DNA sent abroad for tests

KATHMANDU, Sept 30: The government has confirmed the identification of 12 foreign passengers who lost their lives in Friday´s Sita Air crash. However, the bodies could not handover it was difficult to identify individual bodies as they were charred in the fire that engulfed the crashed aircraft.



The government officials have also announced that one of the deceased foreigners was found to be a US citizen. Wu Hui who was identified as a Chinese citizen earlier, has now been identified as US citizen of Chinese origin. Hui had American passport.[break]



The officials said that the confusion over the nationality of Hui had surfaced because the travel agents failed to provide the passport copies of the deceased on time.



Addressing a meeting on Saturday, Tourism Minister Post Bahadur Bogati said it was shameful that the government could not ensure proper identification of the deceased even after 48 hours of the crash. “This is a serious matter and shows incompetence of the concerned government authority, airlines and the travel agents,” he said.



According to the airlines source, Flight Connection had issued the tickets of four Chinese and an American passenger without obtaining the copy of passport.



Bodies yet to be identified medically



The relatives of air crash victim could not receive the body on Saturday as well, as the authority could not identify them because they were charred beyond recognition. All 19 bodies were badly charred in the incident and requires more investigation for the identification, according to medical officials.



Dr Harihar Awasti of Forensic Department of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hosptial (TUTH), said the hospital has sent the samples abroad for DNA test to confirm their identity.



Seven Nepali including three crew members, seven Briton, four Chinese and a US citizen were killed in the crash. Sales and Marketing Manager of Sita Air Dipendra Shahi said that he was hopeful that the bodies of Nepali nationals would be handed over to their families by Sunday.



“Although the report of autopsy is yet to be received, we are in contact with all the relatives and they are identifying the body with the help of body size, jewelry and other signs,” he said.



Shahi said that in case of foreigners the body would be handed over after the report of DNA test only.



Government commits to strengthen aviation safety



Expressing serious concern over the frequent air crashes, the government has decided to take serious measures to ensure aviation safety. A ministerial level meeting on Saturday instructed Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to deploy Safety Inspectors in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Nepagunj. The meeting has decided to form a high level aviation safety coordinating agency in near future.



Suresh Acharaya, joint-secretary of MoCTCA and member secretary of the accident probe commission said the meeting decided to form a permanent investigative body for the air crash.“"The permanent body will be more influential and will help analyze the case properly which will ultimately help ensure aviation safety”" said he.



The meeting has also instructed flight safety standard department of CAAN to strengthen the supervisory role. He said,“"We have decided to hold regular meeting amongst airport security, CAAN and the airlines companies to ensure better coordination”"



Similarly, the ministry has also called a meeting with National Bird Control Committee to avoid such incidents in near future.



Meanwhile, the British government has also sent aviation experts to Nepal to assist the probe committee in their investigation.

Related story

Six of the dead in Pokhara plane crash to be identified through...