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LONDON: London morgue workers were exposed to deadly gases after opening the coffins of British victims of the AI171 crash, which were repatriated to the UK from India, a UK coroner has warned.A number of bodies of the 53 British victims of the June 12 plane crash, which killed 241 people, were repatriated to Westminster Public Mortuary. Their remains were wrapped and saturated in a “dangerously high” 40% concentration of formalin as a preservative and returned in lined coffins. On opening the coffins, it was apparent that there was a significant chemical hazard from the formalin to all users of the mortuary, Inner West London senior coroner Prof Fiona Wilcox revealed in a report sent to UK housing secretary Steve Reed and health secretary Wes Streeting.In addition to formalin, “carbon monoxide and cyanide were also detected in the mortuary at dangerous levels, following opening of the coffins and unwrapping of the bodies of the deceased persons who had been repatriated”, Wilcox wrote in a “Prevention of Future Deaths” report. It calls on ministers to take action to prevent future deaths among mortuary staff. They have 56 days to respond.Police trained in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents had to be called, and systems put in place to mitigate the risks, which included the use of environmental monitoring and breathing apparatus. The report said mortuary users appeared unaware of the dangers of high levels of formalin, which is commonly used to preserve human remains when repatriated from abroad, and UK mortuaries were ill-equipped to handle bodies “significantly contaminated with formalin”.“Formalin contains formaldehyde. It is carcinogenic and is known to cause myeloid leukaemia, ” Wilcox wrote.
