Monday 11 June 2012

Nigeria crash: Getting Indians' bodies back to take time

New Delhi - With families of the two Indians killed in the Nigeria air crash upset over the delay in getting the bodies back, the Indian government Friday said they may have to wait more as it could take some more time to identify the bodies through DNA tests.

"In the case of the two Indian nationals, our understanding is unfortunately that the remains are not in a condition where you can easily identify them," external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters here.

"So, they will need (go through) a process of examination, including DNA testing and matching of that test. This is likely to take time, given the facilities there for this sort of a thing," he said.

Mahendra Singh Rathore, the co-pilot, and Rijo K. Eldhose, a young computer engineer from Kerala, were among the 153 people who perished when the Dana Airlines plane crashed in Lagos Sunday.

The Indian mission in Lagos has been in touch with the governor of Lagos over the identification of bodies of the two Indians.

Monday 11 June 2012

http://pluzmedia.in/news/crime-disaster-accident/43509/nigeria-crash-getting-indians-bodies-back-to-take-time

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Peru searchers recover bodies of all 14 victims killed in helicopter crash in snowy Andes



OCONGATE, Peru — A police rescue team on Sunday recovered the bodies of all 14 people who died in a fiery helicopter crash high in the snowy Andes, and Quechua Indians from nearby villages helped carry the remains down the steep slopes.

Police Gen. Hector Dulanto said the bodies were first taken to Ocongate, the nearest town to the accident, but were being moved by police vans to the morgue in Cuzco, the regional capital.
Officials said DNA tests or dental identification would be needed to identify at least five or six of the victims.

The helicopter exploded when it hit the mountainside and all the bodies were burned, some severely, police said.

As the search team found bodies during the day, the remains were put into black bags. Local villagers then hoisted the bags onto their backs and carried them down the mountain.

The Sikorsky S-58ET helicopter was carrying eight South Koreans and three Peruvians as well as citizens of the Netherlands, Sweden and the Czech Republic when it crashed Wednesday on Mama Rosa mountain at an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,900 meters).

The Koreans were exploring sites for a possible hydroelectric plant. They were employed by Samsung C&T Corp., Korea Water Resources Corp., Korea Engineering Consultants Corp. and Seoyeong Co.

Eighteen South Korean relatives of those aboard the helicopter were flying to Peru to recover the remains, said South Korean Consul Hwangroh Lee, who went to Cuzco, the city where the helicopter flight originated.

Monday 11 June 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/peru-searchers-find-bodies-in-andes-helicopter-crash-that-killed-14/2012/06/10/gJQATxnJTV_story.html

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Nigerian air crash: Relatives of victims reject mass burial, 50 Bodies Identified

Relatives of the passengers in the Dana Air plane that crashed in Lagos have kicked against a proposed mass burial for unidentified victims deposited at Mainland Hospital, Ebute-Metta.

Out of the 153 passengers who died, only 50 have been identified as at yester-day, seven days after the plane crashed in the outskirts of Lagos. Of the 50 identified bodies, 29 are males, 17 females and four babies.

The affected relatives made their views known yesterday at a closed door meeting with Governor Babatunde Fashola at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

A relative of one of the unidentifiable victims, Johnson Akanji, informed Daily Trust after the meeting that the Lagos State governor had touted the idea of mass burial to be carried out by the state government, but some of the affected families, particularly foreign nationals, rejected the plan.

According to him, Indians and Europeans whose relations died in the crash did not subscribe to the idea. "We were told 67 bodies have been identified so far. They said others could not be identified until DNA is carried out on them. The agreement reached was that we would wait till the test is carried out on the bodies instead of mass burial," he said.

Meanwhile, Governor Babatunde Fashola has disclosed that a special committee (Relationship Team) has been set up by the government to ensure effective communication between the state government and families of victims of the plane crash.

Briefing reporters after the closed door meeting, the governor said that some decisions had been taken during the meeting, adding that both sides have agreed to commence the process of identifying bodies which have not been identified so as to let their families claim them for burial.

Meanwhile 50 out of the 153 persons killed in the crash have so far been identified by the relations while two yet to be identified adult bodies are still lying in the morgue at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

The bodies, Daily Trust learnt will be released to their relations this week while DNA test have commenced on the bodies of unidentifiable bodies to ensure that bodies are not released to the wrong families.

It was learnt that the DNA test to be conducted on the corpses would take two weeks.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola had last week Thursday appealed to family members and relatives of victims of the Dana Air mishap of last Sunday to exercise more patience so that proper identification could be carried on the bodies before they are released.

"There is a big risk here of releasing the wrong body to the wrong family. Even yesterday, I was told that in the process of identifying, there was almost a mix up between two families because of the state of the bodies. There are foreigners also involved. There is danger of giving away Nigerian body to be taken away," he said.

Governor Fashiola stressed that the need to conduct a meticulous and scientific identification process to avoid 'costly errors' is responsible for the seeming delay and appealed for patience while experts work round the clock to help identify the bodies.

Monday 11 June 2012

http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/1747-dana-plane-crash-relations-reject-mass-burial-50-bodies-identified

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