Jayapura landslide: Two more bodies found, one remains missing

A combined military, police and national rescue team has found two more bodies buried in landslides in Jayapura, though one person is still missing.

Jayapura Military Commander Lt. Col. Wahyu revealed that the body of Ronald Kobepa was found on Tuesday at 00:10 a.m., while the body of Alexander Kobepa was found about seven hours later.

Wahyu said a person identified as Nela Kobepa remained missing. “The team is still searching for the victim,” Wahyu was quoted as saying by Antara. Earlier, the team found six bodies at sites where landslides occurred after heavy rain soaked Jayapura on Saturday. The rescue team has faced challenges finding the bodies as the disaster happened in a mountainous area.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/02/26/two-more-bodies-found-one-remains-missing.html

10 workers dead in Thai building collapse

At least 10 workers died and 17 others were injured when a large concrete beam collapsed Tuesday at a construction site just outside Bangkok, police said.

Television footage showed rescue workers using sniffer dogs and a digger to reach bodies stuck beneath large chunks of broken concrete and twisted metal at the sprawling site in Samut Prakan province, which borders Bangkok.

Two of the injured were in a critical condition in hospital, according to provincial police.

"There are 10 dead and 17 injured who are in hospital," police commander Thatchai Hongthong told AFP, revising down an earlier toll of 11 dead.

Volunteer rescue teams scoured the building site for bodies but by Tuesday afternoon had stopped their search.

"There were 40 workers on site at the time of the collapse, now we have stopped searching as I'm confident we have retrieved all of the bodies," said rescue worker Anyawut Pho-ampai.

Labour groups have warned about lax safety standards and low wages at Thai construction sites, especially for migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, who are often paid below the country's minimum daily wage of $9.2.

The nation has seen a building boom over recent years as the property market has soared.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

http://english.cntv.cn/program/asiatoday/20140225/105636.shtml

Skeletal remains of 80 bodies found in Mannar

Skeletal remains of nearly 80 bodies have been excavated in Mannar in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, which bore the brunt of the brutal war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil militants.

Amid allegations that the bodies could be those of Tamil civilians, the government, in its response to a report by U.N. Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay’s report on Sri Lanka, has suggested that the people were those killed when the LTTE controlled the area, or when it was occupied by the IPKF — a military operation by India between 1987 and 1990.

“With regard to the recovery of skeletal remains, it has been revealed that the area had been occupied by the LTTE for 30 years, except during the period 1988/89 when it was occupied by the IPKF, till the area was liberated in 2008, it was not under the control of the GoSL” the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The matter is being investigated by the police under the supervision of the Magistrate of Mannar. Asked whether there was any indication of when the bodies were buried, forensic pathologist Dhananjaya Waidyaratne, who heads the forensic exercise, said it was difficult to say anything now for, the bone fragments had to be examined.

Speaking to The Hindu, the judicial medical officer said: “We have put the fragments in 80 boxes according to where they were found. The actual number of bodies could even be more than 80.”

In December 2013, a group of construction workers working at Thirukatheeswaram, Mannar, spotted the skeletal remains, sparking a new controversy over the alleged killings of Tamil civilians in the area. Some even feared that these were bodies of persons now considered missing — a government constituted commission is compiling details of complaints of disappearances.

The government ordered excavation of the area, and the exercise that began on December 23 resumed on Monday after it was suspended for some time.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/skeletal-remains-of-80-bodies-found-in-mannar/article5726760.ece