The freshly exhumed remains of three men lie in black body bags on the edge of the small cemetery in a town not far from Ukraine's capital, waiting to be taken to a morgue. None has yet been identified. Ukrainian authorities are still unearthing people who were hastily buried in makeshift graves during Russia's brief but brutal occupation of villages and towns near Kyiv. Almost 200 bodies remain unidentified, while 280 people are listed as missing. Oleksander Pinchuk’s mother, Halyna, is among them. They never found her body in the wreckage of her apartment building, which took a direct hit from an airstrike a year ago. Pinchuk had walked out of the building just eight hours earlier, and has not seen his mother since, he said. On Thursday, Pinchuk stood in the winter chill, grim-faced among a small group of mourners who gathered for a religious service to commemorate the anniversary of the strike in the town of Borodyanka. “Just look at what the Russians brought to us and what they did to our beautiful town,” said Dmytro Koshka, the priest conducting the service at the former site of the residential building. “How could we ever forget and forgive?” Nothing remains of the structure except the outline of where it once stood. Behind it is another apartment building, blackened and empty but still standing. Pinchuk said rescue crews only managed to get to the building last April, after Ukrainian forces retook control of Borodyanka. The crews dug through the rubble for about two weeks and located the remains of 15 people. But they found no trace of dozens more believed to have been inside the 108-apartment building. Also Read: Kremlin accuses Ukrainian saboteurs of attack inside Russia “We still have hope for at least some of them, but the rest, they just burned alive,” Pinchuk said, his gaze fixed, the pain of loss visible in his eyes. Without a body to mourn over and bury, the 43-year-old hopes against hope that his mother is still alive. He heard rumors that Russian troops took more than 100 people from Borodyanka to Belarus. Perhaps she was among them. “Until the last moment, I will think of her as alive,” he said. The exhumation of the three bodies Thursday from two makeshift graves on the edge of Borodyanka’s cemetery meant that some families may have a chance to learn what became of their loved ones. A passer-by found the three in early March 2022, when Russia forces still occupied the town, and he buried the bodies with the help of another man, according to Andrii Nebytov, the head of the Kyiv region's police department. The passer-by then fled the region. He only just recently returned and told authorities about the burials, the police chief said. One of the dead is believed to be a 50-year-old local man who was shot and partially burned in his car, but DNA tests are needed to confirm that. Nobody knows who the other two are. There’s not much to go on to identify them. A green pencil is all that was found on one, packets of cigarettes and key fobs on another. The remains are so decomposed that identification and determining exactly how they died will require forensic tests. The exhumations bring the number of civilian bodies found in previously Russian-occupied areas of the Kyiv region to 1,373, Nebytov said. Of that number, 197 have yet to be identified.

Police in Bulgaria on Friday discovered an abandoned truck containing the bodies of 18 migrants, who appeared to have suffocated to death. The Interior Ministry said that according to initial information, the truck was carrying about 40 migrants and the survivors were taken to nearby hospitals for emergency treatment. Bulgarian Health Minister Assen Medzhidiev said most of the survivors were in very bad condition. “They have suffered from lack of oxygen, their clothes are wet, they are freezing, and obviously haven’t eaten for days,” Medzhidiev said. The truck was found abandoned on a highway near the capital, Sofia. The driver was not there, but police discovered the passengers in a secret compartment below a load of timber. Authorities did not immediately give the nationalities of the migrants. Bulgarian media reported they all were from Afghanistan. Bulgaria, a Balkan country of 7 million and the poorest member of the European Union, is located on a major route for migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan seeking to enter Europe from Turkey. Very few plan to stay, with most using Bulgaria as a transit corridor on their way westward. Bulgaria has erected a barbed-wire fence along its 259-kilometer (161-mile) border with Turkey, but with the help of local human traffickers many migrants still manage to enter. Read more: 37 Bangladeshi migrants feared dead trying to reach Europe: Govt In Britain in October 2019, police found the bodies of 39 people inside a refrigerated container that had been hauled to England. British police said all the victims, who ranged in age from 15 to 44, came from impoverished villages in Vietnam and were believed to have paid smugglers to take them on a risky journey to better lives abroad. Police said they died of a combination of a lack of oxygen and overheating in an enclosed space. The truck discovered in the town of Grays, east of London, had arrived in England on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

The bodies of two youths were recovered from the Chhoto Jamuna river of Joypurhat on Thursday morning, some 20 hours after they went missing. The deceased were identified as Sanjit Bashfor, 23, and Tonmoy Rajak, 17, both residents of the Rail Station Road area of Joypurhat town. Shanjit was a student of Open University while Tonmoy studied in Kashiabari High School of the town. Fire service divers fished out the bodies from the river, 100 metres away from the Chak Shyam Ghat area, around 10am during a rescue drive, said Joypurhat Civil Defence and Fire Service Warehouse inspector Mohiuddin. On Wednesday, the duo went missing in the river in the Chak Shyam Ghat area during the immersion of the idol of Goddess Kali. On information, divers from the fire service and civil defence rushed to the spot and started a rescue operation, said inspector Mohiuddin.

The bodies of two youths, who went missing two days ago, were recovered from the Jamuna River in Nagarbari river port of Pabna on Monday. The deceased were identified as Panna Sadar, 28, and his cousin Ashiq alias Piyash Sheikh, 20, of the district. The bodies were found floating in the river near Pratappur Jame Masjid around 7am shortly after the departure of a cargo vessel docked there, said Nagarbari Naval Police Outpost in-charge Shariful Islam. The duo went missing after jumping into the river from a boat on Saturday fearing collision with a vessel near Nagarbari river port. The bodies will be handed over to their respective families after completing legal procedures, said the official.

