Six of 19 hot-air balloon victims identified: Egypt forensics chief

The bodies of six of the 19 tourists who died on Tuesday in a hot-air balloon crash in the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor have been identified, according to Egypt's forensic chief Ihsan Kameel Georgie.

Following the accident, the bodies of the victims were transported from Luxor to several different hospitals in Cairo. Victims included foreign nationals from the UK, France, Belgium, Hungary and Japan, along with nine tourists from Hong Kong.

The bodies have been identified by representatives of the British, French, Japanese and Hungarian embassies. According to Georgie, embassy officials were asked to bring photos with which to identify them.

The forensics chief added that DNA tests would be conducted on the bodies that could not be identified by photographs. DNA samples, he explained, would be taken from victims' relatives and checked against those taken from the bodies.

Georgie added that preliminary investigations had revealed that most of the victims had died from burns or from the long fall from the hot-air balloon.

The balloon exploded at dawn on Tuesday as the pilot attempted to land it following the discovery of a leaky gas cylinder. The crash left only two survivors: Michael Rennie, a Briton, and the pilot, both of whom jumped out of the balloon in an effort to escape the inferno.

Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdallah has since ordered an investigation into the incident. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, meanwhile, has drawn up a committee to determine the cause of the disaster.

The last hot-air balloon accident in Luxor, which left 16 people injured in 2009, led to a six-month moratorium on all hot-air balloon activity until additional safety measures had been put in place.

Egypt witnessed other hot-air balloon accidents in 2007 and 2008, but neither of these led to any deaths.

Thursday 28 February 2013

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/65804/Egypt/Politics-/Six-of--hotair-balloon-victims-identified-Egypt-fo.aspx

Hong Kong forensic experts to examine bodies of Egypt balloon accident victims

Hong Kong’s forensic experts will soon examine the bodies of nine Hong Kong tourists who died in a hot-air balloon accident earlier this week.

The experts – including a forensic pathologist and a specialist in the identification of bodies – are part of a seven-member team who arrived in Egypt on Thursday to join another team of government officers to help the victim’s families.

They will assess the condition of the bodies before helping the victims’ relatives to identify them, senior immigration officer Lee Kwong-wah said in Cairo on Thursday.

The nine Hongkongers were among 19 tourists who died after the sightseeing hot-air balloon they were aboard burst into a fireball shortly before landing in the ancient city of Luxor. Their bodies are badly burnt.


The pilot and a British tourist survived. They were both injured. The pilot suffered severe burns and remained in an intensive care unit in hospital.

The accident is understood to have happened when a cable got tangled around a gas tube and a fire broke out.

Thursday 28 February 2013

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1163077/hong-kong-forensic-experts-examine-bodies-egypt-balloon-accident

No bodies, no compensation for heirs

Several months have passed since the fire erupted at the garment factory in Baldia Town, but dozens of families are still waiting for the victims’ bodies as well as for the compensation amounting to Rs900,000 for each victim’s family.

There are still 23 legal heirs of the victims who have not been compensated because their DNA samples did not match the bodies that were recently buried.

Nazia Parveen is one such legal heir. She is the widow of Riaz Ahmed and the sister of Rafaqat Ali. Ahmed and Ali both lost their lives in the fire at Ali Enterprises, the garment factory.

However, despite providing DNA samples thrice, she was not handed over her husband’s body and is yet to be compensated as well.

Parveen, along with other heirs of the victims, had recently staged a demonstration in front of the Sindh Assembly to demand the victims’ bodies and compensation.

Following the protest, the authorities concerned had held a dialogue with the heirs and persuaded them to allow the burial of 17 bodies that were kept at the Edhi morgue since the time of the incident. After the heirs’ permission, 17 unidentified bodies were buried on Sunday.

After the fire on September 11 last year, which claimed the lives of around 300 workers, the prime minister, the provincial government and Malik Riaz had announced Rs400,000, Rs300,000 and Rs200,000 as compensation for the family of each victim.

Initially, in the absence of a proper mechanism, several heirs allegedly took bodies from the hospitals and the mortuary and buried them.

Since several remaining bodies were apparently beyond identification because they were badly burnt, the government took DNA samples from the affected families, but the resultant report has yet to be released.

Parveen, who played an important role in assembling the heirs to hold a demonstration in front of the Sindh Assembly, told this correspondent that after the demonstration, the Karachi commissioner had claimed that he had the compensation for all the victims’ families.

She said they were requested to allow the mass burial because the sanctity of the bodies was being affected.

She revealed that after the mass burial, there were still five bodies at the Edhi mortuary that have been identified through DNA, but their legal heirs had yet to collect them since they had already buried someone else in their place.

Parveen said when she asked for compensation, she was told to present the death certificate of her husband, which she did not possess.

Her brother’s body was recognised and compensation amounting to Rs700,000 was awarded to his legal heirs.

“I have been desperately going from pillar to post to get the body of my husband and the lengthy and torturous process has made my life miserable,” she said.

She said she lived in a rented house with three children to look after, adding that she did not know when the government would compensate her.

“Government functionaries are asking me to produce proof of death of my husband. That is not my responsibility. The government should have arranged these documents,” she added.

National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) Deputy General Secretary Nasir Mansoor, who has been a strong supporter of the victims’ families, said the government had arranged the mass burial of 17 bodies to get rid of the issue for good.

He said that the victims’ families would continue to suffer as long as the government does not compensate them.

The NTUF is planning to sue the international audit company that had awarded a clean chit to the garment factory two weeks before the fire broke out there, he added.

Thursday 28 February 2013

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