THAILAND: FORENSIC EXPERTS TEAM LEAVE FOR U.S TO ASSIST IN IDENTIFICATION OF BODIES IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANES

Record ID: 604430

  • Title: THAILAND: FORENSIC EXPERTS TEAM LEAVE FOR U.S TO ASSIST IN IDENTIFICATION OF BODIES IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANES
  • Date: 10th September 2005
  • Summary: (BN02) BANGKOK, THAILAND (SEPTEMBER 10, 2005) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) 1. WIDE OF THAI PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA'S MOTORCADE ARRIVING AT MILITARY AIRPORT 0.05 2. SLV THAKSIN SHINAWATRA WALKING FROM CAR TOWARDS MEDIA 0.17 3. SLV (SOUNDBITE) (English) THAI PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA SAYING: "Well I have two mission.
  • Embargoed: 25th September 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVAC61MGSX14TXDYYQ51AQDLAXGP
  • Story Text: Thai prime minister flies to the United States with forensic experts and aide to help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.


    Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (PRON: TAK-SIN SHE-NA-WHAT) headed for the United States on Saturday (September 11) carrying aide to boost relief efforts following
    the Hurricane Katrina disaster that killed more than 350 people and left up to one million displaced.

    The plane carrying five of the country's top forensic experts, as well as rice from King Bhumibol, blankets and canned food is expected to arrive in the devastated cities of New Orleans and Louisinana by Monday (September 12).

    Thaksin is expected to join other international leaders at the World Summit in New York from September 14 to 16 during his 10-day visit and meet with President George W. Bush on the 19th of September before returning to Thailand.

    The government had initially offered a team of 100 doctors to help look after the 248,000 people which are currently being housed in shelters across America, but the U.S. requested a smaller team of forensic experts to assist with the identification of bodies.

    Forensic Pathologist, Porntip Rojanasunan (PRON: PORN-TIP RO-JANA-SUE-NAN), who spearheaded the world's largest body identification process in Thailand after the Indian Ocean tsunami, is leading the team.

    More than 5000 people from 25 countries died in the tsunami in Thailand with forensic experts identifying most of them using DNA samples, dental records and fingerprints.

    Dr. Prontip says while she does not know whether her team will be directly involved in identifying bodies, the task in America will not be as severe as in Thailand because the vast majority of the dead are Americans.

    She says she shares international concerns about the slow response to the disaster by U.S. authorities.

    "I think the success (in Thailand) was because of the volunteers. You can see that in the tsunami everything go well but in the United States you have the very good system about the critical incidence management but everything go very slow," she said.

    Dr Porntip says her team may be asked to simply advise American doctors on the procedures they followed after the tsunami.

    Meanwhile, in America soldiers resumed the collection and search for bodies in New Orleans and Louisiana, cities hardest hit by the August 29 storm that wiped out homes and businesses and caused up to $125 billion worth of damage.



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register