The father who lived in Poland‘s incest house of horrors where the remains of three babies were found in the basement has also been accused of cruelty to his St Bernard dog.

An animal charity which is now looking after the elderly dog called Bethowen believe he was deliberately starved and spent his entire life chained up.

The underweight dog was hardly able to walk when he was recovered last Friday after police raided the home of Piotr Gierasik, 54, in the village of Czerniki, northern Poland.

He is now recovering, along with two cats from the property, at the ‘Animalsi’ Foundation Animal Shelter in the nearby town Kocierzyna.

Police found the remains of three babies in the basement of the cottage where widowed Piotr lived with his daughter Paulina, 20, and her 24-year-old mentally disabled brother.

One baby is said to have been born from Piotr’s rape of an older daughter while the last two came from an alleged consensual relationship with cake shop worker Paulina.

He has now been charged with three counts of murder, one count of incest with Paulina, and the rape of his older daughter.

Paulina who had tried to conceal her latest pregnancy from work colleagues is also charged with incest and two counts of murder of her infants.

Staff at the Animalsi shelter which looks after 230 dogs and more than 50 homeless cats posted pictures of Bethowen showing his shocking condition on their Facebook page.

The post said: ‘The whole of Poland is reeling from the drama that took place in one of the towns in the Stara Kiszewa commune.

‘We are receiving more and more blood-curdling information from everywhere.

‘We were there to secure the animals staying there – Bethowen, a nice senior citizen Róa, and two cats are already here in the shelter.

‘But we are shocked that the big St Bernard weighs only 28kg and has spent his entire life on a chain.

‘The dog needs more thorough examination and certainly treatment (you can immediately see his sick eyes).

‘Currently he can barely stand, so we will provide him with good quality meals several times a day. Thankfully he does have a good appetite.’

The post said that Bethowen who is believed to be around ten-years-old had been due to visit a vet this week.

It added: ‘We are convinced that in a few months Bethowen will be a beautiful and strong dog. Pets will no longer return to their previous owners.’

The post concluded with a plea for donations to help the running of the shelter, saying: ‘If you want to help Bethowen, we will be grateful for even the smallest donation.’

Staff at the shelter have since insisted that they had no knowledge of the condition the dog was kept in before they were alerted by police.

Polish animal lovers have flooded Animalsi’s Facebook page with messages sending warm wishes to Bethowen and praying for his recovery.

Hanka Bromirska wrote: ‘Good luck dog. You deserve love and a warm home.’

Karolina Stawiarska-Kocent added: ‘Further proof some people don’t deserve to own animals. They treat them like slaves rather than family members. Disgusting!’

The authorities in Poland revealed this week that Piotr had faced five previous investigations into alleged incest and family abuse before the bodies of the babies were found.

Grayna Wawryniuk, a spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdansk told MailOnline that Piotr first faced an allegation of incest 12-years-ago, and then another about ‘two or three years later’.

The other three investigations centred on alleged abuse of members of his family in more recent years.

Ms Wawryniuk said all the investigations were ‘discontinued’ with no charges bought due to a lack of evidence.

Jobless Piotr had 12 children with his late wife Hanna who died aged just 38 in 2008, leading villagers to openly voice their suspicions that Piotr had abused her.

The poverty-stricken family first came to the attention of social services many years ago and first put under supervision by a judge in Gdansk to December, 1997.

The family later moved to the Czerniki area, and the supervision order was transferred with them.

Local media reported today that the District Court in Kocierzyna limited Piotr’s parental authority over his remaining children in March, 2015. He was also ordered to complete parenting lessons.

The probation officer’s supervision gradually ended when his children became adults, and was finally completed in May last year due to the youngest child coming of age, it was reported.

Villagers have claimed that they alerted authorities over the years after hearing the sounds of ‘moaning and screaming’ from Piotr’s detached home on the outskirts of Czerniki.

Others became suspicious after seeing shaven-headed Piotr walking hand in hand with Paulina, and appearing to treat her more as wife than a daughter.

The father and daughter are also said to have been seen choosing perfumes together on rare outings to a local shop and calling each other, ‘Darling’.

Piotr’s alleged reign of terror was only finally exposed last week after staff at the Cukiernia cake shop in Stara Kiszewa where Paulina worked suspected that she was wearing baggy clothes to conceal her latest pregnancy.

One colleague told social services that Paulina may have secretly given birth after she seemed to have lost weight when she returned from ‘holiday’.

The tip off led to a social worker visiting Paulina and coaxing her into confessing what had happened after persuading her domineering father to leave the room.

