Argentine veterans insist with identifying remains of 123 comrades buried in Falklands

Argentine veterans from the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas war with Britain reiterated on Wednesday a request for the identification of 123 unknown comrades buried in the Falkland Islands.

The request was presented by the Malvinas War Veterans branch from La Plata, to Julio Alak, Justice and Human Rights minister. It follows the presentation last August of an appeal before a federal court with the purpose of identifying the remains in the NN graves.

“In the Malvinas Darwin cemetery there are 234 graves of which 123 have no names and only have a plaque which reads ‘Argentine soldier, only known to God’” said Ernesto Alonso a member of the board from the Veterans organization.

Alonso recalled that at the end of the conflict in June 1982 “many bodies remained in the battle fields and the identification was left in the hands of the British, but in 123 cases they couldn’t do it because they did not have the ID ‘dog tags’ with names or any other element to help with the identification”.

Minister Alak said that in “today’s Argentina the identity is a superior value which the State defends and claims, as has been the case in the hundreds of babies stolen by the macabre terrorist machine of the dictatorship”.

Malvinas veterans are demanding the participation of the Argentine Anthropology Forensic Team, EAAF, a organization which has earned international acknowledgement for its identification of disappeared persons during the 1976/1983 dictatorial regime that ruled Argentina.

“We’re requesting the Executive to take the necessary steps so that a team from EAAF can work at the Argentine Memorial in Darwin and helps to identify the remains of our comrades and the probable causes of their death”, said Alonso.

“It’s a humanitarian request to which the British I’m certain will not object, when thirty years of the conflict have gone by” added Alonso recalling that in Europe they are still identifying the remains of combatants from the two world wars.

During the 74-day conflict following the Argentine invasion of the Falklands on 2 April, 255 British, 649 Argentines and three local civilians lost their lives. Most Argentine losses occurred when the sinking of ARA Belgrano.

08 March 2012

http://en.mercopress.com/2012/03/08/argentine-veterans-insist-with-identifying-remains-of-123-comrades-buried-in-falklands

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French, Israeli, ZAKA Volunteers Secured Full Jewish Burial in Israel for Toulouse Victims

The bodies of the four victims of yesterday’s shooting attack at the Otzar Hatorah school in Toulouse will be flown back to Israel for burial later Tuesday night, arriving in Israel at 4 a.m. local time. The funeral is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. in Jerusalem.

The ZAKA International Rescue Unit handled all aspects of returning the four bodies to Israel. A special delegation from Israel, led by ZAKA International Rescue Unit commander Mati Goldstein, joined the volunteers from the ZAKA France. The teams worked at the school, clearing the scene and assisting in the forensic identification of the victims.

One of the ZAKA volunteers reported that, after a short memorial ceremony in the courtyard of the Otzar Hatorah school, the bodies were transferred in an army plane to Paris. The bodies will be flown out on the midnight El Al flight from Paris to Tel Aviv. The ZAKA volunteers from France, working together with the delegation from Israel, assisted the local burial society with all matters relating to honoring the dead, collecting all the body parts from the scene of the massacre. According to an Israeli ZAKA volunteer, “the Jewish community in France is still in shock and cannot fully comprehend the scope of the disaster.”

ZAKA Chairman and Founder Yehuda Meshi-Zahav said, “Yesterday, ZAKA received a request from the family to assist them in ensuring their loved ones are buried in Israel. After a delay, we were successful in procuring burial plots for them in Jerusalem. ZAKA ambulances will take the bodies from the airport to the cemetery in Jerusalem.”

Tuesday 20 March 2012

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/french-israeli-zaka-volunteers-secured-full-jewish-burial-in-israel-for-toulouse-victims/2012/03/20/

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Senegal boat disaster victims want Paris probe to go ahead

Senegal boat disaster victims want Paris probe to go ahead
INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Relatives of over 1,800 people killed in Africa's worst maritime disaster say the case must not be buried as Dakar attempted Monday to have a French inquiry into the accident annulled.

In Ziguinchor in the southern Casamance region of Senegal, the air was heavy around a few white tombstones where victims of the 2002 Joola ferry disaster are buried at the overgrown Kantene cemetery

"The Joola case will not go unpunished despite Senegal's acrobatics to have it buried," said Eli Jean-Bernard Diatta, standing among the graves.

She lost her elder brother who had been chaperoning 26 children on a football trip when the boat capsized in stormy seas off Gambia while sailing between Casamance and the capital Dakar. None of the children survived.

Kantene is one of four cemeteries where about 500 recovered bodies were buried in mass graves, most unidentified. The severely overloaded ferry was licensed to carry 550 people but had 1,927 passengers on board, of whom only 64 survived.

In 2003 Senegal declared the case closed after several ministers and high-ranking military officers were fired, without it ever coming before a court.

