Chinese relatives of those on MH370 flight to make spiritual journey to Perth

Hundreds of relatives of the passengers and crew of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight are expected to travel to Perth in coming days if wreckage is found, a journey that is particularly significant for Chinese families with traditional spiritual beliefs.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said on Wednesday he expected ''several hundred'' grieving family members to arrive.

''My understanding is that particularly relatives of the Chinese passengers who presumably have lost their lives will want to come to Perth to be as close as possible to the final place,'' he told 6PR radio. Gary Sigley, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia, said there was a traditional Chinese folk belief that those who die tragically in the wilderness, or whose bodies are not recovered, cannot find their way to the ancestral spirit realm.

''There is a special festival to placate these spirits called the 'hungry ghost festival','' he said. ''The living will want to make special offerings … and hopefully help them on their way.'' Advertisement

He said many loved ones would simply want to be close to the accident site, as would be expected in any culture. ''The idea of being lost in a vast, wild and remote ocean is particularly disturbing,'' he said.

Sammy Yap, the president of the Chung Wah Association, which represents the Chinese community in Western Australia, said many more families would make the trip if bodies were recovered. ''Most will be Buddhist or Taoist, so we can organise for any religious practitioners to carry out the ceremonies which they may look for,'' he said.

Mr Yap said Chung Wah would work with more than 40 other Chinese associations in Perth to prepare for the arrival of relatives, with dozens of local Chinese people volunteering support.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.smh.com.au/national/chinese-relatives-of-those-on-missing-plane-to-make-spiritual-journey-to-perth-20140326-35ixl.html

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Yolanda victims’ bodies still being found; identification process to last 3 years

Vernabeth Amarilla and her family were both relieved and heartbroken when the authorities recovered the body of her grandmother last Sunday.

Although the body was now in an advanced state of decay, they were able to identify her through her clothes.

She was found inside a ruined radio station in Tacloban City by authorities who were cleaning up rubble. A victim of Typhoon Yolanda, her body had lain there since November, while all this time her family searched for her and feared the worst.

Only 8 out of 2,241

What happened to Vernabeth's grandmother is not an isolated case. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, bodies of Yolanda victims are still being discovered almost five months after the super typhoon devastated central Philippines late last year.

"Actually, last week may dumating na 15 bodies [sa amin]," NBI Disaster Victims Identification team leader Dr. Nicacio Botin told reporters on Wednesday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection retrieves the bodies, which are then transferred to the NBI for identification.

The United Nations Development Programme provided sniffing dogs that made retrieval operations more thorough, Botin added.

Last Sunday, the NBI finished its postmortem investigation of 2,241 bodies that were temporarily buried in Holy Cross Memorial Cemetery (189), or permanently buried in Brgy. Suhi (1,200) and Brgy.Basper (852).

Out of the total number of identified bodies, only eight have been claimed.

Identification process to last three years

The anti-post-mortem phase of the identification will commence after Holy Week. During this stage, the NBI will ask the relatives of those still missing to come forward and provide identification documents, photos, and DNA samples. This stage will take about six weeks, Botin said.

However, he added, the matching of the identifying documents and DNA could take as long as three years.

There are currently eight members of the NBI's Disaster Victims Identification team, on rotational basis. At the height of retrieval activities, the team has about 21 members. This number does not include the volunteers.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/354237/news/regions/yolanda-victims-bodies-still-being-found-identification-process-to-last-3-years

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Jet fragments could help locate body of pilot missing since 1962

First Lieutenant Yakir Naveh and flight cadet Oded Koton were killed 52 years ago when their Fouga plane crashed into the Sea of Galilee • It took a year to recover Koton's body; Naveh's remains are still missing.

Pieces of the cockpit of a plane that crashed 52 years ago, killing pilot 1st Lt. Yakir Naveh and cadet Oded Koton, have been discovered in the northeast part of the Sea of Galilee.

