Nine killed, 3 injured in Narok accident

Nine people died on the spot and other three critically injured after the vehicles they were travelling in involved in a road accident in Narok County.

The accident happened at Pinyiny area along the busy Narok-Mai Mahiu highway.

Narok OCPD Peterson Maelo said the accident occurred at after the Nissan mitatu lost control after tyre bust and hit oncoming bus.

The Nissan, which belongs to Bomet Liners, was heading to Bomet from Nairobi while the Transline bus was going to Nairobi from Kisii.

The injured were taken to Narok District Hospital while the bodies were taken to the hospital’s mortuary.

Eye witness told the Star that the driver of the Nissan was speeding before it started swaying from one side to the other after hitting rail.

“One of the injured who happens to be the bus driver, is in critical condition while the other two sustained minor injuries,” said Maelo.

He urged the road users to observe the traffic rules as many lives have been lost through road carnage.

CIC chairman Charles Nyachae while at the scene described the accident as unfortunately and called on road users to develop a culture where respect takes precedence on our roads.

“As a country, we need to develop a national road culture where those speeding are condemned by all of us,” he said.

The scene is the same spot where 41 people were killed in one and half months ago.

Two weeks ago, church leaders held prayers on the accident prone roads in Narok County.

The group held procession in Narok-Mai Mahiu highway, Narok-Ewaso Nyiro road and Narok-Nakuru road.

They visited black spots areas including Pinyiny area that recently killed 42 people and injured other more than 33 in road crash that involved City to City bus company.

Also, as a show of unity, the traffic officers from Ntulele police station led by Corporal David Chumo joined the special prayers.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-141002/nine-killed-3-injured-narok-accident

Mass grave discovered in Kashmir

A human rights group in Indian-administered Kashmir Thursday claimed to have discovered mass graves in which more than 130 unidentified bodies have been buried.

Two mass graves containing nearly 130 unidentified human bodies were discovered by Voice of Victims human rights group in nearly four-month-long investigation in Sonawari area of Bandipora in north Kashmir.

The group credited the discovery to the assistance of locals who helped them in finding an unnamed graveyard in the area.

“An investigation team headed by Abdul Qadeer Dar, Executive Director visited the area and gathered information about the people who were buried in a graveyard in Bhat Mahle during the past 23 years,” Abdul Rouf Khan, the co-coordinator of the group, said.

“The troops and police used to bring bodies and hand over to the locals for burial. They revealed that the unidentified men were detained by the forces in nearby STF camp and after killing them they were handed over to local committee for burial,” he said.

Quoting a local, Manzoor Ahmad, Khan said the troops had once brought a body and handed over to him for burial. “While the forces identified him as a Pakistani militant, he later turned out to be a local resident of south Kashmir’s Kokernag. His body was exhumed a year later from the graveyard,” Khan said.

The VOV investigators also found that a person identified as Abu Hafiz, who was reported to be a resident of Pakistan and killed in an encounter at Safapora, Ganderbal was actually Abdul Rehman Padroo, a resident of Kokernag.

“He was a carpenter who was picked up by the forces in Srinagar on December 8, 2006, and later killed in fake encounter at Safapora. Police on January 28, 2007, clearly stated that he was killed by its Special Operations Group (SOG) in a fake encounter in Ganderbal and his body was exhumed from Bhat Mahle graveyard,” he said.

Locals have told the group that they are witness to burial of at least 20 charred bodied. “Once we refused to bury the unidentified bodies, armed forces started burying them inside the STF camp few meters away from the graveyard,” locals told the VOP investigators.

“50 bodies have been buried inside the SOG camp which is surrounded by government offices including a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force camp. Once an infamous and cruel police inspector abducted and raped a teenage girl from the area and later killed her. She was also buried inside the camp. After the SOG evacuated the camp, her body was also exhumed,” the group claimed.

This is not the first time that mass graves have been discovered in the disputed Kashmir territory. From 2010-2012, a prominent human rights group in Kashmir claimed to have discovered a series of mass graves in various parts of Kashmir containing over 3500 bodies.

More than 10,000 are feared missing from Kashmir Valley in the last 24years of conflict with a majority of disappearances blamed on government forces.

