Bengaluru, Sep 4 (PTI) The Karnataka government has designated the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital here as the nodal centre for collecting DNA samples from first-degree relatives of the state’s residents who went missing in flash floods that struck Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
The Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the Revenue Department have issued an order in this regard, an official release said on Friday.
The move follows communication from the Nepal government and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu asking help in identifying bodies recovered in Nepal and handing them over to the relatives of the deceased.
DNA profiles are being prepared for bodies that cannot currently be identified through photographs and other available details. The DNA samples of first-degree relatives are required to establish their identity, the release said.
Dr Nagesh Kuppast, head of the Forensic Medicine Department, and Dr Vadiraj B Pokkan, Resident Medical Officer, have been appointed as nodal officers at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital for DNA sample collection and verification of relatives.
First-degree relatives of missing persons — parents, children or spouses — have been asked to carry a recent passport-size photograph, a government-issued identity document such as an Aadhaar card, and documents establishing their relationship with the missing person while visiting the hospital for DNA testing.
After verification by the district administration and the Greater Bengaluru Authority, the samples will be sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and subsequently shared with the Nepalese authorities, the release said.
The KSDMA helpline can be contacted for information regarding the missing persons or for assistance, it added.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday had said that about 13 people from the state were yet to be traced following flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border and adjoining areas last week.
The death toll in Nepal due to the flash floods rose to 1,282 on Friday while more than 4,700 people remain missing.
The flash floods, triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Nepal-Tibet border on August 26, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal, leaving a trail of destruction. PTI KSU ADB
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