Remains of 47 Victims of PIA Plane Crash to be Sent to Islamabad

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8 December 2016, 13:57

Pakistani volunteers move remains of plane crash victims to a mortuary Wednesday at a hospital, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Photo: B.K. Bangash / Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan — The remains of the 47 passengers and crew who were killed when a Pakistan International Airlines commuter crashed in the north of the country are being sent to Islamabad for identification, a hospital spokesman and the airline said Thursday.

Daniyal Gilani, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines, confirmed that 42 passengers and five crew members were killed in Wednesday’s crash. Earlier, PIA had put the total at 48.

Junaid Sarwar, a hospital spokesman in the northwestern city of Abbottabad, said only five bodies had been identified as the remains of others were burned so badly that the National Database and Registration Authority could not identify them.

“We are sending body parts of all the passengers to Islamabad for DNA tests,” he said. Wednesday’s crash took place in a village 75 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad. The small twin-propeller aircraft was travelling from the city of Chitral to Islamabad when it crashed shortly after takeoff due to an engine fault.

PIA says the plane lost contact with the control tower prior to the crash.

The passengers included Junaid Jamshed, a famous singer who had become an Islamic preacher, according to PIA.

“There are no survivors. All passengers and members of crew are dead,” Azam Sehgal, the PIA chariman told a news conference at the Islamabad airport late Wednesday. He said the plane’s black box recorder had been found.

Sehgal said the pilot of plane told the control tower that an engine had developed a technical fault. Moments later he made a “mayday call” shortly before the plane disappeared.

Sehgal said it was unclear what caused the crash.

TV footage at the site of the crash showed debris from the plane. The footage showed villagers collecting the remains of the passengers and covering their bodies with cloths.

Altaf Hussain, a rescue worker who transported the remains of passengers in an ambulance, told the AP that the crash site smelled of burned flesh and oil, and that body parts were scattered everywhere.

“We collected the burned bones … and wrapped them in cloth,” he said.

Ambulance driver Duray Hussain said the remains were “beyond recognition.”

Pakistan’s air industry had had a mixed record recently. About 150 people were killed in a crash near Islamabad in 2010, and last year a military helicopter carrying several diplomats also crashed in the country’s north, killing eight people. And a Bhoja Air flight passenger plane crashed near Islamabad due to bad weather in 2012, killing all 127 people on board.

Story: Asif Shahzad, Munir Ahmed

Death Toll Reaches 102 as Aid Groups Reach Indonesia Quake Zone

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Associated Press

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8 December 2016, 13:30

Rescuers recover the body of a victim from the rubble of a collapsed building Wednesday after an earthquake in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia. Photo: Heri Juanda / Associated Press

MEUREUDU, Indonesia — Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday as the government in Jakarta promised tons of emergency aid and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Search efforts involving volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel were concentrated on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. Humanitarian assessment teams were fanning out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals with a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts, he said. Aceh’s disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their homes. Aceh officials said more than 8,000 people spent Wednesday night in shelters in Pidie Jaya district alone.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

The Indonesian government said its urgent aid would be flown out of Jakarta early Thursday afternoon and will include 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags. The Red Cross deployed aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE said it is leading an assessment team of four different international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts.

“Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift,” said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there’s a fuller picture of how many people are displaced and the relief effort required, he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). The agency had initially placed the epicenter undersea. It did not generate a tsunami. As of 9 a.m. Thursday, some 36 aftershocks had rattled the area.

The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

John Ebel, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Boston College, said there is a risk that even weak aftershocks could cause further damage to buildings, particularly because modern building codes aren’t consistently enforced in Indonesia.

Scores of rescuers were crawling over a market in Meureudu, the hard-hit town, where many shop houses collapsed.

One shop owner, Hajj Yusri Abdullah, didn’t hold out much hope of finding survivors. He said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris the day before. They included a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an ornate celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Siti Rukiah, a mother of four, was among the many people who took refuge for the night in local mosques. She and about 100 other people from Pante Raja, a seaside village, fled to Nur Abdullah Mosque located on higher ground in a nearby hamlet.

She said the quake felt so powerful she had to grab onto a table to keep from falling down. She was sure a tsunami was coming.

