The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) on Wednesday announced that the technical team discovered more remains of those who perished in the Free State train crash.
On January 4, the Shosholoza Meyl collided with a truck and a car at the Jeneva Level Crossing between Henneman and Kroonstad resulting in the deaths of at least 20 people and injuries to many more. The train was travelling from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg when it crashed.
On Wednesday, Prasa said that it had been concerned that till to date only 21 remains had been reported and recovered by the investigators who had combed the scene for over two days after the accidents and yet five families had come forward to report that they were missing their family members.
“For the past weeks we have been concerned that the numbers do not tally with the enquiries logged by our staff at the Walk-In Centre we set up at Umjantshi House since the accident,” Prasa Group Chief Strategy Officer Dr Sipho Sithole said.
“Whilst we understood and had always communicated that 21 bodies were in the morgue and that only 19 remains had been successfully matched through the DNA testing process, it has been puzzling to us that we could not account for the other three bodies when a total of five families still reported missing loved ones. We are now engaging with the police and forensic investigators to establish exactly what could have happened.”
Sithole said that until more DNA tests have been conducted from the discovered remains, it was difficult to establish whether they now constitute new bodies or are part of those that were already collected.
“We have already informed the affected families that, maybe with God’s grace, these could be the remains of their loved ones,” Sithole said.
Prasa said that more information would be released in due course.
On January 26, Prasa said results of DNA tests on the remains of those who perished in the crash were ready and would be released to the families of the victims.
At the time, Sithole said the details of the DNA results and the exact number of positive identifications would only be made public once the families have been informed.
“The families will be briefed at Virginia Council Chambers in the Free State by the responsible authorities, after which Prasa will consult with the families on the type of assistance government will provide to make sure that the deceased receive a dignified burial in accordance with each individual family’s wishes,” Sithole said at the time.
- African News Agency (ANA)
