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Sunday, 3 November 2013

At least six dead, including three foreigners and 10 injured in Thailand ferry capsize


A tourist ferry has capsized in Thailand, near the beach resort city of Pattaya, Russia’s embassy in the country has confirmed to RT. At least six people have died, including two Russians, local police said.

Others killed include a Chinese citizen and three Thais, Col. Suwan Cheawnavinthavat said, according to AP. Russia’s embassy consulate in Thailand has yet to confirm that Russians are among dead.

"There is no information on the nationality of the dead. It is known that among the injured were two Russians - a woman with a child. They were taken to hospital in the city of Pattaya,” Andrey Dvornikov, head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Thailand, said.

"Most likely there were many Russians on board,” he added.

A total of 209 people, mostly tourists, have been rescued. Some 15 have sustained severe injuries.

A 12-year-old Russian boy who was among those rescued is in intensive care in hospital. Doctors then established that he was braindead. His mother remains in stable condition. She needs surgery on her face as she suffered a deep cut.

The Russian embassy said at least three Russians had been taken to hospital.

Marines from Thailand’s Sattahip Naval Base have been deployed to search for the ship and missing passengers. The number of missing people has not been officially confirmed, but local media has reported that at least 20 are missing.

Local police have confirmed that 200 Thai and foreign tourists were on a double-decker ferry, AP reports. It was established that the ferry was operating over its capacity, police said.

The National News Bureau of Thailand indicate the 12-meter long vessel was licensed to carry up to 150 people.

As an engine problem occurred soon after the boat departed, tourists rushed to the second floor, causing the ferry to flip on its side and eventually sink, Col. Suwan Cheawnavinthavat said.

‘It was all like a scene from Titanic’

“We were on the next ferry, accidently; we simply were late on that one. It was indeed full of people,” one of the tourists, Olga Blinova told RT. She says she was hurrying her sister, her brother-in-law and her husband to make it on the ferry.

But as they saw that the boat was already crowded, they decided to take the following ferry in 15 minutes.

“We were on the lower deck of the ferry,” Olga says.

Some 15 to 20 minutes later, Olga and her family reached the scene.

“This was really terrifying! Shoes, stuff floating around,” Olga says. “My husband and other people rescued one woman. She was the last one remaining in the water.”

Another tourist, Aleksandr, was on a similar tourist ferry. He recalled that when the Captain saw the tragedy, he steered the boat towards the sunken vessel.

“Here is what I saw: Waves, a three-decker vessel, and a few smaller boats…It all remained me of the scene from Titanic – people in life jackets and without, floating stuff,” he told RT.

The ferry Aleksandr was on rescued at least 15 people, mostly Russians.

“We quickly let down the ladder into the water. People began to swim up and we were catching them and taking them to the lower deck,” he said. “Unfortunately there were casualties. We dragged out two Chinese people, a man and a woman in their 30s or 40s. We started CPR, but unsuccessfully,” Aleksandr continued.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) told ITAR-TASS news agency that official tours to the island of Koh Larn, where the sunken vessel was returning from, are very rare now. Hence, ATOR suggested that the tourists were traveling on their own. Russian tour operators have not confirmed that their clients were among the passengers, ATOR executive director Maya Lomidze said.

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://rt.com/news/thailand-ferry-sink-russians-158/

Scores missing after boat sinks off Myanmar coast


A boat carrying about 70 Rohingya Muslims has capsized off the western coast of Myanmar, with eight survivors found so far, according to an aid worker.

Abdul Melik, who works for the humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger, said the boat was in the Bay of Bengal and headed for Bangladesh when it went down early on Sunday morning.

Rohingya have been leaving Myanmar in droves since clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, who make up the majority of the state's population, erupted in June and October 2012. The government said at least 192 people died in the violence and the United Nations says about 140,000 people remain in camps.

The vast majority of those killed and displaced were Rohingya and growing numbers are now making treacherous journeys by boat to countries including Malaysia and Indonesia.

Many have been in Rakhine state for generations, but the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and severely limits their movements.

Families of the missing people kept watch on the beach throughout Sunday, said Aung Win, a leader of the Muslim Rohingya community.

"I saw people waiting there to find dead bodies," he told Reuters by phone from the state capital, Sittwe.

A security officer said seven passengers on the boat that sank were rescued and there were unconfirmed reports that eight more may have reached land north of Ohntawgyi, a village about 12 miles north of Sittwe where there is also a camp for displaced Rohingya and where the boat departed from.

Some survivors clung to debris while fisherman rescued others, said the officer who requested anonymity. The boat was carrying 60 people, he said.

