New Delhi: A 19-member team of DNA experts from India has begun a painstaking task of collecting, preserving and analysing biological samples to identify hundreds of victims of the devastating flash floods in Nepal, and ultimately helping authorities in returning the bodies to their relatives.
The Indian experts sent to Nepal were also part of the forensic scientists’ team that helped in identifying the victims of the Air India Flight 171 crash near Ahmedabad airport last year. Yog Bahadur Pal, a senior Nepal Police officer, said that more than 600 bodies remained unidentified after the August 26 tragedy. “Photographs are taken, body parts documented and a proper number is assigned to each body so that every piece of evidence can be traced through the identification process. Because many bodies can be severely damaged or mutilated, leaving forensic experts to determine which part can still yield usable DNA,” Junare said, in such disasters, the task is particularly difficult.
“We have collected DNA samples from their teeth, thigh bones, fingerprints, and other specific body parts. “It involves being respectful to the victims and handing over the remains to relatives for a dignified burial or cremation. “The victims are from different parts of the world. We have written to all embassies offering to take medical records that they send us on email too. It may be difficult for them to travel to Nepal immediately.
“The Indian team has been deployed to support Nepal in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) — a process that involves documenting bodies and body parts, assigning identification numbers, collecting appropriate biological samples and eventually helping authorities reunite remains with relatives,” Dr SO Junare, campus director of NFSU, told HT. We are using a software called Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which is administered by the FBI as well,” Pal said, adding that along with the health department, police have already created a large database of DNA evidence collected from the victims. Junare said identifying victims of tragedy of such devastating magnitude requires meticulous efforts. Identification is not simply about establishing a scientific fact, he said. They can give the blood samples in the hospitals back home and then email us the records through their embassy and we will match it with our records,” Subedi said.
