Ten killed in Nepal van plunge

At least 10 people were killed and another six injured when a passenger van crashed off a mountain road in north-western Nepal today, a police official said.

Bharat Bohara said the driver lost control and the van plunged about 330ft (100m) some 300 miles (480km) north-west of the capital, Katmandu.

He said the injured were taken to hospital, where two of them are in a critical condition. Few other details were available.

Most of Nepal is covered by mountains where roads are generally poorly maintained as are the vehicles using them.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/26/10-killed-nepal-van-accident.html

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Uganda Begins Search for Landslide Victims

Uganda has sent a rescue team to eastern Bududa district where more than a 100 people may have been killed Monday by a landslide caused by heavy rainfall.

It is believed as many as three villages might have been buried.

A member of parliament from the region was quoted as saying that most people were likely indoors when huge blocks of mud and rocks started to roll down hills, toppling homes and burying an unspecified number of people alive.

Red Cross spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde said: "From the latest reports we have we can only confirm 18 dead but assessment of the devastation around the area is continuing."

The Uganda Red Cross said it had sent a team of volunteers to assess the situation. Local authorities have said there could be about 80 people living in each village.

Ntabadde said nine people had been injured and 15 houses buried in the mudslide, while 29 houses were at risk and needed to be urgently relocated.

 Issa Aliga, a reporter with the Uganda Daily Monitor newspaper, said the landslide is the second in the region in two years. “This is the second time it is happening in this area. Late last year, it happened in this same area and many people died,” he said.

Landslides caused by heavy rains are frequent in eastern Uganda, where at least 23 people were killed last year after mounds of mud buried their homes. Scores of people were buried alive in a similar disaster in March 2010.

Member of Parliament David Wakikona said three villages had been flattened in Bumwalukani parish on the slopes of Mount Elgon "and the initial reports I have is that more than 100 have been buried. "The areas around Bududa district have been experiencing heavy rains for days now," he said. "I am told the landslides started around midday today and that they're still going on and some villagers who survived the early slides are fleeing."

Aliga said the government is working with the Uganda Red Cross to recover the bodies of those believed to be buried in the debris.

He said the local people of the region, known as the Gissu, had refused to be relocated after the first landslide because the new land where the government had wanted to relocate them was not suitable for their way of life. “The people in this area, they say that they have been staying in this area for a long time, and they refused to go by the government’s idea because the people here are cultivators, and they grow coffee.

 But, in the areas where the government wanted to relocate them is a cattle area where people practice pasturing,” Aliga said.

Wakikona, was quoted as saying that about 300 people lived in the affected villages.

The Uganda Red Cross said it had sent a team of volunteers to assess the situation.

Local authorities have said there could be about 80 people living in each village.

Ntabadde said nine people had been injured and 15 houses buried in the mudslide, while 29 houses were at risk and needed to be urgently relocated.

Rain has fallen regularly on parts of Uganda over much of the past two months, even though this is usually a dry period between the rainy seasons.

Wakikona said army rescue teams would play a lead role in moving the soil during the rescue operation.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

http://www.voanews.com/content/uganda-to-begin-search-for-victims-and-possible-landslide-survivors/1249174.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/25/us-uganda-landlside-idUSBRE85O0MZ20120625

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Uganda landslides destroy three villages

Massive landslides induced by torrential rains destroyed three villages in the mountainous district of Bududa in eastern Uganda, killing scores of people but possibly hundreds, officials said today.

Disaster Preparedness Minister Stephen Mallinga said it was still too early to say how many had been killed in today's landslides, but officials from Bududa said the final death toll would likely be in the hundreds. "We are sending a rescue team down there," Mallinga said. "It's very difficult to estimate how many have been killed, but two villages are affected, and maybe more."

Witnesses said the landslides were unexpected, happening several hours after a torrential overnight downpour that at first seemed to have done little damage.

David Wakikona, a lawmaker from the region, said most people were likely indoors when huge blocks of mud and rocks started to roll down hills, toppling homes, killing livestock and burying people alive. "We don't yet understand how this all happened, but it's terrible," Wakikona said. "Three villages have been buried."

According to Wakikona, at least 300 people lived in the affected villages.

Officials said rescue teams from the Ugandan army would play a lead role in moving the soil as the search for possible survivors begins.

The Uganda Red Cross said two villages had been destroyed and that at least 15 houses had been buried in the landslides.

It may take time before the full death toll from such disasters is known, as often it requires rescuers working with hoes and shovels to dig through the mud and find bodies trapped underneath.

Landslides are a common occurrence in the hilly parts of eastern Uganda, and they have been especially lethal over the years in those villages where the land is denuded of vegetation cover.

In 2010 massive landslides in Bududa killed about 100 people, destroying everything from the village market to a church.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who visited the scene, said at the time that the landslides were divine retribution for the people's failure to give to the land what they take from it. T

The villages are usually heavily populated, and often they live on land bare of trees.

There has been fierce resistance to a government effort to relocate the most vulnerable people in Bududa and neighboring districts, with some activists there saying it would be even more disastrous to abandon their ancestral homes.