Ohntawgyi was the site of clashes in August between Rohingya and police who opened fire on a crowd that had gathered to protest after the battered corpse of a Rohingya fisherman washed ashore.

The security officer said more violence erupted on Saturday in Pauktaw, an area about two hours northeast of Sittwe by boat, killing at least three Rohingya and one Rakhine.

The body of a Rohingya man was discovered in an area near a Buddhist pagoda where a group of Rohingya had gone from their camp to collect firewood, he said. Police confronted an angry crowd at the camp and opened fire, wounding three people, including one who later died in hospital.

A rakhine woman was killed in what appeared to be a retaliatory attack, and the body of another Rohingya man was discovered on Sunday morning, he said.

The United Nations refugee agency has warned of a mass exodus of Rohingya as the rainy season ends in coming weeks.

A spokesman for the agency in Geneva said about 24,000 Rohingya were thought to have left Myanmar by boat this year, and more than 400 had died or gone missing during the journey.

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/03/uk-myanmar-boat-idUKBRE9A20AI20131103

Fiji: 218 cases of missing people


Two hundred and eighteen people under the age of 26 have been reported missing this year.

And police are calling on people to be more vigilant and monitor the movements of their children as the festive season starts.

"Police continue to receive reports of missing persons and this is usually a trend when the festive season starts and when the school holidays is just around the corner," police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said.

"This year, the Fiji Police Force has received a total of 277 missing persons reports compared to 241 last year."

Police statistics show that this year, six reports involve children less than 10 years and 83 with age range of 11 to 16 years old.

"The Fiji Police Force is concerned at the number of missing persons reports received and we are calling on members of the public to strictly monitor their family member's movements," Inspector Sokomuri said.

School holidays

Police have noticed that a lot of missing person reports were lodged with them during the school holidays.

And they have advised children to inform their parents of their whereabouts to prevent any misunderstandings during the two-week break.

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said children, at all times, needed to stay in touch with their parents or guardians on their whereabouts.

"Past trends have shown that this is the usual time where we get a surge in missing persons report in particular children as they have a tendency to leave homes without their parent's knowledge," she said.

"And some, while their families are aware of their plans, they've often failed to keep them updated of any changes thus resulting in the missing person report being lodged."

She added that with the hype of sporting events, church conferences and the Hibiscus Festival in the next few days, students are advised to make wise decisions.

"There are also a lot of activities happening, sporting or otherwise, and children are advised not to stray from these activities and get caught in situations that could affect their studies."

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=250058

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=242979

Missing Poster software (free)


Missing Poster is a software tool to assist Search and Rescue, police and other agencies to create and distribute missing person posters in a standardized format.

You can use this software to create a missing poster for someone who is lost or missing.

It was created over a period of three days after I participated in a large search for a missing woman near Vancouver, British Columbia. I saw a SAR member putting together a missing person poster using Microsoft Paint and I thought that there should be a better way.

This tool prompts the user for the pertinent information, gives an easy way to import the photo, and can create the missing person photo in a variety of file formats. If the information changes, it can be edited easily.

Features

It's free to use, modify and redistribute.

Can be installed or run off a portable hard drive or USB stick

Works online or offline.

Reports can be customized to fit your requirements.

Fields are mostly free text to be flexible for data entry

Posters can be saved, loaded, and edited as new information is discovered

Dealing with images is simplified, and printing is easy.

Exports to a number of standard formats for posting to social media, posting online and email

Missing Poster can be downloaded here: http://missingposter.bluetoque.ca/home

Funeral in Spain for 129 Franco victims found in mass graves


The families and friends of 129 people killed during Spain's civil war, on Saturday held a "dignified burial" for the victims of General Francisco Franco's forces, whose remains were found in mass graves.

Urns containing the victims' remains were placed inside a tomb in northern Spain's Arando de Duero where a memorial has been erected in their honour.

Jose Maria Rojas, a spokesman for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, told AFP the 129 people had been killed between July and October 1936 by Franco's forces.

"This ceremony is necessary so that the victims ... can have a dignified burial like human beings, in a dignified place where loved ones can come and lay flowers," he added.

The bodies, which were found in four mass graves around Arando de Duero after a lengthy search, were "among 600 people killed in a 25-kilometre radius" around the town, said Maria Rojas.

