Mourning is heavy throughout the country for the dead of the train accident in Tempi, while at the same time the investigations into the carriages of the fatal train continue and the macabre process of identifying the dead is being completed today.

In the meantime, it is deeply saddened to hear that the relatives of the accident victims are receiving the bodies of their loved ones in sealed coffins.

After all, yesterday Thursday the Deputy Minister of Health, Mina Gagaspeaking had made it known that the identification will be done through DNA, so that the relatives do not face their own people in this situation.

“The process of identification takes a long time and is done in collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police. It is traumatic for relatives. We await the results of the identification. The decision is for the relatives not to see, not to come into contact with the people who are no longer alive and to be as less soul-destroying as possible for them,” said Mina Gaga speaking to SKAI.

Identifications of the dead by the DNA method

From late Thursday afternoon, the first relatives of the victims began to be informed of the results of the identification. The relatives of the victims, when the identification is completed, are informed by the head of the identification team of ELAS and the specialist psychologist of the Police and the process of receiving the body proceeds. The handover to the relatives will take place when the entire process has been completed.

More than 30 victims have been identified

The number of identified bodies out of a total of 57 dead has exceeded 30. Fifty-two relatives of passengers gave a DNA sample, while 55 samples were taken from corpses. Rescuers collected about 18 bags of human parts, from which scientists took 26 samples. According to police sources, even if a body was identifiable, the identification had to be done by the DNA method.

Next of kin are informed

From now on, any passenger who is not identified with a body will be considered missing. After the identification, the relatives are informed, while from today the bodies will be handed over to the families, after the required administrative procedure – e.g. issuance of death certificates.