Even those who were relocated to a camp for refugees after the 2010 landslides secretly returned to Bududa, said Mallinga, the disaster preparedness minister. "There's a degree of unwillingness to leave," Mallinga said.

Monday 25 June 2012 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/uganda-landslides-destroy-three-villages-7881003.html

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Iraq faces painful legacy of mass graves

Iraq wants to put the legacy of murderous dictator Saddam Hussein behind it, but faces a huge need for specialists to excavate mass graves thought to contain at least half a million unidentified victims.

The stakes are high for Iraq, a country seeking reconciliation with itself, where countless families lost all trace of their relatives during the dictator's 1979-2003 rule or the terrible internecine violence in the years after his overthrow.

Families have not been able to come to terms with the loss, as they have never found the bodies of their loved ones or learned the circumstances of their deaths.

But the process of excavating the mass graves and identifying the victims, which could take decades because of its scope and difficult terrain that includes landmines and unexploded ordinance, requires a highly skilled workforce that does not exist in Iraq.

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), created on the initiative of former US president Bill Clinton and financed by Western states, has since 2008 held courses for employees of the Forensic Institute and the ministry of human rights aimed at addressing the shortfall.

Plastic skeletons The courses, offered in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in north Iraq, include plastic skeletons buried in the garden of the hospital where they are held. "We try to make the scenario as realistic as possible," said James Fenn, the coordinator of the programme, pointing to 20 participants who were carefully digging in the soil.

Gradually, the outlines of a dozen "bodies" emerge, some with their hands and feet bound, or showing signs of trauma.

The team makes a thorough record of the "grave", making drawings on graph paper and lists of bones and evidence discovered. The approach is very scientific and rigorous. "We have learned to use a trowel and to dig without using machines like bulldozers, as they cause damage and may erase lots of evidence," said Salah Hussein, one of the trainees.

One of his colleagues, Thamer Hassan, has a brother who has been missing since 1987. "Maybe he is in one of the graves," Hassan said, adding that despite this, his motivation was his "duty" as an employee of the ministry of human rights.

Once they have been exhumed, the bones are given to another team from the Forensic Institute in Baghdad, who are charged with examining them.

The trainees examine the bones on a table, trying to determine how many people they might have belonged to, their age and their sex -- and listing the details with care. "It's important for the families," said Dr Dunia Abboud, a 26-year-old dentist. "A lot of families lost a member and don't know what happened to them." "We try to help them," Abboud said. "This helps to do justice."

At least 270 mass graves Some 170 people have been trained since 2008, but the need is huge, said Johnathan McCaskill, the head of Iraq programmes for ICMP.

 The Iraqi government is working under the assumption that there are 500,000 missing people, but some estimates put the number of missing from repression under Saddam's rule, especially against the Kurds and Shiites in the 1980s and 1990s, at more than one million. "The information we started up with was that there are at least 270 different mass graves in the country," McCaskill said.

 Most of Iraq's mass graves date from the time of Saddam's rule, he said, but it is possible that there are some from the bloody sectarian fighting that came in the years after his overthrow, in which tens of thousands of people were killed.

McCaskill said that after Saddam's fall in 2003, some people began to dig on their own, looking for relatives, though this has since been prohibited by law.

The ICMP is also working with the Iraqi government on a DNA identification programme with much more reliable technology. But it is complex and expensive.

Samples are currently analysed at the ICMP headquarters in Sarajevo.

 Meanwhile, the training will continue for at least two years.

But is a course enough to prepare someone for something so disturbing? Thamer Hassan thinks so, saying: "I am ready to work in real graves."

For more information see: http://en.tengrinews.kz/article/125/ Use of the Tengrinews English materials must be accompanied by a hyperlink to en.Tengrinews.kz

Monday 25 June 2012

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Heavy Rains Kill at Least 16 in China

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese state media say torrential rains have killed at least 16 people and affected 1 1/2 million people in southern and northern parts of the country.

 The official Xinhua News Agency said Monday that the heavy rains over the past three days had affected 450,000 people and wiped out crops in the southern Guangxi region.

Another more than 730,000 people were affected in the southern province of Jiangxi, and 312,000 were affected in the adjacent manufacturing powerhouse province of Guangdong.

Xinhua quoted a local government official as saying the direct economic losses so far were $20.3 million, and that water levels in 10 reservoirs and several major rivers had risen above warning levels.

Xinhua said rainstorm-triggered floods have also hit areas of Inner Mongolia in the north of China.

Monday 25 June 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/06/24/world/asia/ap-as-china-rain-storm.html?_r=1

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Identification of boat victims 'long and complex'

Police say the grim task of identifying victims of the Christmas Island boat tragedy will be long and complex. Twenty officers have been sent from Perth to assist with the coronial investigation.

Seventeen bodies have been recovered and are being stored in a makeshift morgue on the island while about 70 people remain unaccounted for.