Villagers are insisting that a young Polish woman accused of murdering her newborn babies from an incestuous relationship with her father is a victim of his depraved behaviour.

Many suggest that Paulina Gierasik, 20, should be treated compassionately due to her having been ‘groomed’ into having sex with her widowed father Piotr Gierasik.

The pair are being held in custody while prosecutors probe their relationship and the discovery of the remains of three babies in the basement of their isolated home in Czerniki in northern Poland.

But locals have begun to express feelings that cake shop production worker Paulina should be receiving help rather than condemnation.

They are also questioning reported claims that she was in a ‘consensual relationship’ with him for years, saying she must have been pressured into it.

Martyna Lewandowska-Tercjak who works as a waitress in the village of Stara Kiszewa where Paulina worked in cake shop, said: ‘I think she is a victim.

‘I don’t believe she should be in jail. She needs specialist psychiatric help after what her father put her through.

‘She was little more than a child, and he must have put pressure on her to accept such acts as being normal.

‘Her mother had died and she was left under her father’s control. It looks like she felt she had no choice.

‘You will have heard of Stockholm Syndrome. She must have known it was wrong when she gave birth, but her father ruled her life.

‘Everyone is saying in the Polish media that she is guilty of homicide, but she believed in her Dad. It was wrong, but she deserves sympathy.’

Martyna added: ‘My friend saw them out in the store buying perfume together. They would call each other ‘Honey’ and ‘Baby’ and say, ‘I love you’.

‘He was also seen slapping her bottom in the village. That would have just been normal for her having grown up with him.’

Adrienn Kotowicz also defended Paulina in a Facebook post, saying: ‘Must have been manipulated since childhood. Stockholm syndrome, mental disorder, trauma.’

Another woman Agnieszka Kroma added in the same thread: ‘Because maybe she was a victim and bullied?’

Piotr’s alleged relationship with Paulina was only exposed last week after her work colleagues became suspicious that she was covering up her latest pregnancy.

One colleague told social services that Paulina may have secretly given birth after she appeared visibly pregnant, despite trying to hide it by wearing baggy clothes, and then seemed to have lost weight when she returned from ‘holiday’.

The tip-off led to a social worker visiting Paulina and coaxing her into confessing what had happened after persuading her domineering father to leave the room.

Police found the bodies of two babies in the basement on Friday at the run-down home where Paulina lived with her father and 24-year-old mentally disabled brother while a third set of remains was recovered on Saturday.

One baby is said to have been born from Piotr’s rape of an older daughter while the last two came from an alleged consensual relationship with Paulina.

He has now been charged with three counts of murder, one count of incest with Paulina, and the rape of his older daughter.

Paulina was also charged last weekend with one count of incest and two counts of murder of her infants.

Prosecutors have been given permission to hold them in custody for three months, pending an investigation which could lead to them both being jailed for life if convicted.

Other outraged locals have taken to community media groups to describe Paulina as a victim of her abusive father.

Posting on local portal Zawsze Pomorze one commentator said: ‘Paulina should be provided with psychological care and not spend the rest of her life in prison!

‘She is a victim herself! ‘Piotr G. took care of his daughter Paulina (without her mother) since she was five-years-old.

‘She was dependent on him, he always had power over her. This young woman’s Stockholm Syndrome/love for her father made her want to get rid of incriminating evidence – children?

‘Was it her father-mate, her god, who suggested that something needed to be done with them? Why didn’t they use condoms?’

Another posting on the local commune’s Weekend FM website said: ‘Degenerates and killers, the daughter was probably brainwashed by constant rapes (sic) from childhood by a paedophile.

‘What is happening to these people to treat their own daughters like this?’

Yet another writing on the local koscierski.info website said: ‘To blame children who lived in a completely sick world created for them by their psychopathic father is simply sick.

‘After all, these kids don’t know any other world…! Please look at all this from a psychological point of view, and don’t put kids in a box.’

Piotr had 12 children with his late wife Hanna who died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 38, just a few years after the family moved from Gdansk to Czerniki.

MailOnline revealed yesterday how prosecutors missed five potential chances to stop Piotr’s reign of terror before the remains of three babies were found in his home.

He was quizzed by authorities on five separate occasions over the last 12 years about claims that he was having sex with his daughters and abusing his children.

But all the investigations were discontinued due to lack of evidence after he fiercely denied any wrong-doing and his daughters apparently refused to admit what had been happening.

Paulina’s brother Jakub Gierasik appeared to condemn his father when he became the first member of his family to comment on the shocking case.

