Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreeceDNA to Solve Problem of Missing Persons of Deadly Fires

DNA to Solve Problem of Missing Persons of Deadly Fires

The only way some of the relatives and friends of missing persons of the deadly fires in East Attica can find information is to go to the mortuary to see if their loved ones are among the 81 confirmed dead.
For many of the victims of the catastrophic blazes, a DNA test is the only way their bodies can be identified, as most have been charred beyond recognition.
Speaking on ANT1 television on Thursday, a woman who is looking for her missing brother went to the mortuary to see if he was among the unidentified. “I don’t know if I have to rejoice that he is not among the dead,” she said.
The woman complained about lack of information from authorities on the issue of missing persons. “If we don’t do something for our people ourselves, we may never find out  anything. We have no information from anyone,” she said, her voice breaking. “I want to find my brother, I want everyone missing to be found.”
The fire department has announced that people looking for missing persons must go to the mortuary of the School of Medicine of the University of Athens in Goudi and give DNA samples. Their samples will be compared with the DNA of the unidentified dead bodies.
According to the fire department, 10 bodies of victims have been identified so far. A coroner who spoke on ANT1 TV said that the situation is very unusual since there has never been a disaster of such scale.
One of the reasons some of the fire victims are not identified yet is that some of the bodies belong to tourists who visited Mati for the summer season and it is likely they may have not been reported missing.
However, coroners say that the identification process will be completed by Saturday. The entire Athens – Piraeus Forensic Service and the University of Athens School of Medicine are involved in the process with the help of other forensic services from the Ministry of Justice.
“It is a mass destruction with many charred bodies that are difficult to identify. We expect identification through DNA only. We are also trying to identify the causes of death that are very obvious in most cases,” said coroner Nikos Kalogrias.
 

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts