Flight ED202: DNA test results this week
ISLAMABAD:
The results of the DNA tests to cross match the blood samples of the relatives with the remains of the plane crash victims are expected to arrive on Thursday, a senior official said.
Aamir Ali Ahmed, the deputy commissioner of Islamabad, told The Express Tribune that the test results would help the relatives of the passengers of the ill-fated flight to identify the remains of their loved ones preserved in cold storage.
So far, a total number of 147 coffins carrying the remains of passengers of the ill-fated flight ED202 were brought to the fruit cold storage facility located at Chambeli Road.
“Some 54 bodies have been delivered to their families, whereas 90 are left,” security officials at the cold storage told The Express Tribune.
Even the security officials there appeared to be depressed and frightened too which was best reflected through their voice and face expressions. “Even we lose our courage while going inside the cold storage,” said a security official.
“This is the third time I have come here to search for the body parts of one of my close female relatives who was travelling on that Airblue flight,” said a middle-aged man while opening the coffins and searching for the remains of her with the help of a torch.
He was trying to identify her through the colour of her dress which she was wearing on Wednesday morning. After checking two coffins the sign of disappointment could be seen on his face, but a little hope and determination forced him to open the third one. “ I know it is not an easy task to find her remains as every coffin I open seems like it’s the same”, he said. It was not an easy task to stand in the cold storage. The bodies were extremely decomposed, and a pungent odour of human remains lingered beyond the entrance. It was because the temperature of the room was not at all freezing.
The room is filled with numbered coffins and the details of what they carry.
On one coffin it said jet black hair, on the other was written half burnt moustaches, on the left of it there was a coffin on which was written young boy with a goatee.
One coffin had written on it nothing identifiable. “It is so unfortunate that the remains are in such a deplorable condition that relatives are unable to identify them and the majority of them took the wrong remains with them,” one of the senior security officials said.
“The DNA test would not be of any use since all the body organs of the passengers have gotten mixed and it would not be an easy task to test each and every part. However, the government is forced to do it just to satisfy the relatives of the passengers who are impatiently waiting to have them to satisfy themselves,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2010.
The results of the DNA tests to cross match the blood samples of the relatives with the remains of the plane crash victims are expected to arrive on Thursday, a senior official said.
Aamir Ali Ahmed, the deputy commissioner of Islamabad, told The Express Tribune that the test results would help the relatives of the passengers of the ill-fated flight to identify the remains of their loved ones preserved in cold storage.
So far, a total number of 147 coffins carrying the remains of passengers of the ill-fated flight ED202 were brought to the fruit cold storage facility located at Chambeli Road.
“Some 54 bodies have been delivered to their families, whereas 90 are left,” security officials at the cold storage told The Express Tribune.
Even the security officials there appeared to be depressed and frightened too which was best reflected through their voice and face expressions. “Even we lose our courage while going inside the cold storage,” said a security official.
“This is the third time I have come here to search for the body parts of one of my close female relatives who was travelling on that Airblue flight,” said a middle-aged man while opening the coffins and searching for the remains of her with the help of a torch.
He was trying to identify her through the colour of her dress which she was wearing on Wednesday morning. After checking two coffins the sign of disappointment could be seen on his face, but a little hope and determination forced him to open the third one. “ I know it is not an easy task to find her remains as every coffin I open seems like it’s the same”, he said. It was not an easy task to stand in the cold storage. The bodies were extremely decomposed, and a pungent odour of human remains lingered beyond the entrance. It was because the temperature of the room was not at all freezing.
The room is filled with numbered coffins and the details of what they carry.
On one coffin it said jet black hair, on the other was written half burnt moustaches, on the left of it there was a coffin on which was written young boy with a goatee.
One coffin had written on it nothing identifiable. “It is so unfortunate that the remains are in such a deplorable condition that relatives are unable to identify them and the majority of them took the wrong remains with them,” one of the senior security officials said.
“The DNA test would not be of any use since all the body organs of the passengers have gotten mixed and it would not be an easy task to test each and every part. However, the government is forced to do it just to satisfy the relatives of the passengers who are impatiently waiting to have them to satisfy themselves,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2010.