'Relatives buy tsunami corpses'

2004-12-31 14:35

Colombo - Bodies of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka have been stolen from hospitals and "sold" to distraught relatives while fingers and ears of corpses have been chopped off to steal jewellery, press reports said on Friday.

A mass circulation Lankadeepa newspaper said a relative had to pay $50 to "buy" the body of a loved one who died in Sunday's tragedy in the southern coastal town of Galle.

It said corpses piling up at the hospital were being snatched by "human vultures" who later demanded large sums of money from relatives claiming they found the bodies at great risk to their own lives.

People were also snatching any valuables left on the thousands of rotting corpses, the island newspaper said in a report headlined: "Vultures in human form descend on the dead."

Trace dead, help survivors

The newspaper said some gangs were demanding up to $100 to find bodies.

"While the great majority of volunteers are driven by altruism and are spending money and time to trace the dead and help the survivors, it is a crying shame that a handful of criminals are doing this to the dead," the Island quoted a military officer as saying.

Thousands of people have already been buried in mass graves as the government fast tracked procedures to dispose of the bloated and decomposing remains.

There was at least one report of a mistaken identity and a family going away with the wrong body.

Death toll to cross 29 000

Police said they also had reports of looting of relief convoys and offered armed escorts to anyone who requested it.

In contrast, some of the survivors, including foreign tourists affected by the tsunami, have praised local residents for caring for the victims amid the unprecedented death and destruction.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga after visiting survivors along the east coast on Thursday said the death toll is set to cross 29 000 with most of the 4 500 missing people likely to be declared dead "in the next few days,".

She said there had been attempts by some individuals to create panic among residents saying there would be another tsunami strike and looting homes and businesses that were unattended.

- AFP