He suggested that there was ‘no excuse’ for his father’s behaviour while making only a cryptic comment about his sister.

Jakub spoke in comments on his father’s Facebook page as angry people bombarded it with messages condemning his family.

In one post he said: ‘People should stop judging the rest of the family by their looks. This is not a book that you can tell the whole story about by the cover.

‘Those who don’t know how it was, please don’t write nonsense about the rest of the family.’

A woman replied: ‘And how it was? There is no excuse for Him.’, leading Jakub to respond: ‘For him, maybe not… But for an older daughter who is innocent?’

Paulina’s daughter is said to have lived for several days after being born around the end of August.

One of her colleagues is reported to have spotted text messages on her phone which listed her father’s name as ‘Piotr’ rather than ‘Dad’.

A message allegedly asked ‘how he was feeling’, referring to a third party, and the 54-year-old replied: ‘She cries all the time’, which suggested a conversation about a child.

Fakt newspaper reported that Pauina’s daughter was born at least three weeks ago, saying: ‘The little girl lived only a few more days. It is known that she cried a lot… She was murdered and her lifeless body was buried in the basement.’

Prosecutor spokesman Mariusz Duszyski said: ‘The woman is charged with two counts of child murder and a charge of incest.

‘The man was charged with three counts of child murder and two counts of incest.’

Comments defending Paulina emerged after it was revealed that her father posted a Facebook picture of her standing in a kitchen in 2019 with the caption ‘Hot girl to take’.

Meanwhile, villagers in the strongly Catholic community have expressed their worries about the babies being unnamed and unbaptised and where they will be buried.

Local mayor Marian Pick said: ‘The commune will probably take care of the children’s funeral, but arrangements have not been made yet, we suspect it will take some time.

‘The house in Czerniki is located in the parish of Stare Polaszki. The babies will probably be buried there.’

He added that they would probably not be buried next to their long suffering mother.

Harrowing images taken from inside Poland’s incest house of horror have revealed the dingy basement where depraved Piotr Gierasik allegedly threw the newborn babies of his own daughter to die while they continued their four-year relationship.  

Piotr, 54, and Paulina Gierasik, 20, are facing life in prison for murder and incest after the remains of three infants were discovered at the property in the village of Czerniki, in northern Poland, last week. 

Police had conducted a visit at the property after receiving a disturbing tip-off from social services, but while combing the property for evidence discovered a filthy stench emanating from a basement inside the house.

Upon further inspection, they made the horrific find – the rotting corpses of three children who had been tossed into the pitch-black pit. 

Two of the babies were stuffed in plastic bags and buried in a shallow grave in the soft ground beneath the house. A third – believed to belong to another of Piotr’s daughters – was simply left to decompose.

Inspectors were forced to pick their way along a dank corridor crudely held together by cement and crumbling brickwork before lowering themselves into the gloom to make their gruesome discovery.  

Locals interviewed by local media told how the father and daughter were in a relationship for four years and ‘walked around hand-in-hand’. 

Colleagues of Paulina at a cake shop in the neighbouring village of Stara Kiszewa have now told how her father ‘shaved her head so that other boys wouldn’t look at her’ and that she looked up to him ‘as if he were God’.

The father and daughter – who are said to have ‘lived like a couple’ – were each charged with multiple counts of murder and each of incest.

Paulina’s colleagues said they became suspicious that she was pregnant after she started to wear large, loose-fitting clothes. She then took three weeks off work but returned a week later.

One fellow shop worker told the Super Express newspaper: ‘We all guessed she was pregnant, I think she had tied belts around herself like a sort of corset.

‘When she returned early from her holiday the change was visible. She was much thinner, weaker, and constantly tired.

‘When we asked about the child, she feigned surprise and denied it.’

Another local told Fakt newspaper: ‘They lived like a couple. She called him Piotr, by his first name. They walked around hand in hand.

‘A few months ago, he shaved her head so that other boys wouldn’t look at her.

‘She looked up to him as if he were God.’

Addressing the arrests earlier, Mariusz Duszyński from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk said: ‘The woman has been charged with two counts of murder and a charge of having an incestuous relationship with her father.

‘The man was charged with three counts of murder, a charge of incest with his 20-year-old daughter, and a charge of having incestuous relations with another daughter.’

According to prosecutors, two of the murdered children came from his relationship with the 20-year-old who they say was in a consensual relationship with her father.

The third baby was from a relationship he had with another daughter after forcing her into sex.

The prosecutors added that they suspected him of killing the third baby.

