Bangladesh ferry capsizes with 200 passengers aboard, 9 bodies found

A Bangladeshi ferry with around 200 passengers on board capsized in a storm on a river near the capital Dhaka on Thursday, with police reporting that at least nine bodies had been recovered, but there were fears that the toll would climb.

"We fear there will be more bodies inside the vessel and we cannot be sure of the number of passengers (on board)," Saiful Hassan Badal, Deputy Commissioner of Munshiganj district told Reuters by telephone from the scene of the accident.

The M.V. Miraj-4 ferry capsized in high winds and rain in the Meghna river at Rasulpur in Munshiganj district, 27 kilometers from Dhaka. The accident occurred at around 3:30 pm (0930 GMT). The ferry had been going to Shariatpur from Dhaka.

Some survivors were able to swim ashore, despite strong currents and high waves whipped up by the storm.

"There was a sudden storm and we requested the boat-swain to anchor at the river side but he ignored us...and all on a sudden the ferry capsized within a few seconds" said Abdur Rahman, 50, a passenger who had managed to swim ashore.

A rescue vessel sent from Dhaka reached the stricken ferry some three hours later, and Saiful said firefighters and members of the coast guard, including divers were involved in search efforts.

So far nine bodies had been recovered, including those of women and children, according to Oliur Rahman, a police officer at the scene.

The Meghna river is one of the most important tributaries in the country.

Bangladesh has a sorry history of ferry disasters, with casualties sometimes running into hundreds due to overcrowding.

In March 2012, at least 145 perished when a packed ferry carrying at least 250 people capsized on the river in the same district.

In another, earlier deadly accident, around 150 lost their lives in February 2005 when a ferry sank in the Buriganga river on the outskirts of Dhaka. In December 2009, 46 people, mostly women and children, drowned in Daira river in the north-eastern district of Kishorganj after a ferry capsized.

Thursday 15 May 2014

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-bangladesh-ferry-accident-idUSBREA4E0H220140515

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Chronology: Major mining disasters

Severe mining accidents can happen anywhere people dig for coal or other resources underground. Chinese miners are particularly vulnerable because of inadequate security measures and poor training. But severe mining accidents also occur elsewhere in the world.

August 2010: A seismic disturbance buried 33 miners in a Chilean copper and gold mine in the Atacama desert. It took rescue workers two weeks of drilling to first reach the men, who were trapped 700 meters below the surface. In order to survive, the miners were supplied with essentials via a smaller tunnel until they could be rescued via a larger tunnel. The miners spent 69 days underground, and the dramatic rescue operation became a worldwide media event.

The trapped miners in Chile became world famous following their ordeal

June 2010: A methane gas explosion caused the partial collapse of a coal mine south of Medellin, in Columbia. At least 73 people were killed. High concentrations of methane and carbon monoxide in the facility made the rescue operation difficult, and the first bodies were recovered after nine days. The mine's safety measures had been checked a week before the disaster, and it was found to be lacking gas detectors and a proper ventilation system.

May 2010: Two methane gas explosions killed 73 people in a coal mine in western Siberia. At least 16 miners remained missing. The two explosions happened two hours apart, and rescue workers were in the mine when the second - much stronger - explosion occurred. More than 280 miners survived the accident.

May 2009: A fire broke out in a South African coal mine southwest of Johannesburg, killing 82 illegally working miners.

December 2007: A gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China killed 105. It was reported that most of the victims died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

November 2007: A methane gas explosion at a depth of 1,078 meters (3,536 feet) in a coal mine near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk resulted in the death of 100 miners. At the time of the disaster, 457 miners had been underground. More than 350 miners - some with serious injuries - were rescued.

August 2007: The bursting of a dam flooded a coal mine in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong. More than 170 trapped workers are killed.

February 2005: In China's worst mining disaster in decades, at least 214 miners died following an earthquake and a gas explosion 242 meters underground in the northeastern province of Liaoning. Twenty-nine miners were taken to the hospital with broken bones, gas poisoning and burns.

