglioni, another Italian couple and of the co-pilot of the Islander yv2615u aircraft, which went missing after taking off from the Caribbean island of Los Roques in January 4.

The body of the pilot, Germán Marchant, has reportedly not been found.

All of the recovered bodies were in the plane with their seat belts on, said the source, Giorgio Serloni, an Italian businessman who lives in the archipelago.

The reports have not been confirmed by the Venezuelan authorities. The missing plane was found in June thanks to the technology an American oceanographic ship.

They group were travelling to Caracas after holiday on an island in the Los Roques Caribbean archipelago. The Los Roques area is notorious for plane crashes.

In 2008 another small plane returning to the Venezuelan mainland from the archipelago disappeared with 14 people aboard, including eight Italians.

Vittorio Missoni was the eldest son of Ottavio Missoni, the founder of the company famous for its colourful zig-zag knitwear who died in May.

The operation to pull the ship out of the sea in order to establish whether the accident was the result of human error or a technical fault has reportedly started.

Thursday 17 October 2013

http://www.gazzettadelsud.it/news/english/65519/Five-Missoni-party-bodies-reportedly-recovered-off-Venezuela.html