Grażyna Wawryniuk from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk told the Polish Press Agency: ‘Our system’s data shows that in recent years, proceedings have been conducted regarding abuse of other family members.

‘Even earlier, proceedings were conducted on suspicion of incest.

‘All these proceedings were ended at the stage of the prosecutor’s office due to the lack of data sufficient to justify the suspicion of committing the offences.’

She added that prosecutors would now re-examine the previous evidence.

The grim discoveries came after police received a tip-off from social services. One of Paulina’s work colleagues is reported to have alerted social services after seeing a ‘disturbing’ text message the 20-year-old had sent to her father.

Moving to the village around 15 years ago, Piotr was left to bring up his children after his wife died.

A family friend has said that Piotr Gierasik who lives off social benefits used to beat his former wife.

Described as a ‘loving and caring’ mother, the friend told Fakt newspaper that Hania, who died 15 years ago on 18 September, was regularly abused by her husband.

The friend said: ‘She was a caring mother and a very good woman.

‘But he was picking fights with her every day. The whole village could hear him shouting at her. Hania was regularly beaten up.

‘He had sex with his daughters when Hania was alive, she was not able to defend them.

‘She was never sick, but suddenly she lost weight, her hair fell out, she was hospitalised and never came out alive, her death was never explained, I don’t believe she just died like that, she was only 38 years old.

‘Hania was very important to her daughters, the children regularly visit her at the cemetery.’

One local told the Super Express newspaper: ‘The father was left alone with the children.

‘There are a lot of them, ten or twelve, the oldest ones have already left.

‘Piotr made a good impression. The yard is neglected, but he installed new windows in the house.

‘There was no sign of him drinking. He took the kids for walks or to the forest to pick mushrooms.

‘Just ordinary people. Who would have thought that such abominations existed in their home.’

But other locals told Fakt that while he ‘seemed calm’ he ‘had the devil under his skin’.

It comes as the small town of Czerniki – with a population of less than 180, located 50km from Gdańsk – has been accused of holding a ‘conspiracy of silence’ over the allegedly known relationship between the father and daughter.

Locals said they ‘always suspected something was wrong’ with the family.

One neighbour said: ‘We often heard him shouting at the children. His verbal abuse was shocking. Sometimes we’d hear one of girls screaming.

‘What people say now is that he used to go for walks with them. Maybe he did, but the whole village knew that something like this was happening.

‘It’s a tiny village, so everyone knew about these things.

‘Around ten years ago, the police were told that he was sleeping with one of his daughters. But after they investigated they couldn’t find any concrete evidence.

‘The older daughter, who we suspected he had slept with was so scared she refused to say anything.

‘He [the father] has such a personality that everyone in this village was afraid of him. That’s why this case didn’t appear for so long’.

‘She later moved away, as did many of his other children. There were about twelve of them.’

A neighbour of the older daughter told Super Express: ‘She now lives in our village.

‘She has a decent husband. As far as I remember, everyone said that she ran away from that father.

‘If I were her husband, I would kill that monster. If someone hurt my wife like that, I would kill him too.

Police have so far discovered the remains of three babies buried in the family’s house.

Unconfirmed reports say that one of the bodies wrapped in a black plastic bin liner was about three weeks old at the time of death.

Katarzyna Matyszczak, the manager of the confectionery shop where Paulina worked, said: ‘Everyone was gossiping about it.

‘His youngest daughter Paulina is a beautiful girl. Everyone said she was pregnant. So I asked about it directly.

‘She denied it. One of her friends didn’t believe it. I won’t say who, but she was the one who informed the relevant services about the whole matter, because she suspected that she had given birth to a child.’

Prosecutors are now waiting for an autopsy to determine how the three babies died. Meanwhile, police are continuing to search the property to see if any more bodies are hidden in the house.

Both the father and daughter are currently in detention as the investigation continues.

Neighbours of an incest horror house where three babies were found rotting in the basement claim they heard the daughter moaning and screaming as she had sex with her ‘swearing and cursing’ father.

Piotr Gierasik, 54, and Paulina Gierasik, 20, are facing life in prison for murder and incest after three babies’ remains were discovered in shallow graves and wrapped in plastic bags at the property in the village of Czerniki, northern Poland.

The father and daughter – who are said to have been in a relationship for four years – were only found out when the girl’s vigilant colleagues discovered she was pregnant.

Colleagues of Paulina at a cake shop in the neighbouring village of Stara Kiszewa say she started wearing loose clothes as if she were trying to hide her belly.

