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DNA to identify tsunami dead
10/01/2005 07:39 - (SA)
Phuket, Thailand - Thai authorities, faced with the daunting task of identifying about 5 300 people killed when the tsunami hit, on Monday ordered DNA tests on all the dead, including those already buried.
The interior ministry ordered DNA tests performed on all corpses that had not previously undergone them as an extra precaution that they were correctly identified, officials said.
"All bodies who were not DNA tested will be unearthed so DNA samples can be taken, and microchips will be implanted to identify who they were," said a rescue official in the hardest-hit province of Phang Nga.
The tedious and time-consuming process could take months as experts sift through thousands of pieces of data. People who report a missing relative must give a DNA sample that experts then will match to DNA from the victims.
The killer waves ripped through Thai beach resorts and fishing communities on December 26. About half the confirmed dead are foreign holidaymakers.
Thailand on Sunday made a dramatic 10-fold increase in the number of corpses listed as having unknown national origin, saying that initial identifications had proved unreliable.
A disaster management official said that bodies now listed as Thai or foreign had been identified by relatives or by DNA testing that matched the victim to a relative.
"At first, everything was confused because we were trying to work as quickly as possible, so we divided them only as Thais and foreigners," the official said.
"But now everything is more organised, and we realised that some of the people initially thought to be Thai might have been from other Asian countries," the official said.
"The bodies we are not sure about will be put on the unidentified list" until forensic experts finish their work, the official added.
Meanwhile, clean-up efforts gathered pace in Phuket and Phang Nga.
Parts of Phang Nga were once so awash with wreckage and debris that elephants were brought in to help clear land.
Now roads have been cleared, piles of sand and mud that washed ashore have been levelled, and debris has been bulldozed into stacks.
The streets of Phuket were also cleared, with piles of wreckage stacked along the roadside, being picked over by people scavenging for scrap metal to sell.
Authorities were still pumping lakes in the region, hoping to find the bodies of some of the 3 396 people still reported missing, including 1 102 foreigners.
Concerned envoys from governments around the world have poured through the region since Friday to assess the situation and press upon Thai authorities the need to quickly identify the more than 2 100 bodies of unknown national origin.
A US congressional delegation was inspecting the damage on Monday. Foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan and Norway, as well as Italy's deputy foreign minister have visited since Friday.
The prime ministers of Canada, Finland and Norway, the Swedish king, and envoys from China and Spain were expected during the week.
- AFP
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