The Lurgan seaman who died on HMS Pathfinder 100 years ago

He was just 19 when he enlisted in the navy a year before the outbreak of World War One and Lurgan man Ordinary Seamon Herbert Daley was one of the first to die when HMS Pathfinder was torpedoed 100 years ago this week.

Born on October 18, 1894, the son of George and Sarah Ann Daley, Herbert grew up in Queen St, Lurgan. He had four brothers and four sisters.

He started working as a labourer and carpenter’s apprentice in 1911 at the age of 16 and moved to Milfort Avenue in Dunmurry.

However on February 25 1913 he enlisted and became Ordinary Seaman Herbert Daley and survived until his ship HMS Pathfinder became the first ship ever to be sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired by a submarine on September 5, 1914.

HMS Pathfinder was sunk off St Abbs Head in the Scottish Borders while on patrol, by U-21 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Hersing, taking with her six men from Ulster.

Despite the event having been easily visible from shore the authorities attempted to cover up the sinking and Pathfinder was reported to have been mined.

The majority of crew below decks had neither the time nor opportunity to escape and went down with the ship.

There was some confusion at the time over the exact number of crew on board, but research indicates that there were 261 deaths and only 18 survivors.

One of these survivors was Captain Francis Martin Leake who had started his career as a young Lieutenant on HMS Caroline. Captain Leake stayed with his ship as she went down by the nose but was lucky to be picked up and saved.

He writes in a letter to his mother; “The torpedo got us in our forward magazine and evidently sent this up, thereby killing everyone forward”.

He says of Pathfinder; “She then fell over and disappeared leaving a mass of wreckage all around, but I regret very few men amongst it, for at the time they were all asleep on the mess decks and the full explosion must have caught them, for no survivors came from forward.”

Another survivor was County Down man, Staff Surgeon Thomas Aubrey Smyth who gave an account of his experiences in a letter to his mother who lived at Bedeque House, Dromore.

“The explosion blew a great hole in the side of the ship. I was at the time in the wardroom, but ran up on deck immediately, and it was then evident by the way the bow was down in the water that she would sink rapidly. I should say the whole thing occurred in about ten minutes which time was spent in throwing overboard the few articles which would float (the reason there was not more of these was that in preparation for war all unnecessary woodwork is got rid of to prevent fire). I was then thrown forward by the slope of the deck and got jammed beneath a gun (which I expect is the cause of my bruising) and while in this position was carried down some way by the sinking ship, but fortunately after a time I became released and after what seemed like interminable ages I came to the surface, and after swimming a short time I was able to get an oar and some other floating material with the help of which I was just able to keep on the surface. After holding on for a long time - I believe it was an hour and a half – I must have become unconscious for I have no recollection of being picked out of the water. You see we were alone when it happened, so it took a long time for the reserve torpedo boats to come out and it was too quick to get any of our own boats out, besides most of the few we had were splintered into pieces.”

Of the 268 crew just 18 are thought to have survived. There were at least six Ulster casualties on board HMS Pathfinder who were all under 28 years old.

None of these men’s bodies were recovered for burial and as such they still remain where they died.

Records show that at around 3.30pm on September 5, 1914, the torpedo detonated beneath the bridge. The cordite charges may have then been ignited, leading to a flash causing a second, massive explosion within the fore section of the ship as the magazine blew up. The fore mast and No 1 funnel collapsed and then toppled over the side. The forensic evidence of the wreck is that everything before the first funnel disintegrated. The majority of the crew below decks in the forward section had neither the time nor the opportunity to escape.

The explosion was seen by British writer Aldous Huxley (while staying at St. Abbs) recorded the following in a letter to his father sent on September 14, 1914: “I dare say Julian told you that we actually saw the Pathfinder explosion – a great white cloud with its foot in sea. The St. Abbs’ lifeboat came in with the most appalling accounts of the scene. The explosion must have been frightful. It is thought to be a German submarine that did it, or, possibly, a torpedo fired from one of the refitted German trawlers, which cruise all round painted with British port letters and flying the British flag.”

All six men are remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial. The wreck site of HMS Pathfinder is designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

The anniversary on Friday, September 5 will be marked by the British Sub-Aqua Club who will lay a wreath for the centenary of her sinking.

On the centenary of HMS Pathfinder’s sinking tomorrow, HMS Bangor will arrive in Bangor, County Down. She will be open to the general public on the afternoons of Saturday, September 6 and Sunday, September 7.

Monday 8 September 2014

http://www.lurganmail.co.uk/news/local-news/the-lurgan-seaman-who-died-on-hms-pathfinder-100-years-ago-1-6279843

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27 dead in landslide, toll swells to 143 in J&K floods

Aided by a dry spell, the Army maximized their air-lift operations rescuing close to 22,000 flood-stricken people including around 2,000 from Srinagar alone, even as fatalities increased to 175 with 27 people killed by landslide in remote Pancheri village in Udhampur district on Monday. A higher death toll is feared with scores of people trapped in areas isolated by landslips in Jammu region.

Naval and marine commandoes were deployed for the first time on Monday as water levels remained steadily high hampering distribution of relief supplies. Desperate people were seen huddled on rooftops in Srinagar as they tried to escape the worst flooding in decades.

In Srinagar, tourists in hotels are trapped along the Boulevard and Lal Chowk while residents remain fenced in on the top floors and attics of their houses at Jawahar Nagar, Raj Bagh, Indra Nagar, Wazir Bagh, Gogji Bagh, Mehjoor Nagar, Shivpora areas of the capital city. Most of the houses and the city hospitals remained submerged upto two floors.

Worse, there was a complete breakdown of telecommunication network with both mobile phone and landline links paralyzed. Army, reports said, began airlifting communication and BSNL loads to Srinagar to restore connectivity.

Power supply remain disrupted in both Jammu & Kashmir regions, with hospitals bearing the brunt of the crisis.