“If the bodies buried in these graveyards are identified, many Indian troops and Kashmir police personnel involved in the killing of these people would be exposed and the victims will get justice for which they are waiting for a long time,” the group said.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.authintmail.com/article/kashmir/another-mass-grave-discovered-kashmir

Memorial for 60th anniversary of Arbroath's lifeboat disaster

One of the darkest days in Arbroath’s history is set to be remembered next weekend on the 60th anniversary of the town’s lifeboat disaster.

Next Sunday (October 27) will mark the milestone, which saw six brave crew members lose their lives as the Robert Lindsay attempted to re-enter the harbour.

At around 6 a.m. on a dark, cold, wet and stormy morning, and after going to the rescue of a vessel in distress, the lifeboat was sideswiped by a huge wave and cruelly flung on the rocky foreshore at Inchcape Park.

As daylight slowly broke, the boat could be seen upturned on the rocks as the magnitude of the disaster began to sink in.

Those who died in the tragedy were coxswain David Bruce, Harry Swankie, mechanic; Thomas Adams, bowman; as well as William Swankie, and brothers David Cargill and Charles Cargill.

The only crewman to survive the disaster was Archie Smith who caught a line fired in the direction of voices crying for help. And in the weeks that followed hundreds of local people lined the streets to pay their respects to the brave crew as their funerals took place.

To commemorate those lost, the local RNLI crew are planning a memorial service and possible wreath laying ceremony next Sunday.

Organisation is still in the planning stages but more details about the arrangements will be released next week.

The anniversary of the disaster comes after the news last year that the boat, the Robert Lindsay was in the process of being restored by a pair of Norfolk boatbuilders to bring it back to RNLI standard.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.arbroathherald.co.uk/news/local-news/memorial-for-lifeboat-1-3146737

Death toll in Bohol quake breaches 200 mark

The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Central Visayas has breached the 200 mark, as rescuers recovered three more bodies from the rubble, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Friday. The NDRRMC said the search and retrieval teams recovered a body of a reported missing person in Balilihan and another in Calape, both in Bohol; and in Pinamungahan town in Cebu province, pushing the death toll to 201.

The NDRRMC also reported that the number of injured in the 7.2 magnitude quake also increased to 720 after receiving information on 11 more persons hurt in Bohol.

The number of missing persons is now at 10, the state disaster response agency added.

Meanwhile, the NDRRMC said that the number of affected families in Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Siquijor and Leyte is now at more than 631,000 or 3.1 million individuals.

Of the total affected people, over 15,000 are now being sheltered in 151 evacuation centers, the NDRRMC said.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/10/25/1249287/death-toll-bohol-quake-breaches-200-mark

Remains found at Costa Concordia shipwreck identified as missing Italian woman Maria Trecarichi

Human remains found at the wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia belong to a female Italian passenger, one of two victims still missing after the 2012 tragedy, the prosecutor investigating the disaster told AFP Thursday.

"The human remains belong to Maria Grazia Trecarichi," Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio said.

The remains were found on October 8 and were tested by DNA specialists in Rome.

Thirty bodies were recovered from the wreck after the cruise liner crashed off the tiny island of Giglio in Tuscany on January 13, 2012, but two - mother of one Trecarichi and Indian waiter Russel Rebello - were still officially reported missing.

La Repubblica newspaper said fragments of bone collected separately "have yet to be tested but could belong to Rebello."

Trecarichi's widower Elio Vincenzi said: "I have learned from the press that the remains belong to my wife but have had no official confirmation. They assured me I would be the first to know, it didn't go that way."

He had earlier identified shoes and a necklace found with the remains as belonging to his wife.

The search for the wreck's two remaining bodies began in late September after the 114,500-ton (103,873 metric tonnes) ship was lifted upright in the biggest salvage operation of its kind.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial for multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship before all the passengers had been evacuated and causing environmental damage.

The Costa Concordia crashed into a group of rocks after Schettino allegedly performed a risky "salute" manoeuvre just off Giglio with 4229 people from 70 countries on board.

Friday 25 October 2013

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/world/remains-found-at-costa-concordia-shipwreck-identified-as-missing-italian-woman-maria-trecarichi/story-fnhrvhol-1226746384053