Thursday, July 10, 2008 Bodies to be identified at CIP
BODIES recovered from the mv Princess of the Stars will be identified at the Cebu International Port (CIP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Medico-Legal Division Chief Renato Bautista said yesterday.
Bautista, however, said it was important that a concrete water system and waste disposal plan be established before the mobile morgue arrives from Norway.
Bautista said the mobile morgue is expected to arrive on July 17. By that time, he said, the waste disposal plan should already be in place at the CIP.
Agreement
According to the agreement between the Cebu City Government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), an underground septic tank will be built in the area to collect waste accumulated during the disaster victim identification (DVI) processing.
“The septic tank is underground; it will collect the wastewater. This will later be siphoned off every afternoon,” said Bautista.
DENR will be responsible for disposing of the wastewater collected every afternoon. Bautista is unsure where DENR will dispose of the waste, saying it was still being discussed.
Added expense
Bautista explained it was important to have the septic tank underground and the wastes siphoned off routinely to control the smell.
Bautista said the DVI specialists from Norway who will be delivering the morgue would be the ones to set it up at CIP. If the septic tank is not ready when they arrive, the Norwegians would be forced to return to their country.
“If they go back to Norway, they would have to wait until the septic tank is set up. Once the septic tank is done, they would have to come back. That’s an added expense for them,” said Bautista.
Bautista said the mobile morgue is a donation from Norway and is worth no less than $3 million.
“Actually, the mobile morgue is a mobile hospital, but it can be easily converted into a mobile morgue,” said Bautista.
Bautista said the mobile morgue and the five refrigerated vans would be used for the bodies that would be retrieved from the ship, now stuck upside down in a reef off Romblon.
Process
Inside the mobile morgue, there will be four workstations.
The first workstation is where the body’s fingerprints will be lifted. After that, the body moves to the next workstation where it undergoes pathology and a DNA sample is taken from the femur.
“We open the abdomen and check the appendix, gallbladder, kidney, ovaries and fallopian tubes,” said Bautista.
After pathology, the body moves to the next station and a mold of the body’s teeth is taken.
Finally, at the last workstation, the body undergoes “quality control” before being sealed and kept in a body bag.
If the DVI specialists only receive body parts, they would immediately extract DNA samples from the bone, said Bautista.
Yesterday, 344 DNA samples and antemortem data were taken from the closest kin of Princess of the Stars passengers at the action center at the Cebu City Sports Complex.
Bautista said they have been coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs and will use the diplomatic pouch to send the DNA to Sarajevo, Bosnia, headquarters of the International Commission of Missing Persons, for processing. (EBP)