The dead captain was declared the main person responsible.

However 22 French students died in the accident and their families that same year brought legal action against the Senegalese authorities in France for manslaughter and failing to help people in danger.

In 2008 France issued warrants against nine Senegalese officials, later withdrawing those against ex-prime minister Mame Madior Boye and ex-defence minister Youba Sambou.

A Paris appeals court in 2009 threw out an earlier bid by Dakar to have the case annulled, but a similar request was filed again a year later by the lawyers for the seven civilian and military officials still the subject of arrest warrants.

One of them was arrested in Paris in October 2010.

In the courtyard of her home in Ziguinchor, Marie Helene Mendy, who was widowed in the accident and left to raise two children, said she was still awaiting "the truth".

"The state closed the case but not the families. If we don't judge this case our children will. One of my sons tells me 'Mummy, when I am big I am going to look for my dad in the sea'. He hasn't forgotten."

Pierre Coly is one of the 64 survivors: "I am glad the Joola case is still in the news in France while in Senegal they want to stifle it. If it was possible to have a similar enquiry here that would be good," he said.

The Joola was carrying people from across Senegal, including school students and artists, as well as citizens from Belgium, Cameroon, France, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Niger, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

The official death toll of 1,863 was 300 more than the number lost in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, but other sources put the number at 1,953 at least.

Source : Sapa/George Herald 20 March 2012

http://sawdis1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/senegal-boat-disaster-victims-want.html

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Senegal boat disaster victims want Paris probe to go ahead

Senegal boat disaster victims want Paris probe to go ahead
INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Relatives of over 1,800 people killed in Africa's worst maritime disaster say the case must not be buried as Dakar attempted Monday to have a French inquiry into the accident annulled.

In Ziguinchor in the southern Casamance region of Senegal, the air was heavy around a few white tombstones where victims of the 2002 Joola ferry disaster are buried at the overgrown Kantene cemetery

"The Joola case will not go unpunished despite Senegal's acrobatics to have it buried," said Eli Jean-Bernard Diatta, standing among the graves.

She lost her elder brother who had been chaperoning 26 children on a football trip when the boat capsized in stormy seas off Gambia while sailing between Casamance and the capital Dakar. None of the children survived.

Kantene is one of four cemeteries where about 500 recovered bodies were buried in mass graves, most unidentified. The severely overloaded ferry was licensed to carry 550 people but had 1,927 passengers on board, of whom only 64 survived.

In 2003 Senegal declared the case closed after several ministers and high-ranking military officers were fired, without it ever coming before a court.

The dead captain was declared the main person responsible.

However 22 French students died in the accident and their families that same year brought legal action against the Senegalese authorities in France for manslaughter and failing to help people in danger.

In 2008 France issued warrants against nine Senegalese officials, later withdrawing those against ex-prime minister Mame Madior Boye and ex-defence minister Youba Sambou.

A Paris appeals court in 2009 threw out an earlier bid by Dakar to have the case annulled, but a similar request was filed again a year later by the lawyers for the seven civilian and military officials still the subject of arrest warrants.

One of them was arrested in Paris in October 2010.

In the courtyard of her home in Ziguinchor, Marie Helene Mendy, who was widowed in the accident and left to raise two children, said she was still awaiting "the truth".

"The state closed the case but not the families. If we don't judge this case our children will. One of my sons tells me 'Mummy, when I am big I am going to look for my dad in the sea'. He hasn't forgotten."

Pierre Coly is one of the 64 survivors: "I am glad the Joola case is still in the news in France while in Senegal they want to stifle it. If it was possible to have a similar enquiry here that would be good," he said.

The Joola was carrying people from across Senegal, including school students and artists, as well as citizens from Belgium, Cameroon, France, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Niger, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

The official death toll of 1,863 was 300 more than the number lost in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, but other sources put the number at 1,953 at least.

Source : Sapa/George Herald 20 March 2012

http://sawdis1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/senegal-boat-disaster-victims-want.html

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Six killed as Taiwanese gravel ship sinks

A Taiwanese gravel ship has sunk off the northern coast of the island, leaving six crew members dead and two missing. Seven crew members have been rescued.

Taiwan's coastguard said the bodies of four Indonesian and two Taiwanese crewmen from the Ocean Glory were recovered after the ship sank shortly after leaving the port of Keelung.

Local media outlets say heavy fog or rough seas may have caused the accident.

The coastguard said searchers rescued seven people and were still looking for the two missing crew members.

19 March 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/six-killed-as-taiwanese-gravel-ship-sinks-7576985.html

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Bones in Mass Grave 100 Years old?

Specialist Biçer doubts the statement that the human bones found in a mass grave in Diyarbakır were a hundred years old. He said that the report of the Forensic Medicine Institute was insufficient and announced to apply for an independent investigation.

