19 dead in Upper Egypt road crash

Nineteen people have died in a collision involving a truck and a minibus on a rural highway in southern Egypt, a local health ministry official has said.

State news agency MENA said the accident took place late on Sunday near the city of Edfu, north of Aswan. The bus was en route to Cairo.

Five children were among the dead, and at least one was injured, health ministry official Mohamed Azmy confirmed.

In mourning for the dead, the provincial governor has cancelled Aswan's National Day festivities, which fall on the week starting 15 January.

The celebrations mark the inauguration anniversary of the Aswan High Dam, one of the biggest projects in Egypt's modern history.

Largely blamed on lax enforcement of traffic laws and poorly developed roads, traffic accidents are very common in Egypt.

Five people died last week in a road accident in the southern governorate of Qena.

Around 12,000 people die annually on Egypt's roads, according to a 2012 World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

Egypt is one of ten countries listed in the WHO Road Safety project to be conducted over five years by a consortium of six international partners.

Monday 20 January 2014

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/92002/Egypt/Politics-/-dead-in-Upper-Egypt-road-crash.aspx

Aviation safety: 2013 in numbers

The Aviation Safety Network (ASN), an independent body that provides an online database of aviation accidents and incidents, reported that the number of fatalities were at a record low in 2013.

Its database shows a total of 265 airliner accident fatalities, which resulted from 29 fatal airliner accidents, were recorded around the world.

According to ASN, it was the safest year by number of fatalities and the second safest year by number of accidents. The ten-year average is at 720 fatalities and 32 accidents a year (see graph below for stats since 1946).

ASN credits international aviation organisations such the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Air Transport Association (IATA‎) and government bodies (such as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in Australia) for the drop in flight fatalities. Commercial aviation remains one of the safest forms of travel per distance travelled.

The big crashes of 2013

According to ASN records, the worst plane crash last year happened on November 17 when a Tatarstan Airlines Boeing 737 crashed while attempting to land at Kazan in Russia, killing 50 people.

The plane was battling strong winds on approach, hit the runway and exploded in flames. The Russian carrier had in fact only received a four-star rating from Airline Ratings. It had also failed to complete the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit which is an internationally accepted evaluation system for airlines.

Other tragic accidents include a fatal crash on October 17 where 49 people died when a Lao Airlines ATR72 crashed while on approach to Pakse in Laos due to severe rain caused by a nearby tropical storm.

Lao Airlines was also only rated as a four-star airline by Airline Ratings in part because it also had not completed the International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit.

Below is a map showing accident locations around the world in 2013.



The Asiana Boeing 777 crash in July received a lot of press when the plane hit a runway sea wall and flipped over at San Francisco International Airport. Amazingly, 304 passengers and crew walked away and only three passengers died.

ASN considered the Asiana Boeing 777 crash to be the “most miraculous escape” of the year.

Monday 20 January 2014

http://theconversation.com/and-the-award-for-the-safest-airline-in-2013-goes-to-21973

Namibia: Air crash victims identification finalised

The National Forensic Science Institute (NFSI), which has been conducting tests to identify the victims of the Mozambican plane crash that killed all 33 people on board in Namibia last year, says it is now dealing with "fragmented remains" to identify the remaining 17 passengers.

NFSI director Paul Ludik said this at a press briefing on Friday in Windhoek, where it was revealed that forensic experts had identified seven more bodies this month, bringing the total number of identified bodies to 16.

The tests, on more than 600 body parts, have been conducted since last month, and Ludik, who believes they are in the final stages, however, declined to name the nationalities of identified passengers.

Ludik only said some family members were initially against the repatriation of the bodies, but later changed their minds, with some preferring full recovery of the bodies.

The wreckage recovery assessment team, sent to Bwabwata Park in Kavango East to survey the crash site, has returned to Windhoek.

Captain Ericksson Nengola, director of aircraft accidents investigations in the Ministry of Works and Transport confirmed yesterday that they arrived in the capital and will go back [to Bwabwata] since the recovery process takes between 36 and 40 weeks.

Once the survey is completed, a plan to remove the wreckage will be worked out, and this will likely occur in February.

Police spokesman Major General James Tjivikua announced on Friday at a media briefing that the latest identification was completed on 3 January 2014.

"It is also important to note that the people who have been identified to date were booked into seats in the front, middle and rear of the aircraft," he said. He said the identifications were based on fingerprint comparisons, and those identified comprise citizens of five or six countries.

According to Tjivikua, nine families of the 16 identified victims have asked for their loved ones to be repatriated before the end of the process and the repatriations are under way. He added that the remains of five others have already been sent to their countries of origin.

The plane, en route from Mozambique to Angola, went down in the deserted terrain of the Bwabwata park, where Namibia turns into a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Botswana and Angola. It was one of the worst air accidents on record in Namibia and in Mozambique's civil aviation history.

The crash made headlines in December last year when investigators found that the pilot of the Mozambican plane deliberately brought it down.

Monday 20 January 2014

http://allafrica.com/stories/201401202257.html

Sarawak boat tragedy death toll increases

A search team recovered four bodies from the Lassa River here today, raising to eight the number of people who drowned after a longboat capsized in the river near here last Saturday.

Sarawak police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman said the search was going on for three more missing people.

He said the bodies recovered today were those of a woman and three men.

Twenty-seven people from Kampung Tekajong were returning to their village when the longboat they were travelling in capsized after it was hit by a huge wave at about 1 pm last Saturday.

Sixteen people swam to safety, three were found drowned and eight went missing.

Muhammad Sabtu said the area of the search was to be extended as two of the bodies were recovered far from the place where the boat capsized.

He said some villagers were also helping in the search in 17 boats while others were helping with the cooking of meals and tending to other logistical needs.

Muhammad Sabtu said the police had ruled out foul play in the tragedy, adding that it was an accident caused by rough river conditions and worsened by the presence of the seasonal king tide.

“The victims, especially the men, are seasoned sea farers. The high number of casualties is perhaps due to the number of elderly women. We hope no quarters will exploit the mishap,” he said.

He also said that the longboat skipper was related to most of the villagers he had been ferrying.

“The villagers are not angry with him as the families of those who perished and the others consider this as a pure accident,” he said.

Muhammad Sabtu said he would leave it to the villagers concerned to determine how to bring back the bodies to Kampung Tekajong, whether by boat or road.

He advised the people, including civil servants, travelling by river to always use life jackets for their own safety.

“I would particularly like all those returning home by river for the coming Chinese New Year (Jan 31 and Feb 1) celebration to heed this advice,” he said.

Monday 20 January 2014

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/01/20/swak-boat-tragedy-death-toll-increases/