June 3 disaster: Delayed DNA report reason for 50 unidentified bodies – Affected families

Family members of persons who died during the June 3 fire and flood disaster last year, who are yet to identify and collect bodies of their relatives for burial a year after the horrific incident, have blamed delay in the presentation of a DNA report on their inability to identify their charred relatives.

It has emerged that fifty (50) bodies from Ghana’s worst which occurred in 2015 remain unidentified and are still kept at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and 37 Military Hospital morgues are yet to be identified and collected for burial by their respective families.

Ghana was thrown into a state of mourning after a tragic flood and fire disaster which claimed the lives of over 152 people following an explosion on that eventful Wednesday.

The Goil Filling Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra became the site of a cruel catastrophe after a gas explosion left charred remains of persons who had sought refuge from the floods in the area.

As the incident happened in the night, the dead bodies could only be found and carted away on the morning of the following day to the Police, 37 Military and Korle Bu Teaching Hospitals mortuary.

The gory incident resulted in hundreds of family members trooping to the named mortuaries to find out if their missing relatives had died in the event.

Some were fortunate enough to identify their dead relatives despite how charred some of the bodies were, following which the affected families later went for the bodies and to hold funeral services for them and eventually bury them.

President John Mahama during the one week memorial service of the departed souls announced that families whose relatives had been charred beyond recognition in the disaster needed to submit DNA to the hospital for the tests to be conducted.

Some affected families were fortunate to identify their relatives through DNA tests.

Even families who had the bodies of their relatives quite intact were also made to go through the DNA testing to ensure that bodies were handed over to the right families.

Three bodies were exhumed after three separate families claimed ownership of them.

But at the National Memorial Service held for the fallen innocent souls at the Rev. Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church in Accra, Mary Boakye whose sister died in the disaster in an interview with Kasapafmonline.com on the sideline lines of the service stated that they remain impatient in waiting to identify their deceased sister and give her a befitting burial.

“During the one week celebration President Mahama said he’d instructed for a DNA test to be done and up till date I can tell you that the samples have been taken but as to the result we have no report on it.

“We keep going there and we’re told that the doctor has not brought the report. We want to identify our dear sister and ensure she’s peacefully laid to rest.”