Relatives identify Luxor crash victims

Six of the nine Hong Kong victims in the hot-air balloon crash in Luxor have been identified by relatives but the remaining three are too badly disfigured and will need forensic or DNA tests.

Chief inspector Cheung Wai-man of the Hong Kong police said in Cairo yesterday that three men and three women had been visually identified. Two men and a woman remained unidentified although all three were confirmed to be from Hong Kong.

The relatives of the victims from three families spent nine hours visiting four Cairo hospitals where the bodies of all 19 crash victims are being stored.

They decided to postpone to today a trip they had planned to perform rituals in Luxor.

Forensic pathologist Dr Lai Sai-chak, one of 16 government officers sent to Cairo to assist the relatives, said some bodies could not be identified visually as their faces were disfigured. "This could be due to the fall from height," he said, referring to the stricken balloon's 300-metre plunge.

Psychologist Rosalie Lo Shuk-yee, sent to Cairo by the Hospital Authority, said the relatives were calm during the identification process.