Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Tsunami victims' identities elusive

Investigators say the unprecedented scale and the need for accuracy make for slow going.

PHUKET, Thailand - In a bustling office, investigators shuffle reports on teeth, fingerprints, tattoos - clues that could help identify those found dead after the Asian tsunami.

It's a grim routine that began after the great waves hit Dec. 26, sweeping away thousands of people. But nearly two months later, only 450 of the estimated 3,000 foreign victims have been identified, and criticism is mounting over the slow pace of the work.

"I'm no nearer to finding my wife," said Kevin Quinn, 37, of Dublin, Ireland, who was vacationing with his wife, Rachel, at Khao Lak when the tsunami struck. "It's a bit appalling, really."

In Thailand, more than 5,000 people are confirmed dead from the tsunami, which killed more than 170,000 people in 11 nations. Rachel Quinn is among nearly 3,000 still listed as missing.

Some of the dead were beachgoers who carried no identification, and some bodies were badly decomposed before being found. In other cases, bureaucratic mixups caused delays.

In Quinn's case, authorities back home initially failed to send her fingerprints, dental records and DNA samples to Thailand. Then, missteps by local forensics workers seemed to stall the process further, her husband said.

Nick Bracken, a London detective who is heading the Interpol-coordinated Phuket ID center, said the process is taking so long because of its unprecedented scale and the painstaking work required to ensure accuracy.

"The last thing we would want is, in a year's time, a wrong identification is proved and people then living through this nightmare forever," he said. "Could you imagine the need perhaps to exhume people? What happens if they've been cremated? So it's got to be done correctly."

He said researchers were working "flat-out" to make identifications.

At the Disaster Victim Identification Information Management Center on Phuket island, Thai officials stamp forms as foreign diplomats stand by to receive death certificates for their citizens.

About 2,500 corpses are still stored in refrigerated containers in Phuket and nearby provinces. Some bodies were taken out of the country immediately after the tsunami.

The number of bodies identified daily has jumped from about four in mid January to 20 to 30 in the past week. The highest number was on Feb. 16, when 43 corpses were identified.

Thai police, who have the ultimate authority over the process, say most foreign corpses will be identified within four months.

Sweden, with 113 confirmed dead and 439 missing, and Germany, with 80 dead and 537 missing, have the highest tolls of foreign victims in Thailand. A half-dozen other European nations each have scores of dead or missing, as do Japan, the United States and Australia.

[Last modified February 25, 2005, 00:53:06]