Relatives of the passengers in the Dana Air plane that crashed in Lagos have kicked against a proposed mass burial for unidentified victims deposited at Mainland Hospital, Ebute-Metta.Out of the 153 passengers who died, only 50 have been identified as at yester-day, seven days after the plane crashed in the outskirts of Lagos. Of the 50 identified bodies, 29 are males, 17 females and four babies.The affected relatives made their views known yesterday at a closed door meeting with Governor Babatunde Fashola at the Lagos House, Ikeja.A relative of one of the unidentifiable victims, Johnson Akanji, informed Daily Trust after the meeting that the Lagos State governor had touted the idea of mass burial to be carried out by the state government, but some of the affected families, particularly foreign nationals, rejected the plan.According to him, Indians and Europeans whose relations died in the crash did not subscribe to the idea. 'We were told 67 bodies have been identified so far. They said others could not be identified until DNA is carried out on them. The agreement reached was that we would wait till the test is carried out on the bodies instead of mass burial,' he said.Meanwhile, Governor Babatunde Fashola has disclosed that a special committee (Relationship Team) has been set up by the government to ensure effective communication between the state government and families of victims of the plane crash.Briefing reporters after the closed door meeting, the governor said that some decisions had been taken during the meeting, adding that both sides have agreed to commence the process of identifying bodies which have not been identified so as to let their families claim them for burial.Meanwhile 50 out of the 153 persons killed in the crash have so far been identified by the relations while two yet to be identified adult bodies are still lying in the morgue at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).The bodies, Daily Trust learnt will be released to their relations this week while DNA test have commenced on the bodies of unidentifiable bodies to ensure that bodies are not released to the wrong families.Some of the 50 victims identified as obtained from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at the weekend include Martin Alade, Sonny Ehioghae, Okocha Christopher, Stanford Obstrute, Maimuna Anyene, Onyeka Ayaene, Temitope Ariyibi, Chinwe Uzoamaka Obi, Anibaba Tosin, Falmata Mohammed Ikpoki Obiola, Patrick Eze Okonji, Bassy Eyo, Kanguyi (Chinese) and Charles Ntoko.Also identified already are Dr Abiodun Jonathan, Ifeanwaka Jones, Obot Emmanuel, Prof. C.O Onwuluri, Olabinjo Awodogbin, Obinna Akabueze, Nagidi Ibrahim, Mahmud Ahmed Dukawa, Ibrahim Jangana, George Moses, Femi Shobowale, , John Ahmadu Hamza (DIG), Abrahim Adijolola and Abraham Adiloju.It was learnt that the DNA test to be conducted on the corpses would take two weeks. Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola had last week Thursday appealed to family members and relatives of victims of the Dana Air mishap of last Sunday to exercise more patience so that proper identification could be carried on the bodies before they are released.'There is a big risk here of releasing the wrong body to the wrong family. Even yesterday, I was told that in the process of identifying, there was almost a mix up between two families because of the state of the bodies. There are foreigners also involved. There is danger of giving away Nigerian body to be taken away,' he said.Governor Fashiola stressed that the need to conduct a meticulous and scientific identification process to avoid 'costly errors' is responsible for the seeming delay and appealed for patience while experts work round the clock to help identify the bodies.
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