“I’m really scared about a tsunami,” said Rukiah, whose brother and neighbors died in the 2004 disaster. She said she didn’t want to return home “not only because my house is damaged, but I am still afraid an aftershock could cause a tsunami.”

The national disaster agency said about 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed in Pidie Jaya and neighboring Bireuen district, including 14 mosques. The rest were mainly dwellings and shop houses. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

Story: Binsar Bakkara

Cops Arrest Road Rage ‘Shooter’ (Video)

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Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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8 December 2016, 12:20

A screencap from a video of Wednesday’s road rage

BANGKOK — A man who fired what appeared to be a handgun at another motorist during a road rage incident on a Bangkok highway was arrested Wednesday night.

Nattawuth Puangthongkae was filmed chasing after a motorist who sideswiped his car on Bangna-Trad Road at about 2pm on Wednesday. In the video, which was widely shared, a driver said to be Nattawuth pulls out a weapon and shoots at the man he was pursuing, Assawadej Chalardlaem.

Assawadej filed a complaint at the Bangkaew Police Station, and after reviewing security camera footage, police tracked down and arrested Nattawuth several hours later.

Police said he confessed to being the man in the video and clarified that the weapon was actually a BB gun.

He was charged with intimidating others and reckless driving, while Assawadej was charged with property damage for sideswiping Nattawuth’s car.

The damage sustained by Nattawuth Puangthongkae’s car. Photo: Bangkaew Police

Tourists Ignore ‘No Climbing’ Sign, Internet Shames Them

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Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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8 December 2016, 12:04

Tourists climb atop a railing at the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail in photos posted to the Pantip.com webboard.

CHIANG MAI — Keyboard warriors were slamming Thai tourists for breaking the rules posted at a scenic spot in Chiang Mai’s Doi Inthanon National Park to take photos.

Since Sunday, when a Pantip user posted a thread shaming visitors for not “respecting the rules” at the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail, netizens have responded with photos of their own Facebook friends who ignored the “no climbing” rule to pose for photos on a railing overlooking a stunning valley view.

“It’s something that shouldn’t happen. We should cooperate and be responsible for public property,” read the post by user Pudding Chocolate and Soft Latte. “The railing is rickety, and some of the nails are half pulled-out.”

The thread then went on to detail in morbid detail what the user thought would happen if someone fell.

Some took the drama over scenic hiking photos by vacationers as an opportunity to reflect on others they have shamed.

“After seeing this, I can’t find it in me to berate Chinese tourists,” user Turn426 wrote. “We’re not good enough to do that.”

While some comments agreed with the risks of perching on the wood fence, at least person accepted the inevitability of hikers enjoying the summit view and suggested the park reinforce the railings.

“This will answer tourists’ needs, and more people will come to take selfies at the national park,” user 733265 wrote. “I’m just thinking like a private businessman.”

All the Sights of Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market (Without the Smell)

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Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

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8 December 2016, 12:00

BANGKOK — No need to go to Tokyo to explore its infamous Tsukiji fish market, as a Japanese documentary will bring a taste of it in a film about fresh fish, farmers’ rights and gastronomers at the city center.

Before it becomes sushi and sashimi, it’s at the Tsukiji market. Tokyo’s massive complex, known by many from “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” is listed as the world’s biggest wholesale fish and seafood market. Its wonders are captured in Shotaro Endo’s doc “Tsukiji Wonderland,” which will screen in the Thonglor area as part of the Fisherfolk festival.

Apart from the film, the third edition of Fisherfolk will also feature seafood sold by farmers from Prachuap Khiri Khan, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Satun, Songkhla and Trat provinces which will serve fresh fruits de mer.

Live music, Japanese cooking workshops and a discussion panel will be held during the two-day event.

The film will be show for free at 5:30pm on Dec. 17.

Fisherfolk will be held from 9am to 6pm on Dec. 17 & 18 at Angoon Malik Garden, where Root Garden was previously situated, in Soi Thong Lo 3, next to the Pridi Banomyong Institute. It’s a 10-minute walk from BTS Thong Lo Station exit No. 1.

