NIGERIA: Dana Crash: LASUTH Releases 26 Identified Bodies

The management of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, has released a list of 26 victims of the Dana Air plane crash that have been identified by their relatives.

Bodies identified include those of:

1. Martin Alade (M) 2. Prof C.O. Onwuluri (M) 3. Temitope Ariyibi (F) 4. Sonny Ehioghae (M) 5. Nagidi Ibrahim (M) 6. Chinwe Uzoamaka Obi (F) 7. Okocha Christopher (M) 8. Mahmud Ahmed Dukawa (M) 9. Anibaba Tosin (F) 10. Stanford Obrutse (M) 11. Ibrahim Jangana (M) 12. Ikpoki Obiola (M) 13. Ailende Ehi Joel (M) 14. Patrick Eze Okonji (M) 15. Kim Edger Norris (M) 16. Bassey Eyo (M) 17. John Ahmadu Hamza (DIG)(M) 18. Kanguyi (Chinese (M)) 19. Femi Shobowale (M) 20. Charles Ntoko (M) 21. George Moses (M) 22. Dr Abiodun Jonathan (M) 23. Obinna Akubueze (M) 24. Ifeanwaka Jones (M) 25. Olabinjo Awodogbin (M) 26. Obot Emmanuel (M)

Fourteen out of the 43 bodies at the hospital’s mortuary were yet to be identified by their relatives.

The family members were given forms to fill for identification process which also included taking the passport photographs of family representatives and photocopies of their international passports.

Yet, relations of victims who thronged the hospital’s mortuary for collection of the corpses may not be able to claim them until autopsy is carried out according to Lagos State Coroner Law.

As the clamour to take away identified corpses continued, the chief medical director (CMD), LASUTH, Prof Wale Oke, appealed to the aggrieved relations, saying “already we have started doing the autopsy today (Wednesday), and we are going to do at least 12 autopsies per day”.

“Every corpse leaving our mortuaries will leave with a death certificate. And we cannot issue death certificates without autopsy,” he explained.

The CMD affirmed that “in the next three days, all identified corpses must have been handed over to their families. Our team of pathologists has started work today. We are being careful not to hand over a corpse to the wrong family”.

The consultant pathologist, forensic medicine, and vice chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Professor John Obafunwa, led seven other pathologists to commence the autopsy.

For many of the relations of the victims, the waiting game to collect their relations’ corpses was unacceptable. They openly expressed their displeasure, compounded by the sudden grief.

Earlier in the day, those who had not identified the corpses of their loved ones were anxious to do so, as two family members of the deceased were allowed into the morgue at a time.

Meanwhile, stench from the morgue grew worse by the day. The stench was evident as family members that thronged the mortuary had to buy nose masks to prevent inhaling the stench that was coming out of the overwhelmed morgue.

SOURCE: LEADERSHIP NIGERIA