259.19 // Bespin Salvage Operation Begins
The fires on the Ugnaught Surface of Bespin after Cloud City fell two days ago finally burned out shortly after midnight local time on 259.18. Pocket fires populating the ruins and remains of the once proud city had prevented rescue workers, salvage teams and investigators from recovering the countless bodies. Only a small portion of Cloud City struck the artificial habitat but the damage was catastrophic. The wreckage may yet provide vital clues for the investigation team. The rest of Cloud City meanwhile, plunged into the depths of Bespin and is believed to be lost forever.
The Ugnaught surface had been expanded from it’s 1km square radius after the Sith-Imperial War and over the last four decades had seen significant expansion. Most of this lies in waste now as the remnants of Cloud City have been spewed across the swampy terrain.
Over thirty Jedi were dispatched from the Coruscant Temple to help with the operation working in cells with the Bespin authorities. Wreckage was ray scanned before being displaced before recovery. The Jedi had been able to locate forty three survivors in total all in critical condition. They are currently being treated by the Jedi medical corps who were also dispatched to the crash site. While the thought that medics would be helpful in this instance was certainly optimistic, it has been widely acknowledged that the Medical Corps have provided invaluable assistance in the recovery operation so far.
Many of Bespin’s public services were crippled in the incident but roughly one quarter of the Bespin Police force were located on other outposts and are working with reinforcements from the Peoples Parliament of the Commonwealth in an unprecedented collaboration.
Leading the investigation is Detective Superintendent Yanto March of the Bespin Police. GHN spoke to him earlier this morning:
It’s like stepping into hell. Horror on this scale should be inconceivable, but here the fire fighters,rescue workers, police officers, forensic teams, Jedi, Jedi Medical corps…all of them are getting on with the work at hand and doing so with a solemn respect I find overwhelming…
March went on to discuss the first findings of the investigation:
We have a number of eye witnesses who survived the initial explosions that formed the chain reaction that lead to the repulsorlift technology failing, and we have reason to believe that the attack was carried out by a single individual. Naturally at this time we cannot disclose further details.
It is thought that the GA Military will be providing further assistance as the clean up operation continues but it is unknown if all of the casualties in this atrocity, including Ugnaught civilians, will be accounted for.
259.19 Spencer Colditch (Ed) // GHN