Families oppose 9/11 remains at memorial museum

NEW YORK (AP) - March 4, 2012 (WPVI) -- Families of Sept. 11 victims on Sunday called for congressional hearings to establish federal protocols on how to handle human remains after disasters like the terror acts that took thousands of lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

At a news conference near the Sept. 11 memorial, family members spoke days after Pentagon officials revealed that partial remains of several victims were incinerated by a military contractor and sent to a landfill.

The families said they oppose a plan to place unidentified human remains of the New York victims in an underground repository at bedrock they say "desecrates" the memory of their loved ones.

"Are our loved ones' remains marketable?" asked Rosaleen Tallon, sister of firefighter Sean Tallon, who died in the 2001 attack. "They're using them to market trinkets."
She held up a gift keychain inscribed with "No Day Shall Erase You From the Memory" - the same words that grace a memorial wall 70 feet underground. The unidentified remains are to be placed behind it, sharing space with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum but administered separately.

Norman Siegel, the attorney for 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims - a group that has sued New York City over the plans - said they had sent out queries to families asking their opinion. He said they received 350 responses, of which 95 percent expressed opposition to the repository.

"The 9/11 museum is not a graveyard," Siegel said.

Seventeen family members have sued the city, demanding that officials ask relatives of victims what they would like done with the unidentified remains. The group lost, but is appealing.

Instead, group members would like to see the remains encased in a kind of "tomb of the unknown soldier" - above ground as part of the memorial.

The remains of more than 1,100 of the 2,753 victims killed at the World Trade Center have not been identified. The remains are under the jurisdiction of the city's chief medical examiner's office, and even in a repository, they would be available for analysis in the future using any scientific advances.

The wall would separate the museum from the repository and the general public.

An adjacent room will be reserved for family members for visits by special private appointment, apart from the public.

Joseph C. Daniels, president of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, said that putting the remains at bedrock fulfills a promise made to families.

"Since the very beginning, victims' family members have strongly advocated for the unidentified remains to be returned to the World Trade Center site," he said in a statement. "This is the plan that has been honored and is being implemented."

The Sept. 11 memorial was dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the attacks last September.

Work on the planned museum has ground to a halt because of a financial dispute, and there is now no possibility it will open on time next year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said recently.

On Sunday, the group announced it would ask Congress to hold hearings to establish protocols on handling remains of victims of large-scale disaster.

Siegel said the decision was made in the past few days, and that he and group members would contact New York legislators on Monday to suggest hearings on how the unidentified remains of Sept. 11 victims have been and are being handled.

On Tuesday, an independent panel that studied management issues at Dover Air Force Base's mortuary mentioned the landfill disposal in a report it released last week.

"We believe that human remains do not belong in a landfill or a museum," said Sally Regenhard, of Yonkers, whose firefighter son died at the World Trade Center. His remains were never found.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=8568398

continue reading

Concordia victims want the truth

SURVIVORS and relatives of victims of the Costa Concordia shipwreck clamored for truth at a pre-trial hearing in Italy yesterday, with some still waiting for identification of the remains of their loved ones one-and-a-half months after the disaster.

The giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio after hitting a rock on January 13, killing at least 25 people. Seven people are still unaccounted for, and eight of the bodies found have yet to be identified.

Prosecutors have accused captain Francesco Schettino of causing the accident by bringing the Costa Concordia, which was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, too close to shore.

Eight other officers and executives of the ship's owner, Costa Cruises, are also under investigation.

"We want to know the truth, what happened, and what we are supposed to do now. That's all we are asking," said Hilaire Blemand, a French national whose 25-year-old son Michael was onboard the ship with his girlfriend Mylene Litzler, 23.

Both are still missing.

"It's been too long already, it's been six weeks," he said at the theater in the Tuscan city of Grosseto that has been turned into a makeshift courtroom.

The theater is expected to accommodate hundreds of victims' relatives, survivors and lawyers, but is not open to the general public or media.

Fighting back tears, Mylene's mother Brigitte Litzler said her anguish had deepened after identification of the bodies was suspended at the request of the lawyer for one of the ship's officers under investigation. He argued forensic experts from the defense team should be part of the process.

4 March 2012

http://www.shanghaidaily.org/article/print.asp?id=495813

continue reading

Around 200 dead in Congo Republic blasts - official

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo - Blasts rocked the capital of the Republic of Congo Sunday morning after a weapons depot caught fire, officials said, killing and wounding unknown numbers people and forcing 2,000 to flee their homes.

Around 200 people have been killed and many more injured in a series of explosions in Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Republic, according to a senior official in the presidency, citing hospital sources.

"According to sources at the central hospital we're talking of around 200 dead and many injured," Betu Bangana, head of protocol in the president's office in Brazzaville, told Reuters by telephone.

Another explosion struck the area early in the afternoon, causing panic among those gathered there, including journalists.

The explosions shook houses in Brazzaville and echoed across the Congo River to the capital of the neighbouring country.

Didier Boutsindi of the presidential office said the explosions killed an untold number of people, including churchgoers who were killed in the debris of the collapsed building.

"Many of the faithful are trapped in the debris of the church," he said. "Several of the dead have been taken out and I confirm there are more deaths inside."

He said his uncle was killed when his home collapsed on him.

Other witnesses said the wounded may have included hundreds of Chinese workers were wounded.

Many buildings in the area had collapsed.

"It's like a tsunami passed through here," said Christine Ibata, a student.

Defence minister Charles Zacharie Boawo appeared on national television Sunday to urge calm in Brazzaville and in the neighbouring capital of Kinshasa.

"The explosions that you have heard don't mean there is a war or a coup d'etat," he said. "Nor does it mean there was a mutiny. It is an incident caused by a fire at the munitions depot. ... At this very moment our experts are there trying to extinguish this fire so this situation does not recur."

Witnesses said the explosions came from the north of the city and that the impact of the blasts threw open doors of houses in the city centre. The explosions also prompted some residents of the northern part of the city to flee south. Phone networks were quickly overloaded by calls.

The blasts were also heard in Kinshasa, the capital of neighbouring Congo. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the blasts blew out some windows in the centre of town, but that there were no reported deaths and that the situation had returned to normal after the blasts.

The Republic of Congo is often overshadowed by its much larger neighbour, Congo

Sunday, March 04, 2012

http://www.globallethbridge.com/world/rep+of+congo+official+says+some+killed+by+blasts+in+capital+caused+by+munitions+depot+fire/6442593733/story.html

continue reading

Fifteen killed and scores injured as two trains collide head-on in worst Polish rail disaster in living memory

Two trains running on the same track collided head-on in southern Poland last night, killing 15 people and leaving 56 injured.

The accident, which is the worst train disaster in Poland in more than 20 years, happened late last night on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline in the small town of Szczekociny.

As the severity of the crash became known army helicopters were deployed to the scene to race the most seriously injured to hospital while a fleet of 450 emergency vehicles, 100 policemen and dozens of volunteer firemen clawed at the wreckage.

Officials have said it is too early to say what had caused the crash and Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into how the head-on collision happened.
The two mangled trains, comprising 10 carriages in total, were carrying an estimated 350 passengers at the time of the crash.
Several of the passengers were foreigners, including people from Ukraine, Spain and France, but none of them appeared to be among the dead or badly injured.

'The rescue is difficult and complicated,' firefighter Jaroslaw Wojtasik told Polish television.
'The damage to the wagons is huge. We have contact with victims. We are approaching very cautiously

Home News U.S. Sport TV&Showbiz Femail Health Science Money RightMinds Coffee Break Travel Columnists News Home Arts Headlines Pictures Most read News Board My Profile Logout Login Find a Job M&S Wine Our Papers Feedback Sunday, Mar 04 2012 12PM 7°C 3PM 3°C 5-Day Forecast Fifteen killed and scores injured as two trains collide head-on in worst Polish rail disaster in living memory
One of the trains was on the wrong side of the tracks on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline
Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation but officials have said it is too early to say what caused the crash
'Even more dramatic than the pictures are the facts' said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk
By Jill Reilly

Last updated at 11:39 AM on 4th March 2012

Comments (4) Share

Two trains running on the same track collided head-on in southern Poland last night, killing 15 people and leaving 56 injured.

The accident, which is the worst train disaster in Poland in more than 20 years, happened late last night on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline in the small town of Szczekociny.
As the severity of the crash became known army helicopters were deployed to the scene to race the most seriously injured to hospital while a fleet of 450 emergency vehicles, 100 policemen and dozens of volunteer firemen clawed at the wreckage.

Tragic: Fifteen people were killed and up to 50 injured when the two trains collided head-on late last night on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline in the small town of Szczekociny

Head-on collision: The crash happened after one of the trains ended up on the wrong side of the tracks and army helicopters were deployed to the scene to race the most seriously injured to hospital

Mangled wreck: Three coaches are reported to be especially damaged, and the rescue operation focused on finding passengers there, although rescue workers ended their search for the wounded early this morning

Investigation: Officials have said it is too early to say what had caused the crash and Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into how the head-on collision happened

Officials have said it is too early to say what had caused the crash and Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into how the head-on collision happened.
The two mangled trains, comprising 10 carriages in total, were carrying an estimated 350 passengers at the time of the crash.
Several of the passengers were foreigners, including people from Ukraine, Spain and France, but none of them appeared to be among the dead or badly injured.

