Thai Agencies Squabble Over Victim Identification

[_Echinochloa_]

Senior Thai officials squabbled today over who should conduct forensic identification of thousands of victims from last month’s tsunami disaster, in a quarrel that could delay the process of handing over bodies to grieving relatives.

The killer waves on December 26 killed about 5,300 people in Thailand, and left another 3,600 people missing. Among the victims were hundreds of foreign tourists, and some of their governments have expressed concern that Thai methods of identifying the corpses were not following internationally-accepted standards.

Since the disaster, the Justice Ministry has been conducting the painstaking work of identifying the bodies with the help of hundreds of foreign forensic experts.

But Police Gen. Nopadol Somboonsap, an adviser to the National Police Bureau, today said the police should be identifying the dead. He accused the Justice Ministry of not following international procedures and said they were hampering co-ordination with overseas forensic teams.

The head of the Justice Ministry’s forensic team, Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunan, said handing the operation over to police would be too disruptive because her investigators had already examined more than 4,000 bodies.

“I am the sole person who has the right to release bodies here and the prime minister gave me this mandate, so my work will go on unless the prime minister says something else,” Pornthip said.

Asked for comment, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the police bureau, Pornthip’s Justice Ministry team and Interpol had to co-ordinate their activities.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2005/01/13/story184503.html#

[kat]

Right, and I'm sure with the police in charge, everyone is going to feel so much better

[tutsiwarrior]

right on!..khunying Porntip...

[Darknight]

/moved to tsunami comments forum

[onethailand]

They have been squabbling since like day 3. Three "official" websites suddenly sprouted on the same day - NONE of which is of any significant use, except maybe missingpersons.

ThaiTsunami is supposedly run by the ICT ministry - yet they don't know their left hand from their right.

On top of that, photos of unidentified bodies are now disappearing as well - and people still looking for loved ones but unable to travel are basically left in the cold.

The only people that seem to have any clue are the countless volunteers all over the world cataloguing artifacts, creating descriptions, etc. and not really giving a hoot about what the various government organizations think. Even now these groups (and OneThailand on a smaller scale) are identifying people every day and putting the minds of many relatives at ease.

Dr Pornthip said something to the effect of "If the police want to take control, let them come and take the bodies from me" - wise woman

[robanne]

My friend Colleen MacDonald has been missin since the Tsunami. She was wearing a gold claddagh ring on her right hand and her navel was pierced. She was 5ft 6 " I have spent hours trying to locate her but to no avail. This is the first time in a week that I have gone on line to locate her. The home office in Britain say it is unlikely that she will ever be located. But if there are so many bodies why hasnt she been found. Her DNA is lodged in Thailand and I and her family would like some answers soon.

If anyone can supply me with any leads I would be most grateful

[onethailand]

Hi Robanne -

Try tsunamisouls.org or helpangel.ch - both of them have catalogged artifacts, jewelry, etc that may be of use in helping to find your friend. But also, keep in mind that many bodies will never be found - and DNA testing is only in the early stages and very few have actually been matched up so far. If you do find some artifacts which match your description, you may be able to get them to test more quickly but there are forms that her family will need to fill out.

My friend Colleen MacDonald has been missin since the Tsunami.  She was wearing a gold claddagh ring on her right hand and her navel was pierced.  She was 5ft 6 "  I have spent hours trying to locate her but to no avail.  This is the first time in a week that I have gone on line to locate her.  The home office in Britain say it is unlikely that she will ever be located.  But if there are so many bodies why hasnt she been found.  Her DNA is lodged in Thailand and I and her family would like some answers soon.

If anyone can supply me with any leads I would be most grateful

 

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[The_Eye_Of_Sauron]

Why did the corpse thumbnails come down?

Ok they were a bit wormy and grisly, but in the overall scheme of things its more important to utilise clues- ANY clues, than be too precious.

I nearly found a friend's cousin via the thumbnails- but it emerged that her surname was coincidentally the name of a clothing brand that had been catalogued on one poor soul.