And after coming back from holiday the shocked workers saw she totally transformed despite being away for just a week – as she was thinner, weaker, constantly tired and was forced to keep sitting down. 

But she was finally discovered when her workmates noticed her covering her nipples with tissues because her milk was leaking. 

One colleague – who Polish newspaper Fakt said was visibly distressed – claimed it was because of them that the couple were found out. ‘We were all shocked,’ he said.

The father and daughter were said to have ‘lived like a couple’ and ‘walked around hand-in-hand’.

And shocking testimony has now told how her father ‘shaved her head so that other boys wouldn’t look at her’ and that she looked up to him ‘as if he were God’.

The father and daughter were each charged with multiple counts of murder and each of incest.

It comes after the first two babies were found on Friday but further investigations revealed a third body in an ‘advanced state of decomposition’ on Saturday.

Two of the infants belonged to Paulina, investigators said, and the mother of the third is her sister. 

Paulina’s colleagues said they became suspicious that she was pregnant after she started to wear large, loose-fitting clothes. She then took three weeks off work but returned a week later.

One fellow shop worker told the Super Express newspaper: ‘We all guessed she was pregnant, I think she had tied belts around herself like a sort of corset.

‘When she returned early from her holiday the change was visible. She was much thinner, weaker, and constantly tired.

‘When we asked about the child, she feigned surprise and denied it.’

Another local told Fakt newspaper: ‘They lived like a couple. She called him Piotr, by his first name. They walked around hand in hand.

‘A few months ago, he shaved her head so that other boys wouldn’t look at her.

‘She looked up to him as if he were God.’

Addressing the arrests earlier, Mariusz Duszyński from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk said: ‘The woman has been charged with two counts of murder and a charge of having an incestuous relationship with her father.

‘The man was charged with three counts of murder, a charge of incest with his 20-year-old daughter, and a charge of having incestuous relations with another daughter.’

According to prosecutors, two of the murdered children came from his relationship with the 20-year-old who they say was in a consensual relationship with her father.

The third baby was from a relationship he had with another daughter after forcing her into sex.

The prosecutors added that they suspected him of killing the third baby.

The grim discoveries came after police received a tip-off from social services. One of Paulina’s work colleagues is reported to have alerted social services after seeing a ‘disturbing’ text message the 20-year-old had sent to her father.

Police found the three infant bodies in the basement of the house, each in various states of decomposition. The ground was covered in dirt and there was no solid floor where they were buried.

Moving to the village around 15 years ago, Piotr was left to bring up his children after his wife died.

One local told the Super Express newspaper: ‘The father was left alone with the children.

‘There are a lot of them, ten or twelve, the oldest ones have already left.

‘Piotr made a good impression. The yard is neglected, but he installed new windows in the house.

‘There was no sign of him drinking. He took the kids for walks or to the forest to pick mushrooms.

‘Just ordinary people. Who would have thought that such abominations existed in their home.’

But other locals told Fakt that while he ‘seemed calm’ he ‘had the devil under his skin’.

It comes as the small town of Czerniki – with a population of less than 180, located 50km from Gdańsk – has been accused of holding a ‘conspiracy of silence’ over the allegedly known relationship between the father and daughter.

Locals said they ‘always suspected something was wrong’ with the family.

One neighbour said: ‘We often heard him shouting at the children. His verbal abuse was shocking. Sometimes we’d hear one of the girls screaming.

‘What people say now is that he used to go for walks with them. Maybe he did, but the whole village knew that something like this was happening.

‘It’s a tiny village, so everyone knew about these things.

‘Around ten years ago, the police were told that he was sleeping with one of his daughters. But after they investigated they couldn’t find any concrete evidence.

‘The older daughter, who we suspected he had slept with was so scared she refused to say anything.

‘He [the father] has such a personality that everyone in this village was afraid of him. That’s why this case didn’t appear for so long.

‘She later moved away, as did many of his other children. There were about twelve of them.’

A neighbour of the older daughter told Super Express: ‘She now lives in our village.

‘She has a decent husband. As far as I remember, everyone said that she ran away from that father.

‘If I were her husband, I would kill that monster. If someone hurt my wife like that, I would kill him too.’

Police have so far discovered the remains of three babies buried in the family’s house.

Unconfirmed reports say that one of the bodies wrapped in a black plastic bin liner was about three weeks old at the time of death.

Katarzyna Matyszczak, the manager of the confectionery shop where Paulina worked, said: ‘Everyone was gossiping about it.

‘His youngest daughter Paulina is a beautiful girl. Everyone said she was pregnant. So I asked about it directly.