'The rescue is difficult and complicated,' firefighter Jaroslaw Wojtasik told Polish television.
'The damage to the wagons is huge. We have contact with victims. We are approaching very cautiously.'

Rescue effort: The two mangled trains, comprising 10 carriages in total, were carrying an estimated 350 passengers at the time of the crash

Shocking: Prime Minister Donald Tusk, left, called the accident the most tragic train catastrophe in Poland in recent years after visiting the site in the early hours of today as bodies were being retrieved from the wreckage


Surveying the damage: A fleet of 450 emergency vehicles, 100 policemen and dozens of volunteer firemen clawed at the wreckage
Three coaches are reported to be especially damaged, and the rescue operation focused on finding passengers there.
Rescue workers ended their search for the wounded and prosecutors opened their investigation early Sunday.

One passenger estimated that his train was travelling about 120km/h (75 mph), when it started braking very sharply.

'Then we felt a powerful impact, and we were thrown about the compartment,' the passenger told TVN24.
Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP, said in an interview that one of the trains, which was traveling south from Warsaw to Krakow, should not have been on the track.

The other train, headed from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw, was on the correct track, Mr Pawlowski said.

It wasn't immediately clear how the southbound train ended up on the wrong track.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the accident the most tragic train catastrophe in Poland in recent years after visiting the site in the early hours of today.

'Even more dramatic than the pictures are the facts,' Mr Tusk said. 'This is our most tragic train disaster in many, many years.'

He arrived at the scene early on Sunday morning, with three other cabinet ministers.
Maintenance work was being carried out on one of the tracks where the collision occurred.

4 March 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2109981/Polish-train-crash-15-killed-2-trains-collide-head-worst-rail-disaster-living-memory.html#ixzz1o9dEThz0

continue reading

Learn Morse code to help disaster victims, radio hams told

JOHOR BARU: Amateur radio enthusiasts should learn Morse code so that they can respond to emergencies better.

South Johor Amateur Bandwidth Radio Association patron Tunku Abdul Jalil Tunku Osman said such a skill was useful, especially during natural disasters.

“During the 2004 tsunami, the emergency response teams that were deployed to Aceh used Morse code to find victims as phone lines were damaged.

“In the major flood that hit Kota Tinggi and several other districts in the state, our members used two-way radios to help,” he said after attending the association’s annual general meeting here yesterday.

There are two categories for the amateur radio operator’s certificate: Class A and Class B from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

A ham radio operator needs a Class B licence to keep and operate a wireless radio.

“The Class A licence requires that the holder learns Morse code,” he said, adding that a higher frequency bandwidth which covers more areas is used.

4 March 2012
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/4/nation/10853414&sec=nation

continue reading

Southern Poland train crash leaves 14 dead

Two trains have collided in southern Poland, leaving 14 people dead, local officials say, and 50 hurt.

The accident occurred on Saturday evening on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline at the small town of Szczekociny, according to Polish TV.

Two express trains, one of which was on the wrong track, collided head-on, a senior railway official said.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived at the scene early on Sunday morning, with three other cabinet ministers.

"This appears to be one of the most serious railway accidents in recent years," Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak told the TVN24 news channel.

Some passengers remain trapped in the wreckage, police say. Helicopter ambulances from Warsaw and Wroclaw are helping to take the injured to hospitals.

"The rescue is difficult and complicated," firefighter Jaroslaw Wojtasik told Polish television.

"The damage to the wagons is huge. We have contact with victims. We are approaching very cautiously."

Engineering works
The accident occurred at 21:15 (20:15 GMT), when a train travelling north from Przemysl to Warsaw collided with a southbound train from Warsaw to Krakow.


Scheduled engineering works were taking place on one track at Szczekociny station at the time of the accident.

The Krakow train was on the wrong track, Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP, told the TV station TVN24.

Three coaches are reported to be especially damaged, and the rescue operation is focusing on finding passengers there.

The three coaches were "completely destroyed - like a concertina", one eyewitness told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

Another passenger estimated that his train was travelling about 120km/h (75 mph), when it started braking very sharply.

"Then we felt a powerful impact, and we were thrown about the compartment," the passenger told TVN24.

4 March 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17248735

continue reading

Guyana’s air and river transport disasters

…volumes of ‘cold cases’ as families still seek closure

Guyana compared to the rest of the countries in South America is small in size and in comparison to its sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries has a negligible transportation air and sea fleet. But it’s not without its fair share of air and river disasters.

In 2009 Prometheus Resources Guyana had a plane conducting aerial surveys as part of a mineral mapping programme.

That plane has disappeared along with its crew and despite valiant searches is yet to be found.
The following year the ‘Captain Sunil’ went down with its crewmembers in the Atlantic.
They included, 44-year-old Teserdeen Lochan, called ‘Paulin’ of Lot 70 Madewini, and brothers, Jairam Surujpaul, 42, and ‘Foman’ Surujpaul, of Lot Five Bladen Hall, East Coast Demerara.
Fortunately, the crew on this vessel was discovered two weeks later some 123 nautical miles from the location where the boat was believed to have met its ill fate.

The GDF Coast Guard had played an instrumental role in rescuing the fisherman.
In 2009, the cargo vessel, ‘Island Princess,’ and its crew went missing.
The bodies of its captain, Titus Buckley Nascimento, 46, and the engineer, 25-year-old engineer Mahendra Singh, were found at Zeelandia, Wakenaam, and on the Hamburg Island seashore respectively.

A third body, identified as that of 23-year-old Ryan Chin, was found near the Queenstown, Essequibo foreshore.

All the bodies were degutted and bore bullet wounds. Still missing is 46-year-old crewman Rickford Bannister.

The vessel was found some time later off the cost of Grenada.
Piracy has also been one of the key problems facing local fishermen with dozens being murdered while at sea.

The bullet-riddled bodies of the slain have washed up from as far away as the Pomeroon to the Corentyne.
Some of the victims have never been found and most of the perpetrators remain at large and seem not to be fazed by the July 2008 introduction of the Hijacking and Piracy Bill that prescribes the death penalty.

On October 12, 2007, a fishing trawler, the Captain Jewel, with its six-man crew, departed from the Meadowbank wharf, with the intention of fishing between Guyana and Suriname.
But after setting sail, the vessel and crew disappeared.

In late October, the decomposed bodies of three of the crew were found in the Corentyne River.
It was clear that they had been murdered, since two of the dead men were bound hands and feet.
The victims were identified as Patrick Parboo, 20, the captain, Mahendra Gangadin, called ‘Bready’ of Annandale Sand Reef, both of East Coast Demerara and 29-year-old Mark Sylvester Persram, called ‘Buddy’ of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.

Still missing are the captain’s 20-year-old brother, Navinda Gangadin, called ‘Dar’, Davindra Persaud, 21 and Christopher Rooplall, 20.
The ill-fated Captain Jewel has never been found.
In December 2007, the bodies of three Guyanese men, Paul Da Silva, Rudolph Da Silva and Junior Gomez, were found in Suriname after they had left for a trip to Venezuela, where they had operated a passenger boat service earlier that month.
The killers were never identified.

In March, 2009, the bullet-riddled bodies of Romeo De Agrella, 41, and his son, Clint De Agrella, 21, of Grant Hope, Pomeroon, were found at Shell Beach in the Barima-Waini Region.
Their boat, which also bore bullet holes, was also found, but the vessel’s 250 hp engine was missing.

The two men were reportedly slain while heading home from a trip to Venezuela.
Romeo De Agrella was the uncle of Rudolph Da Silva, one of the three men who turned up dead in Suriname waters in 2007.

According to local police officials, the killings were believed to be drug-related.
Police have since charged Jerome Parkes, a 24-year-old dredge owner of the Lower Pomeroon, Tyrone Da Silva and Lloyd Roberts with the murder of the De Agrellas.

In June, 2009, Fazal Hoosain, a well-known businessman from Number 69 Village, Corentyne, was travelling with other passengers in a Suriname ‘back-track’ vessel when five masked men with rifles and handguns approached.

After firing warning shots to force the passenger boat to stop, some of the gunmen boarded the boat, disabled its engine and relieved the passengers of their cell phones.
They then forced Hoosain, who was reportedly carrying millions in cash, to accompany them in their boat. Hours later, the crew of a fishing vessel found Hoosain’s bound and battered body in the Corentyne River.

Police detained three men for Hoosain’s murder, but they were never charged.
On August 11, 2009, Jainarine Dinanauth, his 10-year-old son Ricky, and boat captain Henry Gibson were heading to Hogg Island when their boat was reportedly struck by another vessel.
Dinanauth and Gibson’s bodies were found drifting in the damaged boat just off the eastern side of Hog Island.

However, ten-year-old Ricky Dinanauth’s body has not been found.
There is suspicion that their vessel was rammed by a Coast Guard vessel. Green paint that was suspected to have come from a Coast Guard vessel of similar colour was also found on the wreck.
That suspicion escalated when three Coast Guard ranks were implicated in the abduction and murder of 24-year-old Bartica resident Dweive Kant Ramdass.

On August 20, 2009, Ramdass, who was employed with a gold and diamond buyer, was travelling to Bartica with $17M in cash for his employer when the ranks allegedly took him off the vessel in the vicinity of the Parika Stelling. After relieving their victim of the cash, the Coast Guard ranks allegedly killed Ramdass and dumped him in the Bonasika Creek.
The Guyana Defence Force subsequently mounted an investigation into the possible involvement of Coast Guard ranks and the Hog Island crash.