WA Police are identifying the dead on behalf of the coroner and Deputy Commissioner Chris Dawson says it is likely to take at least two weeks. "Dealing with tragedy and a major loss of life is not easy for any individual to deal with," he said. "What I can say is that the agencies are working very closely together and West Australian police are just part of a national effort that's taking place."

 A total of 110 asylum seekers were rescued and transferred to a high security detention facility on the island.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority says all of the survivors were rescued on the night of the disaster and the majority were already wearing life jackets when the merchant vessels and navy ships arrived.

AMSA has since been revealed there were unused life jackets seen floating in the water, meaning more asylum seekers could have survived the tragedy.

Mr Dawson says police are interviewing the survivors. "Part of the investigation requires the use of interpreters and interviewing those 110 survivors," he said. "That again is a very long but necessary process to make sure that the state coroner is fully informed as to the circumstances as to how people lost their lives."

Monday 25 June 2012

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian-news/14033958/identification-of-boat-victims-long-and-complex/

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Mexico ravine bus crash kills 26

At least 26 people were killed in Mexico on Sunday after the bus they were traveling in turned over on a wet road in the southwestern state of Guerrero, a Red Cross official said.

At least seven people were injured and believed to be in a serious condition, the official said. "In the area where it happened it's raining very hard," he added.

The official said most of the people inside the passenger bus were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of Mexico's Labor Party (PT), a small grouping in Congress supporting leftist presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

A state government press release said the vehicle was headed to the town of Buenavisa de Cuellar, 83 miles (134 kilometers) from the capital of Chilpancingo del Bravo.

The statement said the bus’ brakes gave out, causing it to skid off the road shortly after noon on Sunday. The bus was carrying people to a political rally.

Other emergency crews were dispatched to where the accident took place about 2-1/2 hours drive southwest of Mexico City.

Guerrero state police department had no immediate comment. Mexico holds a presidential election on July 1. Bus crashes and other road accidents are common on Mexico's main roads, causing hundreds of deaths a year.

In April, at least 43 people were killed when a cargo truck crashed into a bus on a highway in the Gulf state of Veracruz, in one of the worst accidents the country has suffered in recent times.

Monday 25 June 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18575695

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Eight killed, 44 injured in Croatia bus crash

A Czech bus carrying about 50 passengers crashed near a tunnel in Croatia early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring at least 44, the national rescue services said.

"A bus with Czech licence plates drove through a safety barrier and turned over" near a tunnel in Sveti Rok, some 230 kilometres (138 miles) south of Zagreb, the National Protection and Rescue Directorate said.

The accident occurred around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) on the road to the Adriatic city of Split, a popular tourist destination.

The injured were taken to a hospital in nearby Gospic, while victims with serious injuries were being transferred by a military helicopter to the capital Zagreb, the rescuers said.

Local media said the bus hit the barrier, turned over and smashed into a concrete fence opposite. There were 50 passengers, police spokeswoman Kristina Maodus told Nova TV.

All of them were Czech nationals, the channel said, quoting unconfirmed reports. 

Saturday 23 June 2012

 http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Seven+killed++44+injured+in+Croatia+bus+crash/-/1068/1433984/-/kwdmlnz/-/index.html

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Death toll rises as survival hopes fade

Rescuers have found two more bodies from a capsized asylum seeker boat, bringing the death toll to five. But ninety passengers from the overcrowded boat are still unaccounted for.

One hundred and nine people have been rescued since the crowded vessel capsized on Thursday afternoon about halfway between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island.

Authorities says it is unlikely more survivors will be found.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said today poor weather was hampering the search, which resumed at first light. Australian Maritime Safety Authority representative Jo Meehan said three aircraft and one boat continued the search for survivors overnight but no bodies or survivors were found.

At about 7am today, another three aircraft and extra boats joined the search. Ms Meehan said while they were “still in that period of survivability“, the likelihood of people being found alive will diminish by the afternoon. “We are operating under conditions that include the water temperature, the weather, the fact that we now there were life jackets on board, rafts and debris,” Ms Meehan said. “At the moment we are operating on the basis that they will be able to survive for two days.”

It was likely the rescue would turn to a recovery operation in the early evening, she said.

Twenty WA Police Officers have been deployed to Christmas Island where 109 rescued passengers of the 200 males from the stricken vessel have been taken.

Acting Superintendent Neville Dockery said today the a mix of experienced investigators and forensic DVI officers were heading to the area where they would work with partner agencies including the Australian Federal Police. “Our role, from the West Australian police side, is mainly to investigate this tragedy on behalf of the coroner,” Supt. Dockery said. “It is a terrible tragedy and unfortunately we believe that there are still many people that are missing at sea, but we are very experienced in each roles and some of the people that I’m bringing with me we’ve deployed to horrendous bushfires, we’ve deployed to Bali and some of them have actually attended Christmas Island on previous occasions.”

Supt. Dockery said it is not known when the officers will return to Perth. Rescuers have told how they plucked desperate asylum seekers from wild seas that claimed the lives of dozens of boat people attempting to reach Australia for a new life.

The captains of two merchant ships that dashed to answer mayday calls from the overcrowded asylum seeker boat told The Weekend West of their crews' bravery in dangerous waters on Thursday evening.