Malta Bans Gay Conversion Therapy, a First for Europe

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Associated Press

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8 December 2016, 11:43

An LGBT flag painted on a wrist to celebrate LGBT Pride Day in 2014. Photo: Denise Coronel / Associated Press

VALLETTA, Malta — Malta has become the first European country to ban gay conversion therapy, imposing fines of up to 10,000 euros (USD$10,750) and a jail term of up to one year for offenders.

The Maltese Parliament approved a law Wednesday that effectively outlaws any attempts to “cure” gay people of their sexual orientations.

The law stipulates that “no sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression constitutes a disorder, disease or shortcoming of any sort.”

It also lowers to 16 the age at which minors can request a gender change without their parents’ approval.

Transgender Europe says the small Mediterranean country is the first in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy.

Malta has been at the forefront of progressive social reforms in Europe since the Labour government was elected in 2013.

Porto Thrash Leicester, Foxes Still Secure Top UCL Group Spot

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Associated Press

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8 December 2016, 11:35

Leicester's Nampalys Mendy, left, and Jose Ulloa, right, react after Porto scored their fifth goal during a Champions League group G soccer match between FC Porto and Leicester City Wednesday at the Dragao stadium in Porto, Portugal. Photo: Paulo Duarte / Associated Press

PORTO, Portugal — FC Porto breezed into the Champions League knockout phase Wednesday with a 5-0 rout of Leicester, which had already secured top spot in Group G on its debut in European soccer’s elite competition.

Porto’s emphatic victory over the much-changed English champions ensured it was not overtaken by FC Copenhagen, which beat Club Brugge 2-0.

Andre Silva scored twice, including a penalty, while Jesus Corona, Yacine Brahimi and Diogo Jota also netted as Leicester slumped to its first Champions League loss.

Leicester finished two points ahead of Porto with 13 points from six games. In its Premier League title defense, Leicester has 13 points from 14 games to sit two points above the relegation zone.

Leicester defied 5,000-1 odds to be crowned Premier League champions for the first time in May and has advanced to the round of 16 in its first foray into the Champions League.

But this was a humiliating end to the group stage for the central England team, which lacked cohesion and confidence.

With Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Robert Huth left at home, Leiecster’s shadow squad never got close to the 2004 European champions as manager Claudio Ranieri gambled on reviving its Premier League season by resting his big names.

While changes were expected, Ranieri sprung a surprise by picking 29-year-old goalkeeper Ben Hamer, who last played for the senior side almost two years ago.

Porto went in front after six minutes, with Silva beating Jeff Schlupp to head in a corner from six yards.

The Foxes barely made it out of their own half and Alex Telles swung in a fine delivery for the unmarked Corona to volley in the second.

Leicester was offering little resistance and Brahimi added Porto’s third, a minute before halftime, when he finished off a neat move with a back-heel.

Porto went further in front in the 64th minute after Danny Drinkwater clumsily fouled Silva, who then converted from the penalty spot.

Porto added a fifth when Jota was sent clear and he struck through Hamer’s legs on a comfortable night for the hosts.

Fortune Favors the Bold Drawings of ‘Pomme Chan’

By

Kaewta Ketbungkan, Staff Reporter

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8 December 2016, 11:15

Photo: The Jam Factory Gallery / Courtesy

BANGKOK — Get your fortune read and reflect on fortune and belief with the sacred animals of the Chinese Zodiac portrayed by a talented illustrator at an exhibition opening Saturday.

Masterful illustrator Tachamapan “Pomme Chan” Chanchamrassang challenged herself with new techniques in representing belief and fortune for her upcoming solo exhibition “Sirimongkol (Luck),” through drawings of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Showing not only 12 large-scale drawings on canvas, the exhibition also features the artist’s illustrations on paper painted with gold and red colors, a spirit house and ceramic merchandise.

At the launch party, free fortune-telling will be provided along with food, drinks and music.

“Pomme Chan” is a Thai illustrator based in London. Her hand-drawn works and typographical illustrations have been featured in various magazines and campaigns abroad such as the Telegraph, New York Times Magazine and La Perla Magazine.

The exhibition launches at 5pm on Saturday and runs through Feb. 12 at the gallery of The Jam Factory, which can be reached by bus or taxi from BTS Krung Thonburi, or a short walk from the Khlong San Pier.