However, the army has since stated that its findings were inconclusive, while the Guyana Police Force is still to complete forensic tests on the two vessels.

3 March 2012

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/03/03/guyana%E2%80%99s-air-and-river-transport-disasters/

continue reading

DSWD-7 implements family access cards in quake sites

CEBU CITY, March 2 (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will implement the use of the family access cards (FAC) in earthquake-stricken areas to ensure that no one is left unattended.

This is also to avoid duplication of goods and services received by the quake victims.

With this development, the DSWD will be able to identify and track who among the disaster victims have received and benefited from the relief supplies (food and non-food items) coming from both government and private sectors as well as the different services they have availed of, such as psychosocial intervention, medical, and shelter.

The cards contain detailed information on all the clients served inside and outside the evacuation centers (family composition, specific address, the number and kind of assistance received, signatures of the head of the family, service providers, social workers) as well as local officials (barangay captains and mayors).

So far, 61,027 victims have been served, amounting to more than P24 million.

A total of 3,526 houses have been recorded to be totally destroyed and 5,978 houses partially damaged.

There are now 39 evacuation centers left in the province of Negros Oriental with 8,723 displaced families who are currently and still temporarily taking refuge as aftershocks continue. (RMN-PIA-7/HFG/DSWD-7)

Thursday 1st of March 2012

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=&pdp=4&article=1091330597280

continue reading

Sep 11 victims' remains sent to landfill - Pentagon

The Pentagon revealed today that partial, incinerated remains of some Sept. 11 victims that could not be identified were sent to a landfill.

The number of victims involved was unclear according to a Pentagon report, but it involved some of those killed when a terrorist-hijacked airplane struck the Pentagon, killing 184, and another crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, killing 40, in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the U.S.

The Pentagon released the report by an independent committee that was asked to examine practices at the military's mortuary at Dover, Delaware, the first stopping point for fallen troops coming home from war overseas.

"We don't think it should have happened," the committee chairman, retired Gen. John Abizaid, told a Pentagon news conference.

The panel was formed after an investigation revealed last November that there was "gross mismanagement" at the Dover facility and body parts had been lost on two occasions. After that investigation, news reports said that some cremated partial remains of at least 274 American war dead were dumped in a Virginia landfill until a policy change halted the practice in 2008.

Tuesday's report was explaining the old policy, and said:

"This policy began shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when several portions of remains from the Pentagon attack and the ... crash site could not be tested or identified."

It said the partial remains were cremated, then given to a biomedical waste disposal contractor who incinerated them and took them to a landfill.

Wednesday Feb 29, 2012

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10788762

continue reading

U.S. Army identifies remains of last missing soldier in Iraq

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Army said Sunday it has identified the remains of the last missing American service member unaccounted for in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Ahmed K. Altaie of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was kidnapped October 23, 2006, after he left the Green Zone in Baghdad. The military said Altaie, then 41, and serving as a translator for the U.S. military, was visiting family members when he was abducted.

A group in February 2007 claimed on a militant Shiite Web site that it had Altaie, and posted a 10-second video of a man it claimed was him. The man in the video was Altaie, his uncle told CNN then.

Altaie's remains were identified on Saturday by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner at the Dover Port Mortuary in Delaware, the Army said.

27 Febr 2012

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/26/world/meast/iraq-missing-soldier-id/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

continue reading

Bus plunges into ditch in Bangladesh, killing 15

DHAKA, Bangladesh (BNO NEWS) — At least fifteen people were killed on Friday when a bus plunged into a water-filled ditch in central Bangladesh, police said. Dozens more were injured.

The accident happened when the overcrowded bus was crossing a diversion road built for temporary use during the construction of a bridge on the highway. The bus went out of control due to the dilapidated condition of the road and plunged into a ditch, leaving 15 dead and 50 others injured.

Witnesses told the Daily Star newspaper that fourteen people died on the spot of the accident while another succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital. The injured were transferred to a nearby hospital, including six in critical condition.

The bus was heading to the southern Barisal district and was carrying more than 100 passengers who were due to attend a congregation. Many also got onto the top of the bus, witnesses said.

Road accidents are common in Bangladesh and many are blamed on reckless driving, poor road conditions and old vehicles. It is estimated that road accidents claim at least 13,000 lives a year and leave hundreds of thousands injured in the Asian country.

In July 2011, at least 53 people were killed when the driver of a truck lost control and plunged into a pond in the southeastern region of Bangladesh. The truck was carrying around 80 school children who were returning home after winning a district inter-school football championship.

24 Febr 2012

http://earththreats.com/2012/02/bus-plunges-into-ditch-in-bangladesh-killing-15/

continue reading

Valentine’s Day Mass Burial For Over 120 Bodies

Over 100 unclaimed bodies at the Police Hospital in Ghana will be buried in a mass grave at the Awudome Cemetery in Accra.

The Police hospital Mortuary in Accra designated for unknown bodies is congested and cannot admit new dead bodies by the middle of next month. The hospital has two fridges, one for identified bodies and the other for unknown bodies, which though designed to accommodate 30 bodies, now has over 120.

The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Inspector Juliana Obeng, Speaking to the Times yesterday said the situation had compelled the hospital authorities to transfer some of the bodies to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital Mortuary.

To solve the problem, the Police Hospital will from Tuesday February 14, begin disposing of all such bodies through mass burial. There hospital is therefore giving relatives and the public who have deposited their dead bodies at the hospital mortuary up to February 14 (valentine’s day) to collect them”, she stressed. Inspector Obeng said failure to collect the bodies would compel the hospital to embark on mass burial.

Inspector Obeng lamented the failure of relatives to claim bodies of their dead even when announcement were made and appealed to the public to take the announcement seriously.

The bodies have been stacked in the hospital’s mortuary for over a year.

Authorities at the hospital have said most of the bodies are those who died through criminal related offences. The Public Relations Officer of the Police Hospital, Chief Inspector Juliana Obeng, told Citi News the exercise is to decongest the morgue.

“It has become necessary because the ridge was built for 30 bodies at a time and has exceeded its capacity. It is now overflowing with over 120 bodies hence the need for a decongestion exercise,” she explained.

Chief Inspector Obeng explained that since most of the persons brought there were criminals or had no identification it made it difficult to trace the family members of the deceased.

25 Febr 2012
http://www.ghananaija.com/news/2012/01/police-hospital-mass-burial-on-valentine%E2%80%99s-day/
http://news.peacefmonline.com/social/201202/94903.php

continue reading

Anger as Argentina finds 51st train victim

Rescue workers in Argentina have found another body in the wreckage of a train that crashed two days earlier, raising the death toll to 51 and prompting angry reaction from family and friends of the victim.

Lucas Menghini Rey's body was missed in the chaotic response to Wednesday's crash, which has focused widespread anger at the government's failure to protect passengers from long-known safety threats in the train system.

Relatives and friends were in tears at Friday's news, while others keeping vigil at the station threw objects at passing buses and taxis.

Menghini Rey's identification was confirmed by sources investigating the crash, Argentina's state-owned Telam news agency and official Channel 7 reported.

Riot police responded to the protest with tear gas and batons, clearing the station and making arrests. At least one police officer was injured.

Some rioters started small fires and looted stores in the station as Menghini Rey's family and friends left in tears.

While the cause of the crash remains under investigation and the motorman who failed to stop in time has yet to make a statement, many commuters are furious that the government appeared to ignore repeated warnings about problems with Argentina's trains, including brake failures.

Many suspect corruption and mismanagement contributed to the crash, which also injured 703 of the 1,500 passengers when the eight-car train slammed into the end of the line at less than 12 mph (20 kph).

Menghini Rey had not appeared on any lists of the dead or injured, of whom about 30 of whom remain hospitalised. On Friday, city officials had announced that all other passengers had been accounted for.

His body was found after Nilda Garre, the country's security minister, personally took over and ordered police back to the wreck, searching "even in the most impossible places", Telam reported.

Inside the station, his family and friends stacked boxes plastered with his picture and numbers to call, along with the phrase "we are as fragile as cardboard", a feeling shared by many after seeing how the massive train cars crumpled and crushed hundreds of passengers inside.

Menghini Rey's family had not seen him since he said goodbye early that morning to his 3-year-old daughter, promising to bring her a toy when he came back from work at a downtown call centre.

Argentina's third deadly train accident in less than a year has focused attention on the dilapidated passenger rail system, privatised in 1995 and heavily subsidised by the government since then to keep ticket prices low.

25 Febr 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/02/20122256339114233.html

continue reading

Bangladesh: Dhaka ill-prepared for quakes

Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, is ill-prepared for earthquakes due to lack of awareness and unplanned urbanization, say experts.

“Total disregard for the national building code by the builders has left Dhaka extremely susceptible,” said earthquake expert and civil engineer Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET).

In 2011 Dhaka’s roughly 11 million people were rocked by three earthquakes each registering at least six on the Richter scale - but without any casualties or damage, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

The Department said the most recent quake in September did not cause casualties due to “sheer luck” because the tremor stopped in less than two minutes.

But had luck not been on the capital’s side, the population would have been ill-prepared for any fallout, said Manish Kumar Agarwal, a programme manager for disaster preparedness at Oxfam’s Dhaka office.

