Probing the fate of Tunisia's missing migrants

"Look, this is my husband arriving on Lampedusa," said Om Elkhir Wertani, pointing at a vague photograph from a television broadcast, which depicts a boat filled with men.

Her husband, Nabil Guizawi, was among a group of at least 520 Tunisians who illegally crossed to Italy shortly after Tunisia's 2011 revolution and then disappeared. According to his family, Guizawi arrived in Italy safely before he vanished.

Guizawi, then 35 years old, worked temporary jobs and had difficulty paying the rent, Wertani told Al Jazeera. "We saw a steady stream of people in our neighbourhood coming back from Europe with a new car and beautiful clothes," she said. But while she deemed the sea voyage "too dangerous" for her husband to attempt, in late March 2011, he abruptly left. The couple's three young children are still hoping for his return.

"I keep in mind that he could be dead," said Wertani, who works as a private tutor in Tunisia. "But who knows? He might be in prison and unable to call us."

In the lawless period just after the fall of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, there were few active coastguards and policemen, and many young Tunisians decided to risk crossing the Mediterranean.

According to estimates from the organisation Boats4People, around 40,000 Tunisians attempted this crossing in 2011. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights found that around 1,500 Tunisians drowned or disappeared that year. So far, the families of 520 people have officially declared them missing.

Family of the missing Tunisians have united through the organisation Land for All, whose office is located in a drafty garage in Tunis. The group has organised numerous demonstrations to draw attention to their situation. But although three members of the European parliament raised questions about the issue last year, the European Commission could not provide any conclusive answers.

The Tunisian government has since announced it will investigate what happened. In March, the government established a commission - consisting of civil servants from various ministries, DNA specialists and family members of the missing Tunisians - tasked with working alongside the Italian interior ministry to get to the bottom of the disappearances.

It remains unclear as to whether all the missing Tunisians actually arrived in Italy or whether some drowned en route, said Federica Sossi, a professor at the University of Bergamo in Italy who has researched the issue.

"During that time, many video recordings were made of the migrants who arrived in Italy, and several people recognised their family members in the images," Sossi told Al Jazeera. "Of course, they may have just been seeing what they wanted to see."

Wertani and Imed Soltani - the president of Land for All, whose two nephews disappeared in 2011 - recalled visiting various migration centres in Italy in 2012. "Some of the people there recognised a few of the missing Tunisians from the photos we showed them and told us that they had stayed there," Soltani said.

"We have no evidence that these people didn't drown," added Helmi Tlili of the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is coordinating the government commission. "But we're not ruling anything out and are going to investigate all the images and videos. It could be that some of these people are in prison or in migration centres, or they may have gone into hiding from the law."

Soltani said he had heard rumours that the missing Tunisians were taken by aeroplane to Libya, or that the Italian mafia sold their organs. Tlili dismissed such notions as "just rumours", but Sossi said such outcomes were a possibility. In 2008, Sossi noted, Italy and Libya entered into an agreement about the return of migrants, and early 2011 was a very chaotic time on Lampedusa. "Thousands of Tunisians arrived and not all of them were registered," she said.

By next spring, the inquiry commission hopes to be able to tell family members more about the missing migrants' fate, Tlili said. But not everyone is optimistic.

"All this time, the Tunisian government has done very little for these families," Sossi said. "I don't expect that there is now suddenly the will to get to the bottom of this."

To properly investigate the matter, she added, all the recordings from the coastguards would have to be analysed, as would the telephone calls placed by the Tunisians making the trip. In addition, the unidentified bodies in the Lampedusa cemetery would have to be examined. Tlili did not go into detail about what specific elements the commission would address.

Tunisians still travel regularly in rickety boats to Italy, many disappointed that the dreams of the Tunisian revolution did not materialise. They are looking to escape high prices, low wages and unemployment, paying smugglers 700 to 1,500 euros ($780 to $1,675) for the trip, because it is often impossible for them to get visas.

Pointing to the poor neighbourhood where many of these residents hail from, Soltani said: "I tell them that they might not survive the crossing. Then they answer: 'I'm already dead. This is no life.'"

Tuesday 19 May 2015

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/probing-fate-tunisias-missing-migrants-104705077.html

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Colombia mudslide after heavy rains kills over 50 people

An avalanche of mud and debris roared over an alpine town in western Colombia before dawn on Monday, killing at least 52 people in a flash flood and mudslide triggered by heavy rains.

Residents were stirred from bed in the dead of the night by a loud rumble and neighbours’ shouts of “The river! The river!” as modestly built homes and bridges plunged into the Libordiana ravine. Survivors barely had enough time to gather their loved ones.

“It was rocks and tree trunks everywhere,” Diego Agudelo said, adding that never in 34 years living next to the ravine had he suspected such a tragedy was possible.

“The river took out everything in its path,” the construction worker said, including the back part of his home.

The disaster hit around 3am local time (8am GMT) in the town of Salgar, about 60 miles (100 km) south-west of Medellin. Dozens of rescuers supported by Black Hawk helicopters evacuated residents near the ravine for fear of another mudslide. A red fire truck could be seen hauling away several bodies, their bare feet dangling from an open trunk.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who travelled to the town to oversee relief efforts, said several children lost their parents and the bodies of those killed needed to be transported to Medellin to be identified. As giant diggers were removing debris he vowed to rebuild the lost homes and provide shelter and assistance for the estimated 500 people affected by the calamity.

“Nobody can bring back the dead ... but we have to handle this disaster as best we can to move forward,” Santos said. Authorities said that 52 people were confirmed dead but that the number could rise. Dozens have suffered light injuries and an unknown number of people are still unaccounted for.

Colombia’s rugged topography, in a seismically active area at the northern edge of the Andes, combined with shoddy construction practices, has made the country one of Latin America’s most disaster-prone. More than 150 disasters have struck the country over the past 40 years, claiming more than 32,000 lives and affecting more than 12 million people, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.

The tragedy in Salgar appeared to be the single deadliest event since a 1999 earthquake in the city of Armenia that left hundreds dead. A wave of flooding during the 2011 rainy season left more than 100 dead.

