Mangalore plane crash – 12 families claimed wrong bodies

Mangalore plane crash – 12 families claimed wrong bodies

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Oct 7: At least 12 families of those who died in the Mangalore plane crash of May 2010 are believed to have mistakenly claimed the wrong bodies. These families had identified the bodies by physical features and personal items.

 

The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFC), Hyderabad, which did the DNA profiling on these victims brought the above-mentioned fact to light. Dr. Madhusudhan R. Nadineni, a senior scientist at CDFD, said that in case of disasters such as the Mangalore plane crash, the best way to identify body remains is through DNA profiling. 

                                            (Pic from file)

 

Immediately following the disaster, the bodies of 136 victims were identified and claimed by their family members. The other 22 could not be identified as they were badly charred and family members simply couldn’t identify them by their physical features. DNA profiling was done on these victims by comparing their DNA profiles with those of the profiles of 32 people waiting to claim their bodies. 

The scientists used autosomal and Y-chromosome DNA profiling data to establish the identities of 10 of these victims within the next two days. But the other 12 remains did not match any of the relatives waiting to claim them. This proves that at least 12 families had claimed the wrong bodies.  

The authorities later conducted the last rites of the 12 unidentified and unclaimed bodies after consulting with the families who could not claim their loved ones’ bodies.