DVI News 21 December 2009
21/Dec/2009
Three foreigners killed in Egypt collision13 December 2009.
Three German tourists were killed on Sunday when their car was in collision with a freight train near the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, a security source and a witness said.
The two women and one man were in a group that also included three other Germans and an Egyptian driver.
Full article at:
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20091213223252201C884693
Mishap toll rises to 22
14 December 2009. India.
One of the injured in the collision between a bus and a truck on Bombay Road on Sunday evening died at SSKM Hospital on Monday, taking the toll to 22.
Hospital officials said 20 people killed in the crash had been identified by their family members. Police suspect that one of the two who could not be identified was the driver of the truck ‑ the other unidentified victim is around 60 years old.
Kamal Kishore Singh, the superintendent of Uluberia Sub‑divisional Hospital, said: “We completed the post‑mortem of the bodies by 12.40pm and handed them over to relatives.”
Full article at: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091215/jsp/calcutta/story_11863535.jsp
Six killed in Mymensingh road crash
14 December 2009. Bangladesh.
Six people were killed and seven others injured as a bus rammed into a tempo at Jamtola in Sadar upazila Sunday noon.
Police and Hospital sources the accident took place on Mymensingh‑Dhaka highway.
Full article at: http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/12/14/news0714.htm
Hi‑tech bid to identify body of man found in woods
15 December 2009. Ireland.
Experts who helped to identify remains found in the mass graves of Bosnia have been drafted in to solve the mystery of a body found in west Galway three years ago.
The identification of the man has baffled gardai despite a global DNA search.
A post‑mortem examination ruled out foul play.
West Galway coroner Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin subsequently contacted the Irish Centre for Human Rights and was put in touch with the Anatomy and Human Identification department at Dundee University.
In this case, they have now created a photographic image of how the mystery man would have looked. The coroner and gardai have also discovered that the man had female and male DNA, suggesting that he had had a bone marrow transplant at some stage.
Prescription sunglasses suggested he might be German.
A two dimensional image was created because it could be produced remotely and the experts in Dundee were able to build up an image of the face.
Full article at:
http://www.independent.ie/national‑news/hitech‑bid‑to‑identify‑body‑of‑man‑found‑in‑woods‑1975105.html
Tsunami victim who came back from the dead
15 December 2009. Sri Lanka.
There are a million questions one could ask of the woman sitting on the edge of a hospital bed in southern Sri Lanka, but for now only one of them matters: is she Padma Wawlanbokke?
Five years ago, the 42‑year‑old's family mourned after she, her husband and the couple's young children disappeared and were presumed dead after the train in which they were travelling was struck by the deadly Asian tsunami. An estimated 1,500 passengers and villagers lost their lives after the tsunami hurled the Matara Express from its tracks in the quiet coastal hamlet of Peraliya.
But just three weeks ago, Mrs Wawlanbokke's brother, Premawardan, spotted a woman begging beneath a clock‑tower. Instantly, she reminded him of his sister. He returned with another sister, who was equally adamant that the dirty, unkempt woman with the outstretched hand was their sister, Padma.
Not all members of the family are convinced, and DNA tests are being carried out to determine whether the middle‑aged woman truly is Padma. But if the results are positive then hers is perhaps the most remarkable survival story to have emerged from the tragedy of 26 December 2004, when two deadly waves tore across a swathe of south and south‑east Asia.
Up to 40,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed when the tsunami's waves struck with incredible power. Many were hastily buried, often in unmarked mass graves
Full article at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tsunami‑victim‑who‑came‑back‑from‑the‑dead‑1840963.html
17 Dead in Tour Bus Accident
16 December 2009. South Korea.
At least 17 people were killed and 14 others have been injured when a tour bus plunged over a cliff on a two‑way road in North Gyeongsang Province on Wednesday.
Full article at: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/12/17/2009121700673.html
Thailand still scarred five years after tsunami
17 December 2009.
On Khao Lak beach, where the tsunami killed more than 3,000 people, there's little physical evidence of one of history's worst natural disasters, aside from occasional "Tsunami Hazard Zone" signs and color‑coded evacuation maps.
A symbol of the catastrophe, the Sofitel Magic Lagoon where more than 300 guests and staff died, re‑opened last month as the 298‑room JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa, though just half its rooms are filled heading into peak season.
