The damaged corpses of the Savar tragedy have posed a challenge to district administration officials as they struggle to identify them and hand them over to their respective family members.
The problem has become acute in the last three days with the dead bodies fast decaying and losing visible body marks, some already deformed from the pressure of the heavy concrete slabs of the collapsed building.
“The bodies recovered in the last three days are fully decomposed and hardly identifiable. We have been depending on documentation,” said Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Dhaka.
He said in the pockets and vanity bags of some victims they found their photographs. If their relatives can bring matching photographs, they will be handed over.
Officials are also using mobile phones, letters and other articles found in their pockets to identify the bodies.
“If a relative can tell a victim’s cell number, we consider the body identified. In the case of bodies that no one comes looking for, we are using their cell phones to contact their relatives,” he added.
Apart from cell numbers and photographs, officials are also using manual identification methods like matching physical features and body marks.
“On Wednesday, we handed over two bodies after their relatives described them and identified body marks such as broken teeth or marks of injury,” he said.
The bodies that cannot be identified through this procure are being sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for DNA testing, he added.
Unidentified bodies, if already buried, can be claimed later.
“The graves of the unidentified workers at Jurain graveyard have separate identification numbers. Their relatives can identify them even after burial,” he said.
According to the district administration, DMCH authorities will start identifying the bodies kept in the hospital morgue with DNA sampling from Saturday.
Two bodies at the DMCH morgue and two at Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue are awaiting identification by their relatives.
Friday 3 May 2013
http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/03/damaged-corpses-making-identification-difficult
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