DVI News 28 November 2011
28/Nov/2011
Nine people now confirmed dead from nursing home blaze22 November 2011. Australia.
The Quakers Hill fire has claimed its ninth victim today.
Neeltje Valkay, 90, became the latest person to die as a result of the fire at the nursing home in Sydney's west on Friday morning.
Three people died instantly and a fourth shortly thereafter. Since then, five others have perished.
http://www.news.com.au/
New technology may lead police to solve old crimes
22 November 2011. UK.
The mystery of the identity of a man found dead in Scarborough harbour more than 22 years ago is one of eight “cold cases” being reviewed by North Yorkshire Police.
The middle-aged man was found on May 4 1989 – but has never been identified.
The force said the review, started a few days ago, would enable it to take advantage of advances in technology not available at the time the remains were uncovered....to try to uncover their identities.
http://www.
7 charred to death, including 2 children, in Doon express fire
22 November 2011. India.
Seven passengers, including two children, were charred to death and four Australians injured when two coaches of the Howrah-Dehradun Express caught fire in Jharkhand's Giridih district in the wee hours today.
Railway Protection Force Divisional Commandant Sashi Kumar said "Seven persons, including two children, were charred to death after the fire broke out in an AC coach and then spread to another AC coach."
Four Australian women (foreign research scholars) travelling in the coach received minor injuries and have been admitted to the Railway Divisional Hospital in Dhanbad.
Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Dhanbad Division), Dayanand said the railway inspection team searched the two AC bogies and found seven bodies.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/
Delhi fire: Police failed to alert firemen in advance about eunuchs' conclave
22 November 2011. India.
The tragedy at Sunday's transgender conference, in which 14 people were charred to death and 40 injured as a raging blaze engulfed a tent in Nand Nagri, could have been averted if the fire department was kept in the loop about the event.
According to the department's officials, the onus of informing them about functions of such a large scale - the meet was to be attended by almost 10,000 eunuchs, a third of whom were believed to be at the venue when the blaze erupted - lay with the police
But even as the police registered a case of causing death due to negligence against unknown persons on Monday, they maintained that the organisers had not sought their go ahead for the conference. "It was a private gathering and they need not have obtained permission from us," DCP (northeast) Sanjay Kumar Jain said.
According to the police, the number of eunuchs inside the tent was not more than 1,000. "The figure of 4,000-5,000 is highly exaggerated," Jain claimed.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/
Nand Nagri fire toll 14, two held
22 November 2011. India.
The toll in the Nand Nagri fire incident climbed to 14 on Monday as another victim succumbed to injuries at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Police, meanwhile, arrested two persons and have also registered a case of causing death due to negligence for the mishap.
More than 40 eunuchs were injured when the tent at the community centre, where they were holding a Kinnar Sammelan, caught fire around 7.30 pm on Sunday.
Till late evening, doctors said only six of the 14 bodies had been identified, as others were charred beyond recognition.
http://www.expressindia.com/
Six dead as truck overturns in Quang Ngai
22 November 2011. Vietnam
Six people died Monday after a truck overturned into a stream in the central province of Quang Ngai, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.
Police said only two men were identified. The three others are Kor ethnic minority residents
http://www.thanhniennews.com/
Seven bodies found in new mass grave in northern Mexico
22 November 2011.
Mexican security forces have discovered seven bodies in another mass grave in the northern region of the country, officials said on Tuesday.
After two days of exploration and digging, Mexican Army personnel found the mass grave on Monday with seven bodies in an advanced state of decomposition in the Leona Vicario community in the municipality of San Juan del Rio in Durango state, some 80 kilometers north of the state's capital.
Search operations for the mass grave had begun on Saturday. Durango's Attorney General's Office said operations at the site would continue on Tuesday to determine whether there are more bodies in the area.
http://channel6newsonline.com/
Rescuers Searching for Pieces of Plane, Remains of Victims
24 November 2011. USA.
Searchers struggled to recover the remains of six people, including three children, who died when their plane hit the crest of Arizona's Superstition Mountains at 200 mph, causing an explosion that left only a wheel and a small door intact, police said today.
"It's a very arduous process, without being too descriptive, because of the explosion," Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said. "The remains are being handled with great care and compassion."
The plane crashed about 5 p.m. Wednesday shortly after takeoff from an airfield in Mesa, Ariz., slamming ino the top of a mountain, Babeu said.
