Haitian migrants' boat capsizes off Dominican Republic, 12 still missing

A boat carrying about 25 Haitian migrants capsized Thursday off the southeast tip of the Dominican Republic, killing at least three.

Authorities recovered three bodies and rescued another 10 passengers, while naval units continue to search for more victims.

Juan Pablo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Dominican Navy, said all three fatalities were Haitian women, and among the survivors were six men and four women, one of them pregnant. All were taken to a hospital in Higuey, 161 km east of the capital Santo Domingo.

The migrants "were apparently brought to the country (the Dominican Republic) directly from Haiti, as none of those rescued live speak a word of Spanish," Sandoval told local reporters.

The accident occurred early Thursday some 3.2 kilometers off the coast of Bavaro in La Altagracia province, 207 km east of Santo Domingo, area residents said.

The 20 to 25 migrants had departed earlier in the morning aboard a boat believed to have been stolen from a hotel in an attempt to reach Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean Sea.

According to the Dominican Army, so far this year, 137 Haitian migrants have been detained while trying to reach Puerto Rico.

Each year, hundreds of migrants from Haiti and other countries in the region try to reach Puerto Rico by crossing the 130-km canal that separates that country from the Dominican Republic.

Friday 21 February 2014

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=201968

Authorities turn to mitochondrial DNA tests to identify 3/11 victims

Japanese authorities who are still trying to identify the remains of victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami say they are having greater success testing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) compared to conventional testing methods.

Since last year, seven bodies whose identifications were requested by the Miyagi prefectural police were identified by the National Research Institute of Police Science in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, using the technique. The research institute is affiliated with the National Police Agency.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child unchanged, making it possible to identify an individual with near certainty and match them with relatives. Normal DNA testing becomes increasingly inefficient the more time has passed since cell death.

Emi Sato, 42, a nursery school teacher in the Shizugawa district of Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, whose uncle’s body was identified using the mtDNA identification method in October, praised the procedure.

“I am relieved now that my uncle has finally returned to me," she said. "I appreciate the professional analysis used to identify him.”

The institute’s Fourth Biology Section tested DNA samples provided by the Miyagi prefectural police by dissolving them in a special chemical to extract a victim’s mitochondria from cells.

The researchers then take about a week to examine the DNA and sequence it.

Regular DNA testing analyzes DNA contained within the nucleus of a cell. But the DNA, which is vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation and bacteria, is often too degraded in bodies that have drifted at sea for some time to be of use.

Mitochondrion, on the other hand, is found in large numbers. Anywhere from dozens to tens of thousands of mitochondria are present in a single cell. That raises the chances of extracting usable DNA, according to the institution.

The institute started conducting mtDNA identification in 1996. It now receives about 60 requests for the procedure annually, a three-fold increase compared to pre-3/11 levels.

It takes researchers up to a month to complete the examination of a sample if it is in poor condition.

“We hope to review our tools and drugs to enable quicker and more accurate identification and better prepare for the next disaster,” said Kazumasa Sekiguchi, head of the Fourth Biology Section.

The remains of 99 victims of the disaster in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures, as of Feb. 20, are still unidentified.

Friday 21 February 2014

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201402210065

Libya military plane crashes in Tunisia, 11 dead

A Libyan army medical plane crashed south of Tunis early on Friday, killing all 11 people on board, Tunisian emergency services said.

"The plane crashed at 1:30 am (0030 GMT)... with 11 people on board -- three doctors, two patients and six crew members," spokesman Mongi El Kadhi said.He said there were no survivors from the accident in the Grombalia area, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital.

The plane went down in a sparsely inhabited farming area in the Grombalia region some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Tunis, the capital, and burst into flames. Army units and civil protection services rushed to the scene to put out the fire and extract bodies.

"The whole plane was completely burnt out. The emergency services went to the crash site and recovered the charred bodies."

Shortly before the plane disappeared from radar screens, the pilot radioed the control tower at Tunis airport to say an engine had failed, emergency services said at the crash site.

The aircraft crashed in a field on the edge of the village of Nianou but managed to avoid any houses, the journalist reported. The Libyan flag was still visible on the tailplane amid the wreckage. "The plane crashed at 1:30 am (0030 GMT)... with 11 people on board -- three doctors, two patients and six crew members," emergency services spokesman Mongi El Kadhi said.

"The whole plane was completely burnt out. The emergency services went to the crash site and recovered the charred bodies."

There was no immediate word on the identities of the two patients on board or why they were being flown to Tunis-Carthage international airport from a military airfield near Tripoli.

Tunis air traffic control official Sofiene Bejaoui said the aircraft was a Soviet-designed twin-propeller Antonov-26.

"According to the air traffic controller who spoke to him last, the pilot's final message was 'Engine on fire'," he said.

"The plane is a Libyan air force Antonov-26, registration number Five Alpha Delta Oscar Whiskey," Bejaoui said.

Nearly 1,400 of the military transport aircraft were built between 1969 and 1986, 420 of them for export, according to the manufacturer's website.

At daybreak, teams began searching for the aircraft's black box flight recorders in a bid to establish the cause of the apparent engine failure.

Friday 21 February 2014

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_21/Libya-military-plane-crashes-in-Tunisia-11-dead-7616/