The flooding destroyed the town’s aqueduct and even areas in less hazardous zones experienced flooding. As a cautionary measure, electricity and other public services were suspended after several utility poles were knocked down.

Authorities called on volunteers to send water, food supplies and blankets to cope with what they described as a humanitarian emergency.

The town of 18,000 lies amid one of Colombia’s major coffee-growing regions. Former president Alvaro Uribe, who spent part of his childhood in Salgar, where his mother was born, rushed to the town to assist in relief efforts.

Tuesday 19 May 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/18/colombia-mudslide-death-toll

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Two months to finish Valenzuela DNA tests

It will take up to two months to finish DNA testing, a necessary “last option” to identify the victims of a fire that razed a rubber slipper factory in Valenzuela City.

In a chance interview with reporters on Monday, May 18, Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory deputy director for operations Senior Superintendent Noel Aranas said DNA examinations for the factory workers had begun, with at least 87 DNA samples from relatives collected as of Saturday, May 16.

Aranas said it might even take “less than 2 months.” (READ: Gov’t to probe ‘pakyawan’ system in Valenzuela factory)

“We’re talking about the sheer volume of DNA samples [that have to be taken in]. Up until yesterday (Sunday), relatives of the victims were coming in for swabs,” Aranas said in a mix of English and Filipino.

At least 72 people working at Kentex Manufacturing died on Wednesday, May 13, when a blaze swept through the factory. Initial investigation indicate it was caused by welding activities, which in turn enflamed combustible chemicals stored in the same compound.

Only 3 of the victims have been identified, with the rest were burnt “beyond recognition.”

Relatives of the victims will have to submit samples of their DNA, which will be matched against the DNA of the remains retrieved from the factory.

Last Friday, the remains of the victims were buried temporarily. Authorities said that, of the 72 bodies pulled out from the factory, 36 were female, while 28 were male. The gender of 5 bodies remained unidentified.

The probe into the fire, one of the worst to hit the city of Valenzuela, is currently being conducted by different government agencies: the PNP’s Crime Lab, the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

Monday 18 May 2015

http://www.rappler.com/nation/93571-pnp-dna-test-valenzuela

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Hundreds of migrants' bodies will be left in the sea after Mediterranean shipwreck

Charities have criticised the "extraordinary" decision by Sicilian authorities to abandon up to 750 migrant victims of a Mediterranean shipwreck at the bottom of the sea.

The Italian navy has found the wreck of the smuggling boat that capsized and sank last month off the Libyan coast, causing the death of hundreds of migrants who had been locked inside the hold.

However, Giovanni Salvi, public prosecutor in Catania, a city on Sicily's east coast, has said the bodies will not be brought up from the sea bed because "their recovery is not useful" for the investigation into the boat's traffickers.

Christopher Hein, the director of the Italian Council for Refugees, said families had a legal right to identify the bodies.

"This [decision] is extraordinary," he told La Repubblica. "The idea that at the bottom of the Mediterranean there are hundreds of bodies that can't be recovered because they don't help with the investigation makes me very angry.

"From a legal point of view, there is a duty to allow family members to identify the bodies and to become a civil party in the trial against those who are allegedly responsible.

"If there had been Germans, Italians, or any other European citizen, amongst the dead, would the judiciary have made the same decision?" Giovanna Di Benedetto, a spokesman for Save the Children, said it was "absolutely essential" for the bodies to be recovered so that "families can pray next to graves and grieve for the dead".

Mr Salvi claimed it was not the responsibility of the judiciary to recover the bodies, despite prosecutors – who have opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy – asking the navy to locate the boat.

Only 28 people survived the disaster on the former fishing boat, which was found at a depth of 1,230ft.

Matteo Renzi, the prime minister, previously said the boat should be raised so that victims could be given proper funerals.

Following a shipwreck in October 2013, the judicial authorities in Agrigento, just 93 miles (150km) west of Catania, recovered 350 bodies from the seabed so they could be identified.

The navy said raising the wreck to the surface was possible, but it was up to prosecutors to decide whether to proceed.

Mr Salvi said: "[Recovering the bodies] is not necessary for us. If the government want to do it for humanitarian reasons then that's fine, but we cannot cope with the costs and the delays to the investigation that it would entail. It's not a decision for the judicial authorities."

Sunday 17 May 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11611171/Hundreds-of-migrants-bodies-will-be-left-in-the-sea-after-Mediterranean-shipwreck.html

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Nepal quake death toll becomes highest on record; dozens still missing

The number of people killed in Nepal by two major earthquakes has surpassed 8,500, making the disaster the deadliest to hit the Himalayan country on record, as rescuers on Sunday searched for dozens of people still missing in remote villages.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care.

A second major quake struck on Tuesday 76 kilometres (47 miles) east of the capital Kathmandu, just as Nepalis were beginning to recover from the previous earthquake.

The death toll from the two quakes now stands at 8,583, the home ministry said on Sunday.

The previous deadliest earthquake to strike the country - in 1934 - killed at least 8,519 in Nepal, as well as thousands more in neighbouring India.

In Dolakha district east of Kathmandu, which was hit hardest by the second quake, dozens of landslides have blocked access to remote villages.

In Singati village, devastated by a landslide, dozens are still missing and rescue workers are yet to remove debris from all of the village to recover bodies, district officials said.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told reporters on Sunday 58 foreigners had died in the two earthquakes. Koirala said 112 foreigners were still unaccounted for, although many of those could be backpackers who choose not to register with authorities when they leave the country.

Sunday 17 May 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/17/uk-quake-nepal-idUKKBN0O20LB20150517

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Bodies recovered from helicopter crash in Nepal are identified

The bodies of six United States Marines and two Nepalese soldiers who were aboard a helicopter that crashed in Nepal while delivering earthquake relief supplies were identified on Sunday, officials have said.

The wreckage of the UH-1 Huey helicopter was first spotted on Friday by the Nepalese Army, but intense wind, rain and thunderstorms and the rugged, mountainous terrain hampered recovery efforts. The army said it had found three charred bodies at the site on Friday and the rest on Saturday.

The crash victims were named on Sunday, as the Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs said that the death toll since the April 25 earthquake had risen above 8,500.

