Bones of ICG Crew given to Forensic Dept, DNA Test May Take Some Time

CHENNAI: Parents and relatives of three crew members of the Dornier aircraft that went missing on June 8, waited patiently in the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to give their blood samples for the DNA test by forensic experts to confirm the identities of three crew members.

R S Soni, the grieving father of Navigator Deputy Commandant, M K Soni, was one of the few who was composed. “The watch found 950 metres underwater belongs to my son. We are satisfied by the search operations. They have recovered 85 per cent of the wreckage. What God wills has to happen. I came along with my daughter,” he said, adding they have been given accommodation at the Officers Training Academy.

In a corner, Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar’s frail looking father sat trying to come to terms with the incident. “I don’t know, I don’t know,” he muttered as he feebly waved journalists’s questions away. The grieving mother of Subash Suresh tried to control her emotions and was speaking to family members while Subash’s father was restless.

It was around 7.30pm that the families of the three crew members were ushered in. “We want some privacy. Kindly leave us alone,” said a relative of the family.

“The DNA tests on the parents as well as offspring would be conducted by a medical officer after permission from the court,” the forensics department source said. The remains of three crew members was handed over to forensic department on Thursday.

“The forensics department collected the bones of the crew members to ascertain the identities of Deputy Commandant Vidyasagar, Co-pilot Deputy Commandant Subash Suresh and Navigator Deputy Commandant MK Soni,” said Inspector General SP Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard (East). “It has been fast-tracked thanks to the Director General of Police,” said Sharma.

DNA tests could only be conducted once it is ordered by the court or even the district magistrate following which the samples would be extracted from the bones of the deceased recovered from the sea. A forensics department source said that the bones were still moist and these had to dry before the DNA could be extracted. “It can’t be done overnight,” the source said.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com