Kin of Ethiopian plane crash victims to wait 6 months for DNA results

Kin of Ethiopian plane crash victims to wait 6 months for DNA results

Family and relatives of victims of the Ethiopia Airlines plane crash will now have to wait for six months for the DNA results.

In a progress statement to the next of kin, Ethiopian Airlines urged family to give DNA samples at Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa or at a point of origin through Ethiopian Airlines Group (ETG) closest to them.

They further indicated that death certificates would be issued in the next two weeks and will be dispatched to their respective addresses.

Most families insisted on seeing the actual crash site saying it would give them closure with the airline promising to issue a temporary letter of evidence for relatives departing Addis before Tuesday.

The temporary letter of evidence is proof of death.

“Personal belongings of the deceased will be returned to the NOK’s after proper verification approximately within two months,” read the statement in part.

The Airline also allowed families to take soil from the crash site adding that letters will be issued from the ETG attesting the same for custom clearance.

“Incidental payment will be paid to convenient means like Bank transfer or at a destination convenient to the families,” said ETG.

This comes just a day after bereaved families who had travelled to Addis expressed frustration with the pace of the investigations and release of information on their kin.

On Monday, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said Ethiopian airlines had offered to fly back home bodies of the victims once the verification process is done.

As families now await the identification of the 157 victims, industry experts however say that the identification process may delay even further because there more than 30 different nationalities on board and Ethiopia has limited forensic capabilities.

Flight ET 302 came down in a field soon after takeoff from Addis Ababa on Sunday, creating a fireball in a crater.

Ethiopian Airlines has grounded its four other 737 MAX 8 jets as a precaution and aviation authorities in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Oman followed China, Indonesia and others to temporarily suspend Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in and out of their airports.

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DNA Ethiopian crash NOK

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