Air Algerie crash: Lebanon supplies DNA of relatives

Efforts to recover and identify those killed are proving tough, with experts saying they had yet to find intact bodies

BEIRUT: Lebanon has handed over DNA samples from relatives of 20 citizens killed in a July 24 Air Algerie plane crash in Mali, a foreign ministry source told AFP on Friday. France is leading the investigation into the crash in which 118 people were killed when their plane went down in a remote area on the southern edge of the Sahara. The Lebanese foreign ministry source said pathologist Fouad Ayub had taken DNA samples from the relatives of the Lebanese believed to have died in the crash to France, after visiting Mali with a Lebanese delegation following up on the crash. The delegation arrived in Mali on Sunday, with Ayub then going on to France with the samples, the source said. Efforts to recover and identify those killed are proving tough, with French experts at the scene saying they had yet to find “intact bodies”.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2014.