Six years after a Dana Airline plane crashed at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, on June 3, 2012, killing 159 people, a remembrance ceremony highlighted the tragedy and its unlearnt lessons. The dead included passengers, crew members and residents of the two-storey building the plane crashed into.
A consultant pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr. Festus Emiogun, gave an insight into how the hospital identified 148 victims of the plane crash. Most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition, he said, but pathologists recorded 97.4 per cent identification success.
According to Emiogun, the unavailability of a reliable biometric database complicated the identification process, and the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team had to resort to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) examinations for the deceased and their relatives to ensure that the right people were given the right bodies for burial.
He said: “This was very expensive, but thankfully, the Lagos State government picked all the bills. If we had a database with biometric of Nigerians, like at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), all we would have done was to crosscheck the fingerprints, dental charts or any other available body part of the deceased with what was in the system. That way, we would not have done DNA tests for relatives of the deceased.” Further complications arose because the DNA analyses were done in the UK, which slowed down the identification process.
The inauguration of the Lagos State DNA Forensic Centre (LSDFC) in September 2017 is a positive development expected to address DNA analyses requirements in the country, which hitherto had been mainly handled abroad. Other states, and indeed the Federal Government, should take a cue from the Lagos initiative.
Emiogun’s observations are noteworthy: “There is need for biometric capturing of all Nigerians. We had problems with preparedness of the state during the emergency. The state could have been better prepared, and it is a good thing they learnt from that experience because the government has invested in emergency management. But it has to do more.”
It is tragic that Emiogun observed that the country had “not learnt any lesson” from the tragedy. This suggests that should a similar plane crash occur today, pathologists and others would face the same challenges as it happened six years ago.
He said: “As a country, we have not learnt any lesson. After Dana, we have had a series of near mishaps. Except for Lagos State government, there is no functional Coronal Law at the federal or any other state level. There is need to pressure government to provide more infrastructure for preservation of human remains and have a standing Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team.”
The remembrance event was organised by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and a lawyer, Mrs. Oladunni Afolabi. It is a positive thing that the organisers remembered the victims of the tragedy. Beyond the ceremony, it is important to demonstrate that the country learnt lessons that should have been learnt.
Apart from Emiogun’s insightful observations, LASEMA’s General Manager, Tiamiyu Adesina, also observed: “You have all heard that crowd control was one of the major problems responders faced in this incident. The 30 minutes they spent trying to navigate the crowd when they got to the scene would have made a lot of difference in that incident.”
There are other issues, which the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) highlighted in its final report on the crash in March 2017. The AIB blamed the crash on mechanical failure as well as “lack of situation awareness, inappropriate decision-making and poor airmanship.”
Accidents happen. But after that, what happens? What follows should show preparedness. The ultimate lesson the country needs to learn from the unfortunate air crash is: Be prepared.
