Bodies without identities: 19 plane crash victims sent away without DNA testing

On Tuesday, Edhi Foundation’s Head Faisal Edhi said that families of 19 plane crash victims had “forcefully” taken away bodies from an Edhi mortuary, without awaiting DNA testing of the corpses. During media correspondence, he expressed concern that bodies taken without DNA testing might lack correctly identification and later may need to be exhumed for identification purposes. He claimed that families which had taken the bodies with them appeared to have recognised their kin through personal belongings like watches, identity cards or clothes. However, he said, ‘But since the bodies were badly burnt, there are high chances that they were wrongly identified, considering that there are possibilities of deceased belongings getting exchanged.’ Edhi also mentioned that an MNA from Sohrab Goth, whom he chose not to name, had misused his influence to assist one of the families take a body with them but later, dental examination revealed that the body had been wrongly identified. He added that while families took the bodies, the police failed to help Edhi workers in stopping them. “And we had to hand over 19 bodies to the families out of the fear of vandalism,” he said, reassuring that the remaining bodies at the morgue would only be handed following scientific verification. Also read: PIA plane crash survivor describes his escape: “All I could see was fire”