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| Southeast Asia |
| Forensic teams re-open body bags |
| 2005-01-05 |
| FORENSIC workers faced the grim task of reopening 600 bags containing bodies of Thailand's tsunami victims today after identification data on them was washed away by rain or antiseptic spray. Work to re-identify the corpses was being undertaken at three temples in Phang Nga province, where the corpses of some 1800 victims of the December 26 tsunami disaster have been collected. Thai forensic expert Pornthip Rojanasunan, speaking at Ban Muang temple, said a rough identification of Thai victims had been almost completed and experts from some 22 nations were working on foreign victims. "The problem we have now, however, is that the antiseptic solution that we have sprayed on the body bags has dissolved the markings on their identification tags," the doctor said. "So we are going to have to re-identify more than 600 bodies in the three temples being used. We used a permanent marker but we did not know that the antiseptic solution would make the ink disappear." The tags did not bear names but contained information on whether the corpse was that of a Thai national or of a foreign tourist, the clothes it had been wearing, whether it had tattoos, and DNA and dental identification. "We will have to reopen the body bags and see if we can visually identify them. If not, we will have to do the tests again," Dr Rojanasunan said. It was not clear how many of the 600 were believed to be Thais and how many were foreigners. Sutatip Bhamarapravati, director of ground operations at Yan Yao and Ban Muang temples, said rain and body fluids were also responsible for washing off data. "We had lots of rain yesterday even though this is not the season for rain, and some bodies are outside," Mr Bhamarapravati said. "It is very unfortunate but given these terrible circumstances and the number of bodies we are dealing with, things like this can happen." Thailand's official confirmed death toll is more than 5200, about half foreign holidaymakers. Phang Nga, where the devastated beach resort of Khao Lak is located, had 4134 reported dead, of whom 2213 were foreigners and 1921 were Thais. Local and foreign experts face a huge task identifying the dead after days of decomposition. The bodies of foreigners will be collected at three sites in refrigerated containers but experts say identification work will last for months. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #2 When crying, stung by bee. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-01-05 6:08:57 PM |
| #1 Who's got the Vapo-Rub?... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-01-05 6:05:53 PM |