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