It is double tragedy for the family of Mr. Moses George, who was killed in the June 3, 2012 Dana plane crash in Lagos.
There is confusion over the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (otherwise called DNA) test result of the retired Fire Service official.
His body was intact when the family identified him after the incident.
In fact, he had an identification card on him.
The puzzle facing his family is how to collect his body whose DNA was one of the 132 results that arrived from the United Kingdom on August 6.
However, in a frantic effort to prove Hannah’s paternity and also claim the victim’s body from the mortuary, the family has re-submitted samples from Hannah and the victim’s younger sister to the Consultant Forensic Pathologist and Chief Examiner, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof John Obafunwa.
Recall that on the arrival of 132 DNA results from the United Kingdom on August 6, LASUTH and the Lagos State Government officials met with the bereaved families of the ill-fated plane to brief them on the processes and procedures of collecting the bodies, which were to commence the following day.
As various families besieged LASUTH mortuary to collect the bodies, the George family left no stone unturned to ensure the collection of their late brother’s remains, which they said they identified and were intact at the Lekan Ogunsola Memorial Mortuary, LASUTH.
But to the family’s amazement, their late brother’s name was not among those results pasted on the mortuary wall that were ready for collection.
Prior to the DNA test requirement by LASUTH, a cousin to the late George, Chief Moses Olajide, told Daily Sun that Hannah, the daughter of the deceased, and himself have identified his uncle’s body in the mortuary.
Olajide maintained that the late Assistant Comptroller of Fire Service was neither burnt nor mangled.
Olajide lamented that he began to panic when he discovered that his uncle’s name was not among those whose DNA results arrived from the UK.
He said: “A day after the incident, my cousin (Hannah) and l came here (LASUTH) to identify the body of my uncle. We saw it in the mortuary. The body was intact.
“His identity card was hung on him. The name was number 22 among the names of identifiable bodies released by the hospital.”
“I understand there were 16 bodies that were burnt beyond forensic analysis or some families could not show up with reference samples.
“But our case does not fall into any of these categories. So, where is his body?”
At this juncture, the family raised the alarm, asking for the whereabouts of their late brother.
Olajide, who is one the representatives of the family, lamented that the hospital management was reluctant in telling him what to do.
He bemoaned what he called the lackadaisical attitude with which officials of the hospital were responding to the family’s travail.
Another relative, who was interviewed on phone, a cousin to the late Moses, Abiodun Anthony Dogbo, described the family’s ordeal in the process of collecting the body as untold agony.
Dogbo said: “Just imagine my late uncle’s body that was identified at first sight in the mortuary, yet after two months, we cannot still claim it. I must confess that it is prolonging and aggravating our pains.
“I wish everybody understands what we are talking about.
“The only daughter he had was pregnant when the incident happened. It took God’s intervention before she was delivered of her baby.
“I know they have good intention for not giving the victims mass burial. But the procedures of collecting the bodies are too demanding.
“If others could succeed in collecting their relatives, whose bodies were burnt and some dismembered, I see no reason why my late uncle’s body that was intact should become a mystery. I don’t want to think otherwise, l believe the body is somewhere. I beg them to give it to us.”
Dogbo, who claimed to be the family’s spokesman, added: “In short, l am confused at the moment.
“Prof. said the DNA results did not correspond with that of the man (deceased).
“Really, I don’t understand what is happening. What could that mean?
Not satisfied with Prof. Obafunwa’s analysis of the DNA results, the family inquired what should be done to collect their late brother’s body.
We gathered that fresh test was to be conducted, as samples had been collected from the deceased’s sister in addition to Hannah’s.