The Nepalese Army identified its soldiers who were killed as Tapendra Rawal and Basanta Titara and said in a statement that all eight bodies had been flown to Kathmandu, the capital. The army will deliver the bodies of its soldiers to their families on Monday, it said.

The helicopter disappeared on Tuesday after the country was struck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake, which came less than three weeks after the initial quake measuring 7.8. The aircraft had been delivering relief supplies to villages around Charikot, east of Kathmandu, near the epicenter of the second quake. American, Nepalese and Indian teams who had been engaged in relief work all participated in the search before the bodies were found.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing.

Sunday 17 May 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/world/asia/bodies-recovered-from-helicopter-crash-in-nepal-are-identified.html?_r=0

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Six bodies recovered in Colombia mine collapse, 9 believed to be missing

Rescuers Friday said they had found six bodies in a collapsed, unlicensed gold mine on an indigenous reservation in a central Colombian town.

Another nine miners were believed to still be missing after the accident on Wednesday in the northwestern town of Riosucio, where authorities are carrying out an investigation of the mine.

Rescuers were working into the evening to retrieve the sixth miner's remains, hours after the recovery of a separate body sapped the hopes of anxious relatives that more of the missing might still be found alive.

The first two bodies were spotted Thursday, with rescuers finding two more several hours later.

The workers are believed to be trapped in shafts 17 meters (55 feet) below ground.

The bodies were taken to the city of Pereira to be identified.

Search and rescue operations are due to be completed over the weekend, according to government disaster relief agency UNGRD.

The mine collapse occurred after a power failure prevented the operation of the pumps that drew water from the nearby Cauca River.

The head of the National Mining Agency told Radio Blu the organization would look into the the owners of the mine, which was in the process of legalization but was prohibited from digging the shafts that were involved in the collapse.

Investigators say a power cut in the area likely shut off the mine's water pumps, flooding the shafts and leading to the collapse.

The workers at the mine had no formal contract with the company for their high-risk work, the mining agency said in a statement.

Colombia is a major gold producer and business has boomed over the past decade as the price of gold has risen from less than $400 per ounce to almost $1,200.

Saturday 16 May 2015

http://news.yahoo.com/four-dead-colombia-mine-collapse-11-still-trapped-175019213.html

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All 8 bodies of US Helicopter crash in Nepal recovered

Nepal's army says the bodies of all eight people on board a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter that crashed Tuesday have been recovered.

Officials said Saturday teams from the U.S. military and Nepal's army are at the scene of the crash, investigating what may have caused the aircraft to go down in a rugged, mountainous area.

Neither the cause of the crash nor the identities of the eight people aboard the craft have been disclosed. Lieutenant-General John Wissler confirmed Friday that the helicopter was carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers.

The general, a senior commander of Marines based in Japan, noted the enormous loss of life Nepal has suffered during the past three weeks, from the strongest earthquake in the Himalayas in more than 80 years and many aftershocks, including another strong and damaging earthquake this week.

The Defense Ministry in Kathmandu announced the helicopter went down three days ago in a mountainous area of east-central Nepal and said it was not possible for anyone onboard to have survived.

U.S. officials they are assessing the details of the crash of the UH-1Y Huey helicopter, which was part of an American task force in Nepal dubbed Operation Sahayogi Haat (Helping Hand).

The wreckage was found by a Nepalese search team about 8 miles north of Charikot, the military said in a statement.

The Pentagon said that the families of the Marines had been notified and that the names of the crew members would be released within 24 hours.

“They were courageous, they were selfless individuals dedicated to the international rescue mission here in Nepal,” Marine Lt. Gen. John Wissler said.

The Huey went missing while it was distributing aid on Tuesday, the day a strong aftershock hit Nepal and killed more than 100 people and after the crew was heard over the radio saying the aircraft was experiencing a fuel problem.

The Huey, a helicopter dating back to the Vietnam War era, was completely destroyed, Nepal's top defence ministry official said.

After a three-day search the Huey was spotted near the village of Ghorthali at an altitude of 11,200 ft (3,400 m), an army general told Reuters, as helicopters and Nepali ground troops converged on the crash site.

Air Force search and rescue crew identified the crash site in a rugged forest at 11,000 feet elevation, but couldn’t stay on the scene because of high wind and inclement weather.

The area's tallest peak soars to more than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). Hillsides are cloaked with forest that made it hard to find the helicopter even though it came down just a few miles from Charikot, the capital of Dolakha district, half a day's drive to the east of Kathmandu.

An army base in the town has been serving as a hub for operations to airlift and treat those injured in the two earthquakes, and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala flew in on Thursday for an on-the-spot briefing.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter thanked the Nepalese and Indian governments for their continued support in the search and recovery operations.

“This tragedy is a reminder of the vital but dangerous role that American service members play in delivering humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” he said. “Our mission continues in Nepal, and we remain dedicated to answering the call when disaster strikes, both in the Asia-Pacific and around the world.”

To verify that the broken, burned wreckage was that of the missing Huey, the U.S. sent in four Air Force pararescue specialists and a combat rescue officer. That verification was announced Friday morning.

No distress call was made before the Huey went missing while taking supplies to stranded villagers, but there may have been a transmission about a fuel problem, officials said.

The aircraft is attached to Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 based at Camp Pendleton.

The squadron was in the Philippines on a training mission when it was directed to Nepal to join the relief effort after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake on April 25 that killed more than 8,300 people. On Tuesday, it was responding to a magnitude 7.3 aftershock that caused additional deaths and destruction.

The first quake, which struck on April 25 with a magnitude of 7.8, has killed 8,199 people. The death toll from a 7.3 aftershock on Tuesday has reached 117, with many victims in Dolakha.

Saturday 16 May 2015

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-nepal-marine-chopper-20150515-story.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/wreckage-of-us-helicopter-found-in-nepal/2768581.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/16/quake-nepal-helicopter-idUSKBN0O00K120150516

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23 bodies unclaimed at Kathmandu, Nepal, morgue

First, there is the bulletin board littered with black-and-white photos of the unidentified dead. Mangled bodies with mouths gaping, eyes squeezed shut and arms lifted overhead in apparent surrender.