The Forensic Medicine Institute recently announced that the 34 skulls found in a mass grave in Diyarbakır were at least a hundred years old.

The excavation was carried out right next to a building that had been used as headquarters of the clandestine gendarmerie's intelligence and counterterrorism unit JİTEM in the 1990s. Excavations in the quarter of Saraykapı had started on 11 January in the neighbourhood of the Diyarbakır Closed Prison and the Courthouse.

The Forensic Medicine Institute announced in a statement, "The determined morphological changes suggest that the bones were lying in the earth for at least one hundred years. One part of the bones belongs to animals. Regarding the human bones no findings were revealed that would clarify the reason of death".

It was also stated that "the bone tissue did not show any probable injuries caused by firearms, cutting or crushing devices or any explosions".

Prof Ümit Biçer, Chairman of the Forensic Medicine Experts Association, claimed to the contrary, "We know that the person's sex and age can be estimated if the skulls were preserved as a whole. Yet, it was announced that not even that was done".

Writer Mıgırdiç Margosyan who is conducting studies about the history of Diyarbakır said that a hundred years ago Armenians lived in this area which is known as "İçkale". "In the 1940s, there were government buildings like the courthouse in the İçkale area", Margosyan indicated.

DNA analysis

bianet asked Prof Biçer for his opinion on the statement of the Forensic Medicine Institute which was released on 28 February. He said that he did not know whether the bones found in the excavation were preserved as a whole. In general, the examination of bones gave information about the age of that person, the gender, height and even if the person was right or left-handed, the expert explained.

"After this evaluation, a DNA analysis is being applied. If the bones were not preserved as a whole it would be more difficult to achieve a sound result from the DNA analysis", Biçer said.
He noted that a DNA analysis with teeth was easier to do and even if the bones were crumbled DNA could still be extracted from the teeth.

"I can only comment on the reported news since I did not see the actual report. The information disclosed is insufficient. Even if the Forensic Medicine Institute does not inform the public, they could share their information with experts on the topic", Biçer said.
He mentioned that the lawyers of the families of the disappeared might apply for an investigation of the findings by an independent delegation. Such a request would not breach the confidentiality of the investigation, he indicated.

Factors that affect the deterioration of bones

"We announced in the beginning of the process that the Forensic Medicine Experts Association or other experts could give an independent opinion and that we could provide for an evaluation of the forensic medicine process".
Biçer emphasized that an evaluation was impossible just by looking at the bones alone. He added:
"Soil properties, humidity, salt and minerals can slow down or speed up the deterioration of bones. Without such an evaluation it is impossible to state that the bones are a hundred years old".

"However, from what was reported to the public it was understood that the investigation remained limited to the analysis of the bones only. It is of course impossible to make a final interpretation before having seen the examination methods, the analysis of the soil and the prepared report", Biçer concluded. (AS)

Diyarbakır - BİA News Center 01 March 2012, Thursday

http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/136589-bones-in-mass-grave-100-years-old-experts-doubt-it

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KATH to undertake mass burial of unclaimed bodies

Kumasi, March 12, GNA – The authorities of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) had announced the decision to undertake a mass burial of all unclaimed bodies at the hospital's mortuary.

This has been fixed for Monday, March 26, and it is meant to decongest the mortuary to improve the quality of pathological services.

A statement signed by Mr Kwame Frimpong, the Public Relations Officer, in Kumasi, said the affected bodies, some of which had been in the morgue for over six years were brought in by the police and other members of the public.

The identities of majority of these dead persons are unknown and were victims of road traffic accidents.

The rest include those suddenly taken ill or collapsed in public places and brought to the facility by “Good Samaritans.”

The statement said the hospital's morgue was now choked and that the authorities were left with no choice but to bury them in mass grave.

It appealed to people who have not been able to trace their missing relatives to contact the mortuary manager for possible identification before the scheduled date.

GNA - 12 March 2012

http://www.modernghana.com/news/383051/1/kath-to-undertake-mass-burial-of-unclaimed-bodies.html

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Swedish rescuers find wreckage of crashed plane

Rescuers have found the wreckage of a Norwegian military plane that crashed with five people on board during an exercise in northern Sweden, officials said today.

Parts of the C-130 cargo aircraft were found scattered over a glacier on mount Kebnekaise, Sweden's highest mountain, rescue spokesman Mathias Hansson said.

Four men and one woman — all Norwegians — were on board the plane heading from Evenes, on Norway's Arctic coast, to the Swedish city of Kiruna when it disappeared from radar screens just before 3pm Thursday over the mountain range.

Hansson said the crew had not been found, but "there is nothing that indicates" they had survived the crash.

"There are a lot of wreckage parts spread out over a large area. It suggests it was a major impact," Hansson said.