IAF deployed 45 choppers and transport aircrafts which made numerous sorties as relief work was extended to south Kashmir. The rescued included 1,400 Army personnel and their families caught in the swirling flood waters in Badamibagh Cantt area.

"We are facing big problem of communication as all links are down," said NDRF chief OP Singh. "We're unable to communicate with our teams on the ground. Also, as water level is high in many places, our personnel are unable to reach the stranded," he added.

In Poonch, five people were reported missing, the worst hit district where flash floods paralyzed road connectivity and rendered the entire district powerless and without potable water. "Close to 1,000 cattle have perished in Jammu," an official said.

Meanwhile, sources said some 40 people are still trapped at Saddal village in Pancheri, about 55 km from Udhampur, after a massive landslide which took place during heavy rain last evening.

"About 20-25 houses came under the debris and nearly 35 persons have been feared dead," they added. As per reports seven dead bodies have been recovered yesterday during rescue cum search operations. "The site of the tragedy is under a deep blanket of boulders and sludge, making it very difficult to retrieve bodies manually," he said, adding, "There is no road to the area as the village is about four km trek from main Saddal village of Panchat Panjar in Udhampur."

Defence spokesperson Northern command Col S D Goswami said, "The IAF launched massive rescue and relief operation in the flood affected area of Jammu & Kashmir after flash flooding were caused in state due to incessant rains since September 3."

Col Goswamni said, "Deployed for the first time in the ongoing devastating flood situation in J&K, the Naval Marine Commandos rescued around 200 personnel at marooned Haigaon on Srinagar-Sopore highway. "Rescue efforts are now continuing near Pantha Chowk, Srinagar, he said adding, "additionally, Naval Diving Teams are also standby at New Delhi, Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam for the rescue efforts. A medical team is standby at Delhi for immediate deployment."

"Deployed army columns have build up to 212 and approximately 22,000 people have been evacuated so far, including 2000 persons from Srinagar city and adjoining areas," army spokesperson said.

Army has deployed 205 columns of its personnel for rescue and relief operations. "65 Medical Teams and 15 Engineer Task Forces(ETFs) are deployed and airlifting of 04 additional ETFs and 10 Medical Teams is underway," he added. "The Army also distributed 23,000 litres of water and 600 kilograms biscuits in the flood-affected areas, while, 60 medical teams of the Armed Forces Medical Services have also swung into action," Col Goswami said.

He further added that relief operations are continuing with unabated intensity. 83 Tons of Emergency rations, 3000 blankets, 45,000 liters of potable water, 1000 life jackets and 220 Tents are also being airlifted from Chandigarh, Pathankot and Kanpur as a part of ongoing Megh Rahat Operations across the state.

Appreciating Indian Air Force (IAF) significant role in Megh Rahat Operation, he said, "1245 people have been airlifted by the Indian Air Force helicopters and transport aircraft. "So far 140 sorties were undertaken by the helicopters and aircraft of Indian Air Force and 155 tonnes of relief materials are dropped by the Indian Air Force, he added. "Today, the engineer task force is being rushed from New Delhi to the flood affected areas to supplement the rescue operation, he said.

The buildup of troops and rescue materials will continue in view of the impending task at hand. All available army aviation recourses have been pressed into service.

Pertinently flash flooding situation caused in state due to incessant rains since 03 September worsened when river Jhelum already flowing few meters above danger line, breached its banks at number of places in highly populated areas of Srinagar town.

Over night the water level rose to 15 to 18 feet submerging thousands of houses in the areas of Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, Shivpora and Indranagar and so much so that almost half of the Badami Bagh Cantonment of Srinagar was similarly affected.

Meanwhile to cater to the people being evacuated from Srinagar, makeshift relief camps have been created inside Badami Bagh Cantonment and the services of 92 Base Hospital Srinagar are being utilized. The weather being clear, a number of helicopters were also pressed into action to transport rescue and relief materials to the isolated areas of south Kashmir.

Monday 8 September 2014

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/27-dead-in-landslide-toll-swells-to-143-in-JK-floods/articleshow/42042920.cms

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Victims of avondale mine disaster remembered

Several dozen people gathered at the site of the Avondale Mine Disaster on Saturday, commemorating the 145 years since a mine fire took the lives of 108 miners and 2 men attempting their rescue.

Several of those lost were boys as young as 12, who had simply wanted to go to work with their fathers. They did not realize as they made their way down the shaft, they would not be coming back.

At the site of the disaster, 110 American flags were placed at the Avondale Mine Disaster Memorial. A seperate ceremony was held at Washburn Cementery in Scranton, where many of the dead were burried.

“Anthracite mining in 1869 was very efficient with coal being brought to the surface, processed and placed on rail cars in a timely way,” said Stephen Kondrad, of the Plymouth Historical Society. “But it was not yet safe.”

He said although the disaster was indeed tragic and took many men away from their families, it did compel legislation the following year aimed at making coal mines a safer place for those who worked there.”

“The legislation directed there be two avenues of entry and exit in each mine.” Kondrad said. “Before that, miners knew they were sitting ducks in the event of an emergency.”

Kondrad said he believed the fire was deliberately set in response to tensions after a summer-long strike.

Sharon Powell of Ashley attended the Plymouth Township memorial in memory of her great-uncle William Wildrich, who was lost in the disaster.

Powell addressed attendees saying some of those who had worked in the mines during the late 1800s had travelled from other areas, willing to make a huge sacrifice to improve the lives of their families.

Many of the miners lost had come from Wales where coal mining was a way a life.

After the disaster, the First Welsh Baptist Church on Main Street is said to have been reduced simply to women and children.

Mary Beth Kondrad, of the Plymouth Historical Society, said residents stepped up in support of their neighbors after the disaster. She displayed checks written for thousands of dollars.

Mary Beth, dressed in the mourning garb of that period, said she could only imagine the depth of sorrow as women lost their husbands, their incomes and stability for their children, all in one morning.

Michelle Schasberger, of the Wilkes-Barre YMCA, said the event was part of Luzerne County’s Keystone Active Zone program, encouraging area residents to take part to gain a sense of history.

