‘Quinta’ death toll rises to 20

Philippines–Eight more bodies have been recovered from flood-hit villages in Western Visayas, bringing to 20 the official death toll from Tropical Storm “Quinta,” the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Sunday.

Undersecretary Benito Ramos, NDRRMC executive director, said that except for the three members of a family in Eastern Samar who died when a tree fell on their house, all the victims had died from drowning.

“The rains brought by the storm caused four major rivers in Western Visayas to swell swamping a large portion of the region,” Ramos told the Inquirer over the phone.

The council identified the latest fatalities as Benedicto Castor, Jezel Superio, Nilo Icawalo, Romeo Idorita, Jaymar Egamino, Joel Jimenea, Edwin Farinas and Osot Sabdane.

It said three persons were injured and four others were still missing in 44 incidents triggered by the weather disturbance.

According to the NDRRMC, the 17th storm to ravage the country in the past 12 months also damaged P225 million worth of infrastructure and agricultural products.

The NDRMMC chief said floods damaged agricultural lands and residential communities located in low-lying areas.

Ramos, who flew to Iloilo on Saturday to oversee the government’s relief efforts, said some areas of Passi City, the municipalities of Calinog and Zarraga in Iloilo province, and the towns of Dumarao, Dumalag, Cuartero and Dao in Capiz province were still under two feet of water.

The NDRRMC said 4,290 families composed of 23,337 individuals were still in 60 evacuation centers in Western Visayas.

“But the floodwaters are now subsiding continuously. We expect those displaced by the floods to return to their homes in the next few days,” Ramos said.

Besides food supplies and clothing, he said the flood victims needed construction materials to rebuild their houses.

“Most of the people who lost their houses were living along the riverbanks. Their homes were washed away when the rivers overflowed,” Ramos said.

The council said the storm destroyed a total of 5,097 houses on Panay island and two nearby regions.

According to Ramos, it may take at least three months to repair the damaged infrastructure and bring the flood-hit communities in the Visayas back to normalcy.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/332259/quinta-death-toll-rises-to-20

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Bomb kills 19 Shiite Muslim pilgrims in Pakistan

At least 19 Shiite Muslim pilgrims were killed when a car bomb destroyed three buses in southwest Pakistan.

The attack comes as security forces searched for the killers of 21 kidnapped troops in the troubled northwest, officials said.

The remotely-triggered bomb hit a convoy of three buses carrying about 180 pilgrims to Iran and set one of the buses ablaze in Mastung district, they said.

"At least 19 people have been killed and 25 injured," said Tufail Baluch, a senior district government official. "All of them were Shiite pilgrims."

Most of those killed were burnt to death, he said. "The bomb was planted in a car. The condition of some of the injured is critical."

The injured included four women and some children but medics were having trouble identifying the dead bodies, many of which were burnt beyond recognition, said Akbar Harifal, a top official in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing at Mastung, some 30 kilometres south of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

Investigators recovered broken parts of a car and were investigating the possible involvement of a suicide bomber, Mr Harifal told AFP.

The province has become an increasing flashpoint for sectarian violence between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shiites, who account for around a fifth of the country's 180 million people.

Baluchistan is also rife with Islamist militancy and home to a regional insurgency which began in 2004. The insurgents demand political autonomy and a greater share of profits from oil and gas resources.

It was the country's second mass killing to be reported in less than a day.

In the northwest, security forces were hunting the killers of 21 security personnel whose bodies were discovered not far from two camps outside Peshawar where they had been kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban.

Around 200 militants, armed with heavy weapons including mortars and rocket launchers, stormed the government paramilitary camps before dawn on Thursday, killing two security personnel and kidnapping 23.

Officials said Sunday the 21 men had their hands tied with rope before they were shot. Two others - one wounded and one unhurt - were also found.

Peshawar is the main city in northwest Pakistan and close to the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, which are regarded as havens for Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.

"We found 21 bullet-riddled bodies of security personnel... in an uninhabited area," local government official Naveed Akbar told AFP.

"One was found alive but wounded and admitted to hospital while another managed to escape unhurt."

The bodies were handed over to families for burial as security forces cordoned off areas around Peshawar and began a search.

Mr Akbar said the troops were killed after the breakdown of negotiations between a local council of tribal elders and Taliban militants.

Mohammad Afridi, a Taliban spokesman from the tribal town of Darra Adam Khel, earlier claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. The Taliban have not yet commented on the killings.

In August the Pakistani Taliban released a video showing what appeared to be the severed heads of a dozen soldiers, after the military said 15 troops had gone missing following fighting with militants in the Bajaur tribal district.

There has been a surge in attacks in northwest Pakistan in the past two weeks, including a suicide bombing on a political meeting in Peshawar that killed Bashir Bilour, the second top politician in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, saying Mr Bilour, an outspoken critic of the militants, was assassinated in revenge for the death of one of the movement's "elders".

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb killed two soldiers in Pakistan's lawless tribal zone near the Afghan border, security officials said.

The improvised explosive device was planted along the route of an army convoy in a village some 25 kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town of strife-torn North Waziristan tribal district.

