NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) -- Though only body fragments have been retrieved from the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 990, a Rhode Island court ruled Monday that certificates can be issued stating that all 217 people aboard are presumed dead.
The decision will clear the way for family members to attend to legal matters, such as settling estates and collecting insurance.A death certificate is usually not issued until a body is identified. But it could be weeks or months before names can be attached to the remains.
The remains that have been recovered are being examined at a temporary morgue set up at a former Navy base here.
"We have not ID'd" any remains so far, said a federal official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The morgue has not disclosed the volume of remains it has collected so far. Most of the body parts were found in the days immediately after the Oct. 31 crash, and some human remains were recovered along with wreckage that was salvaged as part of the inquiry into why the plane plunged into the Atlantic.
Another federal official speaking on condition of anonymity said preliminary tests had been performed on the body fragments recovered, but that DNA testing will not be done until officials are certain no more remains will be recovered.
When family members of the victims were in Rhode Island, blood samples were taken from them for DNA comparisons with human remains at the morgue. Fingerprint and dental records will also be used.
Most family members of the victims have gone home now, without being able to claim the bodies of their loved ones. But at least one of their requests will be met -- that they receive death certificates for their deceased relatives.
On Monday, Rhode Island Superior Court Justice Joseph A. Rodgers Jr. authorized the state attorney general to issue certificates for each of those who were aboard Flight 990, saying they are all presumed dead.
The certificates will likely help the grieving relatives as they try to come to grips with the tragedy, said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
"They have been anxious," said Awad, who gave spiritual counseling to many of the relatives during their sorrowful stay in Rhode Island.
The absence of death certificates has been an impediment to the mourning process, he said. But now, he said, "there is an official document."