In a “worst-case scenario”, more than 100,000 people may die and numerous others need hospitalization if a 7.5 magnitude earthquake from the nearby Madhupur Fault were to hit the capital, according to a 2009 study by the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) under the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

Some 400,000 buildings in the country’s three largest cities - Dhaka, Chittagong some 200km south of Dhaka, and Sylhet in the northeast - are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and would be damaged “beyond repair” in the event of a major quake, according to the CDMP study.

There are an estimated 849 major hospitals in these three cities, but most would be damaged or non-functional in the event of a major quake, according to the World Health Organization office in Bangladesh, which has since 2010 funded a health team to conduct hospital safety assessments nationwide.

Retrofitting

The government is recruiting 62,000 “urban community volunteers” to be disaster responders, of which “7,000 have already been trained and given tools to conduct search and rescue operations,” Mohammad Abdul Qayyum, CDMP national project director, told IRIN.

Qayyum added that earthquake preparedness has been included in the school curriculum through regular drills as of 2004, and the government drafted its first earthquake emergency plan in 2009.

According to Qayyum, CDMP is also conducting training programmes for masons and builders in cooperation with the government’s Housing and Building Research Institute.

“There are also plans to retrofit selected buildings such as hospitals to strengthen them against quakes,” he said.

Experts calculate that from the design stage, it costs an additional 4 percent to make a building resilient against disasters, but such costs multiply after the building’s construction.

Media campaign

Action Aid, Concern Universal, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB and Plan International, under the platform of the National Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Response Initiative, launched a media campaign three months after the September 2011 earthquake to educate residents about earthquake risks.

“Me, my wife and our six-year-old boy were running down to streets out of fear in our home, which is a 21-storey apartment building, at the time of an earthquake on 18 September 2011 as the whole building was shaking,” said resident Anwar Munir, still “haunted” by what turned out to be a 6.8-scale earthquake.

Dhaka is identified as one of world’s “megacities” - cities with at least 10 million residents - most at risk of liquefaction in the event of an earthquake, where soil can liquefy, according to the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in a 2010 publication.

“We still don’t know what to do in an event of an earthquake,” added Munir.

25 Febr 2012

http://www.speroforum.com/a/WYDUWKUBQN28/68860-Bangladesh---Dhaka-illprepared-for-quakes

continue reading

Families want NZ mine photos released

The families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River Coal mine have applied to have photos showing the bodies of two workers made public.

Spokesman for the families, Bernie Monk, says they have been shown photos that are so clear they have been able to positively identify the bodies of two men.

"There are two men - we know who the two people are," he told New Zealand's Sunday Star Times.

The families are debating whether the photos should be publicly released to boost calls for a body recovery mission. They are also considering launching their own efforts to re-enter the mine.

Mr Monk said the families have applied to have the photos released and are waiting to hear back.

The decision to release the photos has to be made by the Royal Commission of Inquiry investigating the cause of the New Zealand mining disaster in November 2010.

Other photos seen by the families show that a box containing self-rescue kits had been opened after the first explosion.

Mr Monk said the photos were proof some of the miners had survived the November 19 blast.

A second explosion, four days later, ruled out any hope of survival, police said at the time.

The families have been frustrated by the slow progress towards recovering the bodies from the mine. They have recently sent a three-page letter to New Zealand Prime Minister John Key urging more action.

25 Febr 2012

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13014951/families-want-nz-mine-photos-released/

continue reading

Argentines discover 51st victim in train wreck

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentine rescue workers found another body Friday in the wreck of a train that crashed two days earlier, raising the death toll to 51. Supporters of the victim's devastated family vented their fury over failed government oversight at riot police.

The search for 20-year-old Lucas Menghini Rey, whose body was missed in the chaotic response to Wednesday's crash, focused widespread anger at the government's failure to protect passengers from long-known safety threats in the train system.

His identification was confirmed by sources investigating the crash, Argentina's state-owned Telam news agency and official Channel 7 reported.

Family and friends collapsed together in tears at the news, while others keeping vigil at the station erupted in anger. Some shouted "throw them all out, not one should remain!" The phrase became iconic during the protests of a decade ago, when public outrage over a failed economy forced a series of presidents to resign.

While the cause remains under investigation and the motorman who failed to stop in time has yet to make a statement, many commuters are furious that the government appeared to ignore repeated warnings about problems including brake failures.

Many suspect corruption and mismanagement contributed to the crash, which also injured 703 of the 1,500 passengers when the eight-car train slammed into the end of the line at less than 12 mph (20 kph).

Menghini Rey hadn't appeared on any lists of dead or injured, about 30 of whom remain hospitalized, and city officials announced Friday that all other passengers had been accounted for. His body was found after Security Minister Nilda Garre personally took over and ordered police back to the wreck, searching "even in the most impossible places," Telam reported.

Inside the station, his family and friends stacked boxes plastered with his picture and numbers to call, along with the phrase "we are as fragile as cardboard," a feeling shared by many after seeing how the massive train cars crumpled and crushed hundreds of passengers inside.

Menghini Rey's family hadn't seen him since he said goodbye early that morning to his 3-year-old daughter, promising to bring her a toy when he came back from work at a downtown call centre, his friend Fernando Diaz told The Associated Press.

But rumours flew that he had survived. One city official even said he had been seen by psychiatrists at a hospital who released him into the streets, and that he might have been suffering from shock and post-traumatic stress.

Argentina's third deadly train accident in less than a year has focused attention on the dilapidated passenger rail system, privatized in 1995 and heavily subsidized by the government since then to keep ticket prices low.

Hard stops are common around the world, rail experts say, so modern cars are designed to avoid the crumpling that can happen when the lead car hits a barrier. But these cars were built decades ago and bought as refurbished castoffs from other urban rail systems.

While a shock-absorbing bumper at the end of the line kept the front of the train intact, the cars behind it slammed into each other, shoving the second car, with hundreds of people standing inside, deeply into the first. Rescuers had to use Vaseline and cooking oil to untangle the living and dead.

Argentina boasted the continent's most modern trains in the early 20th century, but they were in decline for decades before the system was privatized in the 1990s by President Carlos Menem, who promised much better service.

The family run Trains of Buenos Aires company got the concession that includes the Sarmiento line. Repeated audits since then determined that the TBA hasn't fulfilled its contract.

The tragedy "is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with basic standards" that were identified in a 2008 report by the nation's Auditor General, said the watchdog office's chief, Leandro Despouy.

That report details multiple problems with brake systems: missing emergency brake levers and inoperable hand brakes and brake cylinders. It was presented that year to the presidency and the congress. No one did anything, complained Despouy, whose main political support comes from a minority party, the Radical Civic Union.

Company officials countered after the crash that their trains are safe, and suggested human error was to blame.

Meanwhile, justice has moved slowly in the case of Ricardo Jaime, who resigned as transportation minister after Argentine media revealed that he had accepted free flights to Brazilian vacations from TBA executives while deciding how much the company would get in government subsidies. He remains outside of jail while awaiting trial on bribery charges.

"Here the blame is shared between the company and the government that fails to control it," said Andres Peralta, a 28-year-old student who signed a leftist group's petition to re-nationalize the trains.

The government said won't decide on the TBA's future until the courts take action.

President Cristina Fernandez has been silent since the tragedy, and left the capital Friday for her home in Argentina's remote Patagonia region. The President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, planned to see her there after meeting in Buenos Aires with survivors from his country.

Feb 24, 2012

http://www.newstalk650.com/content/argentines-discover-51st-victim-train-wreck

continue reading

The doctor will sea you now: Hospital boat could rescue victims of natural disasters

We've all heard of the flying doctors - now we could soon have the floating doctors thanks to a hospital boat developed by an Italian yacht designer.

Marino Alfani, 29, came up with the concept after talking to his childhood friend Dr Taddeo Baino, who had just returned from a medical mission in Africa.

The hospital boat would be able to come close in to shore and ferry passengers to it by ambulance and helicopter

Mr Alfani realised that a hospital boat could treat people from coastal areas that have no or ill-equipped hospitals and could also respond to emergencies at sea like the recent Costa Concordia wreck. It could also provide relief to victims of natural disasters like the 2004 tsunami, which wiped out whole road networks.

So he designed a catamaran that would be equipped with state-of-the-art medical examination areas, operating theatres, laboratories, recovery rooms and a hyperbaric chamber (for oxygen therapy). There would be a small helipad on the bridge and a garage accessible from the stern to store an ambulance.

The boat would accommodate three crew members and nine doctors and nurses and could treat 50 people a day - which would be 1,500 a month. As a catamaran it could come close in to shore.

Speaking to L'Eco Di Bergamo, Mr Alfani said: 'The earth is surrounded by water and it is unthinkable that there is no tool that allows immediate first aid at sea.'

He added that the boat was modeled on the emergency room of the Bergamo Hospital in Italy.
The boat, made from aluminium alloy would measure 115ft long, 48ft wide and stand 25ft tall. It would be propelled by two 1200 diesel electric motors and travel at a top speed of 10knots. The boat would have a fuel capacity of 50,000l.

Mr Alfani has an architecture degree from the Politecnico di Milano as well as a Masters in Yacht Design and now has his own studio where he can tackle boat design to construction. He is also an experienced interior designer.

