Long Wait to Recover Crash Victims

Around 25 tired-looking people are gathered in the cold morng air at the gates of the Kabul’s medical science hospital. Some are deeply engaged in conversation, while others merely look sorrowfully into the distance.

They have been coming here every day for almost a month in the hope of receiving news about the bodies of their loved ones, who perished on February 3 in Afghanistan's worst-ever air crash.

Now, a month after the disaster, 32 bodies are still missing on the snow-covered mountain range where the plane came down.

The Kam Air Boeing 737 lost contact with air traffic controllers on its approach to Kabul airport on a flight from the western city of Herat, while preparing to land during a heavy snowstorm.

The aircraft's flight recorder has not been found but a team of international aviation experts has already started an investigation.

The human loss, and the fact that the recovery of the 104 victims did not begin until 11 days after the crash, have shocked and angered relatives.

Bad weather, the remote mountain terrain and the danger of landmines have all been blamed for hampering rescue efforts by international troops and Afghan soldiers.

But the waiting relatives are tired of listening to officials telling them it is a long, slow process, and of being told to come back tomorrow. A few no longer want to talk to journalists.

"Just go away, brother," said one angrily. "We've given enough interviews but nothing has been achieved. "Go and ask [President Hamed] Karzai why he is not bringing down the bodies.”

Another relative added, "If Osama [Bin Laden] and Mullah Omar had been on the flight, the Americans would have transported the whole mountain out of the country."

Sefatullah, a high school teacher, said his uncle had just died in Kabul without being able to attend the funeral of his other uncle, who was on the doomed flight. "It is very sad. An elderly man never got the chance to pay his last respects to his brother,” he said.

"I cannot get any news about his body. I know there were more than 100 bodies to be found and identified, but surely the authorities can provide us with some information."

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the ministry of defence, said, "At times like this, people's emotions run high. They have lost friends and relatives and are naturally feeling upset.”

He added that the crash site at Band-e-Ghazi, about 32 kilometres from Kabul and 3,000 metres up a mountain, was a cold and hostile environment, "De-mining is being carried out there and it would be foolish to risk a life in order to retrieve a dead body."

But this kind of response is little comfort to Ahmad Zia. He said he had lost a brother and three other relatives, who lived in Iran and were returning to Kabul for a family get-together.

"It is a great pity that even with the help of international forces, the government is unable to find the bodies and bring them back," he said.

Ahmad Zia said that the government had a duty to explain how and why the plane had crashed and the reasons for the month-long delay in recovering some of the bodies.

Nesar Ahmad, from the Kohzad district in Herat province, said he had come to Kabul as soon as he learned of the crash because his brother was one of the passengers. But he did not expect to be there so long, and now he is running out of money.

"We are willing to go and search for the bodies ourselves," he said, tears filling his eyes. "But the authorities won't let us."

He is staying in a hotel but he can only afford to eat occasionally, "I only have enough to pay for the hotel but not enough for regular meals."

Farid Paikar, deputy director of Kam Air, said hotel accommodation had been provided for 15 of those who lost dependants in the crash.

"One person who came from Kunduz province to collect a relative's body could not afford to pay for its transportation home, and we paid the bill,” said Paikar.

Abdul Baseer Saeed is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.