DVI News 25 September 2011
26/Sep/2011
Rain-triggered flood in SW China leaves 14 dead, 11 missing19 September 2011.
At least 14 people died, 11 others were missing and more than three million people were affected in rain-triggered flooding in southwestern Sichuan Province as of 2 p.m. Monday, the local government said. Rescuers are searching for the missing people
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
13 killed in Mwingi accident
19 September 2011. Kenya.
At least 13 people died and several others were seriously injured when a bus lost control on the Mwingi-Garissa road on Monday morning. The Red Cross said the dead included five men, five women and three children
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/
22 killed, 30 injured in road accident
19 September 2011. India.
A trailer carrying iron sheets rammed into a passenger bus on Monday morning at Taimara Ghati in Ranchi district, killing 22 people and injuring more than 30 others.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/
Grave Rejoinders
19 September 2011. Kashmir.
The State Human Rights Commission [SHRC] recommended employment of available scientific methods to ascertain identification of dead bodies interred in unmarked and mass graves its investigation team confirmed existed. Now rejoinders submitted in the case ask for widening the investigation to all the twenty districts after reports of more unmarked graveyards were handed over to the autonomous commission. In a closed-door hearing at SHRC’s office at Srinagar a number of rejoinders were filed by different people including International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian-administered Kashmir [IPTK] and Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons [APDP].
According to the rejoinder submitted by IPTK and APDP before SHRC, there are 62 documented graveyards where 2700 hitherto unknown, unmarked, and mass graves, containing 2943 bodies were interred, out of which 2373 are still unidentified. Whereas the Police Investigation Wing of SHRC have investigated only 38 graveyards, documenting 2730 graves, out of which 2156 are unidentified graves. The remaining 574 persons are of those who were buried as foreign militants but later identified as local residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
http://kashmirlife.net/index.
Kenya Death Toll From Pipeline Blast Reaches 121, Red Cross Says
19 September 2011.
The death toll from a Sept. 12 pipeline explosion near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has risen to at least 121, the Kenyan Red Cross said.
About 146 people are still missing.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/
Death toll at 81 for quake in India, Nepal, China
20 September 2011.
Thousands of terrified survivors of a Himalayan earthquake that killed 81 people and shook parts of India, Nepal and China crowded Tuesday into shelters and relatives' homes or stayed out in the open for fear of aftershocks.
Soldiers used dynamite and earthmovers to clear landslides on highways through the steep valleys linking the worst-hit northeastern Indian state of Sikkim to the rest of India. They managed to clear a path to Mangan, the town closest to the epicenter of Sunday's 6.9-magnitude quake, but many other communities remained cut off and authorities fear the death toll could rise once rescuers reach them.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/
International Symposium on Human Identification Attracts 700+ Top Forensic Professionals
20 September 2011. USA.
Familial searching. Rapid DNA testing. Phenotyping. These breakthrough DNA technologies are among the timely issues in DNA analysis that will be explored at this year’s 22nd International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI), October 3-6, 2011 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, Washington.
Juan Enriquez, Harvard academic and author of As the Future Catches You, is this year’s keynote.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/
Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office completes identification of more victims
20 September 2011. USA.
The Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office has completed scientific identification and notification to family members on more victims from Friday’s incident at the Reno Championship Air Races.
The total number of deceased victims is 11. The identified victms are:
John Craik – 45 yrs, Nevada.
Cheryl Elvin – 71yrs, Kansas
Wendy Hewitt – 56 yrs, Arizona
Craig Salerno – 50 yrs, Texas
Michael Wogan – 22yrs, Arizona.
The Medical Examiner’s Office will continue with the scientific identification process for the remaining victims.
http://reno.gov/Index.aspx?
Death toll rises to 361 in Pakistan flooding
20 September 2011.
At least 361 people have died and 600,000 were living in refugee camps because of flooding in Pakistan, the country's national disaster authority said Tuesday.
The flooding in Sindh and Balochistan provinces has destroyed 1.5 million homes in 41,000 villages, the government said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
35 Bodies Found in Eastern Mexico
21 September 2011.
The bodies of 35 people were dumped in broad daylight on an avenue in a suburb of Veracruz, a port city in eastern Mexico, with the majority of the victims being asphyxiated or strangled to death.
At least two minors, “young people between the ages of 15 and 17,” were killed, Escobar said.
State investigators have identified 95 percent of the victims, the majority of whom had criminal records.
Two of the victims did not have prior criminal records and had been reported missing by relatives.
http://laht.com/article.asp?
New police chief back on beat in home territory
22 September 2011. New Zealand.
Senior Sergeant Richard McPhail takes over the reins at the Gore police station on Monday.
While most of his career has been in Southland, Mr McPhail's role with the national police disaster victim identification (DVI) team has put him at the heart of some horrific disasters, such as the Victoria bush fires in Australia and the Christchurch earthquake.
