Ahmedabad: As the official death toll in the Nepal flash flood tragedy in late Aug mounts to over 1,200, a team of 10 from the Gandhinagar campus of National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) is working round the clock in Nepal in association with Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team members to create DNA profiles of the hundreds of victims.
The work is supervised by the Nepalese authorities, said officials.
“Our teams are working on 1200 DNA samples in the labs.
We will continue to support Nepal as per their requirements,” he said. He added that both rescue and forensic teams are working on ground in Nepal. On Tuesday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the forensic teams from India are working in two labs in Kathmandu.
Sources said that more than 10 samples have so far been collected by the forensic experts for the match.
The DNA database, managed and operated by the Nepalese authorities, will be used for matching with the hundreds and thousands of DNA profiles from the close relatives,” said an official associated with the process. Dr JM Vyas, vice chancellor of NFSU, said that the work is carried out under Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as India’s support to Nepal. “The airplane crash was among one of the landmark cases in recent history where DNA science and forensics was used extensively, and its learning is expanded for humanitarian work on the ground,” he said. Experts said that the teams, including international teams engaged, are using Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) developed by the US for DNA indexing.
“Forensic experts’ exposure to high- profile AI171 plane crash tragedy in Ahmedabad has come handy. The team got extensive experience at retrieving DNA from some of the most difficult samples and creating a searchable profile. “It will also be a major learning experience for our experts, as the work will ensure closure for the relatives. The experts are working with the Nepalese authorities – as and when the bodies are recovered and processed by the authorities for medico-legal purposes, the teams extract biological samples such as soft tissues, bones, teeth or fluids depending on the condition of the body and the time passed between death and retrieval. In Gujarat, all FSLs under Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS) and NFSU will carry out the DNA profiling.
In an earlier notification, MHA has directed all the FSLs in India to work as the collection and analysis centres for the DNA samples from India-based relatives of the victims.