Family's final farewell to plane crash victim

When the family of former South African Faeeza Patel said their goodbyes to her after a month-long holiday in Durban on Tuesday, they had no idea it would be their final farewell.

Patel, 36, was among the 103 passengers on board Afriqiyah Airways flight 8U 771 that crashed at Tripoli international airport in Libya on Wednesday.

The plane had departed from OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday evening.

A Dutch boy, Ruben Vanassouw, was the only survivor of the crash, which claimed the lives of 92 passengers and 11 Libyan crew members.

Now Patel's family have to send medical records and DNA samples to enable Dutch and Libyan authorities to identify her body.

Her mother, Fawzia, overcome with emotion, said: "This is too much for me to handle. This experience is too traumatic. Nothing will ever bring my child back."

Patel had been living in London for about eight years.

The former KwaDukuza woman matriculated at Stanger Secondary School and went on to obtain a social science degree and later a teacher's degree.

After teaching at schools on the North Coast, she went to London, where she taught at a private school while studying towards an MBA.

A family member described her as pleasant and lovable. "The news of her tragic death has come as a shock to the family. Faeeza left Durban on Tuesday and was heading back to London via Tripoli and Dubai. Her brother-in-law was reading the news on the Internet when he learnt of the plane crash," he said.

He said Patel's cousin and brother-in-law had gone to Tripoli.

"The family are holding a prayer service."

Dutch forensic teams are working with Libyan officials to identify the bodies, a task that could take at least a week, depending on the condition of the bodies, said Dutch foreign ministry official Ed Kronenburg on Friday.

They also want to return personal items to relatives of the victims, he said.

Relatives of the dead will be asked to provide details of distinguishing marks such as tattoos and scars, along with DNA and medical records, to help identify them, said Dutch investigator Dann Noort.

"We try to collect information about the victims and try to get DNA, fingerprints and dental records," he said, adding that the bodies were being stored in the morgues of two hospitals.

Identification would take place in Libya, he said. The bodies would be repatriated individually as soon as each had been identified.

Dayanand Naidoo, chief director of consular services of the Department of International Relations, said their interest was to assist families of the deceased.