Saturday, May 22, 2010

Identifying Victims of Air India Crash

MANGALORE: A ringing cellphone found on the person of a deceased passenger has helped ambulance staff identify this victim in Saturday's air crash at the Mangalore airport.

As the bodies were being brought to the Government Wenlock Hospital, the ambulance staff heard a phone ringing. They found it in the trouser pocket of a deceased person and on answering the call, it was known that the victim was Narayana Rao (50), a senior clerk in the Bejai branch of Karnataka Bank. The ambulance staff said they also found Rs. 9,000 in cash in his trouser pocket and handed over the money to a police officer.

Rao's was the first body identified in the casualty ward of the hospital. He was aboard the ill-fated plane with his wife Vani, an Ayurvedic doctor, and daughter Vaishnavi. Relatives and friends of other passengers who died in the crash found it difficult to identity bodies in this and other hospitals here as most of them were charred beyond recognition. Some were seen identifying bodies from ear-rings, necklaces and finger rings

Read it all here.

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