Lubango - The health authorities in central Huíla province have said they are struggling to identify the charred remains of nine bodies from Friday's car accident, due to the inoperability of the forensic medicine laboratory for DNA tests.
After four days, only two of the 11 dead have been identified by their families, as they were thrown from the car when the accident occurred and were not affected by the flames.
The laboratory of the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in Huíla is not operational since the beginning of the year, a situation that is delaying the release of the bodies.
According to the head of this service, forensic doctor António Francisco Pascoal, the Forensic Medicine Department “has been closed for reasons beyond its competence since February 23”.
The forensic doctor stressed that given the magnitude of the problem, from a technical and expert point of view, this was a huge disaster that required a swift response to give back the social peace to the families.
“This accident brings us a number of situations and a major challenge from a medico-legal and social point of view, which has to do with identifying people, as the signs of eye identification on the victims have been completely eliminated, so it would only be possible with genetic profile identification tests,” Pascoal said.
Forensic medicine is a “privileged” observatory for situations of violence and an important component in ensuring social justice, the doctor said, underscoring that, due to its geo-strategic location, it “deserves” to have own capacity to deal with these sorts of situations.
Pascoal said that the country has this tool available in the capital, Luanda, but it is expensive and technically it would not be possible to place it in all the provinces, but regional centers could be prioritized.
The accident involved a taxi vehicle and a goods truck, in the town of Mateta, on the Toco/Kilometer 40 stretch of National Road 280. MS/TED/AMP