Then there are the plastic baggies of what they were carrying or wearing. A fish-themed watch. A scrap of denim. A single flip flop obscuring a wad of cash.

Kathmandu's official earthquake morgue, located next to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, is a dismal place. For some, though, finding physical evidence of a loved one's abrupt end can provide a measure of relief.

Since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck three weeks ago, at least 100 people streamed through this nondescript temporary resting place, seeking some sign to hold out hope or move on.

"It's not a cheerful moment," acknowledged Nepal Police Superintendent Prakash Adhikari, who keeps a meticulous log of the 300 bodies that were brought here after the quake.

Still, "when they find the deceased," Adhikari says, "they feel pleasure."

The morgue is one of several places around the capital city where residents can file a missing person's report. Before they do, they scan the board for the latest entries, identified by a simple tag number, along with approximate age, height and where the body was recovered.

The log listed 45 missing entries Wednesday, one day after a second major earthquake sent this Himalayan nation into tailspin overdrive.

Among the lost, three Indonesian citizens who had disappeared from Langtang, a popular trekking area. An orange cardholder, wrapped in plastic, was waiting to be found.

The News Journal is in Nepal this week reporting on the Delaware Medical Relief Team's efforts to provide medical treatment and supplies to earthquake survivors. The medical team has committed waves of volunteers over the next few months. The newest group of five, including doctors, physician assistants, EMTs and logistics experts, are scheduled to arrive in Nepal Sunday.

Team member Ashish Parikh, a Newark cardiologist, has performed a handful of angioplasties at the cardiac hospital next to the morgue. The operation, which involves widening narrow and obstructed arteries, can cost $25,000 in the United States. Parikh is volunteering his time and expertise.

On Wednesday, the hospital transformed into a courtyard tent community of more than 50 heart patients who were evacuated from the building the day before.

Next door, Spanish police commissioner Ramon Gomez has sat on the same rickety bench for 15 days straight, waiting on a clue about the whereabouts of six Spanish citizens. Like the Indonesians, they were last seen in Langtang.

Immediately after the first quake, nearly 70 members of the Spanish Army and Spanish Military Police assisted with search and rescue efforts and humanitarian relief, Gomez said.

But, as with any natural disaster, international attention is easily distracted by competing priorities. The Spaniards left within 10 days.

Gomez, who is based in New Delhi, was the last man on the ground. Despite his depressing assignment, he insisted that he was content to be among his friends, members of the Nepal Police.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, the morgue was mostly deserted, apart from spillover hospital visitors who couldn't snag a seat. Twenty-three bodies remained unclaimed.

Fearful of the next aftershock, locals gathered in small groups in open fields and in intimate cafes with obvious escape routes.

For a moment, the dead could wait.

The survivors needed to figure out where they would sleep safely that night – and the many nights ahead.

Saturday 16 May 2015

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/world/2015/05/15/bodies-unclaimed-kathmandu-morgue/27389219/

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Remains of 21 of the 72 Valenzuela fire fatalities temporarily buried

The remains of 21 of the 72 people killed in the fire that hit a warehouse in Valenzuela City last Wednesday were temporarily buried Thursday night, a television report said Friday morning.

A report on "News TV Live" also said the bodies of 48 other fatalities are scheduled to be buried, also temporarily, at 2 p.m. Friday.

Grieving members of the families of the 21 expressed disappointment for not being able to give proper respects to their dearly departed, the report said.

Also, the report said coffins containing the charred remains of the 21 were numbered for easy retrieval after all the victims shall have been properly identified through DNA test.

Meanwhile, the remains of the 48 others are being kept at a barangay hall in Maysan and are being readied for temporary burial Friday afternoon, the report said.

After identifying all the remains, the city government will notify the families of the victims to claim the bodies for proper funeral and final burial services, it added.

Friday 15 May 2015

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/487702/news/metromanila/remains-of-21-of-the-72-valenzuela-fire-fatalities-temporarily-buried

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Over 181 people died in Victoria Day disaster of 1881

For the past two weeks we have been looking at the terrible tragedy that occurred on May 24, 1881 in the usually placid waters of the Thames River between downtown London and Springbank Park. It is a difficult tragedy for us to grasp today, in in a time of much safer travel and our benign view of the Thames River as it lazily drifts through Chatham-Kent on its way to Lake St. Clair. How, we wonder, could anything that tragic happen in such a shallow and narrow body of water?

Last week we were there when the over-loaded paddle wheel excursion steamer, the Victoria, tipped over in the Thames and the upper deck crashed onto the lower deck and the boat sank in 17 feet of water within a remarkably short period of time.

Some survivors managed to escape the horror and make it to shore and then returned to the waters to help pull bodies from beneath the wreckage and place them on board another excursion steamer. The Princess Louise had quickly transformed itself from a boat of pleasure to a morgue.

Many of the bodies brought ashore showed signs of the terrible struggles, open wounds that were bleeding profusely. Many of the faces were terribly disfigured, while others in death showed the terror on their faces.

The late afternoon was quickly filled with heroic actions in brave attempts to save others. Stories about the immediate aftermath of the sinking abound and many were saved due to superhuman efforts on the part of fellow passengers and passersby. However, there were other tales to be told as well.

Many of the bodies were not identified properly, causing much grief to people when they were told of the loss of a loved one, only to discover that the rescuers had made an error in identification. And so the stories went on, each as terrifying and bizarre as the next one. Entire families were wiped out and people watched in horror as loved ones died before their eyes.

Between the hours of 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., the Thames gave up one victim almost every minute. In that hour, 59 bodies were retrieved. By 10 p.m., 152 lifeless bodies had been taken from the muddy waters.

As darkness closed in, bonfires were lit to assist rescuers in their gruesome task, and in a mistaken interpretation one European newspaper drew sketches that indicated the bodies taken from the Thames were for some odd health reason being burned on the spot!

Thieves, as in any other time past or present, also worked through the night stealing watches, jewelry or money when the overworked police officers were not looking.

Hearses, carriages for hire and wagons were in short supply, as were the drivers. Many of them charged exorbitant prices and one driver, in a hurry to carry even more corpses, took a body to its home, found no one there and decided to open a window and gently slide the corpse through the window onto the floor. He then quickly returned for another gruesome load. Another driver left a lifeless body sitting up in a chair in the family home with only a brief, hastily-scribbled note.

