bodies
Ukraine recovers bodies from steel-plant siege
Russia has begun turning over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.
Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mill’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.
The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.
It was unclear how many bodies might remain at the plant.
Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to fight for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city that is key to Moscow’s goal of completing the capture of the industrial Donbas region.
Also read: Russia hits Kyiv with missiles; Putin warns West on arms
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in the city amid fierce fighting in the streets as Russia tries to deploy more forces.
“But it is the 103rd day, and the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly,” he said in his nightly address to the nation.
Zelenskyy also said Moscow's forces intend to take the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 people, a move that could severely weaken Ukraine’s standing and allow the Russian military to advance closer to the center of the country.
“In the Zaporizhzhia region ... there is the most threatening situation there,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian fighters' dogged defense of the steel mill frustrated the Kremlin's objective of quickly capturing Mariupol and tied down Russian forces in the strategic port city.
The defenders' fate in Russian hands is shrouded in uncertainty. Zelenskyy said more than than 2,500 fighters from the plant are being held prisoner, and Ukraine is working to win their release.
The recovery of their remains from the Azovstal ruins has not been announced by the Ukrainian government, and Russian officials have not commented. But relatives of soldiers killed at the plant discussed the process with The Associated Press.
Ukraine on Saturday announced the first officially confirmed swap of its military dead since the war began. It said the two sides exchanged 320 bodies in all, each getting back 160 sets of remains. The swap took place Thursday on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, said all 160 of the Ukrainian bodies turned over by the Russians were from the Azovstal ruins. She said that at least 52 of those bodies are thought to be the remains of Azov Regiment soldiers.
Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov Regiment leader now co-commanding a Kyiv-based military unit, confirmed that bodies from the steel plant were among those exchanged.
The brother of an Azov fighter missing and feared dead in the steelworks told the AP that at least two trucks of bodies from Azovstal were transferred to a military hospital in Kyiv for identification.
Also read: Russian missiles strike Kyiv, shattering sense of calm
Viacheslav Drofa said the remains of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, did not appear to be among those recovered so far. He added that some of the dead were severely burned.
The mother of a soldier killed in an airstrike on the plant said the Azov Regiment telephoned her and said her son’s body might be among those transferred to Kyiv. The mother did not want her or her son to be identified by name, saying she feared that discussing the recovery process might disrupt it.
She tearfully referred to her son as a hero. “It’s important for me to bury him in our Ukrainian land," she said.
In other developments Monday, Ukraine's efforts to fight off Russia's invasion loomed large over D-Day commemorations in France, where the 78th anniversary of the Normandy invasion was marked.
"The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy.
He added: “It’s about maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery."
American D-Day veteran Charles Shay, 97, was at Omaha Beach to mark the the anniversary of the June 6, 1944, landings and pay tribute to those who fell that day. Asked about the war raging on the European continent, Shay said, "It is a very sad situation.”
“In 1944 I landed on these beaches, and we thought we’d bring peace to the world. But it’s not possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the president of Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk People’s Republic said that the pro-Moscow region is putting on trial three British men alleged to have been mercenaries for Ukraine. If convicted on the charges, including of trying to seize power, the men could get the death penalty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting lump-sum payments of 5 million rubles ($81,000) to families of Russian National Guard members who die in Ukraine. Guard members have taken part in such operations as the seizure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The lump sum is roughly six times the average annual Russian salary.
On the battlefield, Russian warplanes fired long-range missiles to destroy a plant on the edge of the town of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region that was repairing armored vehicles, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
Russian aircraft hit 73 areas of concentration of Ukrainian troops and equipment, while Russian artillery struck 431 military targets, Konashenkov said. His claims could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian forces put up resistance in Sievierodonetsk and other areas.
"There are more of them, they are more powerful, but we have every chance to fight on this direction,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian artillery fire could be heard outside the city of Bakhmut, southwest of Sievierodonetsk.
