.:: SAMAA - DNA test of 40 crash victims conducted: Malik

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Thursday that the DNA test of 40 crash victims has been conducted.

While talking to journalists in Abpara Community Center, Rehman Malik said that 40 victims were identified from their finger prints, their DNA test has been conducted.

“The statement of the survival of five victims was perceived wrong,” said Malik.

He said that the preliminary investigative report of the crash incident will be unveiled in few days.

At least 67 dead bodies of the crash victims have been identified and handed over to the relatives, said sources

The dead body of Captain Ansar has also been handed over to his relatives.

The identification of left charred bodies kept at PIMS Hospital will be determined through DNA test that would be conducted today.

The process of bodies’ identification continued since last night.

At least 67 of 135 bodies including Captain Ansar, brought to the hospital have been identified and handed over to the relatives.

The remaining charred bodies and body parts have been shifted to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa morgue located at I.Sector Islamabad.

The DNA test of 40 victims has been conducted in Abpara Community Centre.

Chief Commissioner Islamabad said it will take one complete week at least to complete DNA tests.

SALVAGE HAMPERED

Heavy monsoon rains in Islamabad on Thursday hampered recovery efforts at the site of a Pakistani plane crash that killed all 152 people on board a day earlier, a senior police officer said.

The Airbus 321, belonging to private airline AirBlue, crashed on Wednesday into a steep and heavily-wooded hillside in Islamabad shortly before it was due to land after a flight from the southern port city of Karachi.

Thick fog and rainy weather are considered the most likely reasons for the worst aviation accident on Pakistani soil.

Bin Yameen, deputy inspector-general with the Islamabad police, told Reuters the operation to recover the remains of victims could not be resumed due to the heavy rain. Difficulty in accessing the site was also complicating salvage efforts.

"We are waiting for the rain to stop. In such weather, neither helicopters can fly nor rescue workers move up easily.

"We may give it a try but it seems very difficult to carry out such operation in difficult terrain," he said.

Investigators were looking into causes of the crash, said senior Civil Aviation Administration officer Ayaz Jadoon.

"They're going through records and documents, though they couldn't go up because of bad weather," he said, adding the plane's "black box" data recorder has yet to be recovered.

The control tower at the airport was sealed off, and radio traffic between the plane and the tower was being examined.

The torrential rain may also damage, or wash away, evidence at the site.

"Time is very precious," the investigation team's head, Khawaja Abdul Majeed, told a private TV channel after arriving in Islamabad late Wednesday from Karachi.

"We have to collect evidence as soon as possible, so we don't have much time."

While Wednesday's crash is the worst aviation accident inside Pakistan, the state-owned airline PIA has had worse disasters. In 1979 and 1992, PIA jets crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu, Nepal, killing 156 and 167 people, respectively.

Within Pakistan, the last major aviation accident was in 2006 when a PIA plane crashed near the central city of Multan killing 45 people.

The federal information minister said late on Wednesday rescue workers had been able to recover 115 bodies during a day-long operation at the hard-to-access site.

Some relatives gathered at the city's main Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital to identify bodies.

A hospital official, Tahir Nadeem, said 59 bodies had been identified and taken away by their relatives while the remaining bodies -- mostly in pieces -- have been sent to the morgue.

The government declared a day of mourning on Thursday for the victims.

"My heart and mind are not ready to believe that he has died. I'm still hoping he might call me anytime," civil engineer Nadeem Ahmed told Reuters, as he searched among the bodies at the hospital for his brother. Ahmed did not find his brother's body. SAMAA/AGENCIES