The hospital boat concept won a prize this month at the 2012 Millennium Yacht Design Awards.

22 February 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2104254/Hospital-boat-designed-Marino-Alfani-rescue-victims-natural-disasters.html#ixzz1nAXZR0S6

continue reading

Scores killed in Argentina train crash

A packed train slammed into a barrier at a Buenos Aires station today, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters.

Federal Police Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez said the dead include 48 adults and one child.

It is Argentina's highest death toll from a train accident since 1970, when 200 were killed in a train collision.

Earlier, Alberto Crescenti, the city's emergency medical director, said at least 550 people were injured and that 30 people remained trapped inside the first car, where rescuers carved open the roof and set up a pulley system to pull them out.

The commuter train came in too fast and hit the barrier at the end of the platform at about 12mph, smashing the front of the engine and crunching the leading cars behind it, Argentina's transportation secretary told reporters at the station.

Most damaged was the first car, where passengers make space for bicycles. Survivors told a TV channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.

Passengers said windows exploded as the tops of train cars separated from their floors.

The trains are usually packed with people standing between the seats, and many were thrown into each other and to the floor by the force of the hard stop.

Many people suffered bruises, and many with lesser injuries were waiting for attention on the Once station's platforms as helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well. From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes," said Ruben Sobrero, a union chief.

AP 22 Febr 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/scores-killed-in-argentina-train-crash-7298954.html

continue reading

Five-year-old girl among eight bodies found on Costa Concordia

A five-year-old girl was among eight bodies found inside the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Dayana Arlotti, from Rimini, whose father William Arlotti is also missing, is the youngest person who died in the disaster.

The grim discoveries came as prosecutors announced that they had widened their investigation to include four more of the ship’s officers and three employees of Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based company that owns the liner.

The bodies were found by Italian fire service divers on the fourth deck of the giant ship, which was at the start of a week-long cruise of the Mediterranean when it ran aground on Giglio island, off the coast of Tuscany, on Jan 13.

The first four bodies were found in the morning, with another four located in the flooded hull later in the day.

Aside from the little girl, rescue officials said the dead included a man and a woman. It was not known whether they were passengers or crew members.

The discovery of the bodies brought the confirmed death toll to 25, with at least seven people still missing.

continue reading

Chile sends experts to Honduras to investigate prison disaster

TEGUCIGALPA – This afternoon, the first group of experts from Chile’s Legal Medical Service (Servicio Médico Legal), or SML, arrived in Honduras to collaborate in the identification of the victims of the Comayagua prison, where a fire left more than 350 inmates dead.

Their arrival was confirmed by the Minister of Justice, Patricia Pérez, who hopes that the four experts who left early this morning will be able to start their work immediately.

The remaining eight professionals will arrive in Honduras tomorrow, and will collaborate with local authorities on how to best use their skills to help out however they can.

“The Servicio Médico Legal and the Civil Registry are both services of the Ministry of Justice, which has gained experience in tragedies, not only what occurred in San Miguel prison, but also in other unfortunate events that have afflicted the country, such as the earthquake and the tragedy of Juan Fernández,” said the Minister on Chilean TV station Canal 13.

The group of 14 specialists, two of which belong to the Civil Registry, will stay in Honduras for approximately two weeks. Among them are thanatologists, forensic orthodontists and biochemists who will investigate the tremendous loss of life at the prison.

The director of SML, Patricio Bustos, explained that “the identification process would involve fingerprint analysis, forensic dentistry, or, if neccessary, comprehensive genetic screening.”

Of the 820 prisoners that were housed in the prison, only 475 survived the blaze. These figures may change before too long, since there are several critically injured people still in intensive care at the hospital.

The Honduran government has declared three days of national mourning and President Porfirio Lobo ordered various government agencies to provide the assistance to the police and prosecutors.

The government of Chile has expressed its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, and their hopes and prayers for a quick recovery for the wounded.

President Piñera had a telephone conversation with President Lobo in which he expressed solidarity among the Chilean and Honduran people during this tragedy.

February 16, 2012

http://ilovechile.cl/2012/02/16/chile-experts-honduras-investigate-prison-disaster/48363

continue reading

Volta Lake Disaster: 10 Bodies Retrieved As Boat Owner Flees

Ten bodies including a three-month-old baby have been retrieved from the Volta Lake at Krachi West after a boat with 12 passengers onboard capsized on Sunday.

The coordinator of the National Disaster and Management Organisation (NADMO) in the area, Amudu Baba Seidu, confirmed the incident to Citi Eyewitness News on Monday. He said the boat, which was travelling from Keta to Krachi West hit a stamp in the lake resulting in its wreckage.
He said the 10 people who died included four children and six mothers.

“On the boat they were 12, but when the boat capsized 10 died and two were able to swim across the river. Four were younger girls including a three-month-old baby and then six were mothers,” he said.

Mr. Seidu said all the 10 victims have been identified and relief items are being sent to their families, adding that NADMO would also help offset the bills for the burial of the victims.

According to Mr. Seidu, the owner of the boat managed to escape and has since not been found.
He, however, indicated that the matter has since been reported to the police for further investigations.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

http://www.ghananaija.com/news/2012/02/volta-lake-disaster-10-bodies-retrieved-as-boat-owner-flees/

continue reading

Search for disaster victims held on Fukushima coast

SENDAI — Some 100 officers from the Miyagi Prefectural Police force conducted an intensive search Monday for remains near an elementary school in Ishinomaki that lost 70 of its 108 students to the quake and tsunami on March 11.

Nine of the 13 teachers and administrative staff at Okawa Elementary School also died, and four students and a teacher are still listed as missing, along with 45 other residents of the Okawa district.

Police searched the Fuji River, which runs in front of the school, and have dammed up the waterway for about 1.3 km in order to dredge riverbed mud in the search for remains.

"Our search operation will not end as long as there are missing people," one of the officers said.

In Fukushima Prefecture, police began a three-day search along the coast Sunday for people still listed as missing inside the no-go zone around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

On the first day of the three-day search operation, which involved around 300 officers, including personnel loaned from other prefectures who are being deployed within the zone for the first time, efforts were focused on the Ukedo district in the town of Namie, where around 120 people died or remain missing.

The Fukushima Prefectural Police force has been reinforced with 350 officers from Tokyo and 21 other prefectures, and 145 of them have been assigned to deal with the increasing number of thefts in the hot zone.

"I am acutely aware that huge scars have been left by the quake and tsunami," said Koji Tanaka, a 30-year-old police officer from Saga Prefecture who joined Sunday's search.

"Since Saga also has a nuclear plant, I'm thinking every day what we should do if a similar disaster occurs." he said.

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120221a5.html

continue reading

Christchurch begins grim memorial

A special cemetery for victims of the February 22 earthquake was officially opened today - a day before the one-year anniversary of the Christchurch disaster.

The unidentified remains of four earthquake victims were laid to rest earlier today in a communal grave at Avonhead Park Cemetery in the west of the embattled city.

Four of the 185 people who died in the disaster, and whose remains could not be formally identified, were buried in a single casket in a private interment ceremony.

The victims: Shawn Lucas, 40, of Christchurch, Rhea Mae Sumalpong, 25, Philippines, Elsa Torres De Frood, 53, Peru, and Valeri Volnov, 41, a Russian-born New Zealand resident, were all in the CTV building that collapsed and caught fire, killing a total of 115 people.

At 6pm, Christchurch mayor Bob Parker officially unveiled a memorial plinth to the unidentified, and unfound, victims of the killer magnitude-6.3 quake ahead of tomorrow's poignant and emotional first-year anniversary.

Mr Parker, who has pledged funding for the interment site from the Christchurch Earthquake Mayoral Relief Fund, said earlier that the Avonhead Park Cemetery interment site will provide a "special environment" for everyone to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and remember those who lost their lives.


Hundreds gathered at the cemetery for the unveiling tonight, including Prime Minister John Key, Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae, high-ranking police officers, and foreign dignitaries.

Anglican Bishop Rev. Victoria Matthews told the gathering during a solemn 15-minute service that the memorial plinth would "point us to the future" and "comfort us in our sorrows."

More than 20 bereaved families have accepted the Christchurch City Council's offer of a burial plot dedicated to those who died in the killer magnitude-6.3 earthquake.

Many of them gathered at the service tonight, with family groups hugging and supporting each other during the ceremony, especially when young singer Taylor Roche performed a touching rendition of 'Amazing Grace'.

After the short service, the families were asked to lay flowers at the memorial, and the media was asked to leave, to allow the families to grieve and pay tribute to their loved ones.

Avonhead Park Cemetery was identified as the most appropriate city cemetery by officials, especially as it has not been affected by liquefaction which has plagued large areas of the city after the large earthquakes.

The location of the cemetery site, and the design, were also developed "with close consideration given" to the victims' families.

The "inner circle" of the gravesite has been reserved for the unidentified remains held by the chief coroner following the close of the victim identification process.

The central feature is a striking memorial, intended as a gift from the city, which includes six granite plaques featuring words, repeated in English, Filipino, Maori, Russian, Spanish and Braille, saying: 'Etched in our City's memory, never to be forgotten. The City of Christchurch.'

A stainless steel band around the memorial says: 'The people of Christchurch will forever remember the unfound victims of the 22 February 2011 Earthquake'.

