Kathore Link Road accident: 25 bodies handed over to heirs after DNA identification

The bodies of 20 victims of the Kathore Link Road accident were handed over to their families on Thursday, after their identification through the DNA tests.

As many as 62 people were burned alive when the Shikarpur-bound Geo al-Shoaib Coach collided with a tanker on January 11. The victims had been burned beyond recognition.

According to sources, the identification of 25 victims was successfully completed, however, only 20 of the victims’ heirs showed up at the Edhi morgue to receive them.

Sources said that the samples taken for the DNA were not sent to the National Forensic Science Agency as it delays the process. “The samples were sent to a private laboratory in Islamabad and the provincial government bore the expenses,” claimed a health official.

The provincial authorities, meanwhile, came under the flak once again as they had not made any arrangements for the bodies to be transported with the families. Only after media personnel started reporting the mismanagement, did the provincial government send officials to the spot.

Friday 30 January 2015

http://tribune.com.pk/story/829850/25-bodies-handed-over-to-heirs-after-dna-identification/

Cops to electronically screen photos of unclaimed bodies

In order to help identify unclaimed bodies, the North region of the Mumbai police, extending from Goregaon to Dahisar, is planning to electronically display photographs of unidentified bodies in public. The drive, according to the officials, is to curtail the increasing number of unclaimed bodies the department is faced with every year.A few weeks ago, the North region of the police had launched a public awareness vehicle to spread awareness among the people about several criminal activities happening in the neighbourhood. The vehicle, a towing vehicle converted into an awareness vehicle is fitted with projector screen that has replaced cranes and comes with a microphone and other necessary electronic equipments.

In order to help identify unclaimed bodies, the North region of the Mumbai police, extending from Goregaon to Dahisar, is planning to electronically display photographs of unidentified bodies in public. The drive, according to the officials, is to curtail the increasing number of unclaimed bodies the department is faced with every year.A few weeks ago, the North region of the police had launched a public awareness vehicle to spread awareness among the people about several criminal activities happening in the neighbourhood. The vehicle, a towing vehicle converted into an awareness vehicle is fitted with projector screen that has replaced cranes and comes with a microphone and other necessary electronic equipments.

A source from the department said that starting next week, the officers plan to screen the photographs of the bodies along with photographs of the belongings through the projector in busy roads, market places and railway stations.

One of the senior inspectors of the region said, "We have received intimation about this from the regional office. They have asked for photographs from all the 17 police stations in the region. We are sending the photos with description of every incident."

Sources from the department said the drive, which will be launched next week, will have the photographs displayed electronically as a slide show, accompanied by the necessary description of the deceased, and the time and spot the body was found at. Another source from the North regional office said, "We will also have somebody announcing the description. The idea is to get people to identify the bodies so they are claimed. All the bodies were found in 2014."

He added that so far 100 photographs have been received by the regional office and about 100 more are awaited. He added that gory pictures of bodies will be filtered as much as possible as the viewing will be in public spaces.Another senior official from the northern region, however, said that since some of the photographs may put off the citizens, cops plan to display pictures of only those who have died of cancer. "We will be displaying only a few graphic pictures whereby the person has died of cancer due to consumption of tobacco products. This is to bring awareness among the masses about ill effects of tobacco," he added.The vehicle is currently being used by the North region police to spread awareness about drug abuse, road safety, street crime and so on.

Friday 30 January 2015

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-cops-to-electronically-screen-photos-of-unclaimed-bodies-2056650

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-dna-exclusive-slide-show-of-dead-bodies-coming-soon-on-a-street-near-you-2056684

38 illegal migrants feared dead as trawler capsizes

At least 38 people are feared dead after an overcrowded fishing trawler, carrying Malaysia-bound illegal migrants, capsized in the Kutubdia channel of the Bay of Bengal in the early hours yesterday.

Rescuers managed to bring ashore 42 people alive including six suspected human traffickers, while later in the day the sunken vessel was also located and dragged towards the shores of Kutubdia island.