‘She denied it. One of her friends didn’t believe it. I won’t say who, but she was the one who informed the relevant services about the whole matter, because she suspected that she had given birth to a child.’

Prosecutors are now waiting for an autopsy to determine how the three babies died. Meanwhile, police are continuing to search the property to see if any more bodies are hidden in the house.

Both the father and daughter are currently in detention as the investigation continues.

A dad and daughter are facing life in prison for murder and incest after the bodies of three newborn babies were found rotting in the basement of their house.

Depraved Piotr Gierasik, 54, and Paulina Gierasik, 20, were arrested after the babies’ remains were discovered in shallow graves and wrapped in plastic bags at the property in the village of Czerniki, in northern Poland.

The first two babies were found on Friday but further investigations revealed a third body in an ‘advanced state of decomposition’ on Saturday.

Mariusz Duszyński from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk said: ‘The woman has been charged with two counts of murder and a charge of having an incestuous relationship with her father.

‘The man was charged with three counts of murder, a charge of incest with his 20-year-old daughter, and a charge of having incestuous relations with another daughter.’

According to prosecutors, two of the murdered children came from his relationship with the 20-year-old who they say was in a consensual relationship with her father.

The third baby was from a relationship he had with another daughter after forcing her into sex.

The prosecutors added that they suspected him of killing the third baby.

The grim discoveries came after police received a tip-off from social services.

Moving to the village around 15 years ago, Piotr was left to bring up his children after his wife died.

One local told the Super Express newspaper: ‘The father was left alone with the children.

There are a lot of them, ten or twelve, the oldest ones have already left.

‘Piotr made a good impression. The yard is neglected, but he installed new windows in the house.

‘There was no sign of him drinking. He took the kids for walks or to the forest to pick mushrooms.

‘Just ordinary people. Who would have thought that such abominations existed in their home.’

But colleagues at a cake shop where Paulina worked in the neighbouring village of Stara Kiszewa became suspicious that she was pregnant after she started to wear large, loose-fitting clothes.

She then took three weeks off work but returned a week later.

One fellow shop worker said: ‘We all guessed she was pregnant, I think she had tied belts around herself like a sort of corset.

‘When she returned early from her holiday the change was visible. She was much thinner, weaker, and constantly tired.

‘When we asked about the child, she feigned surprise and denied it.’

Another local told Fakt newspaper: ‘They lived like a couple. She called him Piotr, by his first name. They walked around hand in hand.

‘A few months ago, he shaved her head so that other boys wouldn’t look at her.

‘She looked up to him as if he were God.’

One of Paulina’s work colleagues is reported to have alerted social services after seeing a ‘disturbing’ text message the 20-year-old had sent to her father.

Prosecutors are now waiting for an autopsy to determine how the babies died.

Meanwhile, police are continuing to search the property to see if any more bodies are hidden in the house.

Survivors of Morocco’s deadliest earthquake in sixty years have told of the horror of living alongside dead bodies still submerged under collapsed homes, which four days on from the disaster are beginning to rot.

Aziz, a villager from Ijoukak, 10 miles from the quake’s epicentre, said: ‘Until now we have found no survivors, only the dead buried under the rubble… the smell of corpses is very, very strong. We still have no electricity and no water.’ 

The death toll has now surpassed 2,800 and is expected to rise even further, as hopes fade of bringing out those still trapped under piles of debris following Friday’s 6.8-magnitude quake.

Desperate villagers still waiting for aid in the worst-hit regions of the Atlas mountains reported being left to search for survivors themselves, digging with their bare hands to get the bodies of their neighbours and loved ones out of the rubble.

After the fourth night sleeping outside for many Moroccans on Monday – either in makeshift tents or under the stars in rural areas and on the streets of Marrakech – many are waking up today still waiting for help.

Because homes in quake-hit villages of the High Atlas mountains are typically made of mud bricks, stone and clay, it is usually harder for people to survive in them than in modern buildings destroyed by quakes. 

‘When all of that collapses, you don’t have much chance of surviving, because there are no air pockets,’ Rescuers Without Borders’ founder, Arnaud Fraisse, said. 

‘People are generally suffocated by the dust.’

Abdelqader Tarfay, the general secretary of Morocco’s National Health Union, said that the greatest challenge for medics and rescue teams is still to get trapped people out.

‘Then they have to work on removing the remaining corpses under the rubble so that they do not rot,’ he told Al Jazeera.

Homes, mosques and schools have been decimated, with a religious teacher in the village of Tafeghaghte saying that 22 of his students had been killed.