The plane was participating in a Norwegian-led military exercise with 16,000 soldiers from 14 countries taking part. Rescue helicopters and military aircraft taking part in the drill searched the mountainous area about 50 miles west of Kiruna but were hampered by poor visibility brought on by low clouds, snow and strong winds.

Rescuers searching the area around Kebnekaise on the ground found some small debris Friday, but couldn't confirm whether it came from the missing plane. The wreckage parts were found on other side of the mountain early Saturday, on Rabots glacier, Hansson said, adding that "there is no doubt" that those parts belonged to the missing C-130.

Kebnekaise is Sweden's highest mountain, more than 2,100 metres above sea level.

The Norwegian Armed Forces identified the crew as Lt. Col. Truls Oerpen, 46; Capt. Staale Garberg, 42; Capt. Bjoern Yngvar Haug, 40; Capt. Steinar Utne, 35; and Capt. Siw Robertsen, 45.

Saturday 17 March 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/swedish-rescuers-find-wreckage-of-crashed-plane-7576027.html

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Families taken to identify Swiss bus crash victims

Grief-stricken relatives of those killed in a horrific bus crash inside a Swiss tunnel earlier this week were taken to identify the bodies Thursday, police say.

Relatives were driven from a hotel in the Swiss town of Sion to a nearby morgue where the bodies of 22 school children and six adults killed in Tuesday's crash were being held ahead of repatriation.

"Where possible the bodies will be shown to the families," police spokesman Jean-Marie Bornet said. "In some cases this is not possible because the bodies are too badly injured."

"The families are there to identify the bodies and to give information to help in the formal identification of those who cannot be identified" visually, a police spokesman told AFP.

Some of the bodies are to be repatriated to Belgium Thursday, he confirmed.

The bus from Belgium was carrying 52 people when it hit a wall inside the Tunnel de Geronde about an hour after heading home from a skiing trip in the Swiss Alps, killing 21 Belgians and seven Dutch passengers.

Twenty-four other children were hurt in the crash, some suffering serious injuries.

In Belgium, efforts were being made to repatriate the injured and killed as early as Thursday.

Police are focusing on three potential causes of the crash that include mechanical failure, a health issue with the driver or human error, CTV's Ben O'Hara-Byrne reported Wednesday.

Swiss and Belgian media reported Thursday that survivors of the crash claimed the driver had reached to change a disc on the onboard entertainment system shortly before the crash.

It was unclear whether that could have contributed to the crash. Neither police nor prosecutors could be reached for comment.

Residents in the town of Sierre where crash occurred were shocked over the tragedy and the fact most of the victims were children.

"I am very sad because I have children and today I awoke with them and I think very strongly about these people because it's really very hard," said pharmacist Genevieve Romailler.

"It's very hard to come to terms with this kind of situation and even if we didn't know these young victims we are really taking this to heart and we really moved by this tragedy," said barman Franck Bartolucci.

A Catholic church in the town was opened for the public to pay their respects and a memorial mass was planned for Thursday night.

Thursday 15 March 2012

http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20120315/families-swiss-bus-crash-identify-bodies-120315.html

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12 dead in Afghanistan helicopter crash

Twelve people died today when a Turkish helicopter crashed into a house near the Afghan capital Kabul.

Ten of the victims were on board the aircraft and two were on the ground.

Authorities were trying to determine the nationalities of the people who were in the helicopter when it crashed. Some of the bodies were almost completely burned.

The house hit by the helicopter collapsed. Rescue workers were searching through the rubble to determine whether there were any more casualties.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that a Turkish helicopter crashed near Kabul, but he did not have information about casualties.

Mr Davutoglu said the Turkish commander of the Kabul regional command has left for the area.

The aircraft went down in the Hassian Khail area of the Bagrami district of Kabul province.

It was unclear what caused the helicopter to crash.

Friday 16 March 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/12-dead-in-afghanistan-helicopter-crash-7574831.html

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Guatemalan ex-soldier jailed for 6,060 years over Dos Erres massacre

Pedro Pimentel Rios is fifth member of elite military force to be imprisoned for role in killings of 201 people in 1982

A former Guatemalan special forces soldier has been sentenced to 6,060 years in prison for his role in the killings of 201 people in a 1982 massacre.

Pedro Pimentel Rios was the fifth member of the elite military force to be sentenced to 6,060 years or more for what became known as the Dos Erres massacre after the killings in the northern Guatemala village during the 1960-96 civil war.

The sentence handed down by a three-judge panel is largely symbolic since under Guatemalan law the maximum time a prisoner can serve is 50 years. It specified 30 years for each of the 201 deaths, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity.

Pimentel Rios, 54, is a former instructor at a training school for the military force known as the Kaibiles. He lived in Santa Ana, California, and worked in a clothing factory for years until being detained by immigration authorities in May 2010. He was extradited to Guatemala last year.