Pakistan has lost more than 3,000 soldiers in the fight against homegrown insurgents but has resisted US pressure to do more to eliminate havens used by those fighting the Americans in Afghanistan.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.news.com.au/world/bomb-kills-19-pakistan-pilgrims/story-fndir2ev-1226545464362

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Four Die, 20 Missing As Mudslides Hit Pokot

4 bodies have been recovered and atleast 20 people said to have gone missing following yet another case of raging floods and mudslides in pokot on Saturday.

Efforts are currently ongoing in the area to recover and retrieve all the missing persons.

Several homes are also said to have been washed away with local residents and leaders said to be currently involved in frantic efforts to find the missing persons, most of whom are said to be young boys who had just been involved in the annual traditional circumcision practice.

The ongoing rains have been wrecking havok across the country with 10 people killed in similar circumstances in Elgeyo Marakwet o Saturday and tens of families displaced in parts of South Nyanza after River Nyando broke its banks.

Residents of Kapsokom, Kabore in Kaptarakwa and Kocholwa villages have been forced to move higher up to temporary shelters that have been set up by the Kenya Redcross.

The Meteorological department says the rains will continue into the new year and urged those living in flood and mudslide prone areas to move to higher grounds.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.citizennews.co.ke/news/2012/local/item/6752-four-die-20-missing-as-mudslides-hit-pokot

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5 children, 1 adult killed in Mississippi car crash

Five young siblings and one adult died early Saturday when a sport utility vehicle went off an eastern Mississippi road and plunged into a rain-swollen creek, authorities said.

Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said the victims appear to have drowned after their Dodge Durango left a county road 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia just after midnight Saturday.

Deputy County Coroner Marshall Prince identified the five children who died as 9-year-old Dasyanna John, 8-year-old Duane John, 7-year-old Bobby John, 4-year-old Quinton John, and 18-month-old Kekaimeas John. Family friend Diane Chickaway, 37, also died. The sheriff said all were members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and lived in the Pearl River community east of Philadelphia, where the tribe operates a large casino complex.

The father of the children, Dewayne John, escaped the vehicle and remains hospitalized for hypothermia and water inhalation. The children's mother, Deanna Jim, and Chickaway's husband, Dale Chickaway, also survived. The group was traveling to Conehatta, another Choctaw community, with Dewayne John driving. Waddell said he has been tested to see if he was under the influence of alcohol, though he said official results aren't in. If officials decide to file charges, Waddell said they probably wouldn't act until Wednesday.

It appears none of the nine occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts or were in child restraints, the sheriff said.

"It's always sad to hear of the death of a tribal member, but today our tribe experienced a great tragedy with the loss of six beautiful Choctaw souls. I cannot begin to imagine what the friends, relatives and loved ones are feeling," Tribal Chief Phyliss J. Anderson said in a statement. "There are no words that can express our sincere condolences to such a horrific accident. I join many of you in the outpouring display of love and support shown to the families during this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them."

The crash happened on County Road 107, in a rural area near the Neshoba-Newton county line. Heavy rains have deluged the area in recent days, raising the water level of what Waddell described as a normally small creek. The SUV ran off the left side of the road into the creek near the Kitchner community.

The sheriff said it wasn't raining and there was no ice on the road. "This accident is not weather related at all," he said.

Divers from the Philadelphia fire department had to be called to find the submerged vehicle. Prince said the vehicle was pulled from the water after 3 a.m. In addition to the 30 emergency workers, about 20 Choctaw tribal members gathered at the site, he said.

"It looked like he has just run off the road and went into the water," Prince said. "It was deep and swift. The vehicle was completely submerged."

Waddell said the bodies have been sent to Jackson for autopsies. The Mississippi Highway Patrol will reconstruct the accident starting Sunday to learn more.

Tribal spokeswoman Misty Dreifuss said funeral arrangements would likely be made Sunday. She said the children are expected to be buried together. Dreifuss said word of the deaths spread quickly through the 10,000-member tribe and that members "definitely have been hit pretty hard."

Waddell said that he can't recall a deadlier accident in the county in his 26 years of law enforcement.

Sunday 30 December 2012

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/5-children-1-adult-killed-mississippi-car-crash-article-1.1229762#ixzz2GYfQ2nJ1

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Chile Lowers Death Toll in Andes Car Crash

The governor of the Chilean province of Los Andes, Edith Quiroz, has lowered the number of fatalities to four in the collision of a bus and a truck on the route connecting Chile and Argentina through the Los Libertadores mountain pass in the Andes.

At noon Friday reporters were told that five had died and 25 were injured, two of them “very seriously,” but later Quiroz said that one person who was presumed dead and taken to a medical center “was finally stabilized.”

The four fatalities were the bus and truck drivers, and two workers of the Chilean construction and engineering company SalfaCorp, both of whom were on the bus.

The accident took place at 7:30 a.m. at kilometer 20 (mile 12) of the highway linking Los Andes, Chile, with the Argentine city of Mendoza.

According to police, the truck with an Argentine license plate and loaded with wheat apparently had a brake failure and crashed head-on into the bus full of SalfaCorp workers.

