RAHIM YAR KHAN: The Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital (SZMCH) management on Wednesday handed over bodies of 40 people who had died in the Tezgam inferno to their families and relatives after receiving their DNA test reports from the the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA).

SZMCH focal person Rana Alyas Ahmed told Dawn that on Nov 3, the PFSA team that had set up a camp at the hospital had returned Lahore after collecting samples of the family members and relatives of 57 deceased passengers for their DNA tests.

He said that on Wednesday reports of 40 DNA tests were received at the SZMCH after which the coffins were handed over to the claimants. He said that out of the 40 passengers, 26 were from Mirpur Khas, four from Karachi, three each from Umer Kot and Shikarpur, two from Sanghar and one each from Tando Allah Yar and Lodhran.

The district administration provided free of cost ambulances to shift the bodies to native places of the deceased under the supervision of RY Khan assistant commissioner and Railway police officials, he added.

Many of the families kept asking about the process of payment of financial compensation announced by railway minister Sheikh Rashid, but the officials had no definite answer to such queries.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2019