Some residents in the worst-hit mountain regions criticised the government’s relief efforts, saying that while other communities had received assistance they have had to fend for themselves.

Said Hartattouch said it was understandable why some communities were receiving state assistance while others were not, due to the enormity of the destruction that has killed more than 2,800 people.

Remote hamlets in the areas around Ijoukak are still not accessible, the Guardian reports, with ‘huge boulders blocking the roads’. 

‘The problem for Atlas Mountains is that it is big… ‘It’s not possible to help everyone’.

The 34-year-old was at work in Marrakech when the 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck.

The moment the earth began to shake, he rushed to his family’s village more than 60 miles away in the High Atlas Mountains, anxious to get to his mother and two sisters.

When he arrived several hours later, his childhood home lay in ruins.

Speaking outside the rubble of the earth-and-straw house, Hartattouch said that in the days following the quake he had sometimes felt like he was in a horrible dream.

‘But then you wake up the day after and you find reality,’ he said.

While Hartattouch’s mother and sisters survived, fifteen other people from the close community of about 100 people perished.

Among them was his uncle, who was buried by a collapsing wall after he fled his home, and a close family friend who lived next door.

The village of Tinmel lies in a state of devastation. The homes have been crushed and the historic 12th-century mosque that sits at the end of the village and attracted tourists from around the world is now a ruin.

Recounting his return to the village, delayed due to a road blocked by a landslide, Hartattouch described a scramble inside his destroyed family home to gather blankets and his mother’s insulin.

With nowhere to go, the villagers have slept out in the open since the earthquake struck on Friday. 

Residents say the village has received little government help and instead relied on charitable donations. A mother of a 15-day-old baby boy said the child needed milk formula and medicine.

There is an urgent need for tents to protect the people from the dropping temperatures at night.

‘It is the beginning of the cold weather, the first day was very tough,’ Hartattouch said.

Airshow crash horror: Moment pilot and passenger are killed as plane spins into the ground in front of horrified spectators in Hungary

• The small propeller-driven aircraft was flying at the Börgönd air on Sunday
• Video shows it perform a rotation movement before crashing into the ground 

By Chris Jewers

Published: 02:56 EDT, 11 September 2023 | Updated: 04:14 EDT, 11 September 2023

A gender reveal party turned deadly after a small plane nosedived and killed the pilot in front of cheering guests – who were oblivious to the tragedy that unfolded above their heads. 

The happy couple were celebrating their pregnancy with family and friends in Sinaloa, Mexico, and hired a small jet to fly past and dump either pink or blue colored powder to indicate the gender of their baby.

As the plane approached the mom and dad-to-be, who were standing next to an ‘Oh baby’ sign, it released pink smoke from its fuselage – indicating they would be having a daughter.

Shrills and cheers of joy erupted as the loved-up couple kissed beneath the pink residue on September 2. 

But in the same moment, the Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee aircraft suddenly shot upwards, rotating on its side as one of its wings collapsed mid-air.

The aircraft continued to spiral out of control, past the palm trees in the background of the couple’s idyllic moment in the town of San Pedro, Sinaloa. 

Before realizing the tragedy that had occurred, the couple continued to embrace while family members congratulated them. 

Luis Angel N., 32, was the pilot and the only person in the small plane, local media reports. He was found lying in the rubble after the crash.

He was rushed to hospital where he sadly died, according to the Aviation Safety Network. 

Clips from the tragic moment have gone viral on social media – and an image of what is believed to be the mangled aircraft showed the extent of the damage.

Footage from beyond the garden where the gender reveal party was taking place also showed how the plane continued to tumult through the sky before crashing. 

The limp plane, still spewing out pink powder, flew past a parking lot before eventually hitting the ground.  

This is not the first time that an elaborate gender reveal party has turned deadly.

In recent years, people have come up with more creative – and dangerous – ways to announced to their loves ones if they’re having a girl or a boy.

In October 2019, a grandmother in rural Iowa was killed at a gender reveal party after being hit by shrapnel from a homemade pipe bomb that her family built to shoot out the colored powder. 

Pamela Kreimeyer, 56, died after the explosion sent debris flying at her home in Iowa. She was struck in the head by a piece of metal from 45 feet away and died instantly.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the family had been ‘experimenting with different types of explosive material’. Police said the family hoped to post the reveal on social media for loved ones.

It is understood the family placed gunpowder in the bottom of a homemade stand that was welded to a metal base plate.

After drilling a hole in the side for a fuse, a piece of wood was placed on top of the gunpowder and colored powder was placed on top of the board.