Funerals went on for a full week and a general pall of gloom hung over the city. In a London South neighbourhood, on one city block, five funerals were held from six homes. In total it is believed that at least 181 people lost their lives that day in the tranquil waters of the Thames.

By Aug. 8 the hulk of the Victoria, which had remained not far from her dock for over two months, was finally dismantled before the winter set in. The machinery and boiler were sold for scrap and no one in London wanted any reminders of a pleasure craft that, on a glorious May morning a short time before, so many had wanted to clamour on-board and celebrate a time that seemed so full of life, promise and joy.

A follow-up story on a much more positive note came to me earlier this year from a reader (Jane Blake) in London. She told me that although her cousin Eloise Lawson perished that day, her grandmother (Sally Walker) survived due to a lie and a secret liaison with her boyfriend.

Sally, who was 15 at the time, was supposed to be on the Victoria that day with her cousin Eloisa, but in secret had made plans to go for a picnic with her boyfriend instead. Eloisa “covered” for her by telling both families that they were going together on the excursion aboard the Victoria.

When Sally returned home to an empty house late that afternoon, hysterical neighbours informed her of the terrible tragedy and that Sally’s family was at the pier trying to identify her body. Quick-thinking Sally rushed down to the area where the drowning victims were being brought ashore. Making sure that her dress, hair and face were wet and muddy she proceeded to find her much relieved parents, who celebrated for years after this their daughter’s “miraculous survival”!

Friday 15 May 2015

http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2015/05/15/over-181-people-died-in-victoria-day-disaster-of-1881

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How the mountains hid the disaster – reaching the remote communities after the earthquake in Nepal

Kathmandu had already hit the headlines worldwide. ‘Whole streets and squares in the capital of more than one million people were covered in rubble. Stunned residents stared at temples that were once part of their daily lives and now were reduced to nothing,” wrote CNN a day after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Locals call it earthquake 72 as this year is 2072 in the Nepalese calendar.

In the early days there were already estimates that the rural areas were badly hit but the mountains hid the worst of the effects.

The road to Chautara in Sindhupalchok winds steeply upwards towards the town which sits 1,600m above sea level. Four days after the quake, the area initially looked relatively untroubled. Some houses had been destroyed but people had already set up tarpaulins and many houses are standing without visible cracks.

But as the road gets narrower and damage is more devastating. The scenery changes from the breathtaking beauty to overwhelming destruction. Village after village completely destroyed.

The town of Sangachok is one of them and the smell of death is inescapable. The whole village gathered to watch a Chinese search and rescue team dig through the ruins of a house. Two victims were somewhere under the rubble – an adult and a baby, both dead, the villagers say.

According to the locals there were 2,100 houses in the area before the earthquake. Just over 200 are left. More than a hundred people have been killed and drinking water was running out.

“Thank you for coming here and taking all this information. But please go to the remote villages. It is much worse there,” urged a teenage boy who showed a notebook where the villagers have gathered information about people who were lost and found.

The journey continues through other destroyed villages and after a while the road slopes down to Chautara – a town that was expected to have withstood a quake.

But the streets were choked with rubble. In the bazaar, rescuers were digging furiously as word spread that someone was alive under the debris.

The district hospital nearby is still standing but too dangerous to use. The patients had been moved to a few tents on the football field close by. The sight was surreal.

A young boy asked for a tarpaulin – he is spending his nights without shelter, as do most people in town, even now. There was no electricity and the petrol had run out. People had given up hoping helicopters would come to their rescue. The situation is bleak.

A week later, I returned to Chautara and it is slowly waking up. Some stores are open and streets have been cleared slightly but there is still rubble everywhere. People have started building shelters from whatever they can find.

Khriss, 12, likes Real Madrid and wants to be a football player. At the moment he sleeps in a tent on a football field. He doesn’t talk about it but you can tell that he may no longer have a home. The days are as difficult as the nights for Khriss – there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. He spends his time practising his English with international aid workers.

The Red Cross has built a field hospital next to Khriss’s tent. It is fully equipped with an x-ray machine, wards, operating theatre and a free pharmacy. Many people still have untreated fractures from the earthquake; mostly pelvis, legs, hands, says the nurse operating the x-ray machine.

The village of Pipaldanda is not far away from Chautara and the road is good enough for at least motorcycles and jeeps. But the whole village is demolished. There are no search and rescue teams here, but bodies are still found as people go through the ruins. An old man has just buried his wife. He also lost his home and fears that the aid won’t reach him because he is illiterate.

There has been some food distribution and you can see some tarps, but it’s evident that a lot of help is still needed.

In Kubende, another village close to Chautara, people are gathered in front of the local school. A Japanese organisation has just distributed food to the village. But there is also another reason people are spending time there. A local man tells that the school yard is now home to 50 people. They have no shelter, electricity or even a torch. “All we have is the sun and the moon,” he says.

It’s now just over two weeks since Earthquake 72. The Red Cross alone has distributed over 30,000 tarps or tents and 100,000 more are expected to arrive soon. Red Cross health facilities have treated thousands of people and its specialist sanitation teams are providing access to safe drinking water. Families, neighbours and strangers are helping each other. Numerous local students and other people are volunteering.

Still, it is estimated that 500,000 homes are destroyed or damaged. The quake has pulled not only Sindhupalchowk but many parts of Nepal back at least a generation. It is clear that the local authorities and the international community have a lot more work to do. Monsoon season is just weeks away which threatens to bring a fresh wave of misery to millions.

Friday 15 May 2015

http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/nepal/how-the-mountains-hid-the-disaster--reaching-the-remote-communities-after-the-earthquake-in-nepal-68649/#sthash.pqghVf2t.dpuf

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A painful wait to bury Kosovo's war victims

For 16 years in one small village in Kosovo's central region, the relatives of missing war victims visited empty graves. Some had photographs, some did not.

But it was at least a place where they could bring flowers, talk to the picture, and mourn the loss of a loved one whose body had not been found. "We waited for a long time - 16 years," said 62-year-old Habib Morina.