A couple of kilometers from the beach, waist‑high weeds cover Bang Muang Cemetery where about 370 unidentified bodies of tsunami victims are buried.
The grounds, studded with small concrete headstones marked with case numbers under thickets of weeds and wild shrubs, have not been maintained for at least a year, locals said.
The bodies are buried in metal coffins surrounded by concrete chambers to preserve as much DNA as possible, but their identity cannot be proven to international standards of 90 percent certainty, preventing their return to families, said Police Col. Niti Banthuwong, director of the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification unit.
The unit, once hailed as the world's biggest forensics investigation, ceased operations earlier this year.
Full article at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BG00C20091217
Can Digital Tech and Insects Replace Cadaver‑Sniffing Dogs?
December 2009.
Researchers will use any strategy, even training insects, to locate and identify cadavers. When dogs just can't get the job done, forensics teams are using these new techniques.
Researchers at the University of Georgia have trained wasps to differentiate minute quantities of putrescine and cadaverine, chemicals released by decaying bodies.
Full article at:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4338265.html?nav=RSS20&src=syn&dom=yah_buzz&mag=pop
PPE will now include a hooded veil and smoker…..
Guatemalan Exhumations Bring Hope by Uncovering Past
17 December 2009.
On a hillside along a busy road just south of Guatemala's capital, Aura Elena stands in the fading sunlight after another day peaking over the shoulders of a team of forensic anthropologists and workmen. This urban setting has been pointed out by anonymous tipsters, who have come forward after 25 years, as the suspected final resting place of at least four people who disappeared during the civil war that raged in Guatemala during the 1980s
Among the bodies the team expects to find here is that of Elena's brother, who disappeared on his way to a university in 1984, and was never heard from again.
Elena says exhumations like this one play a crucial role in bringing closure to the families of the disappeared.
Full article at:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/americas/Guatemalan‑Exhumations‑Bring‑Hope‑by‑Uncovering‑Past‑79491137.html
Nine teenagers killed in roof collapse accident
17 December 2009. India.
In the worst ever incident, at least nine teenagers, mostly rag pickers, were killed when the roof of a half demolished government building collapsed at the posh Unit‑8 locality here on Thursday afternoon.
Two boys, who were rescued from under the rubbles, suffered serious injuries. Eyewitnesses said at least 11 boys were inside the building when the roof caved in at around 2.00 pm. They were all rag pickers who were busy collecting bricks and iron rods from the ruins of the building.
Full article at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Nine‑teenagers‑killed‑in‑roof‑collapse‑accident/articleshow/5348654.cms
Landslide ‑ Nine fatalities and at least 12 houses buried
17 December 2009. Peru.
Nine people have died so far in Ayacucho after a mudslide carrying heavy rocks hit the city of Huamanga, even reaching the historic downtown, near the intersection of 28 de Julio and San Martin Streets.
The mudslide, which buried roads, vehicles, and at least a dozen houses, took place at 7pm of Wednesday, and to make matters worse it caused the city's sewage system to collapse.
Full article at:
http://www.livinginperu.com/news‑10932‑advice‑peru‑nine‑fatalities‑least‑12‑houses‑buried‑after‑mudslide‑hits‑huamanga‑ayacucho‑
Mass grave excavated near Kirkuk
18 December 2009. Iraq.
Iraqi investigators on Friday announced they had finished their excavation of a mass grave containing the bodies of 185 murdered Iraqi Kurds near the disputed northern city of Kirkuk.
The bodies were all those of women, children and the elderly killed between the years of 1988‑1991.
The bodies, as well as clothes and personal effects unearthed over the course of the investigation, which began on December 8, were being sent to a forensic laboratory for DNA tests to determine the identity of the victims.
Full article at:
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1520031.php/Mass‑grave‑excavated‑near‑disputed‑Iraqi‑city‑of‑Kirkuk#ixzz0aGlNSwWq
Seven killed in bus crash in China
19 December 2009.
Seven people died and 19 were injured when a bus plunged 260 feet into a ravine in central China, authorities said Saturday.