Another plaque reads: 'Interred here are unidentified remains recovered following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake'.

Each victim will have their own granite plaque and the cemetery is open to the public from tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, the Governor-General and Lady Janine were welcomed to Canterbury by Ngai Tahu at Rehua Marae.

The couple also visited Cashel St Mall and its unique container shops which have attracted worldwide attention since they opened after the mall was decimated in the February 22 quake.

Memorial services are being held across the city, and New Zealand, tomorrow to remember those who died in the disaster.

- APNZ Tuesday Feb 21, 2012
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10787083

continue reading

Death toll from steel plant blast in Liaoning rises to 13

SHENYANG, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a blast at a state-owned steel plant Monday night in northeast China's Liaoning Province has risen to 13, said local authorities and rescuers Tuesday.

The accident happened when a mold exploded at 11:30 p.m. Monday at a steel-casting workshop owned by Angang Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. in the city of Anshan, according to a statement issued by the publicity department of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China.

Ten people were found dead as of early Tuesday, while rescuers recovered the bodies of three workers who were previously identified as missing in the blast by Tuesday noon.

Another 17 people were injured in the blast and they were receiving medical treatment in hospital, said the statement.

Rescuers are searching for the missing worker. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

The state-run Angang Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. founded more than 70 years ago, is one of China's largest machine manufacturers in the metallurgy industry, according to the company's website.

February 21, 2012

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/7735387.html

continue reading

Lagos may begin cremation of corpses as bill awaits passage

If members of the Lagos State House of Assembly eventually pass the Cremation Bill 2012 into law, then cremation of corpses, especially unclaimed ones will commence in the state.

The bill is titled “A Bill for a Law to Provide for Voluntary Cremation of Corpses and Unclaimed Corpses within Lagos State”, enacted by the state House of Assembly.

The lawmakers, in their submissions said that inability of relations to claim corpses of their relatives contributed immensely to the bad situation of the mortuaries in the state. It also uncovered that heaps of corpses at the state mortuaries can also lead to an epidemic situation in the state.

The purpose of the bill will be to establish a crematorium that will take care of unclaimed corpses and for voluntary cremation of corpses within the state to solve the problem associated with getting land for mass burial, and to decongest the state mortuaries, battling with cases of unidentified and unclaimed corpses.

According to Section 6 of the bill which talks about getting permission to cremate, the following persons may apply for a permission to cremate, a child or children of the deceased; a close relative of the deceased; an undertaker and an agent/legal representative.

Section 8 of the bill which talks about Cremation of unclaimed bodies at the state hospitals, states that the Medical Director of the state hospitals shall order for the cremation of unclaimed bodies in their respective Mortuaries after six weeks of which such bodies are not claimed, which shall be with the consent and approval of the Commissioner for Health.

Under Section 10 of the bill, which talks about dealing with ashes, the cremator in charge of a crematorium must not dispose of the ashes remaining after a cremation except in accordance with any reasonable written instructions of the applicant.

“However, the cremator in charge may bury the ashes in a burial ground if, within one year after the cremation, the applicant does not give reasonable written instructions for the disposal of the ashes.

TUESDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2012

http://www.nigeriancompass.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12854:lagos-may-begin-cremation-of-corpses-as-bill-awaits-passage&catid=54:nigeria-today&Itemid=594

continue reading

Relatives storm Honduras morgue demanding remains

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras Hundreds of relatives of inmates who burned or suffocated to death in a Honduras prison fire have forced their way into a morgue to demand the remains of their loved ones.

Prosecutors spokesman Melvin Duarte says women and a few men pushed into the morgue, broke into a refrigerated container and opened at least six body bags.

He says police used tear gas to chase the people from the morgue in Tegucigalpa, which is Honduras' capital. He says no one was injured during Monday's confrontation, although at least one woman fainted.

The fire in a crowded prison last week in the city of Comayagua killed 359 prisoners. There were 852 inmates at the prison, more than double the capacity.

20 Febr 2012
Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/02/20/1834085/relatives-storm-honduras-morgue.html#storylink=cpy

continue reading

Unidentified Christchurch quake victims buried

The remains of four people who could not be formally identified after Christchurch's earthquake on February 22 last year have been laid to rest.

Four of the 185 people who died in the disaster were buried in a single casket in a private ceremony at the Avonhead Cemetery on Tuesday morning, ahead of a formal dedication of the internment site in the evening.

The unidentified victims were Shawn Lucas, 40, of Christchurch, Rhea Mae Sumalpong, 25, from the Philippines, Elsa Torres De Frood, 53, from Peru, and Valeri Volnov, 41, a Russian-born New Zealand resident, who were in the CTV building that collapsed and caught fire.

21 Febr 2012
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/12966179/unidentified-chch-quake-victims-buried/

continue reading

Honduras Prison Fire: International Forensics Teams To Help Probe

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Countries are reaching out to Honduras after its deadly prison fire, sending medical aid and forensic doctors, with the United States dispatching an investigative team to help find the cause of the blaze.

Mexico and Chile are sending forensic experts to help identify the 355 dead, many of whom were burned beyond recognition in the inferno at the Comayagua prison north of Honduras' capital. France and Spain are offering medical aid for survivors of the deadliest prison fire in a century.

The fire that began late Tuesday night exposed a dysfunctional and underfunded prison system with overcrowded facilities, and insufficient staff. Honduran President Porfirio Lobo issued a plea for international assistance in carrying out a thorough investigation "to determine beyond any doubt what led to this tragedy and determine responsibility."

The U.S. State Department said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators arrived Thursday in Honduras. The team includes forensic chemists, explosives enforcement officers and dogs that can sniff out explosives and accelerants.

"The purpose of the mission is to establish how the fire started," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

Five forensic doctors who work for the Mexican Attorney General's Office arrived Thursday to help identify the dead, that country's Foreign Relations Department said in a statement.

The department said Mexico also sent medical supplies and medicine to treat burn victims after Lobo requested the aid in a telephone conversation with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Chile announced plans to send a team of 14 experts to also help identify the dead. The team helped in the aftermath of a fire that killed 81 in a Chilean prison and was set during fighting between rival gangs in 2010.

France and Spain have sent medical supplies to help treat survivors, and Spain offered to send a police team to help with the investigation.


Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, said he has asked the president of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to send a delegation to Honduras to investigate the fire. He expressed "deep shock at the dramatic events."

Israel's ambassador to Honduras, Eliau Lopes, said he planned to meet with Lobo on Friday to present a proposal by an Israeli company to build four modern, safe, high-security prisons.

Lopes said the cost of the project is high but "it can be achieved with international aid."

"We are talking about facilities where no one will escape, where there won't be fires," he said.

19 Febr 2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/18/honduras-prison-fire-international_n_1286315.html

continue reading

Funerals begin for Honduras fire victims

Forensic experts from seven other Latin American countries are joining the Honduran team identifying the bodies.

Hondurans are burying victims of one of the world's worst jail fires as they search for answers about what caused the disaster.

On Saturday, the death toll rose to 358 after two severely-burned inmates died in a hospital.

Several funerals took place in various towns around the country Friday after authorities released the bodies of the first 24 victims of a horrific inferno that has rattled this Central American nation.

"This was a barbaric crime," said Trinidad Varela, who bid a final farewell to her 28-year-old son, Edwin Ortega, in the town of Talanga, northwest of the capital.

"We cannot leave it just like that."

Four days after the blaze swept through the overcrowded Comayagua jail - which had held double its capacity with 852 inmates - the cause of the fire still was unclear.

A US team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived late Thursday to investigate and Chilean experts also searched the jail.

About 60 per cent of the prisoners in Comayagua had not yet been sentenced.

In the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, exhausted families waited for their relatives' bodies, kept at a distance because of a strong odour from the morgue.

Forensic experts from seven other Latin American countries are joining the Honduran team identifying the bodies.

Under tents set up outside the morgue, the team drew blood samples from relatives of the victims for DNA testing.

"There are bodies that can only be identified with DNA testing," coroner Antonieta Zuniga said after explaining that many bodies were charred beyond recognition.

Lindolfo Hernandez, brother of one of the victims, said: "They told me that it would be difficult to give me my brother's body because it is in a bad state, but I'll stay here until they've done it."

His brother, jailed for 10 years for rape, was due to be released in two months.

Delmi Matute could not understand the fate of her husband's remains.

"We have been waiting here four days but they have not given him to me. My husband died of smoke inhalation, he should be easy to identify, and they still have not given him to me," she sobbed as she sat with loved ones.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo suspended top officials from the country's prison system and called for foreign assistance in the investigations, amid accusations that authorities had been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

He pledged compensation for the victims' families.

Human rights groups and witnesses questioned the role of the guards and the authorities, suggesting negligence or even premeditation.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights said in a statement that firefighters arrived too late, the prison director was absent and guards failed to open cell doors to save lives.

The Committee of Families of Missing Prisoners expressed concern about a complaint from a non-identified prisoner who told local media the fire was started by police to cover up a planned escape.

National police spokesman Hector Ivan Mejia denied the suggestion and added that no prisoners had escaped.

But President Lobo acknowledged that some inmates caught up in the fire did escape, without saying how many.

Besides those killed in the blaze, "other inmates fled, but they will be caught," Lobo told reporters at a press conference.

He also ordered a safety review of the nation's 23 other jails.

Leftist opposition parties blamed the blaze on "criminal negligence."