He will continue working with the DVI squad but was looking forward to taking over policing in his old patch.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Earthquake through police lenses
22 September 2011. New Zealand.
He deals with bodies up close for a living, but the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake was like nothing he had experienced before, says a Dunedin police forensic photographer, whose pictures are included in a new book of photographs by police photographers in the weeks following the quake.
Dunedin police forensic photographers Constable Eddie Fields and Senior Constable Craig McKersey both spent time in Christchurch carrying out victim identification following the earthquake, and some of their pictures feature in the large photographic book.
The book includes some shots never seen before, as well as shots from the mortuary where massive teams of experts worked long hard hours to identify victims.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/
Christchurch 22.2 - Beyond the Cordon, was officially launched in Christchurch on 22 September.
32 confirmed dead in rain-triggered landslide in NW China
22 September 2011.
Thirty-two people have been confirmed dead following a rain-triggered landslide on Saturday in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Rescuers recovered the last missing body on Tuesday afternoon.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Libya: Halt Exhumations of Mass Graves
Forensic Experts Needed to Identify Remains, Secure Evidence
22 September 2011.
Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) should place an immediate moratorium on the exhumation of mass graves until forensic experts are available to support the exhumations, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said the NTC should also arrange security at known or suspected mass grave sites to prevent unauthorized exhumations.
The grave sites documented to date vary in size, with some holding several dozen bodies. They also differ in the date of their creation, and some may contain remains from separate incidents. At one cemetery in Tripoli, a tractor driver told Human Rights Watch he had buried several hundred bodies gathered from various parts of the city during and after the fighting and brought to the site around August 20. Their identities and causes of death are unknown.
Exhumations began on many of the grave sites from the recent conflict as soon as they were located. Local authorities and groups typically conducted these exhumations without central coordination and at times without professional forensic assistance. The ICRC helped arrange the handling of 125 bodies from 12 different sites, but the organization is not involved in collecting evidence for possible use in legal proceedings. Where unplanned and unassisted exhumations have occurred, the opportunity to identify bodies and the circumstances of deaths may already be lost, Human Rights Watch said.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/
Eight Killed in Blast at Colombian Power Station
22 September 2011.
The death toll from an explosion inside a pipe supplying water to a hydroelectric plant in the western Colombian province of Caldas rose to eight Thursday as two more workers succumbed to their injuries.
Six workers died at the scene of Wednesday’s blast and two workers later died at hospitals in Manizales.
http://laht.com/article.asp?
Seven More Bodies Found in Mexican Port City
23 September 2011.
The bodies of six men and a woman were found in two neighborhoods of the eastern Mexican port city of Veracruz, where 35 corpses had been dumped earlier this week on a busy avenue.
Witnesses told Efe that four of the bodies discovered Thursday – three men and a woman, all of whom bore signs of torture.
http://laht.com/article.asp?
Grim search for closure amid tragedy
24 September 2011. Australia.
Amid death, destruction and family devastation, they quietly get on with their job.
Fires, floods, tsunamis, terrorist bombings and car, plane, helicopter, boat and bus crashes, the Queensland Police Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) squad has seen it all.
Set-up in 1981 at the suggestion of Interpol, the 30-officer team has built a reputation as one of the finest in the world, going wherever they are needed at home and overseas.
Their job is to provide closure for devastated families by finding enough evidence to identify the victims of disasters.
It's not a job for everyone. And despite their experience and vigorous training, the squad can still be shocked.
The squad come from different areas of the Queensland Police and only work in DVI when needed. But it's not open to just anyone.
"We're pretty selective on who we take in," Senior-Sergeant Ken Rach, the only permanent member of the squad since its formation, says.
"There is a prerequisite training program which takes people through the five stages and psych testing."
Senior Constable Mark Carroll-Walden says working with the same people helped the team form a strong bond.
Sgt Cook, who has been with the squad for 25 years, agrees: "Everybody is trained in all the different roles, there isn't really a rank except for Ken."
The job is physically and emotionally draining with no financial incentive for joining. But each member says they draw satisfaction from helping mourning families.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/
13 dead as boat sinks in Sumenep
24 September 2011. Indonesia.
A boat capsized near Raas Islet in Sumenep, Madura, East Java, on Saturday. At least 13 passengers were confirmed dead, and 15 others were still missing.
Officers from the Raas Police Station have discovered the remains of the 13 passengers.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
All 11 killed in Reno air race crash identified
24 September 2011. USA.
The official death toll from Friday's crash at the Reno National Championship Air Races increased to 11 on Tuesday, and all 11 have been officially identified.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/
Las Vegas dentist provides forensic services
24 September 2011. USA.
Dr. David Ord, a Las Vegas dentist, provides free forensic dentistry to the Clark County coroner's office through a decade-long partnership with UNLV's School of Dental Medicine.
In the confines of the county coroner's office, across the hall from where bodies are refrigerated and examined daily, Ord spends time capturing computer images of jaw and tooth samples and poring over post-mortem X-rays to match them with dental records in hopes of finding a person's identity.
Coroner Mike Murphy estimates the unique partnership saves the county about $250,000 annually by not having to hire a full-time forensic odontologist.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/las-
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