Although it is common for a large number of people to seek illegal passage to Malaysia through marine routes from Chittagong every year, such large scale accidents at sea are uncommon in the bay.

Quoting rescued victims, Kutubdia police station Officer-in-Charge Ongshuth Whoyai said the 30-feet long Malaysia-bound trawler, FV Idris, capsized at the southwestern part of Kutubdia channel with about 80 people on board at around 5am.

Receiving the information, Coast Guard ships Towhid and Tanvir along with four metal shark boats, and Bangladesh Navy ships Oporajeyo and Otondro rushed to the spot and rescued 31 people including four suspected traffickers, said Bangladesh Coast Guard (East) Zonal Commander Captain Shahidul Islam.

Meanwhile, Maheshkhali police rescued 11 more people including two suspected traffickers from Matarbari channel, said Maheshkhali OC Alamgir Hossain.

As of filing this report at 9pm, rescue efforts were still going on at the site of the trawler capsize, while the Coast Guard said they would continue searching for survivors throughout the night.

Six of the rescued migrants were admitted to the Kutubdia Upazila Health Complex in critical conditions, said Kutubdia Upazila Health Officer Dr Mohammad Sahabuddin; but he assured that they were now out of danger.

The rescue teams also traced the trawler at around 3pm and brought it near the shore of Kutubdia island an hour later.

According to the rescued victims, who were mostly from Jessore, Bogra, Madaripur, Narayanganj and other northern districts, the FV Idris was not the initial vessel used in their illegal journey to Malaysia.

At first, the traffickers reportedly had around 50 people climb into a different larger vessel at Chittagong’s Majhirghat and started their journey at 11pm on Wednesday. Around 30 more people were picked up from Chittagong’s Banshkhali and Cox’s Bazar’s Pekua, before the vessel arrived at Kutubdia channel at dawn.

Later, all the illegal migrants were crammed into FV Idris, which soon began to sway heavily because of the rough waves and eventually started to sink.

“After swimming for about four hours, Coast Guard personnel rescued us,” said 30-year old Abul Kalam, one of those rescued from the scene.

Another of the rescued, 27-year-old Mohammad Shahadat, said he gave traffickers around Tk1 lakh for going to Malaysia and to secure a job there.

“We were kept in a congested place in the trawler [by the traffickers] and suffered from a shortage of drinking water,” he said.

Police sources at Kutubdia and Maheshkhali said the suspected traffickers who were rescued from the water are Obaidul Haq, Nur Mohammad, Mohammad Ismail Mohammad Yiasin, Tayeb Hossain and Mohammad Rasel.

However, the suspects claimed to be innocent victims who only wanted to go to Malaysia like the others. Two of the suspects – Tayeb and Rasel – said they were cooks in the trawler and helped the boatmen sail.

8 bodies recovered

The bodies of eight fortune seekers, who went missing after an overcrowded fishing trawler, carrying Malaysia-bound illegal migrants, capsized in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday, have been recovered on Friday.

Kutubdia police station Officer-in-Charge Onshu Thoay told the Dhaka Tribune that a joint team of Navy, Coast Guard and local rescuers recovered the bodies around 12 noon.

Coast Guard Public Relation Officer Lt Commander M Rajibul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: "We have pulled the bodies out after searching the rescued trawler and the areas around the point where the trawler sank. Five bodies were inside the trawler while three were in the Bay water."

Trafficking through sea routes

According to a report by the police headquarters’ Anti-Human Trafficking Special Committee, a total 3,793 people were rescued from Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong over the last five years, while around 15,000-20,000 people were trafficked to Thailand and Malaysia in the past decade alone.

The report also found that human traffickers were most active in 60 points of coastal areas under Patuakhali, Barguna, Satkhira, Jhalakati, Khulna, Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, while their agents were influential in 41 districts.

The committee also observed that human trafficking tendency reached the peak during November to April as the sea was more calm in this period.

In a major operation on November 17, 2013, the Bangladesh Navy captured a 25-metre long Myanmar-flag-bearing fishing trawler from the Bay of Bengal, which was being used to illegally send 625 people to Malaysia.

