30 picnickers feared dead in boat accident

No fewer than 30 persons were feared dead in a boat accident which occurred at River Buruku in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State.

According to a source, the passengers, who were being conveyed in a boat across River Buruku around 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, died when the boat capsized at the middle of the river.

It was gathered from Buruku that the victims of the boat tragedy were fun seekers who had gone for a picnic across the river and were returning to their homes.

The source revealed that the young man who was driving the boat had earlier complained that the boat was over-loaded, of which the victims refused to heed the warning even as they urged him to go ahead.

“Sadly, as they got to the middle of the river, the boat capsized, throwing all passengers on board into the river. About 30 persons were missing of which only six bodies had been recovered on Friday morning,” the source said.

Rescue operation was still on at the time of filing this report, even as members of families of victims from both Buruku and Logo local government areas besieged the area wailing while others were making frantic efforts to recover the bodies of their families.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/news/news-headlines/item/29524-30-picnickers-feared-dead-in-boat-accident-7-killed-in-tiv-fulani-clash.html

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Group helping families of Guatemala's wartime missing returns to LA

When a federal court in Riverside sentences an accused Guatemalan war criminal on immigration fraud charges next month, onlookers will include members of a forensic anthropology team from Guatemala.

Their goal: connect with members of Los Angeles' Guatemalan immigrant community and collect their DNA in hopes of identifying some of the long-unidentified dead from that country's civil war, which ended in 1996 after 36 years of conflict.

Members of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation were last in Los Angeles in October. That's when Jorge Sosa was convicted on charges that he omitted information on his U.S. citizenship application about his involvement in the Guatemalan military during the war.

Sosa, who is to be sentenced Jan. 13, is a former member of an elite unit involved in a notorious 1982 massacre that nearly wiped out the entire village of Dos Erres. He stands to lose his U.S. citizenship and eventually be deported to Guatemala to stand trial for his alleged crimes there.

For Fredy Peccerelli, a forensic anthropologist who directs the non-profit foundation, the closely-followed Sosa trial has provided a way to connect with Guatemalan immigrants who lost – and never found – family members during the war.

“It is important that they understand that they are entitled to know the truth about what happened," Peccerelli said. "That is something that a lot of people have forgotten throughout the years.”

Since 2004, the Guatemala-based group has been exhuming and identifying the bodies of desaparecidos - the disappeared - excavating clandestine mass graves and military sites. Of the estimated 200,000 people who lost their lives during the war, about 45,000 simply vanished, most of them kidnapped by Guatemalan military.

The non-profit NGO receives U.S. and international funding. In 2008, they began collecting DNA from family members with missing relatives in Guatemala. So far they’ve identified more than 3,000 bodies, almost 250 through DNA.

They now hope to expand their reach into the United States. In October, Peccerelli and a technician collected five DNA samples in L.A. In January, he and two technicians plan to come armed with a hundred DNA kits.

In anticipation of their trip next month, they've been working with community groups in Los Angeles to set up meetings and appointments here.

Rosa Posadas heads a Guatemalan immigrant group in L.A. and is among those helping spread the word. She said at least being able to bury a missing loved one provides survivors with a measure of comfort.

“Spiritually, it helps," Posadas said in Spanish, "because being able to have a loved one buried in a holy place at least provides some sort of satisfaction. At least, for our customs – to be able to leave them a flower, to at least be able to speak with them, although we know their souls are in the air, but that their remains are there.”

Peccerelli, who grew up in New York after his own family fled the war, said some family members of desaparecidos are reluctant to come forward because they're still not ready to accept the loss, even decades later.

“You actually only begin to look for your loved one among the dead when you decide to give a DNA sample," he said. "Every single one of these family members still hopes today, even though it is very improbable, that their loved one is alive.”

But he says the likelihood is that they aren’t.

Peccerelli said he's become aware of another need for closure among Guatemalans after meeting with immigrants here last fall, one that has little connection to the long-ago war.

"We have encountered that a lot of their loved ones are disappearing en route to the United States today," he said.

To that end, he hopes to expand the DNA bank to the families of missing migrants, both in Guatemala and the United States, and make that data available to authorities in hopes that more families can find answers.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2013/12/27/15482/group-helping-families-of-guatemala-s-wartime-miss/

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Gaul trawler crew DNA test results 'in January' after human remains found in Russia

Families of the lost crew of the Gaul could know the results of DNA tests on human remains discovered in Russia by the end of January. Up to ten bodies are being examined after they were discovered buried under rocks in the Murmansk region of Russia.

The crew of the Gaul was lost when the trawler disappeared during a fierce storm in February 1974. The vessel was lost in the Barents Sea, 70 miles off Norway, with the loss of her entire 36-man crew.

Now, Russian authorities have agreed to send over samples to the UK for testing after relatives of the crewmen were swabbed to compare their DNA to the remains.

One relative, who lost their father aboard the Gaul but asked not to be named, said: "The latest update is that the Russians have agreed to send samples to the UK for our authorities to do some DNA tests."

Humberside Police, who are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Russian Authorities, have confirmed progress has been made.

A spokesman said: "The methods applied so far have been unable to extract DNA samples from the available bones and examinations are continuing.

"The Russians have indicated that the approximate date for genetic analysis completion is December; however, advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is that this is likely to be January.

"The Russian authorities have indicated that they are considering providing samples for place of origin and DNA testing.

"We are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office how best to resolve this on behalf of the families but this is anticipated to be a lengthy process."

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Leaver, of Humberside Police, has already confirmed the sheaths found with the remains are unlikely to belong to Russian nationals.