The terrain is so jagged and treacherous that only elite members of the region's search and rescue units are allowed on the mountain top, Babeu said. Searchers have had to rappel into crevices from helicopters to recover remains.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/
26 Bodies Found in Western Mexican City on Thursday – 24 Found on Wednesday
24 November 2011.
The bodies of 26 men were found inside two SUVs and an automobile abandoned on a busy avenue in Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s largest cities, prosecutors said Thursday.
Investigators initially said 23 bodies were at the crime scene, but they later found three more inside the vehicles, Jalisco Attorney General Tomas Coronado said.
This was the second mass dumping of bodies in Mexico this week.
On Wednesday, 24 bodies were found in Culiacan and other cities in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
Police found 17 charred bodies inside two vehicles in downtown Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.
Four bodies were found a few hours later in Calomatillo, a town outside the city of Mocorito, and three bodies were discovered in the city of Salvador Alvarado.
http://laht.com/article.asp?
Gang fakes documents to collect Air France crash cash
25 November 2011. Brazil.
Brazilian authorities have dismantled a gang that faked documents to fraudulently collect money owed to air accident victims.
Prosecutors pressed charges against 20 people who masqueraded as relatives of air crash victims who died leaving no heir.
The victims had died in a 2009 Air France crash, a 2007 Brazilian TAM airliner crash in Sao Paulo and the crash of a Brazilian Gol in the Amazon jungle in 2006.
The fraudsters faked social security documents to pass themselves off as relatives and thus illegally collected pensions," prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/
4 dead in small plane crash near Crystal Lake
26 November 2011. USA.
Four people were killed this morning when a small plane crashed in a field in unincorporated McHenry County near Crystal Lake.
The pilot and all three occupants were dead when emergency personnel arrived.
The bodies, found among 100 yards of debris, couldn't be identified Saturday. The McHenry County Coroner's Office hadn't notified relatives of the victims as of Saturday evening. McHenry County Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said the names of the victims would be released Monday at the earliest.
http://www.nwherald.com/2011/
Drug War Claims 14 More Lives in Mexican Gulf Coast State
26 November 2011.
The drug-war death toll in the Mexican Gulf coast state of Veracruz has risen by 14 over the past 48 hours, authorities said.
Six bodies, all bearing signs of torture, were found dumped in the Santa Fe district near the port of Veracruz, spokespersons for the state’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement Friday.
The bodies were in an advanced state of decay, leading forensics personnel to conclude they had been dead for between six and eight weeks.
Meanwhile, the Defense Secretariat said in a pair of statements Friday that eight suspected drug traffickers were killed in two separate clashes with army soldiers in the towns of Panuco and Ixhuacan de los Reyes.
http://laht.com/article.asp?
New efforts to ID victims revives memories of 1980 trial
26 November 2011. USA.
Edward Pavlik's work on the John Wayne Gacy case more than 30 years ago helped fuel a lengthy career and sealed his reputation. The forensic dentist lectures across the country on identifying victims of the notorious serial killer and uses the case when teaching forensic dentists and police.
But decades later his work on the case has brought him, as well as former detectives and prosecutors, right back to Gacy as the sheriff's office tries anew to identify the bodies of eight victims who have remained unknown.
Pavlik has an additional issue to deal with: A mother of one victim was challenging the identification that Pavlik and a radiologist made based on dental records and X-rays. Sherry Marino wanted DNA testing to confirm the identification of her 14-year-old son, Michael; a judge granted Marino's request.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
9 killed in Central Kalimantan boat accident
26 November 2011. Indonesia.
Nine people were killed when a speed boat carrying 40 passengers was hit by waves and sank in Tanjung Cemeti waters in Katingan regency, Central Kalimantan, on Wednesday.
The seven bodies were found by a local search and rescue team on Thursday, while the remaining two were located on Friday. The remaining 31 passengers survived.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
Death toll from Southeast Sulawesi ferry accident rises to 12
27 November 2011. Indonesia.
The death toll from an overcrowded ferry sank off eastern Indonesia early Saturday has risen to 12, officials said, as search-and-rescue teams scoured the choppy waters.
Ninety-three people, including the captain were rescued, but officials feared others were trapped inside the sunken vessel, said Brig. Gen. Sigit Sudarmanto, a police chief on Sulawesi island.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
4 Dead – 22 Missing: Search for bridge collapse victims to go on for nine days
27 November 2011. Indonesia.
The search for missing victims of the Mahakam bridge collapse in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, will continue for nine days, the local police say.