The civil war claimed at least 200,000 lives, with the country's US-backed army being responsible for most of the deaths, according to the findings of a truth commission.

In December 1982, several dozen soldiers stormed Dos Erres, searched homes for missing weapons and systematically killed men, women and children. Soldiers bludgeoned villagers with a sledgehammer, threw them down a well, and raped women and girls before killing them, according to court papers filed in a case brought by US prosecutors against another former kaibil.

Pimentel denied being present at the massacre, saying he left the area in November 1982 to prepare enrolment papers for the US military training centre at the School of the Americas in Panama.

Guatemala opened an investigation into the killings in 1994 and unearthed 162 skeletons. Several years later, authorities issued arrest warrants for 17 kaibiles but the cases languished.

In August 2011, a Guatemalan court sentenced each of three other former special forces soldiers to 6,060 years in prison for the massacre, and sentenced a former army second lieutenant to 6,066 years.

The ruling comes as Guatemala seeks to clean up atrocities from the civil war in which nearly a quarter of a million people died or went missing.

In January, courts opened a trial against the former dictator Efrain Rios Montt who ruled the country for 17 months during the war's bloodiest period from 1982-1983.

Montt, denied amnesty by a judge last month, faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. He is accused of ordering the killings of at least 1,700 innocent Mayan people during a government crackdown on leftist insurgents. Montt appealed the amnesty decision to Guatemala's constitutional court and is awaiting a verdict.

His defence lawyers have said the 85-year-old did not control battlefield operations and that commanders were responsible for making decisions in their own posts.

Tuesday 13 March 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/13/guatemalan-ex-soldier-jailed-dos-erres?CMP=twt_gu

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Mexico: Argentine Forensics Speak Out on Disappeared Women

The Argentine Forensic Anthropologist Team (EAAF), a civil organisation that has assisted with victim identification for massacres in several countries, has spoken out about its work on disappeared women in Ciudad Juarez.

The EAAF, originally hired to conduct research in 2005, has been working to match the remains of missing women with collected DNA samples from more than 195 people who have reported the disappearance of relatives as far back as 1993.

In response to the recent discovery of 50 unidentified remains that have been stored at a local morgue for more than a year, the EAAF has addressed the political failures to stem the chronic problem of disappearing women in Ciudad Juarez.

In a report published in 2010, a special prosecutor in Ciudad Juarez listed 379 women murdered and 4,456 missing between 1993 and 2005. Figures from NGOs in the area, as well as from the EAAF, suggest that these numbers are in fact higher.

“It was not an easy job,” said Sofía Egaña, member of the EAAF, whose future in the area is now uncertain after two years of escalating disputes with the city government.

In many cases, investigations have been complicated by incomplete court records and physical remains, or delays in processing bodies stored indefinitely in morgues.

“It seems that they have not spent these years pursuing claims,” Egaña said. “There is an alarming lack of institutional memory.”

In particular, the Office of Chihuahua, which originally hired the EAAF in 2005, claims the civil organisation did not provide a full forensic report of its investigation in 2011. The office also says it does not know why the 50 bodies in question have remained in a morgue for this length of time.

The EAAF denies the office’s claim about its reports, citing one for each of the past two years, and has countered by pointing out that the persistence of the underlying problem remains as though time has stopped.

“Again mothers are protesting, and again there is a demand as if nothing happened in the past,” Egaña said. “Yes, there was an effort.”

Local civil organisations say that in the first two months of this year, at least 26 women have been reported missing in Ciudad Juarez.

08 March 2012

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/newsfromlatinamerica/mexico-argentine-forensics-speak-out-on-disappeared-women/

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Guatemala: Mass Graves Excavated at Former Military Outpost

Guatemalan anthropologists are excavating mass graves at a former military outpost near Cobán, Alta Verapaz, searching for the remains of 200-300 people.

The bodies are suspected to belong to people who were disappeared during the country’s internal armed conflict, which lasted from 1960 to 1996.

The former outpost – Now a UN peacekeeper training centre – has five mass graves nearby, said the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala’s deputy director José Suasnavar.

“In the fifth pit, which we are working on now, we have already found 14 skulls,” he said at a press conference earlier this week.

A search warrant drawn by the First Court of High Risk allowed Attorneys of the Public Ministry (MP) and researchers at the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala to go to the site, and they have been working there since the 27th February.

“It is very uncertain, determining the number of bodies that can be located in the former military detachment, because there are indications that there are more graves in the region,” Suasnavar said.

Aura Elena Farfan, director of the Association of Relatives of Detained-Disappeared of Guatemala, said the action for excavation was initiated by relatives who complained about their disappeared family members.

“During the years 2004 and 2005, many people approached us from Cobán to ask for help,” she said. “At that time, we started soliciting the MP for an intervention, to clarify the facts.”

