NBI: Identification of all ‘Yolanda’ fatalities impossible

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The National Bureau of Investigation admitted that the identification of bodies left by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Tacloban will be an impossible task, a report from the Philippine News Agency said.

A month after Yolanda struck the city, only 11 percent of the cadavers has been identified.

The NBI team said the number of cadavers coupled with the severe stage of decomposition posed challenges to the identification.

“Our team is only limited to examining 40 bodies everyday, but more remains have been retrieved. We’re not constrained by the method of identification but by the number of bodies,” said Raul Alcantara, of NBI Region 5 and head of the second team of NBI experts sent to Tacloban.

The NBI is confined to the use of dental examinations and DNA testing as present conditions hinders them to identify cadavers through the finger prints.

“Even if these bodies will be examined, the identification process is a challenge if there are no dental records available,” said Alcantara. “We also need at least three living immediate family members for comparison to complete the DNA testing.”

Since its operations after the storm, the NBI has recovered 2,321 bodies in Tacloban alone, with obly 245 bodies getting identified as of Sunday.

RELATED STORIES:

Task Group ‘Yolanda’ focuses on retrieval of bodies, road clearing in Tacloban

President concedes ‘Yolanda’ death toll has doubled

Lack of body bags, tools slow down ‘Yolanda’ search