- Title: Hundreds of bodies still unidentified in Thailand 15 years after deadly tsunami
- Date: 16th December 2019
- Summary: TAKUA PA DISTRICT, PANG-NGA PROVINCE, THAILAND (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS UNLOCKING CONTAINER AND SETTING NEWSPAPERS ON FIRE TO DRIVE BEES AWAY POLICE OPENING CONTAINER REGION 8 DEPUTY COMMANDER, POLICE COLONEL KHEMMARIN HASSIRI, WALKING INTO CONTAINER HANDS SIFTING THROUGH DOCUMENTS KHEMMARIN BRINGING OUT SEALED PLASTIC BOX FROM CONTAINER KHEMMARIN CARRYING PLASTIC BOX AND WALKING KHEMMARIN PUTTING PLASTIC BOX ON TABLE KHEMMARIN OPENING BOX HAND HOLDING EVIDENCE BAG WITH UNCLAIMED CAMERA HOUSING (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) DEPUTY COMMANDER AT PROVINCIAL POLICE REGION 8, POLICE COLONEL KHEMMARIN HASSIRI, SAYING: "I think there are still some relatives of the victims, both near and far that still have hopes of finding their lost loved ones. However, a lot of the communication channels have shut down." VARIOUS OF KHEMMARIN WITH UNCLAIMED ITEMS (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) DEPUTY COMMANDER AT PROVINCIAL POLICE REGION 8, POLICE COLONEL KHEMMARIN HASSIRI, SAYING: "I think if we are determined enough and reactivate our operations once again, I think some of the 340 unidentified bodies could be identified." VARIOUS KHEMMARIN AND HIS SUBORDINATE WALKING AMONG UNIDENTIFIED GRAVES GRAVES OF THE UNIDENTIFIED BODIES WITH NUMBERS ON METAL PLATES (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) DEPUTY COMMANDER AT PROVINCIAL POLICE REGION 8, POLICE COLONEL KHEMMARIN HASSIRI, SAYING: "In the end, we ought to know whether we gave up or not because there was nothing else we could do. But at this moment, we haven't come to that yet." BAN NAM KHEM, PANG-NGA PROVINCE, THAILAND (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS HIN TEMNA, WHO LOST FAMILY IN THE TSUNAMI, LOOKING AT THE TSUNAMI MEMORIAL WALL PLAQUE OF A VICTIM ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) TSUNAMI AFFECTED BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE RESIDENT, 76 YEARS OLD HIN TEMNA SAYING: "I managed to receive the bodies of my grandkid, wife, two daughters, and two son in laws, but I haven't found my oldest daughter." VARIOUS TOURISTS STANDING AND LOOKING AT MEMORIAL WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) TSUNAMI AFFECTED BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE RESIDENT, 76 YEARS OLD HIN TEMNA, SAYING: "There's no use to keep hoping (I will find my daughter). I don't think we will." VARIOUS OF HIN WALKING MOTORBIKE TAXI DRIVING OFF FROM HIN'S HOUSE VARIOUS OF HIN WALKING INTO HIS HOUSE PORTRAITS AND URNS OF HIS FAMILY MEMBERS WHO DIED FROM 2004 TSUNAMI VARIOUS OF WORKERS CLEANING MEMORIAL PARK AHEAD OF REMEMBRANCE DAY CEREMONY BOATS DOCKING AT BEACH OFF SHORE BAN NAM KHEM VILLAGE VARIOUS FISHERMEN SPREADING FISHING NET VARIOUS BOATS FLOATING
- Embargoed: 30th December 2019 00:33
- Keywords: Thailand Tsunami anniversary unclaimed items unidentified victims
- Location: TAKUA PA, BAN NAM KHEM, PANG-NGA PROVINCE , THAILAND
- City: TAKUA PA, BAN NAM KHEM, PANG-NGA PROVINCE , THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Earthquakes/Volcanoes/Tsunami,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001BA85YYV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: It is only the second time in 15 years that this 12-meter cargo container has been opened.
There's a bee hive in the dusty depth which houses office supplies and personal belongings taken from the hundreds of unclaimed and unidentified bodies from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
For Deputy Commander of the Takua Pa provincial police region 8, Police Colonel Khemmarin Hassini, the container is not just a sad reminder of the people who remain missing from the calamity which killed thousands in Thailand but a reminder of work that remains unfinished.
Khemmarin was part of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit which was staffed by police and forensic experts from around the world in the wake of the December 26, 2004 disaster. It was the largest and most successful projects of its kind, returning the remains of tourists, migrant workers and local Thais who were killed to their families.
For months, Khemmarin and others lived near the morgue and also a cemetery where the unidentified were buried as they collected DNA with hopes of reuniting families.
The operation ended in late 2006 and the files of the unclaimed were then transferred to the Thai police's central office thereafter, according to Khemmarin. He was then assigned to do another job elsewhere, but has recently returned to the area.
"I think there are still some relatives of the victims, both near and far that still have hopes of finding their lost loved ones. However, a lot of the communication channels have shut down," Khemmarin says. "I think if we are determined enough and reactivate our operations once again, I think some of the 340 unidentified bodies could be identified."
But Hin Temna, 76, who lives nearby in Ban Nam Khem village, says he's losing hope of ever finding his eldest daughter. She was one of the more than 1,500 people who were swept away by the killer waves from the village. Seven of those people were Hin's family members.
"There's no use to keep hoping (I will find my daughter). I don't think we will," he says.
The tsunami which was triggered by a massive, 9.1-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia killed around 230,000 people. Waves as high as 17.4 meters (57 feet) crashed onto shores of more than a dozen countries, wiping some communities off the map in seconds
(Production: Prapan Chankaew, Juarawee Kittisilpa, Masako Iijima) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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