The issue of identification of victims of the 2010 air crash at Mangalore International Airport was a “disaster” in itself, said A. Prabhakara Sharma, who was then the in-charge Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district.
In the early hours of May 22, 2010, Air India Express flight (from Dubai to Mangalore) overshot the runway and exploded into flames as it plummeted down the valley at Bajpe. As many as 158 passengers and crew members died.
“It took 12 hours to retrieve the bodies, but relatives had started to claim the bodies. We took a collective decision to handover the bodies. In hindsight, it was the wrong decision and a disaster in itself,” said Mr. Sharma at a talk on ‘Disaster management – a case study of the aircraft accident at Mangalore airport’, organised by the Mangalore Management Association here recently.
Mr. Sharma, who is currently the Executive Director of the Dr. Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama, was then the Additional Deputy Commissioner who supervised the operations as the Deputy Commissioner was away.
Though the management of the disaster was “good”, there were insurmountable challenges, especially the identification of the charred bodies in the lack of quick DNA testing, he said.
While relatives were told that DNA testing – a process that takes weeks – was to be conducted, Mr. Sharma says the pressure was mounting. “It was not political pressure. It was through relatives who wanted the body to complete the final rituals. Withholding the bodies was becoming a tragedy in itself. Some had even said they will not consume food or water.”
Eventually, out of 158 bodies, 136 were handed over, while the rest were kept until DNA results come. “Out of 22 bodies, DNA samples of just 10 claims matched. This meant that 12 bodies had been mistakenly claimed by others,” he said.
With the government responsible for the unclaimed bodies, Mr. Sharma recounted the difficulty finding a spot to bury them. “We scouted for locations, but locals objected as they did not want bodies to be buried in their village…Only New Mangalore Port Trust allowed us to use their land,” he said.
