Accra floods, fire disaster: DNA test for unidentified bodies

President Mahama has announced that DNA tests will be done on the bodies retrieved from the floods and the scene of the fire last Wednesday which are yet to be identified.

The President advised families who have been unable to find their relatives to bring DNA samples to be tested against those of the bodies recovered so far.

According to President Mahama , this might help bring a sense of closure to families who had not yet accounted for the fate of their loved ones.

“In due course each of the names [of the deceased] will be released to the public to ensure that these individuals will be remembered eternally. We are still in the process of identifying the dead. To that end government has given authorization for DNA tests to be conducted on the bodies from the disaster that have not yet been identified,” President Mahama said.

“This will allow families that are unsure of the fate of their members and who are still not accounted for to be able to bring DNA samples so confirmation can be made. With this official confirmation, claims can be quickly granted for the return of their loved ones’ remains,” he added.

The president was speaking at a National Memorial Service for victims of flood and fire disaster which was held at the forecourt of the State House earlier today [Wednesday] June 10, 2015.

The memorial service culminated the 3-day mourning period announced by the John Mahama in memory of the lives that were lost in what has been described as one of the saddest incidents in Ghana’s history.

152 lives lost

The president confirmed that 152 people died after torrential rain flooded the capital, Accra last Wednesday and and in an inferno which razed the GOIL fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to the ground.

He however, added that the number was still provisional and an official death toll will be announced only after rescue efforts end.

“The loss our nation has suffered is incomprehensible. Search and rescue mission is over and the provisional death toll has so far been placed at a 152 lives. That is a 152 human lives, 152 mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children. 152 Ghanaian citizens.

“With each number there is a name, there is a face and there is a story. With each number, there are dreams, hopes and achievements that have died. This number is still provisional and we are hoping that we shall not find anymore bodies,” President Mahama lamented

Source: Citifmonline.com

By: Edwin Kwakofi

Picture by: Graphic Online

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