Blast victims 'not identified'

2005-07-09 16:08

Two forensics officers take a break in front of the bomb wrecked double decker bus at London's Tavistock Square. (Sang Tan, AP)

London - Authorities haven't identified a single body of those killed in London's terrorist attacks because the remains were so mangled and difficult to retrieve, police said on Saturday.

"It is a very harrowing task," police Detective Superintendent Jim Dickie told reporters.

"Most of the victims have suffered intensive trauma, and by that I mean there are body parts as well as torsos."

Dickie said the process would get under way on Saturday afternoon, and that forensics experts would use fingerprints, dental records and DNA analysis to help put names to the bodies.

"No bodies have been identified as yet because as of yesterday we only started to receive bodies into the temporary mortuary," he said.

"Autopsies will be starting today. Until that's done, we won't have gathered the necessary information to make the identification process."

"The environmental conditions are extremely uncomfortable. It's very confined" and workers trying to retrieve the bodies are enduring intense heat, he added.

Dickie said the earliest possible identification won't be until Tuesday because under British law, an inquest can't be opened on a Sunday.

Asked whether international assistance from other police agencies or forensics experts was being sought, he answered flatly: "We don't need help. We have sufficient expertise in the UK"

Police, with the consent of victims' families, intend to collect hair samples from their homes as part of the effort to identify the remains, Dickie said.

Dickie said many of the body recovery teams involved had worked to identify victims of the December tsunami in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Detectives combing the attack scenes are looking for "every possible forensic clue" that might help them track down those who plotted and carried out the bombings, he said.

- AP