A month after Ferry disaster, closure eludes one mother

A month after the sinking of the ferry Sewol, Lee Gum-hee fears her daughter may never be found.

Ms. Lee's daughter, Choi Eun-wha, was one of the students from a Seoul area high school—the largest passenger group—aboard the ship that sank on April 16. With 250 students reported dead or missing, the 16-year-old was still unaccounted for as of Thursday.

The bodies of 284 people have been retrieved from the wreck—several in just the past few days. With 20 people still missing, the search continues, but the rate of recovery has slowed as divers have gone through most of the main cabins on the ship. At the same time, dangers for divers have increased as the ship's structure has weakened. Treacherous weather has also paused the search for days at a time.

Relatives of those missing still push for maximum efforts to retrieve their loved ones, but they are starting to confront the prospect that may not be possible.

"What really worries me is that my child may have already drifted away," said Ms. Lee, 44 years old, from a gymnasium near the site of the wreck, her eyes swollen from fatigue and damp with tears.

Late last month, fishermen recovered the body of a passenger of the ship two kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the ferry sinking site. Days later, a recovered body slipped away from divers and drifted 4.5 kilometers before being found again.

The coast guard has set up nets around the ship, and boats and aircraft search for any drifting bodies near the sinking site, but officials are afraid some may be lost for good.

Prosecutors have been investigating for weeks the crew members who were among the first rescued from the ship as many students were still stuck below deck. On Thursday, the captain of the ferry and three senior crew members were indicted on homicide charges, while 11 other crew members were indicted for negligence.

Government prosecutor Yang Joong-jin said the captain and the three senior crew members—the first officer, the second officer and the chief engineer—could face the death penalty if convicted.

Legal representatives for the crew members couldn't be reached for comment.

The school trip on the Sewol involved almost the full second-year grade at Danwon High School in Ansan, a satellite city of Seoul. Of Eun-wha's school mates, only the 13 students who didn't go on the fateful ferry trip plus two of the students who survived are back in school, local education officials say.

They said that most of the survivors, 69 students, are taking part in a program outside the school that includes art therapy, special lectures and individual and group counseling. Four students remain in the hospital.

"She used to rest her head on my lap in the kitchen," Ms. Lee said of her 16-year-old daughter, who recently decided that she would try to get a secure job in government to help support her family

Ms. Lee, who also has a son, is one of a dwindling group of relatives still camped out in a gymnasium near where the Sewol sank. The mood in the gym, highly charged with anger from grieving parents in the days after the disaster, has turned subdued as more families have packed up their sleeping gear and left as the bodies of their loved ones have been found.

At the gym, there is still the occasional shouting at journalists or officials, but some of the anger has been replaced by a more quiet anguish as the days follow their grim routine.

Shuttle buses run regularly between the gym and the pier where recovered bodies are brought in for identification. Often, the coast guard reaches out to families for identification after recovering cellphones or photo IDs from the victims. Most families have already provided police with their DNA samples.

A few days ago, Ms. Lee went out to a rescue barge in the sea with the help of the coast guard to watch divers search the sunken ferry. She wailed and cried, she said. Some of the divers also cried, she added.

Last week, a veteran civilian diver died while installing a line used to guide other divers in the murky waters and amid the strong current. Another diver was treated at a hospital after showing signs of decompression sickness, in another reminder of the risks facing divers.

"We want divers to stay healthy. After all, it's divers who can recover my kid and other victims from the ship," Ms. Lee said.

Eventually, the ferry will have to come out of the water—a subject that raises deep emotions among families of those still missing.

Five giant cranes brought to the site of the wreck in the days immediately after the sinking to lift the ferry out were withdrawn after opposition from family members, who thought that might jeopardize any potential survivors inside the ship. Families continue to object for fear of possible damage to bodies inside, officials says.

"We still dare not discuss the 'salvage' at meetings with the families," said a government official who handles administrative issues for the families. "The families are still pretty adamant that they oppose it."

In 2010, following the sinking of a navy corvette in the Yellow Sea, believed to be by a North Korean torpedo, the search for people lasted for eight days. With six navy sailors still unaccounted for, their families agreed to end the search after the death of a diver and fishermen aiding the operation. Personal belongings were used to bury those unaccounted for.