The search for survivors will continue into this afternoon but authorities held little hope last night of rescuing anyone else. 

No survivors were found yesterday but many of the 109 asylum seekers saved, including a 13-year-old boy, arrived at Christmas Island in the morning.

Officials have identified five unaccompanied minors among the group. Only the bodies of three men were recovered but up to 100 people are feared to have drowned when the boat capsized about 185km north-west of Christmas Island in international waters halfway between the island and Indonesia.

Survivors being brought into Flying Fish Cove last night. Picture: Lincoln Baker/The West Australian The boat had about 200 male passengers, most of whom were believed to be Afghans but some survivors told rescuers they were from Pakistan.

 Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the water temperature was about 29C so experts believed people could survive in the water wearing a lifejacket or clinging to debris for 36 hours. 


 But that survival window expired overnight. "They've seen more debris, they've seen lifejackets and unfortunately seen more dead bodies and we need to brace ourselves for more bad news," Mr Clare said. 

Several merchant vessels helped navy patrol boats HMAS Larrakia and HMAS Wollongong during the rescue, including the Esperance-bound Cape Oceania.

The cargo ship's master, Xu Liansheng, said that by the time he reached the scene four hours after the mayday call, many people were already in lifeboats. "We just saw empty lifejackets," he said.

His crew's rescue boat spent 90 minutes trawling the rough seas and managed to pull four people out of the water.

Capt. Xu said the four survivors were in good health with the only injury a cut finger. They were dropped at Christmas Island at 7.30am yesterday.

Each man told the captain he was Pakistani and they gave their names and ages as Asghar, 35, Musadig, 33, Sayed, 25 and Najmul, 22.

He said they pleaded to be taken to Australia and did not want to be returned to Indonesia. "They were a little bit scared. We gave them some Chinese food and water," Capt. Xu said.

The crew of another merchant ship, the JPO Vulpecula, saved 27 people. "They were OK.

We had two injuries and we handed them over to Christmas Island," Capt. E. Bilango said. "I didn't see many bodies in the water but I saw some lifejackets without people in them."

Refugee groups questioned why authorities failed to respond sooner after it was revealed the boat made a distress call on Tuesday night.

Mr Clare said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had directed the boat to return to Indonesia after the call.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said yesterday was not the day for politics but crossbench MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor urged them to negotiate a compromise to restore offshore processing.

Angry WA Liberal MP Mal Washer said the tragedy made him feel "ashamed" to be part of a Parliament that could not find a bipartisan solution. "Every option needs to be on the table," Dr Washer said. "Let's get some humanity back and let's get bipartisanship back. "I'm a doc. This is a tragedy and we believe in prevention. "We're not clowns. Let's grow up and do something to stop this."

Dr Washer said that if the compromise was processing asylum seekers on both Nauru and Malaysia, "let's do both". Transport Minister Anthony Albanese also pushed for a speedy resolution on asylum-seeker policy. “I note Dr Washer’s genuine comments,” he said. “And I think certainly I am of the view, and the Government is of the view, that we want to work together across the parliament to secure an outcome that reduces the possibility of a tragedy like this being repeated.”

Three survivors were airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital under police guard and three are getting medical treatment at the Christmas Island hospital. A small number of WA police and emergency services workers had joined the rescue effort, Colin Barnett said.

The Premier said WA was likely to hold a coronial inquest. "It's extremely dangerous, an extremely hazardous undertaking and a human tragedy of great scale," he said.

Up to 20 WA police disaster victim identification specialists are expected to go to Christmas Island today.

Saturday 23 June 2012 


http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/14018695/seamen-tell-of-perilous-rescue-in-wild-seas/

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Fourth year anniversary of the sinking of the Princess of the Stars

Persida Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), said Judge Peras is set to conduct an occular inspection in Romblon where the ship sank at th height of typhoon Frank in June 21, 2008.

Acosta said government lawyers assisting families of victims to identify remains and seek damages, as well as the PAO “pray to the courts and high heavens that the courts in Cebu and Manila expedite the resolution of the damages suit.”

Around 560 cadavers were recovered from the sunken ship.

Acosta told Cebu Daily News the PAO Forensic Laboratory identified 11 skeletal remains taken from the ship. Of the number, seven were turned over to their families.

Acosta said PAO recently identified the remains of 42-year-old Joselito Aballe, whose remains were turned over in a simple ceremony to the daughters of Joselito in Cebu City. Acosta said the PAO Forensic Team will proceed to Sibuyan Island to process, analyze and identify the recovered body.

Efforts of the laboratory are focused on the biological profiling of the skeletal remains recovered from the sunken M/V Princess of the Stars.

Through the efforts of the PAO Forensic Team, the Philippine Coast Guard and the private salvor, the skeletal remains in the laboratory have reached more than 140, Acosta said.

She said PAO needs access to the victims’ ante mortem data which is under the custody of Dr. Renato Bautista, head of the Disaster Victim Identification team of the National Bureau of Investigation which did extensive work in Cebu with the Interpol to identify cadavers brought here.

