At least 26 killed in China coal-mining accidents

Authorities said Friday that 26 miners were killed in accidents in southwestern China, the latest in a string of disasters that have made the country's mines the world's deadliest.

Authorities are racing to locate three remaining miners believed still to be trapped underground since April 7, Yunnan's Qujing city government said.

City officials say a predawn explosion on April 7 caused the mine to flood, trapping 22 miners at the Xiahaizi colliery, 19 of whom were killed. It isn't clear yet what caused the explosion, but the water came from nearby wells.

Four miners have been rescued since the accident, officials said. Also on Friday, a roof collapse at a mine in Guizhou province killed seven, the official Xinhua news agency said.

China leads the world in coal-mining fatalities. The government said 1,049 people were killed or missing in coal-mining accidents last year. In comparison, 52 people were killed over the last decade in U.S. coal-mining disasters, according to data from the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Accidents at China's coal mines have caused more than 33,000 deaths in the last decade, according to data from the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

Heightened official attention to safety regulations and efforts to consolidate smaller coal mines under state-owned operations have cut the death toll each year since 2000. So far this year, 45 people have died in Chinese coal-mining accidents, excluding the Qujing incident, according to the Chinese coal safety agency. Last year 1,049 were killed in such accidents, compared with 1,384 in 2012.

The government has tried to signal in recent years that it is serious about making coal-mining safety a priority. Unlike past incidents, where officials yielded little or no information, Qujing and Yunnan officials have flooded social media with updates on their rescue effort, including dozens of reports posted on Qujing's website and a steady flow of posts on the city's verified account on Sina Weibo, a widely used Twitter-like microblogging platform.

Qujing, with a population of about six million, is the second-largest city in Yunnan province. Like neighboring Guizhou province, it is part of a coal-rich plateau where electricity production—fired by the mineral—is an important part of the local economy.

Rescuers found 14 bodies from the Qujing accident Friday, bringing the official death toll to 19. The other five bodies were retrieved Wednesday and Thursday, officials said.

The narrow underground space and the mine's complicated layout have hampered search efforts, Xinhua said.

Qujing Vice Mayor Zhang Lei told Xinhua it was unclear if safety regulations were breached in the construction of the mine, but suggested there had been a "delay" in reporting the accident. Mr. Zhang said "responsible persons" at the mine have been detained to assist in the investigation. Calls to the provincial Safety Supervision and Administration Department weren't immediately answered Friday.

The midsize mine is privately owned by a company called Liming Industry Co., according to state records. It is licensed to operate from December 2004 through January 2016, according to the Yunnan Coal Mine Security Supervision Bureau. Liming couldn't be reached Friday.

China has more than 12,000 coal mines, many of which are underground shafts.

Friday 18 April 2014

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626304579509023076837450?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304626304579509023076837450.html

Only 4 missing in Washington State mudslide as medical examiner identifies more bodies

The death toll from the massive mudslide that hit the Washington town of Oso last month has risen to 39, officials said Wednesday.

The Snohomish County medical examiner's office said it was identifying the three bodies most recently discovered and notifying families. The sheriff's office said it has removed one name from the missing list, which previously stood at seven.

Officials didn't say whether one of the most recently recovered bodies led to the change in the missing list.

One body was found Monday and two were found Tuesday in the southeast corner of the debris field where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has erected a berm in the past week, said Koshare Eagle, a spokeswoman for the incident management team.

The 3,000-foot-long berm, made of 20,000 tons of rock, gravel and dirt, acts like a levee and allowed standing water to be pumped back into the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River so searchers could enter the area, the corps said.

Searching the debris with dogs and recovering bodies continues to be the main job after the March 22 landslide buried dozens of homes in the community about 55 miles northeast of Seattle.

Meanwhile, engineers are using GPS to map the area as the state Transportation Department makes plans to clear a mile-long stretch of highway that was covered with mud and trees up to 25 feet deep.

The slide blocks the direct route between Interstate 5 and the nearby town of Darrington. The Transportation Department held meetings in Darrington and Oso to talk with residents about the highway. A third meeting was scheduled for Wednesday evening in Arlington.

Transportation officials have said it might take one to three months to clear the highway, but it may be fall before repairs are made and the highway reopens.

