Following claims that the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute delayed the release of the bodies of the Meron victims, Dr. Chen Kugel, who heads the Institute, explained the complex process of identifying corpses, and said the bodies needed to have been brought in sooner.
In an interview with Kol Hai Radio, Dr. Kugel said: "We need to take identification from the body as well as from the family, and then we integrate the information. There were at least four cases where people were identified by photo and when they reached the body it became clear that it was a mistake."
Regarding the claim of insensitivity towards the dead in the Institute's building, he said: "The Institute is housed in an old building. There was no room to move when everyone arrived at once. They needed to have brought them separately."
Dr. Kugel added that he is "in favor of using military identification institutions, but still, from there they will need to bring them to us. At one-thirty [in the morning] I was updated about the story, and only at twelve noon did they bring the bodies. We need to learn lessons, and bring the bodies immediately."
"I am pained for the families - from joy, they landed straight in sorrow. The parents asked forgiveness for not managing to bury them before Shabbat (the Sabbath). But we made a special area for the families, and they climbed the fences anyways. We need to move the Institute to another location. It's very old.
Another reason for the delay, he said, is "because of the old equipment, the DNA tests took several hours. The teeth tests also took time, because there are no dentists on Friday. We did everything to identify them in the the best way possible, but we had to wait a bit so that there would not be mistakes."