Robert Hughes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, lauded the historical society and area residents with revamping the memorial site.

“I especially remember students from Wilkes-Barre Vo-Tech’s horticultural class, working in the rain to plant flowers,” said Hughes.

He said state funding received for the project was pivotal in refreshing the memorial, removing trash and installing fencing to beautify the area.

A gate has also been installed preventing the illegal dumping of trash at the site.

7 September 2014

http://www.timesleader.com/news/home_top-local-news/50271112/Victims-of-Avondale-Mine-Disaster-remembered

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Pandemics over the centuries

As the Ebola virus ravages the west coast of Africa, scientists in Canada have reported promising new signs in the search for a cure. This could be a major step toward beating the dreaded disease. But the first such breakthrough was discovering that Ebola is spread through bats native to West Africa.

Throughout the history of pandemics, figuring out how a disease spreads has been key to controlling it. Without such knowledge, a population has scant means of defending itself.

In 1615, a French trading ship was wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts. One of the four survivors was carrying smallpox and passed it on to the Wampanoag Tribe. Time-honored Native American cures, such as sweating or bundling the sufferer, only helped spread the virus. Within 20 years, some nine-tenths of the New England tribes had disappeared.

In the 19th century, another deadly threat arrived from Europe: cholera. The U.S. had escaped the first eruption of the disease in 1817. But thanks to modern travel, the second eruption in 1829 became a trans-Atlantic pandemic. It started in India, then moved along the trade routes into Europe and China.

The German poet Heinrich Heine was in France on March 29, 1832, when cholera first appeared in Paris. He described the outbreak in a letter: "A masked ball was in progress…Suddenly, the gayest of the harlequins collapsed, cold in the limbs, and, underneath his mask, 'violet-blue' in the face. Laughter died out, dancing ceased, and in a short while carriage-loads of people were hurried from the redoute to the Hotel Dieu. Soon the public halls were filled with dead bodies, sewed in sacks for want of coffins."

Not realizing that cholera is spread by water infected with human sewage, the French tried any number of futile remedies. One magazine advised, "The best tea for protecting yourself against cholera is champagne." By the end of the outbreak, some 20,000 Parisians had died, of a population of 650,000.

Cholera reached New York three months later, on June 24. Many Americans had seen cholera as God's punishment on Europeans for their filthy habits and immoral behavior. Their surprise at the virulence of the disease was matched only by their terror. New Yorkers fled the city, making Cornelius Vanderbilt, the owner of the Hudson River steam line, rich in the process. The refugees took the cholera bacteria with them, gradually dispersing it all over the U.S. The disease continued unchecked until 1854, when John Snow, a London doctor, discovered that it was transmitted via water.

Ironically, ignorance of the way people catch yellow fever saved thousands of American lives during the Civil War. In 1864, a Confederate doctor named Luke P. Blackburn went to Bermuda, ostensibly to treat a yellow fever outbreak. In fact, he was there to collect the clothes and blankets of infected patients and use them as bioweapons against Northern civilians. He planned to put the materials into trunks and ship them to auction houses in the U.S. But Blackburn was unaware of one important fact: Yellow fever is spread by mosquitoes, not human contact or old clothes. The plot failed, and after the war, a chastened Blackburn went on to lead a far less dubious life, becoming governor of Kentucky in 1879.

Half a century later, Mary Mallon inadvertently revealed typhoid's deadliest secret after she infected more than 53 people without showing any signs of the illness herself. Typhoid Mary, as she became known, led a sad, lonely life in quarantine, but the discovery that carriers can be asymptomatic was a major medical advance. We can thank Mary for the food-sanitation laws on hand-washing. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Saturday 6 September 2014

http://online.wsj.com/articles/pandemics-over-the-centuries-1409955662

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Bodies from Nzoia boat mishap victims recovered

The bodies of nine people who drowned in River Nzoia last Saturday have been retrieved.

The ill-fated boat, which was overloaded, was carrying 18 passengers, two motorbikes, six bicycles and five sacks of maize.

The boat was headed for Mau Mau from Port Victoria shopping centre.

Leaders who visited the scene to condole the affected families, appealed to the Bunyala Subcounty Disaster Management Committee to ensure the safety of people using boats while crossing the river.

The rescue operation was carried out by marine officers in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross team.

A team comprising Port Victoria Marine police, fisheries officers and local divers were also involved in the search.

Rescue team leader Stephen Osogo said the body of a middle-aged girl was recovered at Sango Delta, close to where the second body was retrieved on Monday.

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojamoong says his administration will meet the burial expenses of all the nine people who lost their lives in a boat tragedy in River Nzoia in Bunyala subcounty last weekend.

The pledge is a relief to the families who lost their loved ones.

Deputy Governor Kizito Wangalwa made the announcement when he visited the affected families in Bunyala yesterday.

The families had been camping at the scene for the past one week.

Wangalwa said Busia government will pay the mortuary fee for all the victims, the cost of all the nine coffins, and all the other expenses that will be forwarded to the government through the Bunyala subcounty deputy commissioner Joseph Magoha.

Wangalwa asked the families to hold a joint prayer meeting for the nine bodies.

He gave them a personal donation of Sh20,000.

He said he agreed with Ojamoong's decision to fund the construction of a bridge at Sigiri to reduce accidents.

Saturday 6 September 2014

http://allafrica.com/stories/201409051056.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201409051319.html

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Rajouri bus tragedy: 25 bodies fished out, searches on for missing

Teams of Army and police today fished out 25 bodies from the Gambhir river while searches were on to find the remaining 38 passengers of the ill-fated bus which was carrying a marriage party and was washed away in the surging waters of the river yesterday in Rajouri district.

Earlier, the authorities said that there were a total of 50 people in the bus, however, kin and the villagers today claimed that over 63 passengers including the bride and the groom were on the bus, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri, Mubasir Lattifee said tonight.