Such a scenario was still unacceptable to Ms. Lee as she sat in the gym, surrounded by empty mats or sleeping cots left by other parents who had gone home to bury their children.

"They have to hurry up. They have to pull out every single person from the cold sea by all means until nobody is left," Ms. Lee said.

Friday 16 May 2014

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304547704579563401310521392

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Names and dignity for the desert’s unknown dead

When Robin Reineke achieves a goal at work her spirits are lifted. It lasts no longer than one minute. Then she remembers the implications of her success: a good result is matching the remains of a migrant who has died crossing the US-Mexican border with the family’s description.

For many families, however, finding their loved ones is a comfort. Trapped in a purgatory of not knowing, their quest for answers can become all-consuming. Ms Reineke recalls one woman who recognised her son’s camouflage trousers from the buttons – they had been moved to fit his slim frame when his father handed them down.

The woman had been distraught over her son’s whereabouts – he had left in the night without telling her, which is common among migrants hoping for a smooth departure. When she finally received confirmation that her son’s remains had been found in the desert, her frantic mind was calmed. She could bury her son. “She was so grateful that she could take care of him and honour him,” reflects 32-year-old Ms Reineke.

Providing support to such families is part of Ms Reineke’s job as executive director of the Colibrí Center for Human Rights in Tucson, Arizona. The non-governmental organisation compiles and owns the most comprehensive data about missing border crossers and unidentified remains found where the US and Mexico meet. The database draws on information derived from forensic examinations and provided by foreign consulates and families. It enables people to find their relatives’ unidentified remains. When there is a possible match, Ms Reineke calls the family.

The centre takes its name from the hummingbird, colibrí in Spanish. In 2009 the remains of a man who died while crossing the border were found. In his pocket was a small, dead hummingbird – an indigenous symbol of safe passage.

Most anthropologists who work in human identification are forensic anthropologists. Among them is Bruce Anderson, Ms Reineke’s colleague, who specialises in skin and bone that might establish an identity through old fractures or dental work.

Ms Reineke, however, is a cultural anthropologist focused on social relationships. She believes her background helps her liaise between forensic scientists and families of the missing, generally indigenous people. “We understand cultural and religious needs in terms of the disposition of the dead body. We act as mediators between the scientists, who are focused on the dead, and the families focused on the living and honouring the memory of the deceased.”

Each year the remains of about 165 people are recovered from the desert of Pima county in southern Arizona. About 35 per cent cannot be identified. Before 2000, typically 10 bodies were found in the Pima county desert every year.

A report by the University of Arizona attributes the increase to tightened border security that was introduced by the Clinton administration. This has created a so-called funnel effect in which migrants choose entry points that are less policed but more remote.

The report rejects the notion that more people are dying because more people are trying to cross the border. Border Patrol apprehension statistics – a measure often used as a proxy for unauthorised migration flow – show that the number of people attempting the crossing has actually decreased.

Half of the deaths are caused by overheating. Typically, groups of mig­rants walk for three to five days, with little access to water. Those who have underlying health problems or are in pain are likely to be left behind, which is potentially lethal in the desert.

Ms Reineke is featured in Who is Dayani Cristal? , a documentary that deals with a forensic investigation into the case of a migrant found in the desert. The film retraces the man’s steps from Honduras following the path of other migrant travellers. As is usual for these “illegals”, he carried no passport or papers. Ultimately it is his tattoos, which name his young daughter, that help to identify him.

After identification, his family is able to make the match and bury him. Ms Reineke makes the point that many families are not able to do this. “A lot of cases aren’t resolved,” she says.

She cites the example of a newly married and pregnant Guatemalan woman who contacted her recently. Her husband had lost his job and felt his only option was to go to the US and send money home. Despite her request that he remain in Guatemala he left in the middle of the night. He has not been found.

Ms Reineke believes the film helps to humanise the migration debate. “In the US, the discussion on immigrants is hostile and racist. We dehumanise migrants. People shouldn’t have to walk through the desert to come to the US. People don’t want to leave their families.”

