Tag Archives: Death

Nepal Family Loses 18 Members in Earthquake

Stories of tragedy from Nepal continue to make their way out of the devastated region.  The latest involves one family that lost 18 members in the quake when a house fell in upon them.

Shankar Pradhan shared his story with the Associated Press as he stood by a funeral pyre for the members of his family.  He had just finished pouring holy water on the feet and lips of his 21-year-old daughter who died in the quake.  She was inside the four-story home of Shankar’s brother when it fell.

“I don’t know why this happened. But I don’t blame anyone. I don’t blame the government, I don’t blame the gods,” he said, struggling to fight back tears. “You can’t escape the rules of this life. None of us escape the fact that one day you’ll have to leave it.”

The family had gathered inside the home to prepare for the start of a weeklong prayer session for peace and safety.

Krishna Lal Shrestha, who was inside the home at the time of the quake decorating a four foot tall marble temple with flowers, said the quake struck violently causing him to be thrown to the ground.  He tried to crawl back to save relatives but a wave of the quake threw him out the door and to safety.

He had to watch helplessly in horror as the floors collapsed one by one on top of each other.

The family said that the death toll would have been significantly higher if the quake struck an hour later when over 100 relatives were expected to be at the home.

Rescue efforts into the region are still being hampered although some of the villages next to the capital were able to get food and water.  One town 40 miles from the capital, Sipa Ghat, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to still be without any relief at all including food and clean drinking water.

“We are trying to send rescue teams. We are trying our best to clear the roads,” said Kamal Singh Bam, a spokesman for Nepal’s national police. “There is a problem with distribution to people who are not in Katmandu.”

The situation is still critical in the capital as doctors say they are running out of medication and medical supplies.

Nepal Death Toll Over 5,000; Survivors Struggling To Survive

The death toll from the weekend earthquake and aftershock in Nepal has flown past 5,000 and is not showing signs of slowing down as rescuers say it’s almost impossible to reach some of the more rural regions because of landslides.

The aid group Samaritan’s Purse says that at least 8 million people are in immediate need of food and water.  A spokesman said that many of the families have lost everything they owned and have no way to support themselves.

“There are a lot of people sleeping out in the streets,” said Samaritan’s Purse team leader Patrick Seger in a report from Tuesday. “They are fearful of the buildings and don’t want to sleep inside. They are sleeping in the rain because they don’t have any other shelter.”

The BBC reported that the government is attempting to provide free services to the residents but they have no way of providing to all those impacted.

“There’s a rush to get out of Kathmandu. Thousands of people are trying to flee — some trying to head out to the remote districts to see how their families are, others including tourists trying to head toward India by road,” BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder said.

“But there simply aren’t enough buses to take them out and the highways are choked with vehicles, people and relief convoys. Tempers are flaring. The police came to the bus station to restrain those trying to board crowded buses, which made it worse.”

The Gorkha district, where the epicenter was located, is out of food.

“We haven’t had any food here since the earthquake,” said Sita Gurung, whose lost his home in Gorkha. “We don’t have anything left here.”

An Army spokesman told reporters they are trying their best to reach the region but admitted remote areas are trapped by terrain.

Nepal “On War Footing”

The prime minister of Nepal is telling reporters that his country is “on war footing” as they work to recover victims of the weekend earthquake and aftershocks.

Sushii Koirala told Reuters was “doing all it can for rescue and relief” in a “difficult hour.”  He said that he was making requests to every nation around the globe for help in rescuing citizens trapped in rural areas.

Koirala said that many of the requests from rural areas are having to be denied because they do not have the heavy equipment necessary to reach the victims.  The lack of available resources likely means an increase in the death toll.

The death toll from the quake has officially passed 5,000 and over 10,000 have been confirmed to have suffered injuries.

Nepal’s home ministry reports at leave 500,000 people have been displaced by the quake.  However, the United Nations puts the estimates significantly higher.

“Eight million people in 39 districts have been affected, of which over two million people live in the 11 severely affected districts,” said the most recent report from the UN Office of the Resident Co-ordinator in Nepal.

Relief workers in Gortha, which was located next to the epicenter, say that 90% of the town has been leveled.  Most residents do not have access to clean water or food.

Aftershocks are continuing to hit the region causing minor landslides that are hampering relief efforts.  The government has declared three days of mourning for the dead.

Nepal Death Toll Over 4,000

The death toll in the massive Nepal earthquake and aftershock has passed the 4,000 mark and local officials say it’s likely to continue a fast rise over the next few days.

Almost every member of the Nepalese military has been dispatched for search and rescue operations with focus on villages that have been inaccessible due to debris and damage.

Officials have now confirmed at least 7,000 people have been injured as a result of the quakes.  The hospitals are full and tent surgical theaters and treatment tents have been set up in the parking areas and open fields near the hospitals.

The Nepalese government has sent out an emergency call for “tents, dry goods, blankets, mattresses and 80 different medicines”.

The United States announced Monday an additional $9 million in relief supplies for the rescue effort.  China, India and Pakistan have sent emergency response teams to the region.  International aid agencies say that Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand have also contributed to the rescue efforts.

The United Nations World Food Program said they are preparing a “large, massive operation” for the region.

A spokesman for World Vision released a somber statement to the press.  Matt Darvas said that some villages that were on mountainsides could be completely buried by rock falls.  Some of the villages that are wiped out had up to 1,000 residents.

Botulism Outbreak at Church Potluck Leaves One Dead

One person is dead and over 20 sickened after an outbreak of botulism at a Lancaster, Ohio church’s potluck dinner.

The Ohio Department of Health confirmed that each of the victims of the botulism had attended the potluck.

