DNA testing to be used to identify PIA crash victims

The victims of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crash which killed all the 48 people on the board will be identified by DNA testing, authorities said.

State Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that the bodies are being sent to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad for DNA testing before handing them over to the families.

Local media reported that six victims had already been identified through fingerprints and details of the identified passengers were pasted on the wall outside the mortuary.

PIA chairman Azam Saigol said that the ATR-42 aircraft had undergone regular maintenance and had passed an "A-check" certification in October, conducted after every 500 hours of flight operations.

Saigol said that currently their focus is to recover all the dead bodies.

"I think that there was no technical error or human error. obviously there will be a proper investigation," he said.