Does she not believe in border controls? “We’re too focused on the border and don’t look at the broader social and economic reasons.”

Her work on migrant identification began in 2005. She took an internship with Dr Anderson while studying for her PhD in cultural anthropology. At that point, he was desperate for help compiling details of those found dead in the desert.

The bulk of her work deals with calls from families anxious about missing relatives. Now the centre, funded by the Ford Foundation, among others, receives as many as 70 calls a week. On average she or her colleagues take about an hour to ask questions to create a detailed profile that includes identifying features such as a history of bone fractures, also establishing whether the person has tried to cross before.

Details of personal items are obviously useful to investigators – photographs, handwritten notes from family members, children’s drawings, bibles. Many migrants carry prayer cards or other items representing saints.

Ms Reineke anticipates the missing are likely to be dead but is careful to talk of them to their families in the present tense. Nonetheless, she sees it as her duty “to prepare them for the very worst”.

Many families are scared of coming forward to US authorities, she says, in case their relative has made the journey successfully and is working illegally across the border.

The work can be frustrating, Ms Reineke reflects. “The science and technologies can be out of reach due to expense.”

Moreover, dealing with different government authorities can be complicated. The job, inevitably, gets her down at times. But she is cautious about overstating the impact on her.

“If I take on the families’ grief then I can’t help them.”

Friday 16 May 2014

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8b48fbd0-d775-11e3-80e0-00144feabdc0.html

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Death toll in Shaanxi mine accident climbs to 10

The death toll in a coal mine accident in northwest China's Shaanxi province has risen to 10 with three still missing, local authorities said Friday.

Rescuers retrieved three more bodies early Friday from a coal mine where a pipeline collapse trapped 11 workers Wednesday morning, the search and rescue headquarters said in a press release.

The coal mine, owned by China National Coal Group Corp. in Yulin City of northwest China's Shaanxi province, was still under construction when the accident happened at around 11:00 am Wednesday.

Thirty-seven workers were in the shaft when a major cement pipeline detached, the document said.

Of the 26 people who were brought out shortly after the accident, two were confirmed dead and 16 were taken to hospital, including six with serious injuries.

As of midday Friday, rescuers were still searching for the three missing workers, though chances of finding anyone alive are slim.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

Friday 16 May 2014

http://www.ecns.cn/2014/05-16/114422.shtml

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Bangladesh ferry capsizes; at least 22 bodies recovered and others still missing (update)

Rescuers have recovered at least 22 bodies after a ferry capsized during a storm in a river in central Bangladesh, officials said Friday.

Police estimated at least 100 people were still missing, but there was no clear picture about exactly how many people were on board because the ferry operators did not maintain a passenger list, said a local administrator, Saiful Hasan.

Sabuj, a passenger who jumped overboard when the ship began to sink, said he was among some 25 people who managed to swim to safety.

He said the captain of the double-decker ferry ignored the passengers' calls to stay close to the shore as the storm started brewing.

"But he continued to steer the ship" out into the water, said Sabuj, who uses one name.

Relatives of the missing and the dead were gathering near the Meghna River, near where the boat capsized Thursday afternoon in Munshiganj district. Several recovered bodies, covered in cloth, were on the banks of the river, according to television footage.

Officials said divers had located the sunken ferry and were attempting to recover bodies as darkness fell.

A navy ship, a salvage vessel and about a dozen speedboats were pictured helping with rescue efforts at the scene of the incident.

But the width of the river, the depth of the water and the strong currents were hampering the search, officials added.

Ferry accidents are common in Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, because of overcrowding, faulty vessels and lax rules.

Boats are the main form of transport in the rural parts of Bangladesh and ferry accidents are common.

In March 2012, more than 112 people died when a ferry on the wide and fast-moving Meghna river collided with an oil tanker and sank.

The authorities have been repeatedly criticised for failing to honour their pledges to tackle lax safety standards.

Friday 16 May 2014

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/16/bangladesh-ferry-capsizes-at-least-22-bodies-recovered-and-others-still-missing/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27427984

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