Fairfield Medical Center identified the first case of botulism on Tuesday morning and had several cases soon follow the initial patient.  Most of the sick are middle-aged but there were no details released about the person who died from the illness.

Pastor Bill Pitts of Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist church said the potluck was aimed at building fellowship among members.  The church provided meat and drink and everyone in attendance was encouraged to bring a covered side dish.

“Our main emphasis, right now, is for everyone to pray,” he said. “These are people that we love and work with. [I’m] just calling out for a lot of people to pray for them if they would.”

Hospital officials say at least five victims are being treated by intensive care units.

Botulism is caused by a nerve toxin produced by certain bacteria.  The disease is rare but very life threatening.

ISIS Kills Ethiopian Christians In Libya

The White House has condemned ISIS after a release of a video showing the execution of Ethiopian Christians in Libya was released Sunday.

The video shows ISIS terrorists shooting and beheading the Christians.

“We express our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Ethiopian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens,” National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement. “That these terrorists killed these men solely because of their faith lays bare the terrorists’ vicious, senseless brutality.”

The 29-minute video comes on the heels of Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani saying ISIS was behind a suicide attack that killed at least 35 people.  The attacks show ISIS is beginning to develop the ability to attack far outside their strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

The video also mirrors their previous killing of Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Ethiopia has been in the sights of Islamic terrorists because they are part of the African Union force that has driven the Islamic terrorists group al-Shabaab out of their neighbor Somalia.

Mysterious Nigerian Disease Leaves 18 Dead

A mysterious disease in Ondo State, Nigeria has left at least 18 people dead since April 13th.

Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, the state commissioner for health, told reporters that 18 people died and 5 others are being treated.  Preliminary tests indicate the disease is not contagious according to Dr. Adeyanju.

The symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, blindness and unconsciousness.  Victims die within 24 hours of showing symptoms.

Speculation centers on locally brewed alcohol or herbicide.

The World Health Organization (WHO) released numbers that conflicted with Dr. Adeyanju, stating that 13 people were killed in 18 total cases.  The WHO said tests in Lagos ruled out viruses and bacteria.

WHO spokesman Dr. Tarik Jasarevic said that they would be conducting toxicological tests on one of the dead to try and determine the source.

Those infected have been quarantined at the General Hospital in Irele and the rest of the hospital has been cleared of patients.

Muslims Throw Christians Overboard To Drown

Italian officials have 15 Muslims under arrested after it was discovered they singled out Christians to throw overboard during a crossing from Africa to Italy.

Authorities in Palermo, Sicily, are charging the Muslims with suspicion of murder.

The Christians were part of a boatload of migrants who left Libya Tuesday in a rubber boat.  Police say the Muslims, who are from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal, began to throw the Christians overboard as they were in the middle of the crossing.

The dead are from Nigeria and Ghana.

The remaining passengers reportedly formed a human chain to stop the Muslims from being able to kill anyone else on the boat.

Thousands each year attempt to make the voyage from Africa to the European coast and die in the process.  Rarely do people die from deliberate means as the Christians who were killed in this incident.

Australian Model and DJ Killed While Fighting For ISIS

A former model and DJ from Australia that no one knew was fighting for the terrorist group ISIS in Syria has been killed.

The parents of Sharky Jama were informed of their son’s death via text message on Monday according to the Somali Australian Council of Victoria.

Hussein Harakow of the SACV told CNN that Jama had disappeared in August of last year with a former business student named Yusuf Yusuf.  He had been living in the city of Falluja.  Despite making pro-ISIS comments on social media, his family had no idea he was fighting on the front lines with the terrorists.

“He never explained what’s happening over there or what he’s doing,” Harakow told CNN.  “The family lived a simple life. They never discussed these sorts of things.”

The news of the young man’s death comes as Australian leaders are expressing concerns about radicalized residents returning from the Middle East.  Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott addressed the media after the reports of Jama’s death.

“I have a very simple message for those who might be thinking of going overseas to join these terrorist groups: Don’t,” he said.  “They are death cults. … They are not about religion, they are just about death, and it’s just as likely to be your death as anyone else’s death.”

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that as many as 90 Australians were fighting with ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Abortionist Investigated After Patient Death Given “Tiller Award”

Fellow abortionists are honoring an Ohio abortionist who has been investigated over the death of a woman during a late-term abortion.

Abortionist Lisa Perriera will receive the “Tiller Award” by the organization Physicians For Reproductive Health.  The group gives two awards annually to abortionists. The first is the Rashbaum award, given in honor of William Rashbaum who “trained hundreds of medical students, residents and doctors” in the practice of abortion.

The Tiller Award is given in honor of the late George Tiller who burned the bodies of aborted babies in an on-site incinerator.  This award “recognizes a physician early in their career who provides abortions while demonstrating leadership and courage, even in the face of adversity.”

Perriera had been under a spotlight this year after a woman died following a late-term abortion at her clinic.  Lakisha Wilson, 22, went into cardiac arrest on March 21, 2014 at the clinic and was pronounced brain dead at a local hospital.  She was kept alive for a week on machines until her organs could be donated.

The Ohio Department of Health and the Ohio Medical Board both said complaints against the abortionist for her role in the woman’s death were “unsubstantiated.”  The state attorney’s office did not take action on a criminal complaint.

Pro-life groups are not staying silent about abortionists celebrating their practices.

“Clearly, the Physicians for Reproductive Choice are engaged in a public relations campaign to make Perriera appear to be the victim when the truth is that she is the victimizer,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. “The true victims are her dead patient, a dead viable baby that Ohio laws should have protected, Wilson’s motherless son, and her grieving family.”

“These despicable actions reveal how abortion groups are more concerned about protecting their dwindling number of abortionists than they are about the lives of the women they falsely purport to serve,” he added to Christian News.