Police recovered the half-decomposed bodies of a man and his wife from a multi-storey building in Siddhirganj area of Narayanganj on Saturday. The deceased were identified as Rabiul, son of Abu Taleb of Nilphamari district and Lucky Das, daughter of Anil Das of Bandarban district. However, on June 14, Lucky Das converted to Islam and changed her name to Ayesha Siddiqa. Shahadat Hossain, the owner of the house, said the couple rented his flat on August 1. However, he did not ask them anything about which district they lived in or what their profession is. As a bad smell started spreading around from their flat, other tenants of the house told me about it and later I informed the police, the house owner added. Read: Woman’s burnt, decomposed body recovered from city dump station Moshiur Rahman, officer-in-Charge (OC) of Siddhirganj Police Station said they recovered the bodies from a flat of the five-storey building after being informed by the owner of the house Saturday at noon. They might have committed suicide by drinking pesticides together, added the OC. The bodies were sent to Narayanganj Sadar General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. However, the exact cause of death can be ascertained only after getting the autopsy report, he said.

Members of the Coast Guard (CG) on Saturday recovered bodies of two fishermen from the Bay of Bengal a day after a fishing trawler carrying 19 fishermen capsized amid the low depression in the sea on Friday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Mohammad Abu Tayeb, and Saiful Islam, were residents of Khurushkul union in the Cox’s Bazar town. M Hamidul Islam, contingent commander of the CG East Zone in the Cox’s Bazar Station, said on information they recovered the bodies of Tayeb and Saiful from Maheshkhali and Sonadia channels respectively on Saturday afternoon. Read: Two dead, two others missing in Noakhali trawler capsize Mentionable, the fishing trawler ‘MB Mayer Dua’ carrying the 19 fishers capsized due to unrest in the sea at Najiratek Channel on Friday afternoon. Of them, the CG could rescue 8 fishermen and three others were able to swim to safety while the rest  went missing. Of the missing, bodies of the two fishermen were recovered by the CG men on Saturday and still six others remain missing.

Bodies of two siblings were recovered from a waterbody in Nabbar Char area under Lakshmipur’s Sadar upazila early Sunday. The deceased were identified as Samia, 10, and Tajmul, 7. They were the children of Sujan Dali, a farmer of the area. According to locals, Sujan and his neighbor Akkas Bepari had been at loggerhead for long over a piece of land. A case is also ongoing over this issue. Sujan was long receiving threats from Akkas and his people. Read: Woman’s throat-slit body found in Laxmipur; One held On Saturday afternoon, Sujan went to a nearby shop with his three children by a boat. He kept his elder son with him and sent his other two kids to home with the boat. The water of the river started to rise and the two kids went missing while returning home. After searching for some hours, their blood-strained bodies were found in a waterbody near Sujan’s house. Palash Kanti Nath, Additional Superintendent of Lakshmipur police, said that the bodies were sent to Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy. “Necessary steps will be taken after investigating the incident,” said Palash. Blood on the deceased’s bodies has created suspicion among the locals. Sujan alleged that the kids didn’t drown, rather they were killed by his rival group.

DNA tests have confirmed the identities of the bodies of eight people  who were burnt to death in last month’s deadly blasts and fire at BM Container Depot at Sitakunda of Chattogram, police said on Thursday. The victims have now been identified as  Akter Hossain, Abul Hashem, Monir Hossain, Babul Mia, Sakib, Md Rasel, Md Shahjahan, and Abdus Sobhan Prakash Abdur Rahman, said  Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost assistant sub-inspector Alauddin Talukder. He said the relatives of the eight people have been asked to take the bodies from the hospital. Also read: Probe body finds owners, monitoring authority responsible for Sitakunda depot fire The eight were among the 22 bodies whose identities remained unknown since the fire disaster on June 4. The DNA samples collection booth has been set up in front of the emergency department of CMCH next to the help cell of the district administration in collaboration with the Chattogram district police. Earlier, 29 bodies were handed over to the families and relatives out of 51 dead. Out of them, 37 bodies have been identified so far. The dead included 10 firefighters. Over 200 people were injured in the fire.

More than 24 hours after three people were washed away while crossing a river in the Char Gazalia area of Bakerganj upazila, their bodies were found. The deceased were identified as Majeda Begum, 70, her granddaughter Maria, 11, and their neighbour Alo Begum, 75, all residents of the Char Gazalia area of Nalua union of Bakerganj upazila. Md Alauddin Milon, officer-in-charge of Bakerganj Police Station, said Majeda Begum and her granddaughter Maria left home on Monday evening to bring back a cow from a char next to their house. Alo Begum also went with them. Read: Bodies of two missing children found on Cox’s Bazar beach All of them were washed away by the high tide when they were crossing the local river on Monday evening, said the OC. Later, locals spotted the bodies floating in the river near the Char Gazalia area in the small hours of Tuesday and informed cops. "We have recovered the bodies," he added.

The bodies of two minor children who went missing  from Cox's Bazar sea beach Monday afternoon were recovered  in the small hours of Tuesday. Beach workers spotted the bodies floating on the sea water near Diabetic and Nazirartek points of the beach and recovered those around 1:00 am on Tuesday, said Beach supervisor Mahbub Alam. Read: RAB rescues man from Cox's Bazar who went into hiding one year back The deceased were identified as Md Zayed,5, son of Mufiz Alam of Kutubdiapara in Cox's Bazar and Riyadh,6, son of Mohammad Ali. Akter Kamal, councillor of Cox's Bazar municipality's ward no 1, said the two children were washed away by high tide when they went to visit the sea beach around 3  on Monday. Since then, they remained missing, added Kamal.