NBI hard-pressed to ID Yolanda’s dead, looking at victims’ clothes

People cover their noses from the stench of dead bodies in an area affected by Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, Philippines, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms on record, slammed into six central Philippine islands on Friday, leaving a wide swath of destruction and thousands of people dead. AP

MANILA, Philippines – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that it was difficult enough to identify the fatalities from Supertyphoon “Yolanda”, making matters worse was the fact that it may be forced to use secondary modes of identification because a DNA analysis was expensive.

“The bodies are already in the advanced stage of decomposition so it would be very, very hard to extract fingerprints from them so we will probably rely on DNA,” said Dr. Wilfredo Tierra of the NBI’s Medico Legal Division.

He said, however, that relying on DNA would be expensive and also difficult so they may also have to rely on secondary modes of identification such as the victims’ clothes and other means to identify the body.

There is an NBI team in the Visayas assessing where they can set up their work station, said Tierra.

Tierra said the next 15-man team that will conduct the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) will fly to Tacloban over the weekend.

Related Stories:

NBI experts gear up for huge task of identifying Yolanda fatalities

NBI sends medico-legal, forensics teams to identify ‘Yolanda’ victims