Tape was then wrapped over the top of the metal tubing, inadvertently creating a pipe bomb.

In February 2021, a 28-year-old father-to-be was killed in New York after a device he was building for his child’s gender revel party exploded.

Christopher Pekny was assembling the device, said to include a pipe, in the garage of his home in the Catskills town of Liberty when it blew up.

Weeks before that, another man was killed in Michigan when he was struck by shrapnel from a gender reveal cannon at a friend’s baby shower.

Evan Thomas Silva, 26, of Hartland, was killed on February 6 2021 outside a home in Genesee County’s Gaines Township. Four people were in the backyard of the home when the small cannon was fired.

A bear who was filmed in adorable scenes walking through an Italian town with her two cubs just days ago has been shot dead – sparking a furious backlash.

The known and tagged bear, named Amarena, was caught on camera by dozens of tourists as she strolled through the centre of a village earlier this week.

Amarena was spotted first and then seconds later – to the sound of cooing from bystanders – her two cubs suddenly appeared and followed her across the road.

The ursine family then trotted down some stairs and away into the forest at San Benedetto dei Marsi in Italy‘s central Abruzzo region, which is home to dozens of brown bears.

But in a devastating turn of events, just hours after the cute creatures had been spotted gathering in the street, the mother bear’s lifeless body was found in the garden of a house on the outskirts of the village.

The bears have never been aggressive towards humans in the town, shocked regional president Marco Marsilio said upon hearing about the shooting.

A man – who has not been identified – was questioned by police over the death.

He told officers: ‘I fired because I was scared but I didn’t want to kill the bear. It was on my property, it was an instinctive act, an impulse.’

Meanwhile, the woman who captured the scene and posted it on Facebook, Gemma Di Pietro, said: ‘I was the first to see Amarena in town the other night, it must have been around 1015pm.

‘I called the local carabinieri station and said I had seen the bear and her two cubs in the centre, you could tell she was frightened and wanted to get across the road to safety.

‘A few minutes later I heard the owners of a house sounding the horn on their car and flashing its headlights, so the bear didn’t approach a chicken run behind their property.

‘Then I saw the bear run off and the first thing I heard that it had been shot. You could tell she was frightened, and I just don’t understand this act.’

Abruzzo region president Marco Marsilio said: ‘This is a very grave episode, against the whole community and it fills us with rage and pain because it is an incomprehensible gesture.

‘In all these years, the community both inside and outside the region’s parks have known how to live with and alongside the bears and not interfere with their behaviour.

‘Never has a bear in the Abruzzo region represented a danger to man, not even when they have wandered into built up areas in the past.

‘This act of aggression has no justification. We put our trust in the investigation that has been started by the police, and who have already identified the person responsible and will now face justice.’

Officials said a task force of 100 forestry workers was now combing the nearby regional park using drones to locate the two missing cubs.

Amarena was one of around 60 Marsican brown bears in the region. An adult can reach a weight of up to 210kg and 180cm in length, while female bears are smaller.

Earlier this year in another incident, a bear in the northern Italian region of Trento was captured after it attacked and killed a jogger.

A court initially ruled that the bear should be put down, but this has now been overturned.

Elsewhere in Italy, police have launched an investigation after video footage was posted online of a group of youths kicking a goat to death on a holiday farm at Anagni near Rome.

If found guilty of animal cruelty they face up to 18 months jail and a maximum fine of £15,413.

In a statement on its Facebook page, alongside a graphic picture of the dead bear, the National Park of Abruzzo wrote: ‘The Park veterinarian intervened on the scene with the emergency response team, who could however only determine the bear’s death given the severity of the injury.

‘The man was identified by Park staff and taken by the Carabinieri of the local station, who intervened following their call.

‘The dynamics of the incident are underway and will continue as park staff are engaged in identifying the two bear cubs to evaluate what to do.

‘The episode is a very serious incident that causes enormous damage to the population that counts about sixty and involves one of the most prolific females in the history of the Park.

‘Obviously, there is no reason to justify the incident since Amarena, despite causing damage to agricultural and zootechnical activities, always and in any case compensated by the Park has never created any kind of problem for humans.’

Cable car horror leaves children trapped 900ft above the ground after wire snaps above Pakistan valley

• Six children trapped inside a cable car dangling over Pakistan valley 
• Children were using cable car to get to school in mountainous area in Battagram
• Two others were in vehicle when wire snapped at a height of 900 feet 

By Zac Campbell

Published: 04:53 EDT, 22 August 2023 | Updated: 06:25 EDT, 22 August 2023