Suasnavar said since the institution began the process of exhumations in 1992, the bones of 6,000 victims have been found; 65% of the remains have been identified.

According to a UN-sponsored Truth Commission, about 250,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared during the 36-year armed conflict. Most of them were indigenous, and the commission attributed 93% of all atrocities to state and paramilitary forces.

08 March 2012

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/all/guatemala-mass-graves-excavate-at-former-military-outpost/

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Colombia: Nine Bodies Recovered From Mine

Emergency services have recovered nine bodies from a coal mine in the Antioquía province in the northeast of Colombia.

The miners had been trapped underground since Wednesday, when a local water deposit burst and flooded the mine.

While there was hope some miners would survive, it was extinguished today when the last body was brought to surface at about 5am local time.

“The rescue team recovered all nine dead bodies of the miners trapped in the coal mine El Desespero,” the government body for risk management reported.

The cause of the accident at the El Desespero (Despair) mine is still unknown.

The tragic event has sparked a dispute between local and national governments over the legality of the mine and whether it should have been operating at all.

“This mine had been closed last June because it didn’t comply with the [safety] standards,” said Mauricio Cárdenas, the minister for energy and mining. “It was clearly an illegal activity.”

Cárdenas said he blames the local authorities for letting the mine continue to operate, but did not say if they were going to press charges against mine owner Arnulfo Velásquez, who said he has all the right paperwork.

Investigations into the accident are ongoing, but authorities have announced the immediate closure of El Desespero.

“The conditions of the mine don’t fulfil the security regulations and we have taken the decision to close it until the owner can prove its legality,” Édgar Fabián Morales, director of the Miner Rescue group, announced at the site.

The funeral for the nine workers is to take place today near the mining site. Around 6,000 people, most of whom are involved in coal mining in the area, are expected to attend.

According to government figures, 45 people died in mining accidents in Colombia last year

09 March 2012

http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/newsfromlatinamerica/colombia-nine-bodies-recovered-from-mine/

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Mass funeral for victims of Congo blasts

BRAZZAVILLE – Thousands of people attended a memorial service on Sunday for the victims of last weekend’s munitions dump blasts in the Congo capital, as authorities announced a new death toll of 223.

Medard Milandu, who conducted the service, said 159 of the bodies had so far been identified.

An earlier toll said nearly 200 people were killed and more than 2 300 injured in the explosions, which destroyed hundreds of houses, leaving 14 000 people homeless.
Relatives of the victims took their places in six white tents opposite a pavilion for officials erected on the esplanade outside the Congress Centre in the capital.
The coffins of 145 victims arrived 10 at a time on lorry trailers shortly after 11h00. The coffins were draped in Congo’s green, yellow and red flag and adorned with wreaths.

Family members, many in tears, clutched photos of their dead relatives and crosses bearing their date of birth and death on Sunday March 4.

On the other side of the avenue separating the esplanade from the foreign ministry building, thousands of people, mostly in black or white, stood behind barriers put up for the ceremony. The tents were not big enough to accommodate all the mourners.
Congolese President Denis Sassou placed a wreath before an ecumenical service and the reading of a funeral oration by the minister of social affairs.

The coffins were then taken to the city’s main cemetery for burial, where special burial chambers have been dug to receive them.

Sunday’s memorial service marked the end of the official period of national mourning decreed on Tuesday.

On the day of the explosions, 35-year-old Gildas Assama Ndinga identified the body of his nephew, a sergeant in the regiment where the ammunition depot was located.
“I was able to mourn for a week,” he said. “It’s with sorrow I accompany him to his resting place. He’ll be with us in spirit through his large family he left: six children and two wives.”

Last Sunday’s blasts, blamed on a short-circuit and fire, destroyed hundreds of homes around the depot. The homeless are being sheltered in reception centres while nearly 300 of the injured are still in hospital.

Authorities have warned that the death toll could continue to rise as recovery workers continue to pick through the rubble left by the explosions.

The Congolese Observatory for Human Rights has slammed leadership failures in the wake of the disaster “at all levels”, highlighting the lack of victim support. –

Nampa-AFP - Tuesday 13 March 2012

http://www.namibian.com.na/news/africa/full-story/archive/2012/march/article/mass-funeral-for-victims-of-congo-blasts/

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Bangladesh ferry sinks with 200 people on board

A ferry packed with about 200 people has capsized in a river in southern Bangladesh, drowning 18 people and leaving dozens more missing, according to the authorities.

Death toll expected to rise from initial 18 deaths after double-deck vessel capsizes near Dhaka

Police chief Mohammad Shahabuddin Khan said around 35 people were rescued after the double-deck ferry sank on the Meghna river after a collision with a cargo boat early in the morning. Divers have recovered 18 bodies from inside the sunken ferry, he said.