Naveh, 23, served as a flight instructor in the Israeli Air Force. On May 6, 1962, he and Koton took off for a training flight in an IAF Fouga jet. The plane crashed into the Sea of Galilee and sank. Both Naveh and Koton were killed.

Searches for their bodies began immediately, but it took a year before Koton's body was found and laid to rest.

Every year, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy launch new searches of the Sea of Galilee in an attempt to find Naveh's body and bring the tragedy to a close. A few years ago, Navy teams working with fish farmers from Kibbutz Ein Gev found parts of the plane on the floor of the lake at a depth of 35 meters (115 feet.) Five years ago, Naveh's gun and watch were discovered and identified by his family.

On Monday a few parts of the cockpit were recovered, but the pilot's body is still missing. According to some assessments, Naveh's remains are covered on the floor of the lake, and divers are excavating the area around where the latest plane fragments were discovered.

Naveh's 79-year-old brother accompanies the teams on all their excursions. One team member said "Every year we get closer to the goal of finding [his] body."

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=16423

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Washington mudslide: More bodies found, many missing

Authorities say they have recovered the bodies of two more people killed in a massive mudslide in the US state of Washington, bringing the total to 16.

The officials said they thought they had located eight more bodies under the mud but were unable to retrieve them.

As many as 176 people remain unaccounted for.

A 177ft (54m) wall of mud buried the town of Oso, north of Seattle, on Saturday. Officials said the search would resume at first light.

"We haven't lost hope that there's a possibility that we could find somebody alive," local fire chief Travis Hots told reporters on Tuesday night.

"We are coming to the realisation that that may not be a possibility - but we are going full steam ahead.

"We are going at this hard to get everybody that's out there that's missing"

The sudden, catastrophic mudslide on Saturday destroyed about 30 houses, temporarily damming a river and leaving a square-mile field of muck and debris in its wake.

Survivors were last pulled alive from the mud on Saturday.

But as many as 200 search-and-rescue workers at a time - aided by dogs, helicopters, laser imaging and excavation equipment - have not let up since, pausing only when darkness made the work too dangerous, officials said.

The search-and-rescue operation was further complicated on Tuesday by heavy rain, Mr Hots said, as the workers were forced to contend with slippery mud, upturned nails, wreckage, and deep pits of water.

At least 16 have been confirmed dead. And on Wednesday, rescuers will work to salvage another eight bodies they believe they have located under rubble of the landslide that covers about a square mile.

At least 176 people are unaccounted for. But officials have stressed that some names of those missing have been duplicated, so there is hope the actual number may be smaller.

Finding them will be toilsome in Oso, with a population of about 180, and Darrington, a town of about 1,350. In some places, the debris is 30 to 40 feet thick.

And it will also be dangerous, since some of the mud has the consistency of quicksand and is filled with the wreckage of nearly 50 structures damaged or destroyed.

On Wednesday, rescuers will work to salvage another eight bodies they believe they have located under rubble of the landslide that covers about a square mile.

President Barack Obama, in the Netherlands on Tuesday, asked that "all Americans to send their thoughts and prayers to Washington state and the community of Oso."

Obama said he had spoken with Gov. Jay Inslee and signed an emergency declaration.



Closure

Nichole Rivera has returned to her hometown of Darrington in hopes that someone will find her loved ones.

But after seeing the wide swath of devastation and the unyielding mud, she has no optimism of ever seeing them alive again.

"I can tell you with great soundness they're not going to find my parents, or daughter, or her fiancé," she said.

Now, she and her family just want closure -- the bodies of their loved ones, if possible.

But if they don't turn up, they take comfort in knowing that they will rest in a place that they loved.

Her relatives had plans to put their burial plots on their own land.

The waiting came to an end Tuesday for the family of U.S. Navy Cmdr. John Regelbrugge -- at least in part. His brothers found his body and that of his dog.

But his wife, Kris, is still missing.

"They were both home when the slide hit, but they haven't found her yet," his sister-in-law Jackie Leighton said.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

http://www.krdo.com/news/washington-mudslide-more-bodies-found-many-missing/25168846

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