Morina's brother, uncle, and cousins were killed in the early hours of April 17, 1999, in the village of Cikatova e Vjeter, allegedly by Serbian security forces, during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

"We knew they were dead. But we wanted to know where the bodies were," Morina said from a tent in the capital Pristina.

Ethnic-Serb President Slobodan Milosevic's forces cracked down on separatist ethnic-Albanian rebels and their civilian supporters in the late 1990s. The conflict in Kosovo killed about 13,000 people, most of them ethnic Albanians.

By the time the war came to an end after 78 days of NATO air strikes, which drove out Milosevic's military, police and paramilitary forces, an estimated 4,500 people were missing.

Another relative, 48-year-old Zylfije Morina, also lost her husband when he was killed in the same village. His body disappeared as well. "It was very hard. It was even harder when we used to visit their empty graves," she said.

The Morina family has waited since that fateful day to receive news that the remains of missing relatives had been found and a DNA or blood sample match had been made.

Last fall, they finally received the news and began making preparations for a proper reburial.

They chose April 17, 2015, the 16th anniversary of the massacre in Cikatova e Vjeter, as the day for the ceremony.

Habib Morina and his 29-year-old son, Behar, travelled to Kosovo from the US state of California, where they have lived as refugees since June 1999. They had come to join other relatives to finally bury the remains of 19 war victims from the Morina family who were found in a mass grave in Serbia last year.

Prenkë Gjetaj, head of the Kosovo government's commission on missing persons, said to date 900 bodies had been found in mass graves in Serbia and transported to Kosovo. His office is responsible for coordinating with local and international partners on the process for finding missing war victims.

Gjetaj said last year the remains of 54 war victims, including those from the Morina family, were found in one mass grave in Rudnica, Serbia. "Everything was done in order to hide the truth, the tracks of the crime," Gjetaj said, describing how the army moved bodies of war victims from Kosovo to unidentified locations in Serbia, where many still lay hidden.

According to the commission, there are 1,650 people still missing from the war period.

More than 10,000 people had been killed and Gjetaj admitted the process of finding the missing is long and difficult, but, he said, "we must do it".

With the help of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) - created in 1996 to help resolve the fate of those missing from the conflicts in the former Republic of Yugoslavia - blood samples from Kosovo's war victims were analysed.

In an effort to show the country the missing war victims are not forgotten, this year, the government launched the country's first "Missing Persons Week", scheduled to coincide with the commemoration of the April 27, 1999 massacre in Meja, considered to be the worst massacre of the conflict.

A monument dedicated to the 1,650 still missing was unveiled recently in the garden of Kosovo's parliament.

"To mark this date, we had activities for a week, by visiting family members, the places where the crimes took place, memorials, as a sign of honour, as a sign to show the people that we are still committed and working on shedding light on the fate of their most loved ones," said Gjetaj.

Driton Morina, 34, remembers the sweater his father wore before he was killed. The sweater, along with other tattered clothing found with his father's remains, was stiff from the dirt and dried mud.

Morina refused to bury the clothes with his father's remains because he wanted to keep them as evidence for future generations that the crime happened. He said he hopes that one day they will be shown in a museum in Kosovo.

"The strange thing is that this happened in Europe, this happened in the Balkans, and the strange thing is that the new government in the country that committed these crimes is not apologising, is not saying even sorry for the crimes that they have done," Morina said.

The day before the reburial, close relatives of the Morina family came to Pristina's main hospital to sign the paperwork that they've officially collected the remains, which were laid out in coffins and draped with the Albanian flag.

Some family members insisted on seeing the bones and clothing found in the grave.

"Usually ... we prefer for families not to open [the caskets], and to remember them as they were," said Arsim Gerxaliu, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine under the Ministry of Justice.

"But some families insist on seeing the remains - the bones - and we cannot stop them because they have a right to check the bones," Gerxaliu explained.

Forty-seven members of Gerxaliu's family were killed in the war, and he said it is his responsibility to bring the remains of other war victims back to their families.

He said he had travelled to Serbia 97 times since 1999 to search for and exhume mass graves and is planning another trip this month. "This number, 1,650, is still a problem until we find all of them, this problem will continue to exist," said Kushtrim Gata, from the missing persons commission.

For Shqipron Morina, who was five years old when his father was killed in the Cikatova e Vjeter massacre, and for his family, the return of the remains from the mass grave brought relief.

"Now we have the real place, we have the bodies in the grave," he said after burying his father.

Thursday 14 May 2015

https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/painful-wait-bury-kosovos-war-victims-074220123.html

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Nepal’s latest earthquake: Death toll crosses 100, search continues for missing US Army helicopter

The death toll from Tuesday’s earthquake in Nepal has crossed 100 with more than 2,500 people injured, authorities said Thursday. The 7.3-magnitude quake hit the region less than three weeks after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed over 8,000 people.

Rescue operations continued Thursday even as bodies buried under rubble were being recovered with the use of heavy machinery. Tuesday's earthquake also claimed the lives of at least 17 people in neighboring India and one person in China. On Thursday, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala visited Charikot, one of the hardest-hit villages by the latest earthquake and subsequent aftershocks.

"After the first quake, we were not prepared for a second one so big," Koirala said, according to the Associated Press (AP), adding that the upcoming monsoon season poses a challenge to the impoverished Himalayan country where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless. Nepal's army and police force, along with rescue teams from different countries, have been deployed in the country to carry out rescue and relief operations since the April 25 earthquake, which was the worst one to hit the country in 80 years.

Meanwhile, a major search operation for a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter entered a third day with U.S. and Nepalese military helicopters and hundreds of ground troops scouring eastern Nepal. A team also reportedly sent out a drone on Thursday to look for the missing aircraft, which was conducting relief work in Charikot, about 81 miles from the capital Kathmandu. An aerial search for the aircraft on Wednesday had found "nothing of note," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said, according to AP.

“We are still trying to locate it. There is no evidence to prove that it has crashed,” Marines spokeswoman Capt. Cassandra Gesecki said, according to the Irish Times.