"The bodies of 25 passengers have been found from flooded Gambir Nallah," the SSP said, adding of these, 15 were recovered from the bus and 10 bodies were recovered from the river.

According to the sarpanch and residents of the village from where the marriage party belonged, there were over 63 people, including children, on board when the bus was washed away in flash floods.

"We have put up nets at different places to fish out the remaining bodies," he said.

The bus was washed away in the flash floods in the Gambhir river when it was crossing the Laam-Darhal-Moushera Road.

An Army unit, which immediately reached the spot after the mishap, rescued four people who had jumped off the bus, he said, adding that those rescued include the driver and conductor of the bus.

The Army had immediately rushed a rescue column with specialist engineering staff, recovery vehicle, medical van to retrieve individuals almost all of whom are feared dead, the officer said in a statement here, yesterday.

Saturday 6 September 2014

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Rajouri-Bus-Tragedy-25-Bodies-Fished-out-Searches-on-for-Rest/2014/09/05/article2416413.ece

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193 disaster victims of flight MH17 identified [translated]

193 victims of flight MH17 identified have now been identified according to Dutch media. It was announced on Friday that ten more victims have been identified this week. Six of the ten victims are of Dutch nationality reports the Ministry of Security and Justice.

The relatives of the victims of the plane crash in Ukraine have been informed. In consultation with the family the mayor of the town have been informed. br>
Last week ten victims were already identified. A team of specialists is working to identify the remains, but has been emphasized that it may take months to identify every victim. br>
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed on July 17, with 298 passengers, including 196 Dutch, in the east of Ukraine. br>
Saturday 6 September 2014 br>
http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/3870593/in-totaal-193-slachtoffers-rampvlucht-mh17-geidentificeerd.html

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Jammu and Kashmir flood situation worsens, death toll mounts to 100

The flood situation in Jammu and Kashmir continued to worsen on Saturday with the death toll mounting to 100 while rescuers struggled to evacuate thousands of people to safety as major rivers and streams were in spate due to incessant rains.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take stock of the flood situation soon after he arrived this morning in Srinagar but could not undertake an aerial survey due to inclement weather.

In Jammu region, 11 more deaths were reported today, including seven in two house collapse incidents in Udhampur. Four more bodies were recovered from Thursday's bus mishap in which 63 members of marriage party were washed away in Rajouri district, SSP Rajouri Mubasir Latiffe said adding a total of 29 bodies have been recovered so far.

"The situation is very bad. It is becoming more critical as rains have not stopped making the rescue and relief operation difficult," officials said.

At least nine Army personnel including an officer were today trapped in strong water current as their boat capsized during a rescue operation in Pulwama district, where River Jhelum has breached embankment prompting authorities to issue a red alert for people living in low lying areas of south Srinagar.

"We have launched an operation to rescue the missing personnel," an army official said, adding, "Despite facing dangers to personal safety, the army personnel are out there to provide relief to the civilian population of Kashmir."

With today's deaths, a total of 100 people have died in the state hit by floods and land slides due to incessant rains since Wednesday. While 89 people have been killed in Jammu, 11 have died in the Kashmir Valley so far.

In Jammu, authorities have closed four bridges connecting two parts of city after they suffered damage due to River Tawi flowing above the danger mark.

"The situation is very bad. It is becoming more critical as rains have not stopped making the rescue and relief operation difficult," officials said.

As many as 7000 people were rescued in various areas in Jammu by teams of Army and IAF teams till now with 85 columns (75-100 personnel each) of troops and Air Force helicopters taking part in the operations in the state.

Several rivers have been flowing above the danger mark and most parts of south Kashmir, including Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam districts have been submerged.

"Operation Megh Rahat in Jammu and Operation Sahayata launched by Army in Jammu and Kashmir regions has moved on to next phase where Army plans extensive deployment in support of flood relief," Defence Spokesman Col S D Goswami said. The deployment of helicopters, special divers, heavy engineering machinery and more personnel on ground will be the focus of army to assist locals in critical situations, that may arise due to heavy rains that are lashing the region, the spokesman said.

Saturday 06 September 2014

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/jammu-and-kashmir-flood-situation-worsens-death-toll-mounts-to-100/articleshow/41853523.cms

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10 killed in house collapse due to landslide in Rajouri

Ten people were killed and some others feared missing after a house collapsed due to landslide in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

A house collapsed due to landslide from mountain top triggered by heavy rains in Thana Mandi belt of Rajouri district.

Ten people have died and their bodies have been recovered and some are feared missing, he said.

The police and Army besides locals have launched operation to rescue people buried under debris. So far they have recovered ten bodies, he said.

One each person in Sunderbani and Darhal areas have also been killed in flash-floods on Friday, he said.

Saturday 6 September 2014

http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/jandk/10-killed-in-house-collapse-due-to-landslide-in-rajouri/article1-1260408.aspx

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Malaysian experts to work in Ukraine until remains of All MH17 victims are found

Malaysian experts are going to continue working on Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash site in eastern Ukraine, until remains of all MH17 victims are found and handed over to the families, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak said

"We will look for every evidence and the rest of the remains at the site. I will not be satisfied unless all the remains have been handed over to the respective families," Razak said as quoted by the Star online.

Malaysia is appealing for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine so that the experts can continue working on the crash site and gathering evidence.

On July 17, a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk. None of the 298 people on board survived in the crash.

Friday 05 September 2014

http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2014/09/05/malaysia/

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All 72 bodies found in Hiroshima disaster identified

The Hiroshima prefectural police department said Friday that it has identified all 72 people who have been confirmed dead so far in the massive landslides that hit the city of Hiroshima last week.

Two people, a man and a woman in their 60s, remained unaccounted for nine days after the landslides, induced by torrential rain, devastated the northern part of the city, the police said.

About 3,500 rescue workers from the police, firefighters and Self-Defense Forces personnel conducted an intensive search in the Yagi district of the city’s Asa-Minami Ward, where the two missing people lived.

