Identification process of PIA crash victims to be completed by Monday

SFDL has completed a cross-match of 37 bodies so far, and their reports have also been dispatched to Sindh police

KARACHI: Sindh Forensic DNA and Serology Laboratory (SFDL) at the University of Karachi has said it will complete the process of identifying bodies of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) air crash victims in the next 24 hours.

According to a press release of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) at the University of Karachi on Sunday, the SFDL has completed a total of 37 cross-match so far, and their reports have also been dispatched to the Sindh police department.

"SFDL with the help of 20 scientists and volunteers is currently engaged in massive undertaking of identifying bodies of unfortunate victims of the air crash," the spokesman of ICCBS said.

According to the statistics, maintained by the SFDL, as many as 67 samples have been received from the families of the victims, and 69 samples of the victims have also been received from the police department so far.



SFDL is the first of its kind facility in Sindh that specialises in the detection, identification and analysis of human DNA from evidence samples collected by law enforcement agencies from crime scenes.

'75 victims identified'

Earlier today, the Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah had said that of the 97 people who died in the plane crash, 75 had been identified and their bodies handed over to the heirs.

“Now eight bodies kept in Chhipa mortuary and another 14 at the Edhi morgue are left to be identified,” he added.

He assured that the DNA matching of the bodies was underway and that they would be handed over to the heirs soon after identification.

PIA’s Airbus A320 crashed in the residential area of Model Colony near the Karachi airport on May 22, minutes before landing. The plane flying from Lahore to Karachi had 99 persons on board including passengers and crew.

Only two people miraculously survived the tragic incident. Other victims of the crash were laid to rest in Karachi.

Pilot error

According to the sources, the approach tower controller handled the flight from Lahore to Karachi and assigned the task of landing the aircraft to the ATC after 10 nautical miles away from landing. They informed an inquiry board about the final moments of the flight.

According to the response given by the ATC controller to the investigation team, the sources said, the captain ignored instructions 10 nautical miles from the landing. Before landing at Karachi airport, the planes fly at 1,800 feet high, but the captain was flying the ill-fate plane at an altitude of 3,000 feet.

Despite repeated instructions, the captain said that he would manage the altitude and speed before landing. They told the investigators that in his first attempt, the captain came to land the aircraft without opening the landing gear.



When the captain made the first landing, both engines hit and scratched against the runway three times, they said, adding that the captain was busy maintaining the speed and the altitude of the landing, therefore he forgot to open the landing gear.

Landing the aircraft without landing gear created sparks when the engine hits the runway. The captain flew the plane again and asked for permission to land, the controllers said, adding that at the time of second landing the captain said the engines had stopped working.