19 bodies of PIA crash victims forcibly taken away from morgue: Edhi
- 27 May 2020
Tariq Butt, Correspondent / Agencies
The Edhi Foundation has said relatives of 19 passengers who died in last week’s Pakistan International Air (PIA) plane crash in Karachi have forcibly taken bodies away from its morgue, local media reported.
“Nineteen bodies have been forcibly taken away from the morgue by families, and I believe that most of the severely charred bodies are not properly recognised,” Faisal Edhi, the head of the organisation said.
He said relatives did not provide any proof or identification before taking away the bodies. Edhi also appealed to the relatives of the victims to not argue and fight with the morgue staffers. “Our staffers at the morgue are well-trained but there are severely burnt bodies not recognisable,” he said.
Edhi said that because of the aggression of the victims’ relatives and pressure from political figures, the morgue administration was forced to hand over the bodies to them. “The government should provide security to the morgue’s management,” he demanded.
So far, the authorities have handed over 41 bodies to their families after identifying them, according to the health ministry. The DNA tests, which will take at least one month, are underway to identify the remains of the other victims.
The Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) has collected DNA samples of 52 victims of the ill-fated PK8303 flight, a day after Sindh government refused to let the agency collect them.
PFSA Director-General Dr Muhammad Tahir Ashraf confirmed that the agency had collected DNA samples from Karachi and returned to Lahore on Saturday.
“DNA samples of 52 deceased individuals and their families have been obtained,” he confirmed. “We will start releasing DNA reports after Wednesday.”
On the other hand, Sindh Forensic and DNA Laboratory Karachi University said that samples from 67 victims of the PIA plane crash have been provided by their families.
Meanwhile, the Karachi administration has found 18 houses partially damaged and two completely damaged on May 22 plane crash as the federal government has announced to bear all financial burden of the compensation to the affected families.
The administration finalised a list of the loss of property caused by the crrsh in the Jinnah Garden area of Model Colony of Karachi.
A committee formed by Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani completed its survey and finally came up with a report that suggested that two houses measuring120 square yards each were completely damaged while structures of 18 other houses was partially damaged in the incident.
"The street which bore the brunt of the crash has total 20 houses,” said an official citing details of the report. "In the 20 houses, two are completely damaged and razed to the ground. They need reconstruction. Other 18 houses were damaged as well. In most of the cases, upper parts of the houses were damaged where their concrete structure was hit by the crashed plane. Fortunately, their structures mostly remained intact.”
In other losses, he said, total 10 cars and 14 motorbikes were also hit by the plane’s burning wreckage and all of them got almost completely destroyed.
These vehicles were parked in the street or inside the houses, he said, adding a team also took their details into account while compiling the report.
Meanwhile, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan had clearly directed the authorities to pay compensation to each affected family in Model Colony.
"There is a clear directive from the prime minister that every house or family which has lost its property or anything due to this incident would be compensated from the federal government,” he told reporters.
"Anyone who has lost his car, motorbike or house would get the proper compensation on fast track. The PM has asked the Civil Aviation, PIA and all other relevant institutions to do their job properly and fast. Everyone has worked tirelessly so the wounds of these families can be healed.”