In the district, 50 people were killed in the disaster.

Wednesday 03 September 2014

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001531661

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12 die as two buildings collapse in Hyderabad

At least 12 persons, including women and children, were killed and 18 others injured when two building collapsed in the locality of Choori Para on Tuesday.

Rescue sources said that two multi-storey dilapidated buildings located in Ilyasabad near Memon Hospital in Hyderabad suddenly caved in. As a result dozen of people were buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Rangers, officials of National Highway Authority, Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Sindh Building Control Authority rushed to the spot and kicked off the rescue operation.

The rescue personnel in assistance with volunteers rescued 12 bodies and dozens of injured from the debris. The injured were rushed to hospital where according to hospital sources condition of several wounded people was serious and it was feared that death toll could rise further.

Most of the deceased belonged to one family and many were trapped under the debris which rescue workers continue to remove, with fears there may be more casualties. The house was owned by Chaudhry Yamin Siddiqui – who was using the premises for making bangles – and most of deceased are family members of his brother, Akhtar Siddiqui. The incident took place between 1.30pm and 2pm when the two stories house collapsed. Its debris fell on an adjoining house.

MPAs rushed to the spot to supervise relief and rescue work. Commissioner Hyderabad Jamal Mustafa Syed and SSP Pir Farid Jan Sarhandi visited the spot and hospital to see arrangements.

“I rushed to the spot to ensure rescue operations started immediately and that’s why we are able to shift maximum number of injured to the hospital to save their lives,” said Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Mohammad Nawaz Sohoo.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, while expressing grief over the incident, sought report from the deputy commissioner in the regard. He instructed the authority concerned to ensure best treatment for those injured in the incident. Area residents said that on ground storey of Akhtar’s house, labourers would use a cauldron for bangle work. An inquiry committee is to be formed by administration for the incident.

A large number of people gathered there that made the job of rescuers’ difficult to a great extent. Some adjoining builders were vacated under directives of the district administration to avoid any more damages from occurring.

It was in June 1996 when in a similar incident 25 people were killed when a multi-storey building – Arain Manzil - collapsed in Market Tower area due to deep digging on an adjacent plot by a builder. On Sept 11 in 2013, three labourers were killed in Liaqat Colony area when an under-construction ground plus three storey building had collapsed.

Wednesday 03 September 2014

http://www.nation.com.pk/national/03-Sep-2014/12-die-as-two-buildings-collapse-in-hyderabad

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Drug war mass graves in Mexico

The hole is at least 50 feet wide, with rocky edges that veer straight down. The bottom is so deep, it’s shrouded in complete darkness. Locals in this tiny village, tucked between the mountains in the central Mexican state of Michoacán, call it the Barranco del Manguito, the Gorge of the Mango. According to Rubén, the 34-year-old man who drove me here, the pit harbors a dark secret. He says it’s a narcofosa, a makeshift grave where drug traffickers dump the bodies of their victims.

“Several years ago, members of a local drug gang dumped an entire family here,” says Rubén, who asked that we not use his real name. “They were five or six people. They killed them over a drug deal gone wrong. They put their bodies in a pickup truck and pushed the whole thing down the hole. There could be other bodies, too. They always use places like this. It’s perfect, because no one even thinks of looking for bodies here.”

Though the hole is too deep, and its sides to steep for us to personally verify Rubén’s story, he does know the area and the local underworld. Before a wave of violence scared him into retirement, he worked as a driver and marijuana farmer for La Familia Michoacana, a now-defunct drug cartel that terrorized the region between 2006 and 2010.

As Mexico’s violent drug war rages on, the country has become marked with narco-graves. While more of them surface each month, critics say the government isn’t doing nearly enough to locate the dead. Some even accuse law enforcement officials of working with the cartels, allowing them not only to bury large numbers of victims with impunity, but also ensuring that the graves are never found.

Last Friday, authorities in Michoacán unearthed several clandestine graves in the vicinity of Lázaro Cárdenas, a Pacific port city some 60 miles to the east. Police dug up 10 bodies in five graves. It still isn’t known who the victims were, who killed them or when they were buried, but few doubt that the dead were casualties of the brutal gangland battles that have plagued Michoacán for the last seven years.



Since 2006, Mexican authorities have uncovered at least 174 narcofosas in 19 different states, containing more than 1,000 bodies. Most of the graves are small, like the ones found in Lázaro Cárdenas. Others resemble the gruesome killing fields of Cambodia and Bosnia. Between last November and February, authorities discovered three mass graves in Jalisco state, just across the border with Michoacán, recovering more than 100 bodies over the course of four months. The bodies showed signs of torture, decapitation, and were riddled with bullet wounds.

Most notorious were the narcofosas in San Fernando, a town in the northern state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas. In 2010, the bodies of 72 massacred migrants were found in a warehouse. Less than a year later, a mass grave was discovered with the remains of 193 people. All of the victims were reportedly killed by Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels. “There are so many mass graves in Mexico, the country is starting to resemble a Swiss cheese,” says Jorge Reveles, a veteran crime reporter who has investigated narcofosas and written numerous books about the drug war. “The number of graves that hasn’t been found is infinitely larger than the number that has been discovered.”

Statistics support his theory. Last week, the Mexican government admitted that more than 22,000 people have gone missing since the drug war began in 2006, when then president Felipe Calderón deployed the military to combat the country’s drug cartels. That number is significantly higher than the 9,000 reported missing last year. And last Tuesday, the National Citizen Observatory, a crime watchdog, released a report indicating that Mexico now has more kidnappings than any other country in the world, with 0.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people.

But not only is the number of disappeared alarmingly high, critics also say that criminals can dump bodies wherever they want, in some cases even with the assistance of corrupt law enforcement officials. How else, they argue, would it be possible for anyone to bury dozens, sometimes hundreds of people without anyone noticing?

“It seems that a blind eye has been turned to organized crime, allowing them to disappear, kill and bury with ease,” wrote Ruben Martín, a columnist for the El Economista newspaper, after the graves in Jalisco state were found earlier this year. “It is a very serious issue that must be clarified.”