Judge Peras earlier ordered the arrest of Baustista for his failure to heed the court order to turn over documents needed by PAO. But Acosta said Dr. Baustista continues to defy the court order.

Bautista, in an earlier interview, denied that he was withholding the documents and said he was willing to give them to the PAO but said the victims’ data remain “confidential” as agreed upon by the NBI and Interpol.

PAO has been seeking the transfer of the documents from the NBI to help identify the human remains that will undergo an anthropological examination by a University of the Philippines based forensics group.

Retired ship captain Amado Romillo, an expert witness presented by the prosecution, insists that MV Princess of the Stars took an “extremely dangerous” route from the Manila port to Cebu City at the height of typhoon Frank in 2008. Instead of passing through the west side of Mindoro, Romillo said the sunken ship made its regular route where the eye of the typhoon was situated when it sank on June 21, 2008.

Acosta said the skipper’s testimonies proved that there was negligence on the part of ship officials who decided to travel despite an impending typhoon. Using a nautical chart or map, Romillo explained to the court the route of the MV Princess of the Stars when it left the Manila North Harbor on June 20, 2008.

The MV Princess of the Stars capsized off Romblon enroute to Cebu City with 820 people on board. Only 32 survived.

Friday 22 June 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/216895/four-years-after-tragedy-damage-suit-drags-on

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Indonesia plane crash search called off

Rescuers have ended their search of damaged and burned homes in Jakarta without finding further victims of a military plane crash that killed seven airmen and four people on the ground.

The Fokker F-27 turboprop was on a routine training flight when it crashed into a military housing complex on Thursday about a mile short of the runway where it was trying to land.

Two children aged two and six, their grandmother and their aunt were killed in the crash, along with the plane's pilot, co-pilot and five trainees. "Search and rescue efforts have finished," air force spokesman Colonel Agung Sasongko Jati said on Friday morning. "All the wreckage has been removed and there are no more new victims."

Eleven people were injured in the crash, which sent a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the sky. The aircraft was built in 1958 and has been used by Indonesia's air force for the past 35 years, during which time it had completed 14,900 flight hours.

It was declared airworthy before it took off for its second training flight of the day under clear skies, Jati said. "It seemed that the pilot was trying to land on a nearby paddy field," he said. "But it was not clear whether it was because of an emergency."

He said the plane did not have a black box.

The crash comes after a Russian Sukhoi passenger jet crashed into an Indonesian volcano during a demonstration flight for potential buyers last month, killing all 45 people aboard.

Friday 22 June 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/22/indonesia-plane-crash-search-over?newsfeed=true

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Search for missing after boat capsizes off Christmas Island

Ships and aircraft scoured the Indian Ocean Friday for survivors after a boat capsized off Australia's remote Christmas Island, with three people confirmed dead and more than 80 missing.

Ships and aircraft scoured the Indian Ocean Friday for survivors after a boat capsized off Australia's remote Christmas Island, with three people confirmed dead and more than 80 missing. So far, 110 people have been rescued from the vessel which was believed to be carrying around 200 asylum-seekers, with authorities saying: "We're still in that critical window where more lives could be saved." "We have 110 survivors and three confirmed dead so far," a spokeswoman from Australia's Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is working with Indonesia's search and rescue authority Basarnas, told AFP.

They were taken by ship to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean where they were given medical checks. "They were rescued wearing life jackets and we are quite confident we will recover more survivors," added the spokeswoman, who said the water temperature was warm.

The ship, en route from Sri Lanka, issued a distress call and capsized 120 nautical miles north of Christmas Island, 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) from the Australian mainland on Thursday afternoon.

 Christmas Island administrator Steve Clay told ABC radio that three of the survivors were admitted to hospital on their arrival, but the rest were OK. "They were transferred to the jetty, put into buses and transferred up to the Phosphate Hill immigration facility," he said. "They're getting medical checks up there. They appear calm and they were just sitting quietly."

The capsize is the latest in a series of refugee boat disasters in the Indian Ocean in recent years, as rickety, overloaded vessels packed with desperate migrants sink on their way to Australia.

Four merchant vessels, two Australian Defence Force ships and five aircraft are involved in the search. "We're still in that critical window where more lives could be saved," said Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare. "People can survive out there for up to 36 hours if they have either lifejackets or they have debris to hold onto."

Clare said about 40 survivors were found clinging to the upturned hull of the boat on Thursday afternoon, while others were discovered holding onto debris up to three nautical miles from the scene.

Though they come in relatively small numbers by global standards, asylum seekers are a sensitive political issue in Australia, dominating 2010 elections due to a record 6,555 arrivals.

Direct asylum-seeker journeys from Sri Lanka have historically been rare but navy sources in Colombo have reported a marked increase in Australia-bound people-smuggling operations. Indonesia is a more common transit point for those trying to reach Christmas Island, which is closer to Java than mainland Australia, but many fail to reach their destination.