Some 500 inmates who survived the fire remained inside the jail in a wing that was not affected.

"I don't want to stay in this prison," said Marco Valladares, who communicated with his wife by mobile phone from inside the jail.

"It's cursed. We knew for a long time that the fire would happen."

Another survivor, Hector Martinez, said: "The facilities are damaged. I'm afraid."

Honduras, which has the world's highest murder rate - 80 per 100,000 people according to the United Nations - has 24 detention centres with a capacity of 8000. The prison population is currently around 13,000.

19 Febr 2012
http://news.msn.co.nz/worldnews/8422053/funerals-begin-for-honduras-victims

continue reading

Funerals of victims of Honduras jail fire begin

TEGUCIGALPA - Hondurans have begun burying victims of a deadly fire in a jail, which left 356 people dead this week, as questionmarks still hung over the role of the authorities in the disaster.

Several funerals took place in various towns around the country Friday after authorities handed over to families the bodies of the first 24 victims.

"This was a barbaric crime," said Trinidad Varela, who bid her final farewell to her 28-year-old son, Edwin Ortega, in the town of Talanga, northwest of the capital. "We cannot leave it just like that."

Four days after the blaze swept through the overcrowded Comayagua jail - which had held double its capacity with 852 inmates - the cause of the fire was still unclear.
A U.S. team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) arrived late Thursday and Chilean experts also searched the jail.
The death toll from one of the world's worst prison catastrophes rose by one to 356, after an inmate died in hospital.
Around 60 per cent of the prisoners in Comayagua had not yet been sentenced.
In the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, exhausted families waited for their relatives' bodies, kept at a distance due to a strong odor from the morgue. Only 15 bodies had been identified Friday, when the first burials began.
"They told me that it would be difficult to give me my brother's body because it is in a bad state, but I'll stay here until they've done it," said Lindolfo Hernandez. His brother, jailed for 10 years for rape, had been due to be released in just two months.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo suspended top officials from the country's prison system and called for foreign aid with investigations, amid accusations that authorities had been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.
Rights groups and witnesses questioned the role of the guards and the authorities, suggesting negligence or even premeditation.

The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights said in a statement that firefighters had arrived too late, the prison director was absent and the guards failed to open cell doors to save lives.
The Committee of Families of Missing Prisoners expressed concern about a complaint from a non-identified prisoner who told local media that the fire was started by police to cover up a planned escape.

National police spokesman Hector Ivan Mejia ruled out that suggestion, and said that no prisoners had escaped.
But President Lobo acknowledged that some inmates caught up in the fire did escape, without saying how many.
Besides those killed in the blaze, "other inmates fled, but they will be caught," Lobo told reporters at a press conference.
Leftist opposition parties blamed the blaze on "criminal negligence."
Some 500 inmates who survived the fire remained inside the jail, in a wing which was not affected.

"I don't want to stay in this prison," said Marco Valladares, who communicated with his wife by mobile phone from inside the jail. "It's cursed. We knew for a long time that the fire would happen."

Another survivor, Hector Martinez, said: "The facilities are damaged. I'm afraid."
Honduras, which has the world's highest murder rate - 80 per 100,000 people according to the United Nations - has 24 detention centers with a capacity of 8,000. The prison population is around 13,000.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=6175122

continue reading

Coal mine accident kills 15

CHANGSHA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fifteen miners were killed, and three others injured, following a mine-car crash Thursday morning in central China's Hunan province, local authorities said.

The accident happened around 12:30 a.m. in the Nanyang township of the Leiyang city, after six cars of an eight-car carriage carrying 18 miners unhooked and plunged into a tunnel rapidly in the Hongfa Coal Mine, according to the Hunan Provincial Administration of Coal Mine Safety.

The 15 were killed instantly in the crash, while the other three were injured after jumping or being thrown out of the car, according to rescuers.

An initial probe found that the miners had violated safety rules by riding in the mine cars, which are designed to transport coal only. Police have taken custody of the coal mine's managers.

Hongfa Coal Mine is a licensed coal mine.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/16/c_131413504.htm

continue reading

Inmate Blamed For 'Nightmare' Prison Blaze

A fire that killed at least 358 people at a Honduras prison was started deliberately by one of the inmates, according to a local politician.

Paola Castro, the governor of Comayagua, said: "One inmate got in touch with me just after 11pm to say another inmate had set fire to the prison in block number 6, presumably by setting fire to a mattress."

I only saw flames, and when we got out, they were being burned, up against the bars, they were stuck to them.

She called the Red Cross and the fire brigade after receiving the phone call on Tuesday but they were unable to enter the prison for 30 minutes because guards believed they were dealing with a riot or an attempted breakout.

Survivors told investigators that an unidentified inmate had set fire to his bedding after officials had earlier suggested that it was sparked by a short circuit.

The blaze spread through the locked barracks within minutes.

Inmates described how they climbed walls to break the sheet metal roofing and escape, only to see prisoners in other cell blocks being burned alive. Some were found stuck to the prison's metal roofing, their burned bodies fused to the metal.

"I only saw flames, and when we got out, they were being burned, up against the bars, they were stuck to them," said Eladio Chicas, 40, who was in his 15th year of a 39-year sentence.

"It was something horrible," he said. "This is a nightmare."

Honduran forensic workers remove burnt inmates from prison

Inmates were unable to escape as the fire spread through the locked barracks in minutes

In the block where the fire was started only four of the 105 prisoners housed there survived, Supreme Court Justice Richard Ordonez, who is leading the investigation, said.

Inmates' bodies were found piled up in the prison's bathrooms, where they apparently fled to turn on the showers and hope the water would save them from the flames.

Many victims were so charred, officials said they would need to use dental records and DNA to identify them.

The prison in the central town of Comayagua, 53 miles north of the capital Tegucigalpa was built in the 1940s for 400 inmates but was packed with more than double that number.

There were only 12 guards on duty when the fire broke out, state prosecutor German Enamorado said.

The prison, which was made up of 12 barrack units, had more than 850 inmates

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo said on national television that he had suspended the country's senior penal officials and would request international assistance in carrying out a thorough investigation.

"This is a day of profound sadness," Lobo said.

He promised to "take urgent measures to deal with this tragedy, which has plunged all Hondurans into mourning".

In 2003, a blaze broke out after a riot in another prison in northern Honduras, killing 68.

An investigation found police and prison staff had shot and stabbed inmates in the melee.

The government pledged to improve the system but just a year later more than 100 prisoners were killed in a fire in San Pedro Sula. Survivors of that blaze said guards fired on inmates trying to escape or left them locked up to die.

continue reading

Honduras prison fire kills hundreds

At least 300 prisoners have been killed after a massive fire swept through a jail in Honduras, officials say.

Many victims were burned or suffocated to death in their cells in Comayagua, north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

The officials say at least 300 are confirmed dead, but a further 56 inmates, out of the 853 in the prison, are missing and presumed dead.

Relatives of prisoners clashed with police as they tried to force their way into the prison, desperate for news.

Police responded by firing shots into the air and tear gas.

An inquiry is under way whether the blaze was caused by rioting or an electrical fault.

Honduran President Lobo pledged a "full and transparent" investigation into the "lamentable and unacceptable" tragedy.

He said local and national prison authorities would be suspended while the inquiry was conducted.


Police fired tear gas as relatives tried to break into the prison's main building
'Hellish' scenes
The fire broke out late on Tuesday night and took more than an hour to be brought under control.

Dozens of prisoners died trapped in their cells and were burned beyond recognition.


Fire survivor: 'We had to break on to the roof to be able to get out'
Comayagua firefighters' spokesman Josue Garcia said there were "hellish" scenes at the prison and that desperate inmates had rioted in a bid to escape the flames.

"We couldn't get them out because we didn't have the keys and couldn't find the guards who had them," he said.

One prisoner, who managed to escape, later told reporters that he first had heard "the screams of the ones (inmates) on fire and everyone just started fearing for their lives".

"The only thing that we were able to do was start breaking the roof apart so we could go out from above. We started ripping apart the ceiling above us."

Lucy Marder, who heads the forensic services in Comayagua, said that 356 people on the prison roster were unaccounted for.

It was feared many inmates had fled the prison in Comayagua, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

Amid the confusion, relatives gathered outside the prison to try to get information.

"I'm looking for my brother. We don't know what's happened to him and they won't let us in," Arlen Gomez told Honduran radio.

Local hospitals are treating dozens of people for burns and other injuries.

Authorities have yet to establish a cause of the fire
Some of the injured have been taken to Tegucigalpa for treatment, among them 30 people with severe burns.

Firefighters said they had struggled to enter the prison because shots had been fired.

Honduran media reported that there had been a riot in the prison before the fire broke out.

Prison service head Daniel Orellana denied this.

"We have two hypotheses. One is that a prisoner set fire to a mattress and the other one is that there was a short-circuit in the electrical system," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Prisons in Honduras, which has the world's highest murder rate, are often seriously overcrowded and hold many gang members.

Recent deadliest prison fires

Dec 2010 - 81 are killed at Santiago's jail in Chile. The fire started during a fight between rival gangs
Nov 10 - 16 die at Ilobasco's juvenile prison, El Salvador, in the blaze blamed on an electrical short-circuit
May 04 - 107 die at San Pedro Sula's jail, Honduras. An electrical fault reportedly caused the fire
Sept 03 - 67 inmates die at Riyadh's prison in Saudi Arabia. The cause is unknown
"The majority could be dead, though others could have suffered burns, escaped or survived," Ms Marder said.