Tachamapan “Pomme Chan” Chanchamrassang with her works. Photo: The Jam Factory Gallery / Courtesy.

Duterte Says OK to Bomb Fleeing Militants and Their Hostages

By

Associated Press

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8 December 2016, 11:15

Released Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad, left, briefly delivers his statement after meeting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, right in September in Davao city in southern Philippines. Photo: Manman Dejeto / Associated Press

MANILA — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he told his Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts that their forces can bomb fleeing Filipino militants and their kidnap victims at sea because the hostages “are not supposed to be there.”

Duterte said in a speech that he told Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that their forces could enter Philippine waters while pursuing Muslim militants who are fleeing with hostages.

Duterte said he told the leaders that if the militants were about to escape, “bomb them. If they cannot be captured you bomb them. How about the hostages? Eh, bomb them also. They’re not supposed to be there, there is a warning.”

The brash-talking Duterte cited a U.S. travel advisory warning Americans not to travel in the treacherous waters bordering the three countries.

The Abu Sayyaf militant group is holding more than a dozen mostly foreign hostages in their jungle lairs on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.

Despite discussions among the three leaders on ways to strengthen security along their sea borders, Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen from Jolo and nearby islands have continued to target and kidnap crewmen of slow-moving tugboats as well as fishing boats.

The ransom-seeking militants, who are notorious for beheadings, have also attacked cargo ships and separately snatched a South Korean skipper and Vietnamese crewmen in the southern Philippines. The U.S. and the Philippines consider the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist organization.

Rarer Than Elephants, Giraffes Put on Extinction Watch List

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Associated Press

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8 December 2016, 11:09

A giraffe walks across the savannah in August in Amboseli national park, Kenya, as the highest mountain in Africa Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is seen in the background. Photo: Khaled Kazziha / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction, biologists say.

Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it “vulnerable.” That’s two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985, there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

At a biodiversity meeting Wednesday in Mexico, the IUCN increased the threat level for 35 species and lowered the threat level for seven species on its “Red List” of threatened species, considered by scientists the official list of what animals and plants are in danger of disappearing.

The giraffe is the only mammal whose status changed on the list this year. Scientists blame habitat loss.

While everyone worries about elephants, Earth has four times as many pachyderms as giraffes, said Julian Fennessy and Noelle Kumpel, co-chairs of the specialty group of biologists that put the giraffe on the IUCN Red List. They both called what’s happening to giraffes a “silent extinction.”

“Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere,” said Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

But they’re not, Fennessy said. Until recently, biologists hadn’t done a good job assessing giraffes’ numbers and where they can be found, and they have been lumped into one broad species instead of nine separate subspecies.

“There’s a strong tendency to think that familiar species (such as giraffes, chimps, etc.) must be OK because they are familiar and we see them in zoos,” said Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm, who wasn’t part of the work and has criticized the IUCN for not putting enough species on the threat list. “This is dangerous.”

Fennessy blamed shrinking living space as the main culprit in the declining giraffe population, worsened by poaching and disease. People are moving into giraffe areas especially in central and eastern Africa. Giraffe numbers are plunging most in central and eastern Africa and are being offset by increases in southern Africa, he said.

This has fragmented giraffe populations, making them shrink in size with wild giraffes gone from seven countries — Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal, said Kumpel of the Zoological Society of London.

The IUCN says 860 plant and animal species are extinct, and another 68 are extinct in the wild. Nearly 13,000 are endangered or critically endangered. The next level is vulnerable, where giraffes were placed, followed by near threatened and least concerned.

The status of two snake species worsened. The ornate ground snake, which lives on the tiny island of Saint Lucia, deteriorated from endangered to critically endangered. The Lacepede’s ground snake of Martinique, which was already critically endangered, is now considered possibly extinct, pending confirmation, as is the trondo mainty, a river fish in Madagascar.

But there is also good news for some species. The Victoria stonebasher, a freshwater fish in Africa, went from being considered endangered to least concerned with a stable population. And an African plant, the acmadenia candida, which was declared extinct, has been rediscovered and is now considered endangered. Another freshwater fish, ptychochromoides itasy, which hadn’t been seen since the 1960s, has been rediscovered in small numbers in Africa’s Sakay River and is now considered critically endangered.

Story: Seth Borenstein

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