Kutai Kartanegara police chief Sr. Comr. I Gusti Kade Budhi Harryarsana said that 60 divers have been dispatched to search for the 22 people that were reported to still be missing.
Four people died in the disaster and 39 others were injured.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
'Examining young victims was hardest'
27 November 2011. Singapore / New Zealand.
Four severed hands, and the remains of two heads.
These remains belonged to a mother and a daughter, and they were all Dr George Paul had when he was asked to identify the duo, who had been killed in Christchurch, New Zealand, when it was hit by an earthquake in February.
Dr Paul, a senior consultant pathologist from the Health Sciences Authority, cited this as the most traumatising case he dealt with when he flew to Christchurch to help with the identification of the remains of the earthquake victims.
"There were only four hands and the remains of two heads - all dismembered - in the body bag," said Dr Paul, 56.
"One head had grey hair, the other thick black hair. It reminded me of my own family back home. But this mother and daughter are no more."
Dr Paul was part of a five-member Singapore Disaster Victim Identification Team sent to Christchurch to help.
For Dr Tan Peng Hui, 47, who led the team, the most difficult aspect of the job was dealing with the remains of children.
Dr Tan, a forensic dentist who was then commander of the SAF Military Medicine Institute said, "There was a kindergarten in a collapsed building, and it was upsetting to see children's remains in the mortuary."
An international team of forensic experts worked tirelessly to identify the remains.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/
Mabes Polri Investigasi Jembatan Kuker Runtuh
Police Headquarters Investigates Bridge Collapse
27 November 2011. Indonesia
Police Headquarters sent teams to the location of the collapse of the Golden Gate Bridge of Borneo, or Bridge mammal.
According to the Head of the Police Headquarters, as many as 22 people are missing and teams of investigators, Disaster Victim Identification officers, and Forensic Laboratory officers have been sent there. Police Headquarters sent officers directly to the site including 11 investigators, 5 DVI officers, and six “LabFor” officers who worked the night.
http://us.nasional.vivanews.
Jembatan Ambruk, Ramai-ramai Bentuk Tim Investigasi
Bridge Collapsed – Investigation Team Formed
28 November 2011.
The police immediately fielded a team to investigate the collapse of the bridge. "The team, led by Head of Criminal Investigation, the Commissioner-General Sutarman, had left for the location," said a spokeswoman for Police Commissioner Boy Rafli Ahmad, yesterday. The team consists of personnel from the Central Forensic Laboratory and Disaster Victim Identification (Disaster Victim Identification).
http://www.tempo.co/read/news/
Reviving autopsy
22 November 2011. UK.
Technology advances not only through new inventions, but also by the imaginative application of old ones. And one of the most ancient forms of scientific investigation, the post-mortem autopsy, may be ripe for just such a technological upgrade. According to a paper in this week’s Lancet, published by Ian Roberts of the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, it may soon be time to put away the scalpel and the retractor clamp, and to replace them with the body scanner.
Britain’s health department therefore commissioned Dr Roberts to study whether scanning dead bodies in the way that is routine for living ones would help. His conclusion is that it would.
He and his colleagues examined 182 bodies in Manchester and Oxford. Radiologists studied CT and MRI scans of these bodies, made diagnoses based on them, explained their confidence in these diagnoses, and judged whether the scans might thus preclude the need for a full autopsy. Within 12 hours of each scan, a pathologist then performed a conventional autopsy, so that Dr Roberts could compare the new methods with the old.
The scans were far from perfect. The rate of discrepancy between the cause of death, as determined by radiology and as determined by conventional autopsy, was 32% for CT scans, 43% for MRI and 30% for a combination of CT and MRI. Most troubling, the scans had difficulty showing heart disease, a common killer. However, radiologists were good at identifying which diagnoses were sound and which needed to be re-evaluated by a full autopsy. When they felt confident in their diagnoses—which was the case for 34% of CT investigations and 42% of MRIs—the discrepancy between the results from scanning and those from autopsies was lower. For CT scans, it was just 16%.
That is still a significant gap. But not all of it is caused because traditional methods are better. For one body, for example, scanning revealed a lethal stroke that dissection missed.
http://www.economist.com/
(Tags: dvi)