1.
LV Ambulances with bodies to mortuary in Ismalia (2 shots)
0.21

2.
CU Numbers & names on coffin (3 shots)
0.40

3.
SV Soldiers watch
0.46

4.
SCI INT. Relatives arrive in Cairo
0.53

5.
CU Religious leader chanting (3 shots)
1.22

6.
SV & CU Coffins unloaded & into reception centre for identification (5 shots)
1.49

7.
SV Man enters to identify body (2 shots)
1.58

8.
SV People trying to identify names on coffin
2.06

9.
SV Mutilated body for identification
2.11

10.
CU Grief stricken man
2.21

11.
CU Husband of Stewardess interviewed
2.51


HUSBAND: "As for as I know, my wife was on the plane, yes".



QUESTION: "Have you identified her yet?"



QUESTION: "Have you identified her yet?"



HUSBAND: "No, I'm waiting now to identify her. At the moment, her name has not been mentioned, but according to Libyan authorities, she was on board, working, but no news so far."



Ambulances bring coffins to mortuary; numbers & names on coffins; soldiers watch; relatives arriving for identification; religious leader chanting; coffins unloaded & carried into identification room; men look at bodies; mutilated body; grief stricken man; interview with husband of stewardess.




Initials SGM/2145 SGM/2230



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The bodies of more than 100 victims of the downed Libyan airliner were brought to Cairo in a convoy of ambulances on Friday (23 February) after being handed over by Israeli authorities.

Only about half of them had been identified, and the relatives who gathered in Cairo's main mortuary were faced with the grim task of trying to identity them.

When the coffins arrived at the mortuary, two relatives of each victim were allowed to identify the bodies, but in most cases, the men of the families did the grim task alone.

Chaotic scenes took place inside as scores of cameramen jostled to film the saddest moments of the tragedy.

A big traditional funeral tent which covered half the street outside the mortuary was erected before the bodies arrived in their crude wooden coffins, and the relatives gathered there for a night-long vigil.

Many of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. Some may never really be identified. The bodies of victims from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Sudan will be flown to their respective countries for burial there.

A masses funeral was planned for Saturday (24 Feb) for some of the victims, including the popular Egyptian television personality Mrs. Salwa Hegazi, whose body was the first to be handed over by the Israelis at Kantara on the Suez Canal.

One of the people waiting to identify a victim at the mortuary was the husband of one of the doomed aircraft's stewardesses.