Thailand exhumes tsunami victims for DNA testing<\/p>\n
Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse\/Phuket, Thailand<\/p>\n
Thailand forged ahead on Tuesday with the grisly task of exhuming
\ntsunami victims for DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing as the
\nlargest ever international forensics operation to identify the
\nthousands killed was launched.<\/p>\n
Authorities repeated assurances that all the bodies they had
\nof tsunami victims, including some which had already been
\ninterred, would be DNA-tested amid fears people have been buried
\nwithout proper identification.<\/p>\n
Some bodies have also been cremated but only after being
\npositively identified.<\/p>\n
The interior ministry said in a daily update on Tuesday that
\nit had 5,309 people confirmed dead, including 1,728 Thais, 1,240
\nforeigners and 2,341 bodies that could not be identified by
\nnationality.<\/p>\n
The number of missing was put at 3,370, including 1,102
\nforeigners.<\/p>\n
Many of those missing would likely be confirmed dead in time,
\nInterior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said.<\/p>\n
The final death toll may change slightly, \"but if we match the
\nDNA tests of the dead and their relatives, we will likely find
\nthat the missing people are the unidentified dead,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Thailand at the weekend announced a dramatic tenfold increase
\nin the number of corpses listed as having unknown national
\norigin, saying their initial identification had proved
\nunreliable.<\/p>\n
Bhokin said bodies of up to 800 people who had already been
\nburied were being exhumed. Any whose DNA samples had not been
\nappropriately taken would be tested and fitted with a microchip
\ncontaining the data, and then placed in refrigerated containers.<\/p>\n
\"The figure was between 600 and 800\" bodies to be exhumed,
\nBhokin said. \"There were many bodies and we could not keep them
\nat the temple so we had to bury them.\"<\/p>\n
DNA sampling would continue apace for another two weeks, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The world's largest disaster victim identification (DVI)
\ncenter meanwhile opened on the resort island of Phuket to begin
\ncompiling and cross-referencing DNA and other forensic data from
\nvictims and similar ante-mortem data from relatives.<\/p>\n
\"This is the world's first such integrated operation using the
\nworld's best and latest technology and specialist expertise from
\nall over the world,\" said Australian police Inspector Jeff Emery,
\nwho heads up the DVI information center.<\/p>\n
About 60 experts from around the globe will man the center
\nwhich is squeezed onto the third floor of a telecommunications
\ncompany building. It will work with dental records,
\nfingerprinting and DNA samples.<\/p>\n
Emery said it could take nine months or longer to complete the
\nprocess, which foreign governments are watching closely.
\n\"Countries must have patience,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very, very large operation, a large number of
\npeople have died. The process must be very thorough,\" he said.
\n\"We cannot make mistakes in regards to identification.\"<\/p>\n
Some 400 forensics personnel from at least 30 countries were
\nin Thailand, experts told AFP, and Emery said they were
\nconsidering working 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
U.S. Marine Col. Jim Reilly, who is coordinating the U.S.
\nsearch operations here, said Thailand's goal to identify every
\none of the victims was admirable but ultimately unachievable.<\/p>\n
\"They want 100 percent accountability of the bodies but I know
\nit's not possible. And if we have that level of expectation, we
\nare going to be disappointed,\" Reilly told reporters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile clean-up efforts gathered pace in the tourist island
\nof Phuket and neighboring Phang Nga, the province worst hit by
\nthe giant waves which were produced by a massive earthquake off
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
Roads have been cleared, piles of sand and mud leveled and
\ndebris bulldozed into stacks.<\/p>\n
The cabinet on Tuesday approved 5.25 billion baht (US$134
\nmillion) in aid for thousands of Thais and foreigners whose
\nrelatives were killed, wounded or missing from the disaster.<\/p>\n
The funds would also assist thousands of fisherfolk whose
\nlivelihoods were washed away, create jobs for those left
\nunemployed and rebuild destroyed homes.<\/p>\n
A 54.25 billion baht ($1.39 billion) soft loan scheme from the
\nfinance ministry was also approved for entrepreneurs whose
\nbusinesses including hotels were devastated by the tsunami.<\/p>",
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