He said the dead included a young woman found cradling her baby.

"The death toll is likely to rise as more bodies are feared trapped inside," Khan said. "We will get a better picture of the casualties once the ferry is pulled out of the water."

Hundreds of anxious people gathered near the scene of the accident to look for their loved ones.

The MV Shariatpur-1 was travelling to the capital, Dhaka, from neighbouring Shariatpur district to the south-west. The accident site is in Munshiganj district, about 20 miles south of Dhaka.

Dulal Dewan, a survivor, described a scene of chaos as the ferry collided with the other ship. "I was awakened with a big jolt," said the businessman, who was asleep on the top deck. "I jumped into the river in darkness as the ferry started going down.

"In minutes there were screams all around. People were shouting for help."

Dewan said he was rescued by a nearby boat, but eight other family members travelling with him were still unaccounted for.

Estimates varied as to how many people were on board the ferry.

Khan put the number at close to 200, while Dewan said about 300 people were on board.

Ferry operators rarely keep a list of passengers. Most passengers buy tickets once on board.

Tuesday 13 March 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/13/bangladesh-ferry-sinks-200-aboard

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'Ghosts' stalk Japan's tsunami city

One year after whole neighborhoods full of people were killed by the Japanese tsunami, rumors of ghosts swirl in Ishinomaki as the city struggles to come to terms with the awful tragedy.

One reconstruction project appears stalled because of fears the undead spirits of those who perished last March will bring bad luck.

"I heard people working to repair the store became sick because of ghosts," Satoshi Abe, 64, said, gesturing to a half-repaired supermarket.

"People died everywhere, here and there. The city is full of such stories," he said.

In some parts of this once vibrant fishing port, signs of life are returning — houses are being rebuilt, businesses are re-opening and children are back at school.

But with around a fifth of the 19,000 who died across the northeast having lost their lives in this small city alone, few think it can ever be normal again.

Shinichi Sasaki said the memory of March 11, 2011 never leaves and it is this persistent memory that creates the "ghosts."

"That day keeps coming back to your mind," he said.

"If you know someone who was killed, and the death was so sudden, you may feel that person is still there. I don't believe in ghosts but I can understand why the town is rife with rumors."

One taxi driver, who did not want to give his name, told AFP of his unwillingness to stop in parts of the city that were all but wiped out by the enormous waves, because he worries that his customer will be a spirit.

A woman who lives in the city said she had heard stories of queues of people who can be seen rushing towards the hills as they try again and again to escape the waves, an endless replay of their last, fruitless minutes.

Counsellors and academics say a widespread belief in ghosts is fairly normal in the aftermath of a major tragedy and forms a part of the healing process in a society.

Cultural anthropologist Takeo Funabiki said it was only "natural" that stories of the supernatural abounded following such an event.

"Human beings find it very difficult to accept death, whether they are inclined by nature to superstition or are very scientifically minded," he told AFP.

"A sudden or abnormal death, anything other than someone dying in bed of old age, is particularly difficult for people to comprehend.

"When there are things that many people find difficult to accept, they can find expression in the form of rumours or rituals for the dead, amongst other things.

"The point is that it takes the shape of something that you can share with other people in your society," he said.

For some of those who lost loved ones, the traditions that usually accompany death in Japan have served their purpose.

Shinto priests have been called upon to console the souls of the dead and ease their passage into the next world before they purify the places where their bodies were found.

At the Buddhist festival of Obon in midsummer, offerings were made at altars as those left behind readied to welcome back the spirits of lost loved ones they believed would return to this world to visit for a few days.

But other people have struggled to make sense of their loss.

Koji Ikeda, a therapist and lecturer at the Academy of Counsellors Japan, said "survivors have various complex emotions — fear, anxiety, sorrow or desire for the return of deceased people."

"It is possible that a whole lot of emotions that people cannot fully cope with lead to 'projections' of spirits" he said.

"Pent-up emotions need to be expressed in order for people to be able to adapt to the new reality and move forward with their grief."

While few in the city will talk openly of actually having seen a ghost, many are prepared to accept spirits could stalk the deserted streets.

Yuko Sugimoto says she is not particularly superstitious and has not seen any ghosts. But still she has no doubt they could be there among the shadows.

"Many people who were leading normal lives died suddenly," she said. "I'm sure they must find that difficult to accept.

"It would be strange if you didn't hear anything about any of them."

Friday 8 March 2012

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/one-year-on-ghosts-stalk-japans-tsunami-city

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Deadly cyclone lashes southeastern Africa

Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa feel impact of tropical storm that has killed at least 77 people.

At least 77 people in southeastern Africa have been killed and more are still missing as Tropical Cyclone Irina sweeps through the region.

The storm struck northern Madagascar more than two weeks ago and has slowly tracked down the west of the country.