Full article at:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2009/12/19/Seven‑killed‑in‑bus‑crash‑in‑China/UPI‑58011261251375/
Road accident in Nigeria claims 55 lives
20 December 2009.
A ghastly road accident on the Ayangba‑Dekina road in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State in northern Nigeria on Friday claimed 55 lives and injured 38 others.
The Zonal Commander of the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Augustine Aipoh, told journalists Sunday in Abuja, that the accident involved an articulated vehicle, four Toyota cars and 13 motorcycles.
According to him, the articulated vehicle, which had a brake failure, ran into a group of people on a masquerade procession.
Full article at: http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=114101
Israel stripped body organs off Palestinians: MP
20 December 2009.
An Israeli Knesset member says there is evidence showing that deceased Palestinians were stripped bare of their vital organs while in police custody in Tel Aviv.
Israeli politician and leader of the Arab nationalist party, Ahmad Tibi, said on Saturday that a medical institution in Israel harvested appendages from the bodies of dead Palestinians in the 1990's.
According to Tibi, the body parts, which included heart arteries, bones, and corneal tissue, were used in organ transplants for Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Israeli television has shown a documentary in this regard, claiming that Israeli politician and Knesset member Aryeh Eldad was the main culprit behind the bodysnatching incident.
Full article at: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114201§ionid=351020202
Guinea massacre victims 'missing'
20 December 2009.
The bodies of more than 100 people killed when Guinean soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters have gone missing, relatives have said.
Some of the dead were taken from hospital morgues by members of the military in the days following the killings.
The military government only 57 people were killed, however a victims association has compiled a list of 108 other victims whose bodies have never been recovered.
Full article at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/12/20091220144324186577.html
Rescuers save nearly half of capsized ship's 83 crew – 31 Missing
20 December 2009. Lebanon.
Hopes were fading on Sunday for the crewmembers still missing after a cargo ship carrying more than 80 people capsized and sank off the Lebanese coast on Thursday. Chances of retrieving any more survivors from the scene were rapidly dwindling, according to the head of the Tripoli port authority.
Reports on Sunday suggested that another body had been found off the coast of the Syrian port of Lattakia, north from the scene of the sinking, bringing to 12 the total number of bodies pulled from the water since Thursday.
Full article at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=109958
Chronology of major ferry accidents in 2009
11 January ‑ Indonesian ferry sank off the South Sulawesi. Only 34 people were rescued from the ship which was carrying more than 370 passengers and crew.
11 February ‑ Bangladeshi ferry capsizes killing 38 passengers with many others missing.
30 March ‑ 21 illegal immigrants drowned off Libya. About 200 people missing.
5 August ‑ Tongan ferry with 149 passengers on board sank off the capital Nuku'alofa. Two people drowned and 93 others missing.
8 September ‑ 200 people missing and 10 died after a Sierra Leonean ferry capsizes.
22 November ‑ ferry sank off Indonesia's Riau province, with 29 people killed, 17 missing.
27 November ‑ Bangladesh ferry carrying about 1,000 people sinks killing at least 85.
4 December ‑ ferry carrying more than 200 passengers capsized off Bangladesh's Kishoreganj district, killing 47, with about a dozen missing.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009‑12/18/content_12666582.htm
Bonaparte Disaster Victim Identification System (DNA Software)
2009. Software that I was sent a notification about.
The purpose of the Bonaparte software is to give forensic researchers a tool to deal with mass fatality incidents in a transparent, consistent and efficient way.
The development of Bonaparte was done in collaboration with the Netherlands Forensic Institute. The computational engine of Bonaparte uses automatically generated Bayesian networks and Bayesian inference methods, enabling to correctly do kinship analysis on the basis of DNA profiles combined with pedigree information. It is specifically designed to handle large scale incidents with thousands of victims and missing persons.
Full details at: http://www.bonaparte‑dvi.com/?p=bonaparte
SAHANA Disaster Management System
2009. Software that I was sent a notification about.
Sahana is an integrated set of pluggable, web based disaster management applications that provide solutions to large‑scale humanitarian problems in the aftermath of a disaster.
The main applications built into Sahana and problems they address so far are:
Missing person registry; organisation registry; request management system; camp registry; volunteer management; inventory management; situation awareness.
Full details at: http://www.sahana.lk/
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