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KARACHI: No space was left in the mortuary of the Civil Hospital Karachi to keep bodies being taken there that were found mostly in the city’s downtown areas on Thursday.
Since 2am till evening as many as 29 bodies were brought to the Civil Hospital’s mortuary mainly found shot dead in the downtown areas of the city and Baldia Town, a police surgeon told Dawn.
Because of the ‘unprecedented situation’, the bodies are being kept on concrete slabs as there are only three post-mortem examination tables in the mortuary and the attendants there find it difficult to place the bodies.
Relatives of the missing people thronged the CHK mortuary after learning that several bodies stuffed in gunny bags were found in the city.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the hospital where the families were crying uncontrollably for the loss of their loved ones. Many women were wailing for their departed sons and husbands after identifying their bodies.
Police Surgeon Dr Hamid Pariyar said that three medico-legal officers were performing their duties and handing over the bodies to their heirs after the arrival of police.
He criticised the police, saying that most of the time the police who were supposed to remain there were absent from work which created difficulties for the doctors in handling the situation.
The relatives of the victims vent their anger on medical staff and smashed windowpanes and ransacked furniture in the mortuary, the police surgeon added.
The hospital staff said that the police were not staying in the mortuary to attend to legal formalities out of fear that they would have to face the anger of victims’ relatives.
“I and my staff is present to deal with the flow of bodies arriving here since 2am Thursday morning,” Dr Pariyar said.
He also complained about the absence of some mechanism to deal with the onslaught of relatives and families coming to hospital to identify bodies of victims who were being brought to the mortuary.
