A team of forensic experts at the Department of the Pathology & Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH yesterday began the process of identifying the different bodies and body parts of victims of last sunday ill-fated aircraft which crashed into a two-storey building at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.
Prof. David Wale Oke, Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital while addressing newsmen and families of the victims, said the whole forensic processes could take between 4-6 weeks as against the 2 weeks earlier promised.
Prof. Oke said: “The problem we may have is about the bodies that are unidentifiable. If you can’t get the genetic mark, you can say ‘A belongs to B.’ So those will probably take up to six weeks to be concluded because we are going to take the tissues outside the country.”
“All the bodies recovered must undergo DNA analysis. The entire specimen submitted will be taken out of the country in conjunction with the tissue of the deceased because it has to be matched. We are hoping that in the next four to six weeks commencing after sending the specimen, our results will be back. The plan is to send the specimen in batches. But we are still collating the specimen.”
On why the test may not be completed within two weeks as earlier promised, Oke said: “We were at the first instance thinking that as soon as we conclude the autopsy, we will release them, but we had a meeting with the Attorney General of the state, the insurers of Dana, the Ministry of Health in Lagos, Dana and all agreed that because the matter of claims that will come up, we have to do the DNA whether they (the bodies) are recognisable or not.”
Meanwhile, anxious friends and families who thronged the hospital for verification of their loved ones have bemoaned and protested the perceived sluggishness of the medical teamhandling the foreensic processes.
It took the timely intervention of Prof Oke and the the Chief Medical Examiner, Prof. John Obafunwa to calm tensed nerves of the families and friends of the victims.