Moreover, many also criticize the way the fosas are being investigated. “Take the example of San Fernando, where the biggest graves were found,” says José Reveles. “There was no prosecutor in town to properly lead an investigation. Some of the bodies were damaged when they were taken out of the grave and the identification process took far too much time. It is an awful development for families of the disappeared, who often need to travel the whole country just to find out if their loved ones happened to have been found in a newly discovered mass grave.”

Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has promised to ramp up the fight against organized crime. Part of his strategy is the formation of the Gendarmería, a new elite police unit working under the auspices of the Federal Police. This week saw the first deployment of 350 Gendarmería agents in Valle de Bravo, an affluent town near Mexico City, which has recently reported a wave of kidnappings.

But many doubt whether the current government is willing or able to solve the gruesome mysteries of Mexico’s disappeared and mass graves. “If you ask me, it’s all for show,” says the former pot farmer Rubén. “In Michoacán alone, there are graves everywhere, hundreds of people have disappeared. The authorities could easily find most of the fosas, but I feel that it just doesn’t interest them.”

Wednesday 3 September 2014

http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-war-mass-graves-in-mexico-are-making-the-country-resemble-swiss-cheese-2014-9

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Experts identify 173 MH17 victims

Forensics teams from the Netherlands say they have so far positively identified 173 victims of flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine.

They say they are unable to use dental records or fingerprints to identify more than 100 remaining victims and will have to rely solely on DNA.

All 298 people on board, most of them from the Netherlands, died in the crash in eastern Ukraine on 17 July.

Fighting near the crash site hampered efforts to collect the victims' bodies.

More than 200 international forensic detectives have spent weeks working to identify remains taken from the scene and flown back to the Netherlands.

Wim Heijnen, of the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), said the task of identifying the victims was now becoming more difficult and could take several more weeks or months.

Many of the DNA samples gathered at the site, Mr Heijnen said, do not correspond to the victims and could be from rescue workers.

Some remains were badly burned, he added, making it harder to get positive samples.

"I think that the fact we have gotten DNA profiles in quite a short time from three-quarters of the remains is good. But I am, of course, not satisfied," he told reporters in The Hague.

"We want more DNA profiles from remains and we will carry on to get them. It becomes, understandably, more difficult and sadly more time consuming to do that but taking care is paramount."

He said he was not sure if all those on board will be identified, but added: "As long as there is material and there is hope for more identifications, we will continue our work".

Seventy-three of the 173 victims positively identified have been returned to the next of kin, officials say.

Scientists have so far identified 283 different DNA profiles among the victims of Malaysian Airways flight MH17. Some of the DNA may belong to people involved in the rescue work and the recovery of body parts, Nos television reported.

But police said many families are waiting for more complete sets of remains, or until families and friends who were travelling together have all been identified, before collecting their loved ones.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the region of Donetsk.

Ukraine's government and several Western leaders say there is strong evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane with an anti-aircraft system known as Buk.

Russia has consistently denied allegations that it had supplied such missiles or "any other weapons" to the rebels.

The Netherlands has opened an investigation into the disaster, which killed 193 Dutch nationals.

Friday 29 August 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28956790

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15 killed, 8 missing in landslide in China

At least 15 people have been killed and eight others remain missing after a landslide destroyed a village in China’s southwestern Guizhou Province.

The landslide struck Yingping Village in Fuquan City on Wednesday night, injuring 22 people and toppling 77 houses in addition to those killed or missing.

Those injured have been sent to local hospitals and are in stable condition.

Efforts are on to rescue survivors from the debris as half of a 600-meter-high knoll broke free and wiped out a majority of the village at the foot of the hill, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

The local government has relocated other villagers to safer sites.

Residents said the village was occupied mainly by children and elderly when the landslide struck, as many villagers had moved to the city for work.

Relief materials, including tents, water and food, have been sent to local villagers.

Friday 29 August 2014

http://www.tehelka.com/15-killed-8-missing-in-landslide-in-china/

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More than 300 die in boat tragedies on Mediterranean

The past few days have been the deadliest this year for people making irregular crossings on the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe, with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reporting that at least 300 people have died in successive boat tragedies.

“In all, we now believe 1,889 people have perished this year while making such journeys, 1,600 of these since the start of June,” said Melissa Fleming, UNHCR spokesperson,telling reporters in Geneva today that over the past few days, at least three vessels having overturned or sunk.

The first and largest of these incidents occurred on Friday when a boat reportedly carrying at least 270 people overturned near Garibouli to the east of Tripoli. Nineteen people, one of them a woman, survived.

“The Libyan coastguard has since recovered the bodies of 100 others, including five children under the age of five and seven women, but the remaining passengers are feared drowned,” said Fleming.

According to survivors’ reports, the boat was packed full and more people were pushed on board before they departed. The boat suddenly flipped trapping the people on the lower deck. To support the search and recovery operation, the Libyan coastguard has requested body bags, equipment, medical help and manpower.

In a second incident on the evening of Saturday, 23 August, a damaged rubber dinghy was recovered by the Italian Navy 20 miles from Libyan territorial waters. Seventy-three people were rescued, and 18 bodies recovered. Ten people are believed still missing. The passengers were mainly from Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Sudan.

In a third incident, on Sunday evening, 24 August, a fishing boat carrying roughly 400 people capsized north of the Libyan coast in bad weather conditions. The Italian navy and coastguard, in a joint operation with a nearby merchant ship, rescued 364 people. So far 24 bodies have been recovered and more are feared dead.

The main departure country for Europe is Libya, where the worsening security situation has fostered the growth of people smuggling operations, but also prompted refugees and migrants living there to risk the sea rather than remain in a zone of conflict.

“UNHCR’s Tripoli office receives daily calls from refugees, asylum-seekers and other vulnerable people expressing fear for their lives and making desperate requests for food, water, medicine and relocation. Those who choose to leave for Italy are taking longer and riskier journeys through new ports of departure such as Benghazi,” said Ms. Fleming.