Friday 30 January 2015

http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jan/30/38-illegal-migrants-feared-dead-trawler-capsizes

http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jan/30/8-bodies-recovered-bay

Malaysia declares MH370 disappearance an ‘accident’, paves way for compensation payments

Malaysia declared yesterday the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an accident, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims’ relatives while the search for the plane goes on. The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8 last year, carrying 239 passengers and crew shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.

Months of searches have failed to turn up any trace. “We officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident and that all 239 of the passengers and crew onboard MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a statement. The announcement is in accordance with standards of annexes 12 and 13 in the International Civil Aviation, said Azharuddin.

It will allow families of the passengers to obtain assistance through compensation, he said. Malaysia Airlines was ready to proceed immediately with the compensation process to the next-of-kin of the passengers on the flight, he said. China called on Malaysia to compensate families. “We call on the Malaysian side to honor the promise made when they declared the flight to have been lost and earnestly fulfill their compensation responsibilities,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. Most of the passengers on the plane were from China. International investigators are looking into why the Boeing jet veered thousands of miles off course from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search in the Indian Ocean is still going on and Malaysia is also conducting a criminal investigation, Azharuddin said. “Both investigations are limited by the lack of physical evidence at this time, particularly the flight recorders,” he said. “Therefore, at this juncture, there is no evidence to substantiate any speculations as to the cause of the accident.” The DCA plans to release an interim report on the investigation into the missing jetliner on March 7, a day before the first anniversary of the disappearance, a minister said on Wednesday. “This declaration is by no means the end,” said Azharuddin, adding that it will continue with the search for the missing plane with assistance from China and Australia.

Normal religious rites for MH370 Buddhist and Hindu passengers

Buddhists usually will observe the normal religious rites for those who have died even though their bodies are not found or that they died in a mysterious manner.

The Buddhist Chief High Priest of Malaysia, Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana said Buddhism did not give much priority on burials or cremations.

“The Buddhist burial ceremony is actually simple, but full of dignity and customs and Buddha too did not believe that the conscience or mental power of those who have died do not have any links with the body or ashes which have been left behind.

“Buddha believed that when someone dies, there will be a reincarnation in another place depending on his good deeds or otherwise,” he said when contacted by Bernama here yesterday.

He was asked to comment on the religious rites of Buddhists who were on board the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 following the announcement by the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman that the aircraft had been officially declared as having been involved in an accident and that everyone on board had perished.

He said that according to the religion, only “Arahants” who had overcome all their desires will not be reborn and as such they would achieve their final objective which was “Nirvana” (paradise).

Meanwhile, for the Hindus, the “Athama Santhi Poojai” ceremony must be held by family members of the victims as a religious ritual.

The president of the Hindu Sangam Malaysia, Datuk Mohan Shan said the “Punyavachanam” ceremony must also be held by followers of the faith.

“Family members must carry out both ceremonies with the help of an ‘Iyer’ (priest) for the peace of the victim’s soul. This ceremony is most important as a ritual to honour the victim,” he said.

Funeral prayers for missing bodies are normally performed for Muslims who died of minor martyrdom due to drowning, fire, murder or accident and their bodies are not found.

Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad said such prayers were not obligatory but encouraged, and meant that the body was not present in front of the congregation or was far away.

The prayers for the missing body was similar to that performed for normal remains of dead Muslims, he said when commenting on the announcement by the Malaysian government today that the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was officially declared an accident under the international aviation regulations and that all the 239 passengers and crew members on board were considered as dead.

The flight MH370 which carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including two infants, disappeared from radar screens while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, about an hour after taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on March 8, last year.

It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day. A search mission participated by various nations was initiated in the South China Sea and Andaman Sea before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced on March 24 last year that the flight MH370 had “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.

Friday 30 January 2015

http://news.kuwaittimes.net/malaysia-declares-mh370-disappearance-accident/

http://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2015/01/30/normal-religious-rites-mh370-buddhist-hindu-passengers/