15 February 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17038259

continue reading

Analysis technique could help to identify bodies more reliably

A new corpse-analysis technique could help forensic scientists identify bodies more reliably and cheaply than with current methods.

Researchers from the University of Granada in Spain developed a method of comparing a set of reference points on a skull and those on a picture of the subject while they were alive to see if they match.

Lead researcher on the project Fernando Merino said this craniofacial superimposition technique was faster and more reliable than other forensic identification methods.
click here

‘As this technique is much less expensive, forensic scientists might use it firstly and, only when necessary, resort then to other techniques.

‘This technique can be complementary to other techniques, as it can serve to discard potential identities before using more expensive or slower identification techniques, such as DNA analysis.’

In particular, the researchers think the new technique could be useful for identifying a corpse from among multiple bodies, for example following a mass disaster, by significantly reducing possible candidates.

To carry out the study, the researchers used a sample of CAT scan images from 500 people and determined the spatial relationship between each point on both the skull and the photo of the face to obtain a vector between them that could be applied to any sample.

The researchers then applied this technique to real cases where only a skull was available in order to verify their results using a 3D virtual model of the skull.

15/02/2012

Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/medical-and-healthcare/news/analysis-technique-could-help-to-identify-bodies-more-reliably/1011702.article#ixzz1mRwYScE1

continue reading

Missing War Victims Identified in Zagreb

[ZAGREB] Nine exhumed victims of the war in Croatia were identified on Monday by their families in Zagreb, leaving a total of 1,768 missing persons yet to be found in Croatia.

Victims identified yesterday at Zagreb Judiciary medicine institute were exhumed in the Vukovar and Sisak areas of Croatia as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ten families were invited to identification, but one did not come.

Five of the identified men were Croatian soldiers during the war. The status of the other victims wasn't revealed, nor it was explained what happened to those exhumed in Bosnia.

Croatian veterans minister Predrag Matic was at the identification, expressing condolences to the families. "We won't leave off until we have found the last missing person," Matic said.

"All hopes that your relatives could be found alive have vanished, but you have bravely carried that burden. The government and war veterans ministry will support you in all your difficulties. We are here to help you," Matic said.

Of a total of 1,768 missing from the war in Croatia, 984 disappeared in the second half of 1991 and first half of 1992, when Serb forces were expelling Croatians from their homes. Most of those missing are of Croatian nationality.

From the period May to August 1995, when the Croatian army retook Serb-controlled territories, 784 persons, mostly Serbs, remain missing. For years Croatia didn't recognize those people as equal victims, but that has changed in recent years under international pressure.

According to the war veterans ministry, at the climax of war in 1991, about 18,000 people were missing in Croatia. Today, the fates of more than 16,000 have been solved one way or another.

Until today, from 143 mass graves and more than 1,200 individual graves 3,780 victims of the war in 1991/1992 have been exhumed, of whom 3,189 victims were identified.

In addition, 809 victims from Croatian army operations Flash and Storm in 1995 have been exhumed, out of which 489 were identified.

14 February 2012

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/nine-missing-war-victims-identified-in-zagreb

continue reading

PNG ferry death toll likely to rise to at least 200

THE death toll from the sinking of the passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen off the Papua New Guinea coast two weeks ago is likely to be more than 200 - double the previous official estimate - according to the director of the disaster response effort.

A preliminary list of 183 missing was published in a national newspaper yesterday, together with an appeal to relatives and friends for help in confirming the final tally.

With the search for survivors and bodies likely to be called off tomorrow, 14 days after the overloaded ferry sank in heavy seas on the way from Kimbe, on the island of New Britain, to the mainland port of Lae, officials are still trying to reconcile reports of missing passengers with the ''defective'' passenger manifest provided by the shipping company, said Patilias Gamato, director of the disaster response and deputy administrator of Morobe Province.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Three life rafts from the MV Rabaul Queen float above the sunken hull of the ferry in the open waters off Papua New Guinea's east coast.

Life rafts from the MV Rabaul Queen float above the sunken hull of the ferry. Photo: AP

Mr Gamato said that according to witness accounts there were more than 560 passengers on the ferry, which was licensed to carry 310 people.

Similar reports have been running hot on PNG's social media sites, where distress and anger over the tragedy is compounded by continuing political chaos, concerns over eroding safety systems and the failure of regulators to enforce rules.

Yesterday, the Morobe Disaster Centre published an unconfirmed list of 183 names of missing passengers in the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.

''This is a preliminary list because the manifest is not accurate, so we are inviting relatives to contact us,'' Mr Gamato said. He told The Age that he expected that the final list of missing, presumed drowned would total more than 200. Mr Gamato said 234 rescued people had been confirmed as survivors. Despite an extensive search, just four bodies have been recovered so far: that of a two-year-old boy, and those of three young women. ''This week we've found only debris and clothes.''

Kimbe buried the first of its dead in an emotional service last weekend. Belinda Kembu, 28, had been on a visit home to Kimbe to tell her family of her betrothal, according to local reporter Alexander Nara. Having gained her parents' blessing she sent a text message to her fiance when she boarded the ferry back to Lae, saying: ''I will bring you to Kimbe sooner than you expect.'' Six days later, he escorted her body home.

According to survivor accounts, many people travelling on lower decks would have been trapped when the vessel capsized and sank in three to four-metre swells. Mothers, infants and small children dominate the list of the known missing. Many of the survivors were students and teachers on their way to the mainland for the new school year.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has asked the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to investigate the tragedy. ''We can't engage our own people, mainly because they will be subjected to the investigation too,'' he said. ''Those that are found to be negligent in this disaster will face the law, this is the biggest and worst sea disaster we have had in the country.''

Mr O'Neill has also announced an independent inquiry by retired Australian judge Warwick Andrews.

In the days after the sinking, PNG Transport Minister Francis Awesa said he could have predicted the disaster given the state of the country's vessels and complacent attitudes over safety.

February 15, 2012

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/png-ferry-death-toll-likely-to-rise-to-at-least-200-20120214-1t450.html#ixzz1mRsQ22Fw

continue reading

‘Keep records of moles, scars, tattoos’

A leading forensic pathologist has urged families, especially those living in disaster-prone areas, to keep files on each member’s distinguishing marks such as scars, tattoos and moles, and have copies of fingerprints and dental records on hand to make identification easier in case tragedy strikes.

Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine pathology department said the suggestion was prompted by the experience of a group of UP alumni who went to Iligan City last month to help find survivors of Tropical Storm “Sendong.”

Fortun said she was haunted by the photos of missing persons and the numerous corpses in varying states of decomposition awaiting identification that she saw in two funeral parlors.

Had there been more detailed descriptions accompanying the photos, it was possible the authorities would have been able to make faster matches with the corpses, she said.

Fortun, who joined Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum last week, was part of a five-woman forensic team that volunteered their services in Iligan City for three days.

“All details (on one’s body) can potentially help. You cannot anticipate (incidents like this). Once the bodies are fragmented and markedly decomposed, details found in soft tissues, like moles and tattoos, are the first to go,” she said.

Other descriptions such as body piercings, height, weight, build and hair color can help. Even medical histories could provide vital leads.

“Locations of fractures are significant, especially when the soft tissues (are gone). A healed fracture could give us clues, so could postoperative scars,” Fortun explained.

“Once a body is retrieved, a possible match could be made (more quickly). Even a person’s handedness could help. An anthropologist could help us determine even (left- or right-handedness) of a headless body. These details taken altogether (could), at least, give presumptive identification clues,” she said.

Geologist and geohazard expert Mahar Lagmay, another UP alumnus, said Fortun’s suggestions were applicable even to families not living in known disaster-risk areas.

Lagmay said natural calamities had become so unpredictable that even those who believe they are out of harm’s way should take precautions.

Fortun said “definitive” information such as fingerprints, dental records and DNA samples provided the best clues.

Fingers gone

However, as in the case of a family that brought along a missing relative’s NBI clearance that had his fingerprints, it would not be much help if the fingers had decomposed.

Fortun also recalled the case of a family that showed a photo of a missing man with decayed front teeth and a large mole near his lower lip.

“Obviously, since he had dental caries that were visible in photos, it could mean we could do away with dental records. But pictures of smiling people that show obvious facial characteristics are a big help,” she said.

Fortun noted that children comprised a large number of the flood victims.

Newborn DNA

“Children usually do not have fingerprint records. This is where dental records can become crucial. Although now I think that with mandatory newborn screening, they have DNA records on file,” she said.

Fortun said the authorities retrieving cadavers should also record where and how the bodies were found.

“Those areas should be treated as crime scenes since they could provide vital clues. In the case of Iligan, it would have helped if those who retrieved the bodies also noted the flow of the water, where the bodies had come from and, if possible, how many kilometers from the communities the bodies were found,” she said.

Fortun noted that while the National Bureau of Investigation was involved in national disaster efforts, it seemed that it was not coordinating with the Philippine National Police in collecting details about missing persons.

“Antemortem information would be useless if it cannot be compared with an examination of the dead. Here is where coordination comes in,” she said.

Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:14 am | Monday, January 9th, 2012

continue reading