Friday 18 April 2014

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/world/Death+toll+Washington+mudslide+rises+medical+examiner+works/9746369/story.html

Mount Everest avalanche: At least 12 Sherpa guides dead

Nepal's Sherpa community is confronting a dark tragedy after at least 12 guides were killed by an avalanche that swept down a climbing route on Mt Everest. A search was ongoing for at least three more guides still missing following the deadliest ever single day on the world's highest mountain.

Officials said the men were killed after the avalanche struck at around 6.30am on Friday as they were laying fixed ropes for other climbers. Rescue workers struggled to pull their bodies from mounds of snow and ice after they were struck just about Camp 2. Two men, who survived but suffered injuries, were lifted from the ice debris and flown by helicopter to Kathmandu.

A spokesman for Nepal's Tourism Ministry, Mohan Krishna Sapkota, told the AFP news agency that all the climbers involved were of Nepali origin and had been preparing the route ahead of the main spring climbing season, which starts in a matter of days.

"The sherpa guides were carrying up equipment and other necessities for climbers when the disaster happened," he said.

Friday's deaths easily surpassed the previous highest number of deaths on Everest. That occurred on May 11 1996 when eight foreign climbers were killed in bad weather, an event that featured in journalist Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air. Six Nepalese guides died in an avalanche in 1970.

Hundreds of foreign and local climbers have gathered at the base camp of Everest to prepare for attempts on the 29,035-foot mountain early next month when weather conditions become optimal and provide a small, brief window of opportunity for people to realise their ambitions. In preparation, teams of sherpas have been setting up fixed ropes that their clients, who pay many thousands of pounds to scale the peak, will attach themselves to while ascending the mountain.

The avalanche is said to have struck in an area situated at around 21,000ft and known as the "popcorn field". The area lies on the route towards the notorious Khumbu ice fall, an unavoidable passage which has claimed the lives of many climbers over the years.

In recent years the number of climbers in Everest, especially those with less experience, has soared and the Nepalese authorities have introduced measures to try and better organise the flow. Officials have been dispatched to base camp to spend the climbing season there and address any problems

Yet impoverished Nepal is loathe to deter climbers from scaling the peak because of the permit fees they pay and the employment they provide for sherpas and other support members. So far, a total of 334 permits have been issued to foreign climbers for the year, up from 328 last year. There has even been talk of reducing the cose of permits to encourage yet more mountaineers.

Climbers have complained that overcrowding on the mountain, especially at crucial points such as the Hilary step, has led to increasing numbers of unnecessary deaths.

More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the summit since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Around 250 people have died doing so.

Friday's deaths underscore the perilous work undertaken by the sherpas, who lug ropes, tents and supplies for foreign climbers. It was reported that Kathmandu-based climbing company Himalayan Climbing Guides Nepal had confirmed two of their guides were among the dead and other employees were among those still missing.

Friday 18 April 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/everest-avalanche-12-confirmed-dead-and-three-more-missing-9269303.html

More than 8000 still missing in Bosnia

The silence descended on the village of Ahmici in central Bosnia on Wednesday which marked the 21st anniversary of the massacre of 116 Bosniak civilians which was perpetrated by members of the Croatian Defense Council on April 16 1993.

The massacre in Ahmici, where Bosnian Croats turned against Bosnian Muslims, has been defined as the single most savage example of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. One year before, Bosniak Croats and Muslims fought together against Serb army and military forces. The massacre is honored every year by families of the victims in Ahmici on 16 April.

During the past 20 years, 86 people out of 116 killed were found and identified while 30 still remain missing, according to Elvedin Kermo, President of the "April 16 - Ahmici" association.

Kermo said that each passing anniversary is still heart-breaking, as hundreds of family members gather at the local cemetery to lay flowers on the graves and honor the victims. These families cannot take any comfort that the perpetrators of the crime have been brought to justice.

"As the direct perpetrators of the crimes in Ahmici court were prosecuted, only two - Drago Josipovic, who is already on the loose and Miroslav Cicko Bralo were sentenced to 20 years in prison. They were convicted for the death of three people. Who killed the other 113 people?" asks Kermo.

Members of the Croatian Defense Council (CDC) at dawn on April 16 1993 committed war crimes against civilians in this village killing 11 minors, 32 women and 73 men. The youngest victim was a three-month-old baby and the oldest, an 81-year-old woman.

International Criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that the murders in Ahmici were crimes against humanity.