Ukrainian tanks moved back and forth from the front line, carefully hiding under trees after firing at Russian positions. One of the tanks was a T-80 captured from Russian forces. Its crew hacked bushes with hatchets and covered the vehicle and its main gun with branches.
Bodies of 2 youths found in Cox’s Bazar
Police recovered two bodies from the Inani beach area and Kabita Chattar point of Cox’s Bazar, respectively, on Tuesday.
Also read: Missing tourist’s body recovered after two days from Moheshkhali Channel
“A 30-year-old man’s body washed ashore in the Inani beach area and another body -- that of an 18-20-year-old man -- was found hanging in the Kabita Chattar area," said Md Selimuddin, officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar model police station.
Also read: Body of Indian national recovered from Dauki River in Sylhet
He said both the bodies were sent for post-mortem.
Throat-slit bodies of mother, 2 children found in Narsingdi
A woman and her two minor children were found dead with their throats slit in their house in Babla village of the district's Belabo upazila on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Rahima Begum,36, her son Rabbi Sheikh,12, and daughter Rakiba Sheikh,7.
Rahima used to live with her two children in the house as her husband works as a painter in Kishoreganj.
Also read: Mother, son found dead beside pond in Kurigram
Neighbours said as no one came out of their house for a long time in the morning they started knocking the door.
Getting no response, they broke the fence of their house and found their bodies lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
Rahima’s husband Gias Uddin Sheikh suspected they were killed following previous enmity over a land.
Also read: Village doctor's throat-slit body found in Rajshahi
Safayet Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Belabo police station, said locals informed the matter to police after finding them dead in the morning.
“The bodies have been sent for autopsy. An investigation will start soon to identify the killers,” said the OC.
Missing father-daughter duo found dead in Jamalpur
Police Thursday fished out the bodies of a man and his five-year-old daughter from the Jhinai river in Sarishabari upazila of Jamalpur.
The deceased were identified as Abdul Aziz, 35, and his daughter Jannat, both residents of Boysing village in the upazila.
Read: Schoolboy’s throat-slit body found in Tangail
Locals spotted the bodies in the river near the Kristapur area around 10am and alerted cops, said Mir Rakibul Hoque, the officer-in-charge of Sarishabari police station.
The duo had been missing since Tuesday following a family feud, said the local residents.
Police suspect the two were killed. "However, the exact cause of the deaths will be determined only after post-mortem," said the OC.
Read: Carpenter’s decapitated body found in Chattogram
The bodies were sent to Jamalpur Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Police, meanwhile, detained four people, including three women, for questioning, he said. “Besides, the process is underway to file a case in this regard.”
Bodies of 6 people found on shore of eastern Greek island
Greece’s coast guard says six bodies have been recovered from the shore of the eastern island of Lesbos, and authorities suspect the people were migrants who died in their attempt to make it to Greece from the nearby Turkish coast.
The coast guard said the bodies of the three men and three women were found early Tuesday morning near the island’s main town of Mytilene. There were no signs of a shipwreck and the discovery of the bodies was not preceded by any call to emergency numbers about a boat in distress near the island, the coast guard said. None of the six had been wearing life jackets.
Read: Greece: Search continues for 12 missing in ferry fire
A search and rescue operation was launched in the area with three coast guard patrol boats, a helicopter and nearby ships to look for potential survivors, while authorities were also searching the coastline.
Thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia attempt to reach the European Union through Greece, with many making the short but often perilous journey in unseaworthy dinghies from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands.
Dhaleshwari trawler capsize: 3 more bodies retrieved
Divers on Monday recovered the bodies of three passengers, including a child, from the Dhaleshwari River, six days after a trawler capsized in the river off the coast of Narayanganj Sadar upazila.
The deceased were identified as Tanim, 8, and Abdullah, 16, and Shamsuddin, 30.