The UN's refugee agency said it was "deeply concerned" by the incident. "This accident again underscores the dangerous nature of these hazardous journeys, and the desperate and dangerous measures people will resort to when they are fleeing persecution in their home countries," it said in a statement.

In December, a boat carrying around 250 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers sank in Indonesian waters on its way to Christmas Island, with only 47 surviving.

Some 50 refugees were killed in a horror shipwreck on the island's cliffs in December 2010. Fifteen were children aged 10 years or younger.

The worst known refugee boat disaster off Australia in recent years was the sinking of the SIEV X in 2001, which killed 353 of the more than 400 asylum-seekers on board.

Friday 22 June 2012

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/299226/australia-fears-refugee-boat-disaster-toll-could-soar

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Nine perish in bus accident, 6 positively identified

Nine people died and more than 15 others were injured in a traffic accident along the Kwekwe-Gweru highway yesterday morning (Wednesday).

The accident occurred when a ZUPCO bus travelling to Chipinge was sliced open by iron rods that were protruding from a stationary lorry.

The injured were taken to Gweru and Kwekwe hospitals for treatment.

Police said seven people died on the spot while two others were pronounced dead on admission to hospital.

Eighteen other passengers were injured in the accident that occurred around 5:30am near Connemara Open Prison.

The crash brings to 20 the number of people killed in accidents that occurred in the region this week.

Thursday 21 june 2012

http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-16695-article-Kwekwe-Gweru+highway+accident+-+10+people+die%2C+15+injured.html

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Asylum seeker boat capsizes north of Christmas Island

UP to 75 asylum seekers may be dead and 40 others are clinging to the hull of an upturned boat, which has capsized in Indonesian waters.

Up to 200 people were on board the vessel, which was on its way from Sri Lanka to Australia. Prime Minister Julia Gillard distressed by asylum boat tragedy

The maritime drama began to unfold after 3pm (AEST) today when an Australian Customs and Border Protection surveillance plane spotted a vessel "in distress" 200km north of Christmas Island. The observers immediately contacted Indonesian authorities, who are leading the rescue effort alongside the Australian Navy, Defence and Customs. "It is believed up to 200 people could be on board, although this detail has not yet been confirmed," Customs said in a statement.

West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said about 40 people were spotted on the upturned hull, others were in the water and up to 75 others may be dead. "We have grave fears for the remainder," he said.

Mr O'Callaghan said it was likely the bodies would be taken to Christmas Island and WA might become responsible for a coronial inquiry.

Mr O'Callaghan told Channel 7 the force had mounted a significant response and a team of search and rescue officers, including specialists in night searches, was being sent to Christmas Island tonight. "We are also on standby in case we have to do a coronial inquiry and we have a team of disaster victim identification experts," he said. It would take them more than four hours to reach the island, he said.

WA Health has also been put on alert to ensure hospitals are ready to treat any victims, Perth Now said. Emergency Service personel Indonesia's search and rescue authority BASARNAS is coordinating the search with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). AMSA confirmed there are definitely survivors but was unable to give numbers.

The Australian mission involves Defence aircraft equipped with life rafts, a Customs maritime surveillance aircraft, and two Armidale class patrol boats, HMAS Larrakia and Wollongong.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating the following resources in support of the search and rescue operation:

A Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 surveillance aircraft is providing aerial surveillance in assistance to the rescue. A RAAF maritime patrol aircraft deployed a number of life rafts and is providing on-going aerial surveillance.

It will be replaced by another aircraft later tonight. Two Armidale class patrol boats, HMAS Larrakia and HMAS Wollongong, have arrived on the scene and have commenced recovery operations on the water. An AMSA Dornier aircraft, with additional rescue resources and search capability including life rafts, is expected to arrive on scene later tonight.

 Three merchant vessels have also responded to a request from AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) for assistance and are currently in the area supporting recovery efforts.

A number of civilian vessels are also on the way to the area. BASARNAS spokesman Gagah Prakoso confirmed two Indonesian vessels were also on their way. "At the moment, we're waiting for them to report back," Mr Prakoso said.

It was still unclear whether the survivors would be taken to Australia or returned to Indonesia. Mr Prakoso said Australian authorities had confirmed the boat originated in Sri Lanka.

Three other boats, carrying a total of about 240 asylum seekers, have been intercepted near Christmas Island over the past two days.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare is being briefed and is expected to make a statement in the morning. Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke about the tragedy in a speech at a breakfast function with Indonesian President Dr Yudhoyono about protecting oceans. "Australia is a place with a very long coastline, but unfortunately a coastline that has its dangers. And today our nation has been reminded of those dangers due to the loss of a boat at sea causing loss of life." "The ocean can be a beautiful place but sometimes a dangerous place as well."

Earlier today, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen accused the Opposition of courting tragedy by refusing to support the government's bill aimed at resurrecting offshore processing. "Their destructive negativity means people continue to risk their lives on dangerous boats," he said, just hours before the news of the capsize broke.

Also speaking earlier today, Coalition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Government had no plan to stop the flow of boats. "They are globally known as a soft touch on this issue," he said.

The Australian Christian Lobby said today's capsize underscored the need for the government and opposition to find a bipartisan solution.