Dario Kordic, one of the commanders of the CDC was sentenced to 25 years in prison and former member Miroslav Cicko Bralo, to 20 years in prison. Three members - Zoran Kupreskic, Mirjan Kupreskic and Vlatko Kupreskic, who were sentenced to 6 to 10 years in prison for participation in massacres, had their conviction overturned by the appeals chamber one year later in 2001.

Zivko Budimir, President of the Federation entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina was present in Ahmici at the ceremony marking the anniversary of the massacre.

Budimir commented that in Bosnia there are many who "are trying to stop the prosecution of those responsible for the war crimes."

"Unfortunately, it is often the case that all three nations are trying to portray these people as heroes. They are not heroes. They are people who committed a crime, who were in the service of evil, and need to appear before the court for what they have done," added Budimir.

Abdulah Ahmic (50) told the the Anadolu Agency that he came to honor his mother, three sisters, father and brother who were killed on April 16. He has also lost one more brother who was killed as a soldier on the front line. "Of eight members of my family, I am the only one alive. I survived the shooting, the bullet went through my cheeks. I survived the concentration camp too," said Abdulah.

Recalling that fateful day, he said that shooting woke them up.

"It was a general attack. Houses were torched. Our house was surrounded very quickly. They broke into the house, took me and my father out of the house where my brother was already killed. One of the soldiers cocked his rifle and killed my father. He did not shoot at me precisely, the bullet passed lower, so I remained lying, I pretended that I was dead," he said.

Huso Ahmic lost his parents that day. Showing the house in which the murder happened he said:

"United Nations Protection Force took nine corpses out of this house. Seven neighbors came here to hide before that. There were all killed, including a woman with three daughters," said Huso.

In 1992, in the northwestern Bosnian town of Prijedor and the surrounding area, the Serbian army and military forces committed mass killings of inhabitants and detained Bosnian Croats and Muslims together in notorious concentration camps Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje.

In September 2013, the extent of the mass killings at the camps are still coming to light since the mass graves in Tomascia were discovered by former member of the Army of Republika Srpska. These graves are now considered to be the biggest in Europe after the second world war. It is assumed that it hides the bodies of nearly 1000 missing civilians who were detained in the camps.

During the past seven months, nearly 500 bodies were found whose identification is currently ongoing and based on DNA analysis, 49 victims have been identified so far.

The Anadolu Agency team on Wednesday visited the Sejkovaca Center for Autopsy and Identification in the town of Sanski. Most are families who come to see the bones of their loved ones who have been identified.

The wife of victim Said Visic told the AA about her fate: "I was with my husband in the back yard in July 20 1992, when our neighbors came, took him out on the road and killed him," said Ismeta Visic.

"Today I am here with my son who was three-years-old when his father was killed. He came to see his bones. Bones do not speak, but it's time to witness, speak and acknowledge what happened," she added.

"This is a difficult day for me. But I have to stand it," said Abaz Hergic who came to see the bones of his two sons who were 23 and 24 when they were killed."

"This is so difficult but also a relief for me because I will bury them finally," said Asim Hupovac, also father of two sons Jasin and Husein.

According to the information in the Center, most of the victims were killed with a bullet in the nape of the neck.

The bodies were hidden below artificial embankments under several meters of soil.

Lejla Cengic, a spokeswoman for the Institute for Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina also found and identified bodies of her three uncles. Lejla hopes to identify one more uncle. "They were killed in front of their houses, and then they were moved. After 22 years, their bodies were found in the Tomasica mass grave. Based on DNA analysis, three were identified and we are awaiting the confirmation of the DNA analysis for the fourth uncle," said Lejla.

She added it is difficult to be 'on the other side' when you need to inform your family. The bodies of Lejla's relatives were found during the excavations which are ongoing since Tomasica was discovered. This week families are coming to the Center for the autopsy to identify them officially. Lejla is among them.

"It is difficult now as it was in the moment when they were killed. Exhumation and identification means facing the past. It is very painful and traumatic," Lejla concluded.

Identification of bodies found takes place in the Sejkovaca Center from April 16 to 23 and the exact number of those identified will be known after the end of this takes place.

In the area of northwestern Bosnia, since the end of the war, 131 mass graves have been found.

According to the IMP, 8,400 people still remain missing after the war.

Friday 18 April 2014

http://www.dailysabah.com/balkans/2014/04/17/more-than-8000-still-missing-in-bosnia