Read: Dhaleshwari trawler capsize: 6 bodies retrieved after 5 days
The divers from the local fire service retrieved three bodies from the river near Dharmaganj around 9 am, said deputy director of Narayanganj Fire Service and Civil Defense Abdullah Al Arefin.
So far, nine bodies were recovered and another passenger is still missing, the official said.
On Sunday, divers recovered the bodies of six people from the river.
Earlier on January 5, the trawler, with nearly 70 people on board, overturned as Dhaka-bound passenger launch Farhan-6, hit it near Dharmaganj in Fatulla.
Read: Narayanganj trawler capsize: 4 held; Farhan-6 seized
While many passengers managed to swim to safety, at least 10 people went missing.
Police detained four people, including the driver and master of MV Farhan-6, Babu Lal Baidya, assistant director of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority in Narayanganj said.
A case was also filed in this regard on the following day.
10 bodies, 9 hanging from overpass, found in central Mexico
Mexican authorities on Thursday discovered 10 bodies — nine of them hanging from an overpass — in the central state of Zacatecas, the scene of a battle for territory among drug cartels.
The Zacatecas state public safety agency said in a statement the bodies were found in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, about 340 miles (550 kilometers) north of Mexico city. The 10th body was found on the pavement. All of the victims were men.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels have been battling for control in the state, which is a key transit point for drugs, especially the powerful synthetic pain killer fentanyl, moving north to the U.S. border.
Also read: Over 2,000 migrants march out of southern city in Mexico
Cartels sometimes make such public displays of bodies to taunt their rivals or authorities and terrify local residents.
In the first nine months of the year, Mexico had more than 25,000 murders, a number 3.4% less than the same period a year earlier, according to federal data.
Also read: At least 1 dead, 10 missing in landslide near Mexico City
Bodies of 11 Rohingya boat escapees from Bhasan Char recovered
The bodies of 11 Rohingyas out of more than 40 who tried to escape by boat from Bhasan Char have been recovered, according to naval police officials.
The engine-boat on which Rohingya men, women with children were trying to flee from Noakhali’s Bhasanchar drowned in the deep-sea Friday night.
It was learned that 15 people were rescued after the incident, 11 bodies were recovered till Tuesday afternoon and 15 were still missing.
Coast Guard, navy and police have been conducting operations to recover the bodies since Saturday.
READ: Rohingya children must be educated in their own language: FM
Bhasanchar police officer in charge (OC) Rafiqul Islam told UNB that 41 Rohingya refugees including women and children, fled from different clusters of the Bhasanchar refugee camp in Hatia upazila of Noakhali around 11 pm on Friday in an engine-driven fishing trawler for Chattogram. The trawler sank into Bay of Bengal 20 km from Bhasanchar, at the area between Chittagong and Hatia upazila, at around 1:30 am due to a storm.
“A fishing trawler rescued 14 Rohingyas from the spot and took them back to the Bhasanchar Rohingya refugee camp on Saturday morning. Another missing Rohingya named Abdur Rahman (35) was rescued from Keranirhat area of Satkania upazila in Chattogram on Saturday night.”
A total of 15 Rohingyas have been rescued alive. So far, 15 people are missing in this incident. Rescue teams from the Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force are continuing their rescue operation, he added
Coast Guard east zonal commander Captain Kazi Shah Alam, said a total of 11 Rohingya bodies have been recovered from deep sea and Sandwip coast till Tuesday afternoon.
READ: Covid-19: Vaccination campaign begins at Rohingya camps
Among the recovered bodies two were women and six children, he added.
Sandwip Police Station OC Bashir Ahmed Khan said two bodies were found floating on the Sandwip coast. After recovering those the bodies were handed over to the Coast Guard.
Bodies of 11 Ukrainians killed in Iran plane crash sent home
The bodies of the 11 Ukrainians who died when an Iranian missile shot down a passenger plane have arrived in Ukraine on Sunday for a farewell ceremony.