Why bodies of Ethiopian plane crash victims will not be released before Sunday

An update given by the Ethiopian Airlines has informed families of victims of the Sunday crash that they may have to wait longer to receive the remains of their loved ones.

According to the statement by the airline spokesman Asrat Begashaw, the delay has been caused by difficulty in identifying the victims.

The statement gave a 5-day estimate for the first set of positively identified remains to be released, meaning that the first set of bodies will be released beginning next Sunday.

"The process of identifying the victims will take at least five days," the spokesperson stated.

Families will be notified

He added that families will be notified on when they can collect the remains.

Kenyan Noordin Mohamed who spoke to Reuters reported that he lost both his mother and his brother in the crash and had not been successful in retrieving their bodies for burial according to the Islamic traditions.

"We are Muslim and have to bury our deceased immediately. Now we cannot even recover any bodies.

"Losing a brother and mother in the same day and not having their bodies to bury is very painful," he stated.