More than 50 asylum seekers died when a boat known as SIEV 221 crashed against rocks off Christmas Island in December 2010. The youngest was just three months old. The disaster was the largest loss of life in Australian waters in peacetime in 115 years.

And as many as 200 people drowned last December when a boat sank off the coast of East Java on its way to Australia. Just 49 people survived that tragedy, which occurred in rough monsoonal seas on December 17.

So far this year, 57 boats carrying a total of 4006 passengers and 82 crew have arrived in Australia.

For the month of June, there have been 18 boats carrying more than 1100 people. The latest arrived arrived overnight and had 117 people on board.

Timeline of boat disasters

February 2012
At least eight drown after a boat capsizes near Malaysia

December 2011
Up to 200 die when boat heading from Indonesia to Australia sinks

November 2011
Up to 20 killed when boat capsizes off Java, Indonesia

December 2010
Christmas Island boat crash claims 50 lives, including babies and children

November 2010
Boat with 97 people on board goes missing

May 2010
5 Sri Lankans drown off the Cocos Islands

October 2009
Asylum boat with 105 Hazaras on board believed to have vanished between Indonesia and Australia

April 2009 
5 Afghan asylum seekers die when their boat explodes

Thursday 20 June 2012

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/an-asylum-seeker-boat-has-capsized-north-of-christmas-island/story-fn7x8me2-1226404645552

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Plans for forensic dentistry

THERE are plans to offer a new course in forensic dentistry at the Fiji National University's College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

Australian High Commission head of mission Glenn Miles made the revelation at the opening of the Forensic Odontology in Medico-legal Investigation and Human Identification workshop earlier this week.

"These initiatives will, I understand, ultimately lead to the development of a new Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Odontology courses to be offered by the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences," Mr Miles said.

College dean Prof Ian Rouse confirmed Mr Miles' revelation, saying they were interested in introducing forensic dentistry into the curriculum.

"The college is very interested in further development of postgraduate programs in dentistry and is very keen on a PG Certificate and Diploma in Forensic Dentistry," Prof Rouse said.

"This would need to be done in collaboration with an overseas partner with significant expertise."

The workshop, funded through AusAID, is a first in the Pacific. It is being led by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to help improve regional expertise in odontology expertise for death and trauma investigation, child abuse investigation, bite-mark and facial injury interpretation, age estimation, disaster victim identification and medico-legal reporting.

Mr Miles said the workshop would provide participants with knowledge and practical skills and enable them to apply it at coronary inquests and legal proceedings particularly in the field of human identification.

Thursday 21 June 2012

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=204430

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Indonesia air force plane crashes into Jakarta housing complex

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian air force plane slammed into homes and ignited a fireball in the crowded capital while trying to land Thursday, killing at least nine people, a military official said.

The turboprop plane crashed into eight houses, killing at least three people on the ground, said military spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul.

Raging orange flames were seen jumping several feet into the air as a huge column of black smoke billowed.

Hendra, a resident in the air force housing complex in eastern Jakarta who uses only one name, said he ran out of his house after hearing several loud explosions and saw flames engulfing neighbours' homes. "I could hardly believe my eyes ... there was a military plane that crashed and hit the houses!" he said. "At once, the situation turned into chaos. All the residents fled in panic.

Women and children were screaming hysterically." He said he helped at least five injured people, mostly with burns, to a nearby Air Force hospital.

He added that he saw at least three more critically injured children brought into the hospital. Sitompul said the Fokker F-27 was on a routine training flight when it crashed. The aircraft was declared airworthy before the training and skies were clear, he added.

Air Force spokesman Rear Adm. Azman Yunus said there were seven people aboard the plane including the pilot, co-pilot, instructor and trainees.

All the seven were rushed to the Air Force hospital, Yunus said. Later, he told Detik.com news portal that six of them were killed while one was still being treated at the hospital.

He said the Fokker F-27 was on a routine training flight when it crashed while trying to landing after the 90-minute flight. Private El Shinta radio reported rescuers were still searching for more possible victims among the rubble of the burning houses.

A number of ambulances were parked inside the Air Force's Rawajali Complex. The plane was build in 1958 and used by Indonesia's Air Force for the past 20 years.

Thursday 21 June 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/21/indonesia-air-force-plane-crashes

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17 die as bus plunges into ravine

Seventeen people were killed and three were left seriously injured when a long-distance bus overturned and plunged down a deep ravine in China, state media reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the accident occurred early on Wednesday and it was not immediately clear what caused the crash.

The report said 45 people were on the bus, which was heading from the eastern Jiangsu province to the coastal city of Xiamen in Fujian province.

It overturned in Fujian's Ningde city. Road safety is a serious problem in China, with many accidents caused by poorly maintained roads and bad driving habits.

 Fifteen people were killed when a bus crashed into a ravine in the northern Shanxi province in February.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/06/20/bus-plunges-deep-ravine-china-17-killed.html

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Bus overturns in Haiti river; death toll disputed

Haiti - A bus overturned in a rain-swollen river in southern Haiti, and officials differed on Tuesday about the number of people who died.

