Tragedy in Tempi: “Every family has the right to do what they want”

Some relatives of those killed in a train collision in Tempi demand a re-examination of the DNA. Medical examiner Roubini Leontari detailed how the victims were identified.

She states that the process was carried out methodically, with fixation in the protocol. The expert, in response to the doubts of relatives about the belonging of the bodies, says:

“Each family has the right to do what they want, with this question, of course, to the prosecutor or investigator. DNA does not belong to the forensic service of Larisa. I must say that the group for managing the loss of lives in mass disasters is a special group, who worked according to the protocol, from Athens came to Larissa, who had a “great” competence in this whole situation. We received the DNA material and immediately entrusted it to a special team that worked very methodically, microsurgically. They received the material, every 3-4 hours received an order to leave Larissa by car and take the material to the competent DNA department in Athens so that identification can be carried out quickly.”

The medical examiner also detailed how the bodies were identified:

“As soon as this team carried out identification by their method and after obtaining DNA, they informed the forensic service of Larisa that this particular number belongs to this person with full information. Based on our autopsy records, we indicated the cause of death, adding that this is a victim of a group train accident so that people can get compensation and turn it over to the police.The police, in turn, called relatives and funeral homes to hand over the body.The body was delivered in this way.Everything was methodical and every movement was recorded.Forensic “The medical service must write reports to hand them over to the investigating judge.”

However, one body has not been identified. Regarding the unidentified DNA from the scene of the tragic accident, forensic expert Roubini Leontari said that “this is an unidentified male body, simply because comparative DNA was not provided to identify it. No comparative DNA samples were taken, which means that no one was looking for him. This is not the man from Bangladesh, he has already been identified, this is a different body. It’s just that there is a family looking for their child, and we don’t have any evidence.” Regarding the death toll, Ms. Leontari said:

“The girl they are looking for has not been found, we don’t have a body. Since the first day, 57 people have been checked, because one body came in two bags. The police decided that these are two different bodies. Now we have 30 men – including an unidentified body – and 26 women, 56 people in total.There are 56 people and one girl who was not found.But there is still a family that is looking for their child.If in epicenter of the explosion there were people, it is obvious that there can be no traces of their presence. The temperature that developed, according to firefighters, at the point where the flame was white, was approximately 1000-1100 degrees Celsius. So you can understand that whoever is at that point may or may not be found.”

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