Interpol starts ID process on 149 recovered bodies

MANILA, Philippines - Forensic experts from the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Wednesday said they have started processing the bodies of 149 bodies earlier retrieved off Sibuyan Island in Romblon and other surrounding waters. The Interpol said that for such identification process, it has already set up its Victim Identification Management Information Center (VIMIC) at the Cebu Port Authority compound in Cebu City. Through the VIMIC, the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) has also started distributing forms that relatives of missing passengers of the capsized MV Princess of the Stars could fill out to make the identification easier. The Interpol is set to provide some 3,000 DNA test kits that would be used in identifying the bodies of the victims through blood test samples extracted from them. The Interpol earlier in the day said it would be waiving the payment for DNA testing in identifying the victims, which would normally cost around P22,500 to P45,000. The samples will be brought to Europe for analysis and the results of which are expected to be out after two weeks. The Interpol deployed its forensic team to Cebu City on Monday to assist local experts in processing the remains of victims recovered in the seas off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, Masbate, and Burias Island. The Interpol team will be working closely with the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory and the Health Department. Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble visited the country to coordinate the operations of the forensic team, which is composed of Olaf Worbs, Torkjel Rygnestad, and Andrea Klauser from the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). On Tuesday, PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr greeted Noble and the team of forensic experts, also stressing the amount of time that authorities would save in the identification process due to the Interpol's assistance. "We welcome the Interpol and its member-countries' police services and disaster victim identification (DVI) experts' swift offer of assistance and arrival here to asses our needs," Razon said. While assuring to exhaust all efforts to expedite the forensic examinations, Noble, for his part, told local authorities that there was a need for more refrigerated containers and mobile forensic laboratories to preserve the bodies. "There is only one goal—to ensure that the DVI teams and police are able to work under the conditions that will assist the accurate and efficient identification of the many victims of this tragedy, and we will draw on all of our resources to achieve that goal," Noble said. The Interpol forensic team was among those responsible for identifying more than 3,500 decaying bodies of the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami that swept through Thailand, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. - GMANews.TV