PHUKET, Thailand (20 May 2005) -- Thailand has kept recovering bodies of tsunami victims almost five months after the disaster, while forensic team said lack of information slowed identification work. At least 20 bodies of victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami have been recovered from various places in the southern province of Pangnga over the past few weeks, said Pol Col Khemmarin Hassiri, of the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification center. Authorities on Thursday found bones near the ruins of the hotel of Sofitel Magic Lagoon where the body of a Caucasian woman was recovered on Tuesday, Bangkok Post on Friday quoted Khemmarin as saying. However, identifying the bodies was hard given their advanced state of decay. They were sent directly to the morgue without proper ID examination, he said. Although 60 percent of bodies have been identified in Thailand,2,000 bodied are still waiting, Thai forensic expert Pongruk Sribanditmongkol told a World Health Organization meeting on May 5. | | He noted that the lack of information has greatly impeded forensic teams' identification efforts. Some 5,395 people were killed by tsunami in Thailand, while 2,845 people were recorded as missing in the disaster. SOURCE - Xinhuanet |