During the past 13 years about 6,300 bodies have been exhumed from mass graves. Of them, 2,500 have been identified by volunteers and victims' associations with no involvement from the state. Some 114,000 people disappeared during Spain's 1936-39 civil war and Franco's subsequent dictatorship, according the results of a 2008 investigation opened by crusading human rights judge Baltasar Garzon into Franco-era crimes. The burial ceremony comes amid increased international pressure on Spain to investigate disappearances during Franco's dictatorship spanning 1939 to 1975, after the UN in October urged Madrid to overturn the 1977 amnesty. Historians have estimated that about 500,000 people from both sides were killed in Spain's civil war, which was sparked by Franco's insurgency against the democratically elected left-wing Republican government.

While Franco's regime honoured its own dead, it left tens of thousands of its opponents buried in hundreds of unmarked graves across the country, according to victims' rights associations.

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://www.france24.com/en/20131102-funeral-spain-129-franco-victims-found-mass-graves

Church stampede in Anambra, Nigeria, 'kills 17'


At least 17 people have been killed and many more injured in a stampede at the end of a religious vigil in eastern Nigeria, officials say.

The crusade, organized by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Obinma for prayers, healing and spiritual retreat, attracts thousands of people, but the one that was held Saturday, on the Feast of All Saints turned tragic.

As estimated 100,000 worshippers attended the crusade because, apart from coinciding with the Feast of All Saints, it was also the first Saturday of the month.

Local media say that the death toll could be higher.

Anambra governor Peter Obi had been at the event and later returned to visit the injured in hospital.

The stampede took place at about 06:00 (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Anambra is about 300km (185 miles) south of Abuja.

"We have visited the hospital in Nkpor and found 17 corpses that were brought in from the scene of the disaster," spokesman Mike Udah told AFP news agency.

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24792688

Train accident triggered by a rumour in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram District, 7 identified


At least nine passengers of the Alleppey-Dhanbad Express were mowed down by another train on a parallel track this evening after they had pulled the emergency chain and got off following what appears a false fire alarm.

The toll, which includes two children and four women, could rise because “severed body parts” were still strewn around in pitch darkness, police said in Vizianagaram district, where the tragedy happened at a spot 693km from Hyderabad.

Eight bodies have so far been found on the tracks —which an eyewitness said resembled a place “hit by a cyclone” — and one of the 10 heavily injured died in hospital, Vizianagaram collector Kantilal Dande said.

“Even the injured are heavily mutilated,” a senior police officer said.

Investigations have shown there was no fire in the Bokaro-bound express, suggesting “a rumour” had sparked the scare and led to the 7.15pm tragedy, an Eastern Railway spokesperson said tonight.

Many passengers had got off the S1 and S2 compartments and, in the dark countryside landscape, failed to realise that the Rayagada-Vijayawada Passenger was hurtling down the parallel line, an East Coast Railway spokesperson said.

Manoj Kumar, a passenger, said he had pushed wife Shweta Singh, 33, and daughters Shourya, 2, and Samhita, 10, out of the train after the fire scare only to watch them come under a running train.

“I couldn’t do anything,” a dazed Manoj, who was returning home from Bangalore to Aurangabad in Bihar, said. A fourth dead passenger has been identified as Karthik Sahu from Odisha.

Had the passengers waited a couple of minutes, their train would have reached Gotlam station, 8km from Vizianagaram town, and they could have pulled the chain and got off on the platform. Neither train stops at Gotlam.

Anntaraman, a hotel owner in Vizianagaram town, said he had reached the spot shortly after the accident and seen bodies and body parts on the tracks and under a train.

“It seemed as if the train and tracks had been hit by a cyclone,” he said. “Some of the bodies had been dragged almost half a kilometre.”

The railways have ordered an inquiry.

A similar horror had taken place just over two months ago at a Bihar station, when an express train had mowed down 28 passengers who had walked into its path after getting off two other trains on either side.

The August 19 accident at Dhamara Ghat happened because the station had three tracks but just one platform, and passengers risked their lives every day crossing the lines.

Vizianagaram police said they would continue their search for bodies “till tomorrow morning” over a stretch up to 2km from the accident spot. A relief train from Visakhapatnam has been sent to Gotlam with medicines and doctors.

Railway sources said the accident spot fell in a 50km stretch from Vizianagaram to Berhampur in Odisha that was known as a “danger zone” because it witnessed railway accidents every other day.

“But this is the first time there has been a heavy death toll,” said Panduranga Rao, a railway employee at Gotlam.

Sources said the Alleppey-Dhanbad Express was known as “Smugglers’ Train” in the region because rice, drug and liquor smugglers stopped it and got in wherever they wanted.

Seven of the Bokaro Express passengers who were run over by another train near Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh Saturday night have been identified, police said.

All the bodies were shifted to railway hospital at Visakhapatnam.

One of the two injured is in critical condition.

Sunday 03 November 2013

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131103/jsp/nation/story_17525948.jsp