The governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola has appealed to family members and relatives of victims of the Dana Air crash to exercise more patience so that proper identification could be carried on the bodies before they are released.
The governor explained that what is making the matter more challenging at this time is the problem of identification of the bodies. He explained why the bodies cannot be collected as soon as possible, saying “I want to appeal to our people and especially the media that in this period of grief, people must also understand why certain things cannot be done as quickly as we expect. We understand your pain, we want to share with you your moment of grief. We want to make it less painful.”
He stressed that the need to conduct a meticulous and scientific identification process to avoid costly errors account for the seeming delay and appealed for patience while the experts work round the clock to identify the bodies.
“We have no reason at all to delay the release of the bodies of the victims, but our problem as i am told is the proper identification of the bodies. The pathologists are working round the clock. I have even spoken to the chief pathologist and he has assured me that again if it is possible today they will begin to release bodies that can be identified.
“We have to give them some more time to sort out. They have their expertise in using their knowledge to identify who is who, we think there is more damage in giving out bodies to the wrong people. This is the only reason why bodies have not been released. The pathologists assured me that they have continued to work and will call for help where they can get it”, Governor Fashola explained.
“There is a big risk here on the release of wrong body to the wrong family. Even yesterday, I was told that in the process of identification, there was almost a mix up between two families because of the state of the bodies.”
Foreign bodies
Noting the possible complicity of mixing the charred bodies of Nigerians for foreigners, the governor stated that “There is danger in giving away Nigerian body to be taken away.”
Some foreign nationals were involved in the crash, which includes six Chinese, an Indian and An American.
He also stated that the state government is already speaking with religious leaders to assist and undertakers just as government is also making resources available. “We want the affected people to go through their periods of funerals as practically as possible and begin to manage grief and begin to reconcile with this unforeseeable accident,” he said.
Governor Fashola stated that it is really unfortunate that the accident has happened and also happened in Lagos State, adding that one can only imagine the trauma and the grief that relatives of victims are going through.
He explained that government is doing its best to help them through this period of grief and to assist in what is ordinarily an aviation matter which has brought with it so many complexities.
“You will also recall that I met with members of the diplomatic communities because there were foreigners also involved. They also want to get on with this process of burial. We are mindful of the cultural and religious issues involved”.
“I continue to pray that God will console the families of the bereaved and relatives and the dependants, but it is a very complex and cumbersome and challenging time and it is only patience and constant communication with one another that we can find our way through this and come to what I hope would be a satisfactory process of enabling families to bury their dead” .