This situation demands urgent and concerted European action including strengthened search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, ensuring that rescue measures are safe and incur minimum risks for those being rescued, Ms. Fleming added. As more refugees and migrants risk their lives at sea to reach Europe, mostly Eritreans, Syrians, and Somalis, urgent action is needed including in finding legal alternatives to these dangerous journeys.

In 2011 around 1,500 people died trying to cross into Europe; in 2012 around 500; in 2013 over 600 and so far in 2014 over 1,880, according to UNHCR. In 2011 an estimated 69,000 people arrived in Europe; in 2012 some 22,500; in 2013 some 60,000; so far, in 2014 124,380. As of 24 August, the majority of them – 108,172 people – arrived in Italy.

“It is of vital importance that survivors of these tragedies, who often have lost family and friends, be given immediate access to psychological support once they are disembarked. UNHCR has also called for procedures to be put in place to allow for identification of the bodies recovered at sea, providing quick and clear information so that families are not subjected to unnecessary additional suffering,” Ms. Fleming added.

Thursday 28 August 2014

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1408/S00333/more-than-300-die-in-boat-tragedies-on-mediterranean.htm

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Death toll after landslides reaches 72 in Hiroshima

The death toll from last week’s landslides in Hiroshima rose to 72 on Thursday, while 10 people remained unaccounted for, local police said.

A total of eight bodies remained unidentified, the Hiroshima prefectural police department said.

About 3,400 workers, including Self-Defense Forces personnel, continued search activities on the ninth day after the northern part of the city was hit by the first of the rain-induced landslides.

The city government is considering lifting its evacuation order and advisory, which have been in place for about 150,000 residents of Asa-Minami and Asa-Kita wards.

The situation is improving, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said, noting that the amount of rainfall is expected to drop.

More than 1,200 people were still staying at local evacuation centers.

Thursday 28 August 2014

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001528662

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The night the Marchioness went down

A huge party of friends and relatives took an emotional trip on London’s river this week to pay tribute to those who died in one of Britain’s worst peacetime disasters. Many of them had been on the party boat Marchioness 25 years before.

Fifty-one roses were floated on the murky river waters to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy exactly a quarter-century ago. The party was going strong in the early hours of August 20 1989 after a balmy evening on the Thames Tideway.

There were 131 people on the Marchioness. She had been built 66 years before in 1923 and in 1940 she had become one of the hero little ships that brought a defeated army back from Dunkirk.

Suddenly out of the darkness, at 1.46am, near Cannon Street railway bridge, the huge bows of the dredger Bowbelle loomed above the Marchioness, dwarfing the pleasure boat. Fifty-one of the Marchioness’s passengers would die that night.

In the first seconds of collision the anchor of the dredger cut through the side of the Marchioness, which rolled over and was pushed under by the dredger. She quickly filled with water, capsized and her superstructure became detached.

It took less than half a minute for the Marchioness to go down. Witnesses described the Bowbelle as hitting the pleasure craft and then riding up on it, pushing it under the water like a toy boat.

Two dozen bodies were recovered from the sunken hull. The majority of the survivors had been on the upper decks at the time of the collision. The party was organised by photographer agent Jonathan Phang to celebrate the 26th birthday of his merchant banker friend Antonio de Vasconcellos.

Many of those on board were also in their twenties. Some were students, many others models and workers in the fashion industry. The dead included Francesca Dallaglio, older sister of future England national rugby team captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

The disaster was found by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch to have been caused by the poor visibility from each ship’s wheelhouse, the fact that both vessels were using the centre of the river and the lack of clear instructions to the lookout at the bow of the Bowbelle.

In 1991, the Bowbelle’s skipper Douglas Henderson was tried for failing to keep a proper lookout but, after two juries were deadlocked, he was formally acquitted.

A coroner’s inquest on April 7 1995 found the victims had been unlawfully killed.

Following pressure from the Marchioness Action Group, John Prescott as secretary of state for the environment, transport and the regions ordered a formal investigation into the circumstances of the collision, to be chaired by Lord Justice Clarke.

Lord Clarke’s report blamed poor lookouts on both vessels for the collision and criticised the owners and managers of both vessels for failing to instruct and monitor their crews in proper fashion.

Clarke also criticised the authorities’ decision to cut off a hand from each body pulled from the river to make identification easier. In 2001 an inquiry by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency into the competence and behaviour of Captain Henderson of the Bowbelle concluded that he should be allowed to keep his master’s certificate.

However, it “strongly deprecated” his conduct in drinking five pints of lager in the afternoon prior to the accident and for his admission that he had forged some signatures on certificates and testimonials in order to obtain his master mariner certificate of competency in 1988.

The government asked the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Port of London Authority and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to work together to set up a dedicated search and rescue service for the tidal river Thames. Today there are four RNLI lifeboat stations, at Gravesend, Tower pier, Chiswick pier and Teddington.

Seven years after the disaster, the Bowbelle was also lost. She broke in half and sank off Madeira.

The Princess Alice disaster

In 1878, 111 years before the Marchioness disaster, another tragic collision happened on the Thames.

Some of the similarities with the Marchioness incident give you an unnerving sense of deja vu.

SS Princess Alice was a passenger paddle steamer that collided with the collier Bywell Castle off Tripcock Point.

Over 650 lives were lost, making this the greatest loss of life in any Thames shipping disaster before or since.

On September 3 1878, the Princess Alice was making a moonlight trip from Swan Pier near London Bridge to Gravesend and back.

By 7.40pm, the Princess Alice was on her return journey and within sight of the North Woolwich pier — where many passengers would get off.

Here her crew spotted the much larger Bywell Castle. She usually carried coal to Africa but had just had a refit and repaint on the Thames. Captain Harrison was at the helm of the collier, accompanied by an experienced Thames river pilot. The collier was coming down the river with the tide at half speed.