Thursday 13 May 2015

http://www.ibtimes.com/nepals-latest-earthquake-death-toll-crosses-100-search-continues-missing-us-army-1921864

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More bodies found in Philippines slipper factory fire

Officials said the death toll in a rubber slipper factory fire in a suburb of the Philippines’ capital had climbed to at least 72 on Thursday as police continued to retrieve charred bodies from the gutted building. Dozens more remained missing and feared dead.

A fierce blaze quickly took hold of the Kentex Manufacturing Corp factory in Valenzuela city north of Manila on Wednesday. On Thursday Eduardo Nazar, village council chief of Ugong where the factory is located, said: “The [police forensic officers] will do all they can to identify the victims because they are totally burned.”

The flames were so intense that even jewellery the victims wore that might have helped with their identification had melted in the heat or fallen off, Nazar said.

The local mayor, Rex Gatchalian, said retrieval of the remains resumed on Thursday after it was suspended late on Wednesday because of the heat and worries about the instability of the two-storey building.

He said relatives of the missing were asked to provide lists of clothing items, body features, dental records and other items to help identify the victims.



Dionesio Candido, whose daughter, granddaughter, sister-in-law and niece were among the missing, said iron grilles reinforced with fencing wire covered windows on the second floor that “could prevent even cats from escaping”.

He said he was allowed by authorities to enter the gutted building where he saw charred remains “piled on top of each other” but could not say how many.

District fire marshal Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan Tiu said he was among the first to reach the second floor of the gutted building after the fire and saw “numerous bodies” but could not immediately say how many.

The owner of the factory, which is operated by Kentex Manufacturing and produces rubber flip flops and sandals, said about 200 to 300 people were inside the building at the time of the fire.

The mayor of the Valenzuela district, Rexlon Gatchalian, told the AFP news agency he did not expect the death toll to rise much further, as the number of bodies retrieved matched the number of people missing.

Local media reports quoted relatives as saying their kin sent text messages saying they were on the second floor but contact was lost shortly after.

Gatchalian said the fire was apparently ignited by sparks from welding work being done at the factory’s main entrance door, triggering an explosion of the chemicals used to make the slippers.

Workers fled to the second floor where they were trapped, he said. He was unsure if there were any fire escapes there.

Tiu, the fire marshal, said the building had other exits but apparently the workers were overwhelmed by the thick black smoke from the burning rubber and chemicals, which are highly flammable and caused the blaze to spread quickly.

Survivors and relatives of the victims told the news agency that factory employees worked for below minimum wage, surrounded by chemicals, and unaware of fire safety standards.

Thursday 14 May 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/14/more-bodies-found-in-philippines-slipper-factory-fire

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10 killed after mosque collapses in Kenya

At least 10 people have died after the partial collapse of a mosque in Nairobi due to heavy rainfall.

Emergency services were continuing rescue operations in Mukuru, a slum of Nairobi, and have not ruled out the possibility of more bodies being found under the rubble.

Nairobi police chief said early investigations suggested that the wall surrounding the mosque was weakened after being soaked by rain.

In the slums, buildings are made with very poor materials, like clay, making them vulnerable to the elements.

Several parts of Kenya have been hit by flooding after abnormally high rainfall.

In north-eastern Kenya, heavy rains have forced hundreds of families to leave their homes different villages across the region.

In the worst-hit town of Jarajira in north-eastern Garissa county, about 1,000 families had left for higher ground, one local official told the BBC's Bashkas Jugsodhaay in Garissa.

The rains have also affected nomadic communities in the region, with many of them losing their livestock, he says.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/05/12/10-killed-after-mosque-collapses-kenya

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32707150

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Flight MH370: what will happen if the plane is found?

With poor weather conditions hampering the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, speculation has turned to what might happen if the plane is ever discovered. More than 75 per cent of the original search zone in the southern Indian Ocean has been explored with no sign of the aircraft or any of the 239 people believed to have perished on board. Investigators will double the search area if the plane is not found, but they have had to suspend the use of their autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) for the winter months. This week, the Australian government announced that it had set aside an additional A$50m (£25m) to help cover the costs of the ongoing search for the missing plane. "The cost of this measure will be offset by financial contributions to the search from other countries," said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is coordinating the search. "The actual cost will depend on a number of factors, including the length of the search."
One aviation expert has warned that the plane might have to be left on the ocean floor if it is found. Neil Hansford, who has more than 30 years of experience in the airline industry, told the Daily Express that the plane could be inaccessible if it is found in a deep abyss.

Last month, senior ministers from Malaysia, Australia and China met to discuss the next steps in the search and to agree the recovery arrangements if it is found.

Ministers said it was "critical" to have arrangements in place to enable a timely and effective response and said that they remained "committed to bring closure and some peace to the families and loved ones of those on board".

In the event that the aircraft is "found and accessible", evidence would be secured for investigation in accordance with Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention, they said.

This document provides the international requirements for aircraft accident investigations, they include studying the flight recorders and carrying out autopsies with the objective of preventing other disasters in the future.

Aviation law experts have said that Malaysia would likely retain authority of the investigation as it is the "State of Registry" of the aircraft, although the Malaysian government could delegate the inquiry to Australia, as it has done with the search.

"States whose citizens have suffered fatalities in an accident are also entitled to appoint an expert to participate in the investigation," according to the document.

The bulk of Air France flight 447, which crashed in stormy weather en route to Paris from Brazil in 2009, was not found until two years later. While parts of the wreckage and two bodies were found within days, the flight recorders did not turn up until 2011 and the search eventually ended with 74 bodies still missing.

The extensive search of the Atlantic was jointly financed by Air France and Airbus. After four unsuccessful search missions, the wreckage was eventually found just 6.5 nautical miles from the aeroplane's last known location. Deep sea divers only retrieved parts of the aircraft that "were useful to the investigation," leaving the rest of the wreckage on the seabed, according to the final report. The data and cockpit recorders were also recovered, providing crucial evidence about the aircraft's final moments, though some aviation experts still dispute what happened to the plane.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

http://www.theweek.co.uk/57641/flight-mh370-what-might-happen-if-the-plane-is-found

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Nepal earthquake: Dozens die in new tremor near Everest

A major earthquake has struck eastern Nepal, near Mount Everest, two weeks after more than 8,000 people died in a devastating quake. At least 48 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured, officials say. At least 17 have also died in India.