He had said: "There were sheaths found among the remains and the leather is of a very good quality, which is better than that used by the Russian military or the local fishermen at the time. That leans towards them not being from Russia."

The Mail understands the sheaths were commonly used by Hull fishermen.

Having found out about the remains in September last year, Humberside Police decided to tell the families this month.

The remains had initially been found on the Rybachy peninsula in the Murmansk region of Russia in the mid-1970s by people living nearby.

The bodies reportedly washed ashore in 1974 or 1975 and were then buried by locals under rocks as the ground was too hard to dig holes. They were rediscovered 18 months ago by a local researcher, who is aware of the Gaul. He and his team are known to often do a sweep of the peninsula where bodies are regularly washed up and the locals told him about the burials.

He then alerted the Russian authorities and made his findings public.

The current role of Humberside Police is to support the families and then ensure the tests are carried out. The force admits it will take time to establish whether the remains belong to crew members from the Gaul.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Gaul-trawler-crew-DNA-test-results-January-human/story-20375087-detail/story.html

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Memorials for those killed in Tay Bridge disaster

Memorials to commemorate the Tay Bridge disaster have been unveiled.

It is 134 years since the bridge collapsed during a storm sending a train plunging into the river below.

Fifty-nine people are known to have died, although there was confusion over the numbers killed as many bodies were not discovered for months.

Granite memorials with the names of those who lost their lives have been put in place on both sides of the river.

Newspapers at the time claimed that about 75 people died when the the central navigation spans of bridge gave way on 28 December 1879.

But members of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust have since said the true number was 59.

Unveiling ceremonies

The original crossing had been the longest railway bridge in the world but during the storm the wind was said to have blown the iron girders in the central section away "like matchwood".

The trust has been campaigning for memorials to those who died.

Both sides need to have a memorial for the simple reason that many of the victims had connections on both sides of the River Tay”

"I think possibly there was a feeling that they didn't want to commemorate a tragedy," he said.

"But surely those feelings are long gone and now its high time that we did something about it."

The memorials on either side of the river are each are made of three pieces of granite and positioned so they face where the central span of the bridge once stood. They are inscribed with the 59 names of those who died.

Ian Nimmo White, secretary of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, said he is aware that some believe more people were killed but they had to stick with the evidence they had.

"These are the 59 victims who are known to have died," he said.

"That means for whom we have death certificates. You can't really say that there is more than 59 unless you can prove them with the appropriate documentation."

Unveiling ceremonies took place on both sides of the river on Saturday, followed by a reception for descendants of the victims.

Prof Swinfen added: "Both sides need to have a memorial for the simple reason that many of the victims had connections on both sides of the River Tay.

"Typically they were people who were working in Dundee but had families in Fife so they were coming back after visiting their families at the weekends are were sadly lost as a result."

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-25527719

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Indian train inferno kills at least 26 people in Andhra Pradesh

Fire raced through an Indian train carriage packed with sleeping passengers on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, and forcing terrified passengers to smash windows in a frantic bid to escape.

Some passengers were able to break the toilet windows of the train, but other victims were overcome by the thick, swirling smoke and bodies were found heaped at the windows and doors, reports said.

"We were suffocating because we couldn't get the windows open, the windows are really strong," one young man who survived but who lost his cousin to the flames told India's NDTV news.

Rescue officials said many bodies were charred beyond recognition and would have to undergo DNA tests to determine their identity. "Rescue teams have so far recovered 26 bodies from the three-tier coach of the train while five of the eight injured have been admitted to hospital for emergency treatment," South Western Railway spokesman S Biswas told AFP.

Forensic teams were on their way to the train site to collect body samples for analysis, The Press Trust of India reported. Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh expressed "shock and grief at the loss of life in the train accident in Andhra Pradesh" in a statement on his official Twitter account.

The carriage was gutted by the inferno and was a mass of twisted metal and melted plastic seats. Adjacent coaches also bore scorch marks, testifying to the ferocity of the fire.

There were conflicting reports about the number aboard with police saying 65 while national Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said there were 67 people in the carriage, sleeping six to a compartment.

Kharge told AFP the blaze was believed to have been caused by an electricity fault.

India's underfunded, accident-prone rail network, one of the world's largest, is still the main form of long-distance travel in the huge country despite fierce competition from private airlines.

The coach caught fire in the pre-dawn hours as it travelled from the high-tech city of Bangalore to Nanded, 300 kilometres from the Hyderabad city.

Two of those who died were children, railway officials said.


The exit doors of Indian trains are customarily locked at night, reports said, while the carriage windows are covered with bars, making escape all but impossible.

The toilet windows are the only ones that have no bars and the spaces and berths are narrow.

The tragedy comes a little over a year after another train accident in the same state of Andhra Pradesh killed 32 people and shone the spotlight again on the Indian rail network's dismal safety record.

That train was also carrying sleeping passengers and was also attributed to an electrical fault.

It was not immediately known whether more bodies would be found, police said.

Initial relief efforts were hampered by winter fog, local reports said, while the first people to reach the blazing train carriage were from nearby villages.


Railways Minister Kharge said the railway board chairman would lead an inquiry into the cause of the accident and a more complete report would be issued later.

The engine driver stopped the train when he spotted flames about an hour away from Nanded, a police officer was quoted on The Hindu newspaper website as saying.

Rescue workers brought out the bodies as the smoke abated.

The prime minister said he had told railway and state government authorities "to extend all possible help to the victims in rescue and relief operations".

India's worst rail accident was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.

Saturday 28 December 2013

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/indian-train-inferno-kills-at-least-26-people-in-andhra-pradesh/story-fnh81fz8-1226791244689

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