CHINA: The grisly task of identifying the bodies of those who died in the giant waves which lashed southern Thailand on December 26th has moved to a research facility outside the Chinese capital, Beijing.
Beijing's Genomics Institute is to begin testing DNA samples from the teeth and bones of victims of the giant waves to look for matches.
"We volunteered to do the work. We were shocked by the magnitude of the tsunami disaster," said Dr Cai Daqing, vice-president of the institute.
"DNA analysis is one of our core competences here, and one of the main applications of this is in forensics, so helping to identify victims was a natural choice, and we volunteered."
The first batch of 100 samples of teeth and bones collected from more than 4,000 unidentified bodies has arrived at the institute, which is located near Beijing Airport.
The tsunamis which slammed into southern Thailand's coast killed more than 5,000 people and left almost 4,000 unaccounted for. Many of those who died were foreign tourists.
"The poor condition of the samples makes the task more difficult. Sea water is very detrimental to human bodies," said Dr Cai, who trained at Berkeley University in California and at Yale.
"There is a very fast decomposition process and the temperature did not help," Dr Cai explained.
The institute's DNA sequencing office is capable of testing 4,500 samples in one day. The results of the tests, which are being overseen by an international committee, will be saved in a database and compared later to genetic samples taken from relatives of the victims.
It is not known how many bodies have been identified so far.
"The pressure to identify the victims has never been greater, because the people are from so many different nationalities. There have been bigger disasters, but never so much pressure," Dr Cai said.
A team of five Chinese forensic scientists travelled to Thailand to pick up the samples.
"The first 100 samples are here and there are serious discussions about sending many more," said Dr Cai. "It could be that all the tests are done here. We have a very large capacity."
The Thai government says it is confident that DNA-testing will ensure that the identity of all the tsunami victims will be known within six months.
The authorities have set up information centres alongside temporary morgues in Buddhist temples where relatives of those missing or unaccounted for can have blood samples taken for possible DNA-matching with unidentified bodies.
Forensic teams from about 20 countries have been working at these makeshift morgues, but progress has been slow.
Interpol's Disaster Victim Identification Agency has been put in charge of identifying the victims.
Many more bodies are to be exhumed from shallow graves over the next few weeks so that new rounds of tests can begin.