March 2000: At least 80 miners died after a methane explosion in a mine in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine.

1992: 263 miners are killed in an accident in the Turkish coal mining district of Zonguldak, near the Black Sea.

Thursday 15 May 2014

http://www.dw.de/chronology-major-mining-disasters/a-17637498

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Turkish families bury miners as toll rises to 282

Women sang songs about departed miners Thursday over the graves of relatives killed in Turkey's worst mining accident, even as more hearses pulled up and backhoes dug more graves around them.

Rescue teams recovered eight more victims, raising the death toll to 282, with 142 people still unaccounted for. The disaster Tuesday has set off protests around Turkey and thrown Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's presidential ambitions off stride. Blackening his reputation further, one of Erdogan's aides was accused of attacking a protester on the ground.

In the western town of Soma, where coal mining has been the main industry for decades, women wailed and sang songs about their relatives as bodies were taken from coffins and lowered into their graves. Pictures of the lost relatives were pinned onto their clothing.

No miner has been brought out alive since dawn Wednesday from the coal mine where the explosion and fire took place. Many mourners said they spent their whole lives fearing something like this.

"The wives of the miners kiss their husbands in the morning. When they come back, even if they are five minutes late, everyone starts calling. You never know what is going to happen," said Gulizar Donmez, 45, the daughter and wife of a miner and neighbor of one of the victims.

Erdogan, who is expected to soon announce his candidacy for Turkey's presidential election in August, was not welcome at the forced to take refuge at a supermarket during his visit to the area Wednesday after angry crowds called him a murderer and thief and clashed with police. Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet, Milliyet and others on Thursday printed photographs they said were of an Erdogan aide kicking a protester who was on the ground and being held by special forces police during the scuffles. The papers identified the aide as Yusuf Yerkel.

Erdogan had earlier downplayed the disaster, calling mining accidents "ordinary things" that also occur in many other countries, after giving examples of 19th-century mine accidents in Britain.

Erdogan has made no secret of his desire to become Turkey's first popularly elected president. His party swept local elections in March despite a corruption scandal that forced him to dismiss four government ministers in December and later also implicated him and family members. Erdogan denies corruption, calling the allegations part of a plot to bring his government down.

Protests broke out in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities over the deaths and poor safety conditions at mines around the country. In Istanbul and Izmir, authorities used water cannons and tear gas to break up the protests. Turk-Is, Turkey's largest trade union confederation representing some 800,000 workers, joined a one-day strike by other unions to demand better conditions for workers.

Workers in the mining region of Zonguldak, obeying the strike, gathering in front of a pit but did not enter it. In Istanbul, a group chanted anti-government slogans and carried a large banner that read: "It's not an accident, it's murder."

With hopes for the missing miners fading, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters that rescue efforts were focusing on two areas inside the mine.

Rescue operations have been suspended several times as burning coal inside created toxic fumes and too-risky conditions for the rescue teams.

"We believe that we still have brothers in two areas that we still have not been able to reach," Yildiz said. He did not say whether authorities believed they were dead.

The government has said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of Tuesday's explosion. Scores of those rescued suffered injuries.

The death toll has topped a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near Turkey's Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Authorities said this week's disaster followed an explosion and fire at a power distribution unit, and most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Erdogan promised the tragedy would be investigated to its "smallest detail" and that "no negligence will be ignored." Hurriyet newspaper reported Thursday that a group of 15 prosecutors has been assigned to investigate the accident.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine as workers were preparing for a shift change, which likely raised the casualty toll.

Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry said the mine had been inspected five times since 2012, most recently in March, when no safety violations were detected. But the country's main opposition party said Erdogan's ruling party had recently voted down a proposal to hold a parliamentary inquiry into a series of small-scale accidents at the mines around Soma.

Thursday 15 May 2014

http://www.kltv.com/story/25521417/turkish-coal-mine-deaths-rise-to-282

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