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Mangalore air crash: Mass burial for 12 unclaimed bodies

June 02, 2010 13:22 IST

The bodies of 12 persons who lost their lives in the horrific air crash at Mangalore on May 22, will be buried in the city in the presence of various religious heads.

Sources in Mangalore's district administration told rediff.com that unfortunately, since the DNA tests conducted on these 12 bodies did not match with the samples given by the relatives, they have no claimants.

It was a heart-rending sight to see some of the family members -- who have not been able to identify their loved ones -- when they agreed to the mass burial. The ceremony will take place near Panambur beach at 3 pm.

The proposal was made by Commissioner of Police Seemant Kumar Singh to the four families which were claiming the bodies. Singh then stepped in and convinced the families not to pursue the claim as it could lead to further complications.

The families then requested that the funeral be conducted in the presence of priests from all religions. While agreeing to the same, the district administration said there would be no problem in issuing a death certificate to the family members.

A single window system has been set up at the Air India office in Mangalore for this purpose, which has already issued 60 death certificates so far.

Records would show that the bodies of Mohammed Zubair from Volakadu Udupi, his children Zainab and Ziad, Navid Ibrahim, Vaman Prabhu from Ashoknagar, Ignatius D'Souza from Shaktinagar, Mohammed Ismail Hassan Jeppu, K K Shetty from Kodialbail, Abubakker Siddiq from Uppala, Abdul Aziz from Uppala, Abdul Basheer K M Bekal, Sukumar Moilatti in Kerala, and crew member of the ill-fated aircraft, Sujata, have not been recovered.

Vicky Nanjappa