Torrential rain from the system hit the whole of the island, leading to the deaths of 65 people, weather officials said on Monday. The majority of the deaths occurred in the southeastern district of Ifanadiana.

The storm has also affected southern areas of Mozambique and eastern South Africa.

Five fishermen were killed in the seas off Mozambique’s port city of Beira on Saturday. Authorities on Monday were still cautioning fishermen not to venture out.

Three other people in the southern province of Gaza were killed when a tree fell on their house and the roof collapsed.

A further four people are reported to have died in South Africa. The city of Durban was lashed by waves up to three metres high as the storm approached, and ships were ordered to remain in the port.

Tropical storms in the southwest Indian Ocean are responsible for approximately 80 deaths every season

On average three tropical cyclones hit Madagascar every year, and this season has now equalled that average.

Less than two weeks before Irina, Tropical Cyclone Giovanna caused flooding and led to the deaths of 35 people.

Tropical Cyclone Giovanna was a far more intense storm, the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane when it made landfall, but ample warnings kept the death toll comparatively low.

It is far more unusual for southern Mozambique and South Africa to feel the impact of a tropical storm. In January, southern Mozambique was hit by Tropical Cyclone Dando, but that was the first storm to hit the region since 1984, when Tropical Cyclone Domoina made impact.

Tropical Cyclone Domoina led to the death of 214 lives, and is the most deadly storm in recent decades.

The tropical storm season in the southwest Indian Ocean runs between the months of November and February, but there is a chance that this storm season has not yet ended, with Tropical Cyclone Irina threatening to buckle back around, and head towards the coast of southeast Africa once more.

Locals there would be wise to keep a very close eye on this erratic storm.

6 March 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/weather/2012/03/2012368928291888.html

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Libyans hold funerals for 163 from mass grave

Thousands of Libyans massed in the eastern city of Benghazi on Monday for the burial of 163 people whose bodies were found in a mass grave, an AFP journalist said.

The funeral comes a day after the bodies were transferred to Benghazi from the desert town of Bin Jawad, east of Sirte, where toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi was captured and killed on October 20.

Mourners poured into Benghazi's Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolt that spread from east to west and eventually overthrew Kadhafi's regime, where they held prayers in remembrance of the fallen "martyrs."

Relatives demanded a quick trial for Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, who stood by his father and sought to squash the popular uprising with brute force. He is now in the custody of a militia made up of former rebel fighters.

"The revolutionaries of Zintan must hand over Seif al-Islam immediately" for trial, Mohammed al-Darnawy, who came to bury two of his brothers, told AFP.

The dead were honoured at the cemetery with copious floral wreaths and patriotic flags.

Omar Abdelkhalek Obeidi, a forensic expert and chairman of the committee on missing persons, said only 70 of the dead had been successfully identified.

He said the committee had obtained a fatwa from the Mufti, Sheikh al-Sadiq al-Gharyani, and permission from the attorney general, Abdelaziz al-Hassadi, to reopen the graves in the event of identification developments.

Obeidi said on Sunday the bodies were those of rebels killed between February and March 2011 in Brega, Ras Lanuf, Bin Jawad and on the outskirts of Sirte.

He added that some showed signs of having been executed.

The exhumation was carried out with the assistance of the United Nations and in cooperation with the ministry of martyrs, wounded and missing people.

By AFP
Published Tuesday, March 06, 2012

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/libyans-hold-funerals-for-163-from-mass-grave-2012-03-06-1.446857

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Poland mourns victims of train disaster; foreign nationals among those killed

Poland began two days of mourning Monday for 16 people killed in its worst rail disaster in two decades, as investigators probing the cause of Saturday’s crash detained two station masters.

A prosecutor said the station officials were responsible for scheduling the doomed trains, which crashed head on as they travelled on the same section of track at Szczekociny, some 200 kilometres from Warsaw.

No charges have been brought against the men, the prosecutor said.

Fifty people were still in hospital Monday, three of them in a serious condition.
Meanwhile, crash investigators have identified a Russian citizen among the victims, the second foreign national killed in the crash.‘Her body was identified today,’ Katarzyna Kuczynska, a spokeswoman for local authorities said Monday. An American woman was also among the victims.

A spokesman for the US consulate in the southern Polish city of Krakow told AFP Monday the American woman’s family had been informed, but declined to provide further details.

Nationals of Ukraine, Moldova and the Czech Republic were reported to be among the injured.
French and Spanish citizens were among the around 350 passengers on the trains when they collided at around 9:00pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday, but apparently escaped unscathed.

The massive impact hurled three carriages and both locomotives off the tracks, leaving them piled high on top of each other in a mass of tangled steel.

According to transport minister Slawomir Nowak, the crash occurred on a stretch of railway line that had recently been modernised.

06 March 2012

http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-03-06&nid=2981

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