388 Bodies Of Tsunami Victims Still Unidentified

[george]

Nearly 400 bodies of tsunami victims unidentified

PHANGNGA: -- Nearly 400 bodies of tsunami victims remain unidentified after four years, the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification and Repatriation Centre in Phangnga said ahead of the fourth anniversary of the tsunami on December 26.

Centre director Nitinai Sornsongkram said 388 bodies of tsunami victims remain unidentified.

The centre received 3,696 bodies in February 2005 and 3,308 bodies were unidentified and retrieved by their relatives, he said.

He affirmed that agency workers are still trying to identify the bodies and to return them to their families.

At present, there are 445 still missing persons who have been reported by their relatives. Of these, 290 are Thais, 95 are Myanmar migrant workers and 60 are Scandinavians.

Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand were all hard hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by an earthquake with a magnitude of about nine on the Richter scale.

More than 5,000 people, mostly international tourists on holiday, were killed when the killer waves struck Thailand's six Andaman coastal provinces.

-- TNA 2008-12-24

[sbk]

A very bad joke in extremely poor taste has been deleted. If you are incapable of showing a modicum of respect here then please don't post.

[Briggsy]

A lot of them are probably 'anonymous' Burmese, sadly. Not officially recorded anywhere. In the country illegally or semi-legally. Any employment records if they exist will long since have been discarded and perhaps only contained nicknames. Relatives stuck in some village in Burma will be none the wiser except that communication and remuneration home has ceased. They might guess the truth but would have no means of confirming any suspicions of the demise of their family members.

Just one small facet of a third world existence.

[Flatouthruthefog]

A lot of them are probably 'anonymous' Burmese, sadly. Not officially recorded anywhere. In the country illegally or semi-legally. Any employment records if they exist will long since have been discarded and perhaps only contained nicknames. Relatives stuck in some village in Burma will be none the wiser except that communication and remuneration home has ceased. They might guess the truth but would have no means of confirming any suspicions of the demise of their family members.

Just one small facet of a third world existence.

You are, of course, tragically correct.

I am certain that most unidentified bodies will be those of 'illegal' Burmese never listed on any paperwork anywhere. My heart goes out to their hopeful, helpless families living under that DREAD-FULL (capitals deliberate!) regime.

However, while the 2 figures are close to each other (bodies with no i/d; missing person reports filed), should we not focus on the fact that the missing person reports are likely to have been filed by bereaved families with both freedom and good communications? Westerners. So where are THOSE missing bodies?

Flashback: Over five years before the tsunami, I KNOW that a newly appointed police chief in Phuket visited the biggest hospital and asked if there were any problems. The man in charge of the morgue showed him about a dozen bodies in the fridges which were unidentified. All foreigners, all victims of road accidents. The new man did his job properly and, within DAYS, 11 missing person files had been closed and bodies began to be collected by Embassies.

No matter what Western authorities may tell you folks outside Thailand, they are FAR too willing, here on the ground, to hang on to what local aparatchiks tell them.

If I had lost a loved one in the tsunami, I would (if I could afford to do so) have gone down there with a mature, paid professional Thai interpreter, conducting my own search.

Anyone out there reading this, still worrying and grieving, may like to consider this. If you wait for 'the powers that be', you will die in the queue.

If you want a job done properly in these circumstances, do it yourself. It's the only way.

[mijan24]

This is a sad and very difficult situation, I venture to say even sadder would be the unsolved foreign owned (legally or semi legally) property situations, one would assume ownership rights passed over and someone (not necessarily Thai) now holds the papers or the keys.

[Who, me ?]

A very bad joke in extremely poor taste has been deleted. If you are incapable of showing a modicum of respect here then please don't post.

Really a shame that some posters can make jokes about this sad event, and the fact that some victims are still to be identified and be given proper funerals.

4 years have passed, the whole area is back to business for a long time, and 388 poor souls are still kept, awaiting to be given a recognition of their existence...

May they RIP soon, whoever they are ....

[markg]

I'd like to echo the above comments.

I've often thought that the true number of casualties is far higher than recorded, due in part to the large number of illegal/semi-legal migrant workers - more often than not Burmese.

Quite surprised to see that there are still 60 Scandinavians remaining unclaimed.

Our thoughts go out to the many many families who were touched by the tsunami and will be mourning at this time of year.

It could have been me. A decision to not have breakfast at Karon beach that morning meant that i was 10 minutes up the road when the first wave came in.

[simon43]

Tomorrow (26th) there is a tsunami memorial service at Khao Lak in the morning and at Loma Park (Patong Beach) in the afternoon. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Simon