Gul Plaza tragedy not yet over for victims’ families

KARACHI: Following the Gil Plaza inferno tragedy, the heirs of the victims face another heart-wrenching situation as the identification of the victims of the Gul Plaza becomes almost impossible.

Officials at the Civil Hospital laboratory say the identification of victims from the deadly incident at Gul Plaza has been severely hampered by the condition of the human remains recovered from the scene.

Aamir Hassan, who heads the Identification Project at the Civil Hospital’s DNA laboratory, said that many of the remains are so badly damaged that DNA samples cannot be properly collected.

He said that only six bodies were found intact, while one was recovered in a partially damaged state. So far, authorities have been able to identify just 15 victims.

Amir Hassan said most of the bodies recovered were not intact but consisted of scattered remains. “The bodies we are now receiving are completely burnt. When we try to handle the remains to collect samples, they turn into powder,” he explained.

He said that despite the challenging situation, forensic teams continue to collect whatever samples they can, and the identification process remains ongoing.

The head of the identification project added that around 50 evidence bags have been prepared so far, and they will also rely on additional methods, including last location data.

“We are also documenting where each body part or set of remains was recovered from. This will help us estimate which remains may belong to which individual,” he said.