The highway, which at this time of year has more traffic than usual as a result of the Christmas and Southern Hemisphere summer vacation seasons, is the main border gateway between Chile and Argentina.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/chile-lowers-death-toll-in-andes-car-crash/20785/

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9 killed in Narsingdi crash

The death toll in the road crash that occurred on the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway in Shibpur upazila in Narsingdi on Sunday rose to 12 as three more people died of fatal injuries at the hospital.

The accident happened around 12:30pm when the microbus collided head-on with an oncoming bus at Chaitanya of the upazila, leaving eight people, including the micro-bus driver, dead on the spot.

"The microbus was on its way to the Shahjalal International Airport when a Dhaka-bound bus of the Haor Bilash Paribahan collided with it head-on at around 12:30pm," Sergent of the Highway Police in the Narsingdi zone Nazrul Islam said.

Another died on his way to hospital.

The deceased were identified as Faruk Hossain, 30, and his son 'Arif', 8, of Jamalpur district, 'Safiullah', 65, of Anandapur in Feni district, 'Rafique', 40, and his daughter 'Brishti', 8, of Sahebganj in Chandpur district, Moyez Uddin, 42, and his son 'Anik', 8, Ibrahim Mia, 70, Nannu Mia, 45, Masudur Rahman, 45, 'Solaiman', 50, of Kishoreganj Sadar upazila. The identity of another dead could not be ascertained.

All the victims were the passengers of the microbus.

Sergeant of the Narsingdi Highway Police Outpost Nazrul Islam told reporters that the

Eighteen people were injured in the accident and they were admitted to the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital.

Doctors said the condition of one injured was critical.

Officer-in-charge of Shibpur Police Station KM Firoz said the bodies were sent to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsies.

Labour and Employment Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Razu, Narsingdi district Deputy Commissioner (DC) Obaidul Azam and Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohiuddin went to the hospital to see the injured and inquired about their treatment.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=239109&cid=2

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10 killed in Marakwet landslides, Kenya

At least 10 people among them three children have been killed after landslides hit Elgeyo Marakwet County following heavy rains.

The landslides occurred in Kocholwo, Simit, Kapsokom, Kaptarkom and Toroplongon areas of the county that have been prone to the earth movements.

The areas lie along the Keiyo escarpment and numerous efforts have been made to move families living in the area to safer places in vain.

According to preliminary reports by the Kenya Red Cross, one of the landslides engulfed a house with three children sleeping in it. They were all killed.

Screams rent the air from 1 p. Friday night when the landslides struck as villagers sought to save their lives and those of their family members.

By 8am Saturday, at least seven other bodies had been recovered in addition to the three children while several villagers were still missing and feared to be buried in the mud.

Red Cross and Government personnel with assistance from villagers made frantic efforts to look for survivors, some of who were rushed to nearby medical centres for treatment.

Rescue efforts are still on despite ongoing rain in the affected areas.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000073887&story_title=Kenya-10-killed-in-Marakwet-landslides

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7 injured, 20 missing in Colombia landslide

At least seven people were injured and some 20 others went missing in a landslide reoccurred Saturday in southern Colombia, relief agencies said.

The incident occurred when a bulldozer was removing earth that blocked a driveway below the Andes Mountains in the aftermath of a previous landslide, and about 20 cars were waiting in a queue to pass at the time, said the Risk Management Department.

The injured have all been sent to the University Hospital of Neiva.

Due to the unstable terrain, light and weather conditions, rescuers have decided to wait until Sunday to resume the search for the 20 missing persons.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://www.china.org.cn/environment/2012-12/30/content_27550681.htm

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Bodies of Moscow Air Crash Victims Identified

December 30 (RIA Novosti) – The bodies of all the victims in an air crash at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport have been identified, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Sunday.

A Russian Tupolev Tu-204 medium-haul airliner overshot the runway while landing at Russia’s third busiest airport and caught fire on Saturday evening, killing four. A fifth person died in hospital on Sunday. Three other people remain in grave conditions.

Russia has set up an inter-governmental commission comprising the Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Transport Oversight Service to investigate the causes of the air disaster. Pilot error is currently being viewed as the probable cause.

“The bodies of all the victims have now been identified. As soon as the state of the crewmembers injured in the air crash stabilizes, they will be questioned. An additional inspection of the crash site is being conducted,” the Investigative Committee said.

The crew commander, the second pilot, a flight engineer and two stewardesses were killed in the crash, the Red Wings airline that owned the plane said.

“A video material made by an air crash eye-witness will be attached to the investigation materials,” the Investigative Committee said.

The flight recorders from the Tu-204 wreckage have been found and delivered to the Inter-State Aviation Committee for study.

There were eight people on board the plane, all of whom were crewmembers, flying from the Czech Republic.

Red Wings is a Moscow-based airline that operates 8-10 Tu-204 planes, each with capacity to carry up to 210 passengers.

The Moscow city transport prosecutor's office has launched a criminal probe into the airline's compliance with Russian aviation safety regulations.

Sunday 30 December 2012

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20121230/178498199.html

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