The latest earthquake hit near the town of Namche Bazaar and sent thousands of panicked residents on to the streets of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

It had a magnitude of 7.3, compared with the 7.8 of the 25 April quake.

The latest quake struck at 12:35 Nepali time (06:50 GMT) and was centred about 76km (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, in a rural area close to the Chinese border.

The quake was felt in northern India, Tibet and Bangladesh. India's home ministry said 16 people had been killed in the state of Bihar, and one more in Uttar Pradesh. Officials in China said one person was confirmed dead in Tibet.

Rescue helicopters have been sent to districts east of Kathmandu that are believed to be worst hit. Police in Charikot, 80km north-east of the capital, said 20 people had died there.

Later on Tuesday, the US military said a Marine Corps helicopter involved in disaster relief efforts had gone missing while working in the vicinity of Charikot. Eight people were on board.

A spokesman for Nepal's government told the BBC that 31 of the country's 75 districts had been affected by the latest quake. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala called for "courage and patience" and urged all those who had assisted Nepal since the 25 April quake "to once again extend your helping hand".

The BBC's Yogita Limaye, who was in Nepal's mountains when the latest earthquake struck, said: "The earth shook and it shook for a pretty long time.

"I can completely understand the sense of panic. We have been seeing tremors - it's been two-and-a-half weeks since the first quake. But this one really felt like it went on for a really long time. People have been terrified."

At least four people were killed in the town of Chautara, east of Kathmandu, where a number of buildings are reported to have collapsed. The International Organisation for Migration said bodies were being pulled from rubble there.

Krishna Gyawali, the chief district officer for Chautara, said there had been a number of landslides.

Landslides were also reported by Save the Children in Sindhupalchok and Dolakha. A spokeswoman told the BBC its staff had been "dodging huge rocks rolling off the hillside".

Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam said: "Many houses have collapsed in Dolakha... there is a chance that the number of dead from the district will go up."

The BBC's Navin Singh Khadka says the new earthquake has brought down more houses and lodges in the Everest region but that local officials report very few tourists are still in the area following the 25 April quake.

A nurse in Namche Bazaar, Rhita Doma Sherpa, told Reuters: "The school building is cracked and bits of it, I can see, they have collapsed. It was lunchtime. All the kids were outside."

The latest quake struck at a depth of 15km (9.3 miles), according to the US Geological Survey - the same depth as the April quake. Shallow tremors are more likely to cause greater damage at the surface.

Tuesday's earthquake is likely to be one of the largest to hit Nepal, which has suffered hundreds of aftershocks since 25 April.

The 7.3 quake was followed by six aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or higher.

One tremor that hit 30 minutes later, centred on the district of Ramechhap, east of Kathmandu, had a magnitude of 6.3.

Scientists are already producing some preliminary analyses of Tuesday's quake.

The epicentre this time is about 80km (50 miles) east-north-east of Kathmandu, halfway to Everest. On 25 April, the big quake began 80km to the north-west of the capital.

In April, we saw the fault boundary rupture eastwards for 150km (93 miles). And the immediate assessment suggests Tuesday's tremor has occurred right at the eastern edge of this failure.

In that context, this second earthquake was almost certainly triggered by the stress changes caused by the first one. Indeed, the US Geological Survey had a forecast for an aftershock in this general area.

Its modelling suggested there was 1-in-200 chance of a M7-7.8 event occurring this week. So, not highly probable, but certainly possible.

Quake experts often talk about "seismic gaps", which refer to segments of faults that are, to some extent, overdue a quake. Tuesday's big tremor may well have filled a hole between what we saw on 25 April and some historic events - such as those in 1934, that occurred further still to the east.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32701385

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Whereabouts of 91 missing people during quake still unknown

The whereabouts of 91 missing persons in Constituency no 3 in Sindhupalchowk district since the April 15 quake is still unknown while the bodies of many deceased ones are still left to be retrieved from the rubble, the local police have said.

Of total 24 VDCs in the district, Duwachaur has the highest death toll, standing at 154 while thousands have sustained injuries and some are still missing , shared Central Investigation Bureau DSP Bhim Dahal,who is currently deployed in this quake-hit district.

The Police so far have identified the dead bodies of 1,409 people in the constituency number 3 of the district while many missing persons are assumed to be dead and their bodies were yet to be dug out of debris, DSP Dahal added.

Some four people in Melamchi have gone missing following the 7.6-magnitude quake. The missing persons, who hail from Terai region, are assumed to have been buried under the rubble of their houses, the police said.

Similarly, police have not been successful to pull out the bodies as many people are believed to have been killed during the quake in Ichowk VDC-8 in Nuwakot.

The number of the deceased in the Constituency No 3 of Sindhupalchok district stands at 1,500. Police have been carrying out search-and-rescue operations in collaboration with the Nepal Army and local authorities.

Tuesday 12 May 2015

http://www.ekantipur.com/2015/05/11/top-story/whereabouts-of-91-missing-people-during-quake-still-unknown/405100.html

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Fresh avalanches in Nepal force workers to call of search for bodies in buried village

Fresh avalanches forced rescuers in a village buried by a landslide in northern Nepal to stop searching for bodies in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, officials said Sunday.

The avalanches on Friday and Saturday made the work dangerous for police and army rescuers, and they moved to higher and safer ground, said government administrator Gautam Rimal.

Weather conditions also deteriorated with continuing rainfall and fog, he said.

The April 25 earthquake killed more than 8,000 people and injured more than 16,000 others, as it flattened mountain villages and destroyed buildings and archaeological sites in the Himalayan region.

So far, 120 bodies have been recovered from Langtang Valley, a scenic village on a popular trekking route located about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

Among the bodies were those of nine foreigners, and it was still not clear how many people were buried in the village that was covered by a mudslide set loose by the magnitude-7.8 quake.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless and are still living in tent camps scattered across central and northern Nepal.

Sunday 10 May 2015

http://www.570news.com/2015/05/10/fresh-avalanches-in-nepal-force-workers-to-call-of-search-for-bodies-in-buried-village/

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