On the bridge of the Bywell Castle, Harrison saw the port light of the Princess Alice. He set a course to pass her.

However, the master of Princess Alice, 47-year-old Captain William RH Grinstead, fighting the tide upriver, followed the normal watermen’s practice of seeking the slack water on the south side and altered Princess Alice’s course to port, bringing her into the path of the Bywell Castle.

Harrison ordered his ship’s engines reversed, but it was too late. Princess Alice was struck on the starboard side. She split in two and sank within four minutes.

To add to the disaster, just one hour before the collision huge amounts of raw London sewage had been pumped into the river. Those who managed to swim clear of the wreck had this to deal with.

Between 69 and 170 people were rescued. Over 650 died.

One-hundred and twenty victims were buried in a mass grave at Woolwich Old Cemetery in Plumstead.

A memorial cross there tells you it was “paid for by a national sixpenny subscription to which more than 23,000 persons contributed.”

The subsequent Board of Trade inquiry blamed Captain Grinstead — who died in the disaster — finding that “the Princess Alice was not properly and efficiently manned; also, that the numbers of persons aboard were more than was prudent and that the means of saving life onboard the paddle steamer was inadequate for a vessel of her class.”

At this time there was no official body responsible for marine safety in the Thames.

The subsequent inquiry resolved that the Marine Police Force, based at Wapping, be equipped with steam launches to replace its rowing boats and make it better able to perform rescues.

A new plan for dumping sewage far out at sea by ship was also formulated.

The most unlucky survivor of the Princess Alice disaster was London prostitute Elizabeth Stride.

Ten years after escaping drowning she was plying her trade in Whitechapel when she fell victim to Jack the Ripper.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e2c1-The-night-the-Marchioness-went-down

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Behind the High Tech Forensics of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

Dutch officials expect precise accuracy from DNA-matching software that will be used to identify many of the 298 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 victims. But it is unknown whether there will be enough genetic evidence from the remains and relatives of the missing to ID everyone.

As of Friday, 171 people who died after the July 17 crash had not been recovered.

Shortly after the disaster, the Netherlands Forensic Institute, a nonprofit, government-owned agency, was tasked with the DNA-matching portion of an ID effort led by international experts from the Dutch National Forensic Investigations Team.

“The NFI received DNA samples that were taken from over 600 bodies and body parts,” institute spokeswoman Suzan Demirhan told Nextgov on Tuesday. “We were asked to make a DNA profile of each sample.”

In order to link remains to a last name, automated technology called “Bonaparte,” as in Napoleon, will be used. In 1811, French emperor Bonaparte established a Dutch registry of births, deaths and marriages that required a last name from everyone.

Bonaparte will compare the DNA profiles from body parts against each other, and against DNA samples provided by relatives of the missing, officials said.

The institute’s automaton has a good track record. Bonaparte helped name the 103 passengers killed by a 2001 Afriqiyah Airways crash over Tripoli — in less than three weeks.

When several children in a family are missing, it is possible to identify them by extracting cell material from personal objects, according to a July institute report on identifying victims of large-scale disasters. As many as 80 children were killed when MH17 was downed by an allegedly Russian-made missile.

“The software recognizes patterns of similarity in the DNA profiles,” the July report states. “When the DNA profile of a body (or body part) fits the DNA profiles in a family tree, Bonaparte subsequently calculates the scientific evidentiary value of that resemblance.”

Genetic matches are not always the basis for identification. Often, fingerprints or dental records provide enough forensic evidence to determine someone’s name.

Institute officials said they do not have data on how many of the 127 identifications were derived from DNA matches.

Genetic samples can be taken from the muscle or bone tissue of a victim, as well as a molar or tooth.

But DNA matching is not always perfect, according to experts. A landmark 2009 National Research Council study on the strength of U.S. forensic science found that while “DNA analysis is considered the most reliable forensic tool available today, laboratories nonetheless can make errors,” such as mislabeling samples, losing samples or misinterpreting the data.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/08/behind-high-tech-forensics-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh17/91853/

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At least 27 dead and several missing after landslides hit Hiroshima in Japan

Rain-sodden slopes collapsed in torrents of mud, rock and debris Wednesday in the outskirts of Hiroshima, killing at least 36 people and leaving seven missing, police said.

Public broadcaster NHK showed rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters pulling victims from the rubble. Others gingerly climbed into windows as they searched for survivors in crushed homes.

Hillsides caved in or were swept down into residential areas in at least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city after heavy rains left slopes unstable.

Hiroshima prefectural police said 36 people were confirmed dead and at least seven others were missing as of Wednesday night. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 15 people were injured, two seriously.

"A few people were washed away and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," said local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto, noting that conditions in the disaster area were hindering rescuers.

Authorities issued warnings that additional rain could trigger more landslides and flooding.

The land collapsed so quickly that evacuation advisories came an hour after the first mudslide, officials acknowledged.

"It's so regrettable," Kyodo News service quoted Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui as saying. "We'll find out what went wrong and take the necessary measures."

"A few people were washed away and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," said local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto.

Bad weather conditions in the disaster area were hindering efforts to account for all those affected, he said.

Authorities have issued warnings that further rains could trigger more landslides and flooding.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous Japan where many homes in densely populated areas are built on or near steep slopes.

Torrential rains in the early morning apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area where many of the buildings were newly constructed.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes. Torrential rains in the early morning apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area where many of the buildings were newly constructed.

Damage from land and mudslides has increased over the past few decades due to more frequent heavy rains, despite extensive work to stabilise slopes.

In the past decade there have been nearly 1,200 landslides a year, according to the land ministry, up from an average of about 770 a year in the previous decade.

In October last year, multiple mudslides following a typhoon in Izu-Oshima, an island south of Tokyo, killed 35 people, four of whose bodies were never recovered.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/at-least-27-dead-and-several-missing-after-landslides-hit-hiroshima-in-japan-9680408.html

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reports-dead-13-missing-hiroshima-landslide-25045755

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