Doctors are performing toxicology tests on crew members of the US-Bangla Airlines that crashed while landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu on Monday.
The Forensic Department of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, tasked with the responsibility of conducting autopsy of those killed in the crash, said that the toxicology exam results will reveal if any of the crew members were under the influence of any poisons or toxins, reports the Kathmandu Post.
Experts said only eight out of the 49 bodies could be identified easily.
According to doctors involved in the autopsy, they can start handing over the bodies from Thursday once the postmortem of all the bodies will be completed, said Dr Pramod Shreshta, chief of the Forensic Department of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.
He added that they had completed the autopsy of 30 bodies.
Only eight bodies could be visibly identified while others could not be, owing to the severity of the burns, Dr Shreshtha said.
Doctors will identify the bodies with the details like finger or ear rings, jewelries, any other identities like shape of jaws.
Efforts are also put in to secure fingerprints of the deceased that can be matched with those in their citizenship or other national identity cards to identify them.
Dr Shreshtha also said DNA testing could be the last resort to identifying the bodies if all other techniques fail.
At least 50 people, including 26 Bangladeshi nationals, were killed when a US-Bangla Airlines aircraft crashed and burst into flames in Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport on Monday.
The plane was carrying 71 people, including four cabin crew.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