A statement issued by President Michel Martelly's office says about 60 people were on the bus when the driver attempted to cross the Glace River.

It said that local civil protection officials have recovered the bodies of 40 people and are still searching the area.

The statement said nine people were either rescued from the submerged bus or managed to swim to safety. But Norman Wiener, an official from the Grand'Anse department, said the bus owner who collected money from the passengers told him that there were 27 people aboard and that only eight people are missing.

Wiener said another 19 people survived.

The accident occurred Monday near the town of Pestel on Haiti's southern peninsula. Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's office of civil protection, says the driver apparently ignored warnings not to try to cross the river.

Jean-Baptiste said she could not confirm how many people died or survived.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

 http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/internacional/2012/5/25/Bus-overturns-Haiti-river-death-toll-disputed,524d8630-e1ae-497c-89f6-4c9a2f1582a1.html

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Ghosts Scare Residents Of Dana Plane Crash Area

Some residents of Iju-Ishaga, a suburb of Lagos, where a Dana airline crashed into buildings on Sunday, have appealed to the authorities to bury the victims far from the area.

Their apprehension was based on their belief in the existence of ghosts, Idayatu Ali, a 24-year-old unemployed school leaver, said living around the scene of the crash, was superstitious and would not want the victims buried at the scene of the accident, “for fear of ghosts”.

According to her, human beings are no goats and when they die prematurely, especially, violently, their ghosts will haunt the scene for a while. “This is no superstition; I have witnessed where a young man died in an accident and his ghost continued to cry at the scene for days until a sacrifice was performed. “Please, tell them not to bury the victims here or else some of us will have to abandon our houses,” she pleaded. 


However, Jude Agwu, a commercial motorcyclist, said he and some colleagues could easily offer sacrifices to Ogun (the Yoruba god iron) in a bid to get rid of any ghost threat. 


Mr Iyiola Akande, the South-West Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said no decision had been taken on where to bury the victims. 


He, however, believed that identifiable bodies should be released to their relations for burial, while badly burnt ones would be given mass burial, probably far from the scene. “This is a densely populated area and erecting a memorial here may not be in the interest of the psyche of the residents. “This has nothing to do with the myth about ghosts,” Akande said at the scene of the crash. 


He also explained that a census of those living in the affected buildings—now demolished—would be taken soon to ascertain the number of those who died on the ground. 


Akande said this would also form part of the statistics for the full rehabilitation of the survivors and compensations to the families of those who lost their lives in the mishap.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

http://typicalnaija.com/ghosts-scare-residents-of-dana-plane-crash-area/

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Example of a disaster highlighting the dangers of visual ID (2010)

No coherent mechanism used to identify crash victims bodies

MANGALORE: Twelve of the 158 passengers of the Air India Express flight killed in the May 22 crash here had to be buried in unmarked graves.

According to the district administration, the 12 bodies could not be identified because of a mix-up.

Some families took away the bodies that did not belong to them in the confusion that prevailed after the crash.

The body of Mohammed Zubair Ziad (4) was taken away by a family that believed that it was the body of an adult.

Narrating a similar incident, Vidya Dinker, an activist who was involved in the relief operations, said: One family had identified their kin and filled the claims form at the Wenlock Hospital. They then moved to another hospital to look for other relatives. By the time they came back, somebody else had taken the body.

There was no coherent mechanism to identify the bodies, and some junior policemen were handling the process. Whereas, a senior police officer was managing traffic, she claimed.

Disaster Victim Identification guidelines issued by the Interpol were not adhered to immediately. Despite the Interpol's warning that visual identification is notoriously unreliable and should be avoided at all costs, 136 of the 158 bodies were handed over on this basis alone. The Interpol, instead, recommends the use of medical and forensic tests.

According to a senior district official, the Interpol's guidelines were referred to 10 days after the crash. Inspector-General of Police Gopal B. Hosur said that there was no other alternative.

All the bodies could not have been identified by DNA tests. There was no way we could have waited for the DNA tests. Keeping so many bodies in our possession for so long could have created a law and order nightmare, he said.

District Health Officer H. Jagannath said as the district’s storage facilities were woefully inadequate, the bodies would have started decomposing.

Chief Fire Officer H.S. Varadarajan said that some of the bodies could not be identified because they were robbed of jewellery by some of those who posed as rescue workers at the crash site. The police should have cordoned off the area and allowed only fire tenders to do their job, he said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Girish, who was in-charge of the crash site, said: There were only around 10 firemen and public support was necessary. Dr. Jagannath said that a major reason for the mix-up was that all the bodies were not taken to one place for identification.

Several bodies were taken to private medical colleges. According to Mr. Varadarajan, there was nobody at the crash site to direct the ambulances carrying the bodies to the right place.

By the time the district administration realised its mistake and ordered that all the bodies should be shifted to the Wenlock Hospital, 28 bodies had been taken away, District Medical Officer B. Saroja.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

http://www.sfxkutam.com/news_index_arch1.asp?offset=1310

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