As rescue teams concluded their efforts at the factory in Baldia Town on Thursday, around 40 relatives of the victims deposited their blood samples at hospitals for DNA tests that would enable the medical staff to identify some of the bodies of people who perished in the tragic fire.
Officials present at government hospitals said that 16 people had come forward at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), while 24 deposited samples at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for DNA matching.
Moving scenes were witnessed as 57 burials took place in Baldia and Orangi towns.
Over at the site of the catastrophe, firefighters and workers from the private sector ended their efforts to recover bodies or rescue survivors. The fire, which lasted for more than 24 hours, claimed nearly 300 lives.
According to the Chief Fire Officer Ehtisham Sami, further rescue efforts were not required as the raging inferno had finally been extinguished and there was no chance of recovering bodies from the basement as the accumulated water had been drained. Meanwhile, the debris had also been cleared, he told The News.
He said that the body parts of 11 people were recovered during Thursday’s rescue work. “Most of the bodies were so badly burnt that only DNA tests could establish their identity,” the chief fire officer observed.
Meanwhile, The News also learnt that the frequent visits of government officials and political leaders would cause interruptions in the rescue efforts.
Although government officials said that 277 people were killed in the fire, sources claimed that the figure was actually higher. The officials said that at least 88 bodies were brought to the CHK, 117 to ASH and 72 bodies corpses were taken to the Jinnah Post Medical Graduate Centre (JMPC). They added that no bodies were sent to the Edhi Morgue. However, sources claimed that 105 bodies were brought to CHK, 118 to the ASH and 72 to the JPMC.
A medico-legal officer (MLO) of the one of the hospitals, who chose to remain anonymous, said he only examined that bodies that came as a whole and not those that were brought in parts. “The bodies of at least 25 to 30 people would be examined over the next 24 hours,” the MLO of the public-sector hospital told The News.
Meanwhile, a CHK official said that the body parts of two more people were received, who were later identified 25-year-old Kiran Ikhlaque and 26-year-old Habib Khan.
Kiran’s body was identified by her elder brother through a ring on the victim’s finger, while Habib’s father identified his son’s body through the betel-nuts found in his pocket.
The owner of the factory, whose name was nominated in the FIR, was declared an absconder and remained at large till the filing of this report.
Friday 14 September 2012
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-131815-City-mourns-as-families-bury-fire-victims
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