Postmortem and identification of victims of air crash begins

KATHMANDU, JULY 25: Post-mortem examinations and identification of the bodies of the 18 people who were killed in the Saurya Airlines plane crash have begun at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj. The Chief of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine at the hospital, Dr. Gopal Prasad Chaudhary, yesterday said activities to establish the identity of the deceased have been initiated by conducting post-mortems. He added that it would take around four hours to establish the identity of a deceased individual.

Considering the shortage of medical personnel, doctors have been summoned from Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Bhaktapur Hospital, Dhulikhel Hospital, and Pokhara, and they are expected to arrive by tomorrow, mentioned Dr. Chaudhary. The identity of all bodies will be established within 72 hours after matching with the details provided by the relatives of the deceased. Dr. Chaudhary further stated that they would try to hand over the bodies after completing the necessary procedures as soon as possible.

If it is not possible to establish identity through fingerprints, dental records, or other methods, it would take two weeks to establish identity through DNA testing. A 25-member technical team comprising doctors has been deployed to establish identities by conducting post-mortems and forensic tests.

Eighteen people died when a Pokhara-bound Saurya Airlines aircraft from Kathmandu met with an accident at TIA  yesterday morning.