MISSING INDIANS IN IRAQ: DNA COLLECTION OF KIN TO BEGIN TODAY

Process was deferred earlier as authorities did not have the requisite test kits for identification tests

AMRITSAR: The DNA sampling of the family members of 39 Indians missing from Iraq is likely to begin in Amritsar on Friday as the authorities are scheduled to get the required test kits by Thursday midnight.

The family members of nine of the 39 missing workers had reached Amritsar’s Government Medical College on Monday to give their DNA samples but the process had to be put on hold as the college’s forensic department did not have the requisite test kits.

The college, with the help of district administration, had sent one of its employees to Hyderabad to bring 100 test kits.

“The employee’s return flight has been booked and he will reach Amritsar by Thursday night. We will inform the administration as soon as he lands so that they can call the families accordingly,” Government Medical College’s principal, Dr Tejbir Singh, said.

Sources in the administration said the DNA collection process had to be deferred as officials needed the kits in bulk. The delay, however, had caused inconvenience to the victims’ families, many of whom had reached the college from all over Punjab.

The test kit consists of three different cards to preserve the blood samples. During the test, these samples are used to match tissues of different body parts of two people.

These samples have been requested by the external affairs ministry on an urgent basis to restart efforts to trace the workers missing from Iraq’s Mosul since June, 2014. Most of the missing 39 Indians belong to Punjab. It is suspected that terrorist outfit IS kidnapped the workers. As per government directions, experts are supposed to collect samples of three members of each family and two samples of each person.