THE P9-million mobile laboratory now stands fully operational at the Cebu International Port (CIP).
Two fully equipped workstations, an administrative office and a storage room were built out of the 16 20-foot flatpacks delivered from Norway.
“Dr. (Renato) Bautista will be working here (at the workstations). This was all set up by Normeca and entirely funded by Interpol,” said Nimal Mahagamage, Interpol regional bureau management and coordination director.
Interpol spent an extra P900,000 for air-conditioning units used in the facilities, as well as for other additional equipment.
Ready to go
Normeca, the manufacturer of mobile laboratories and hospitals, spent days setting up the entire facility after the mobile laboratory arrived in Cebu last Aug. 9. The company earlier sent Ronny Karlsen to Cebu to oversee the construction of the mobile laboratory.
After 10 bodies were earlier released to their families through positive DNA matching, Bautista said the identification board has identified an additional 12 from the remaining 15.
“We are already informing their families of the positive matches,” said Bautista, medico-legal chief of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Another body was also released in Manila, after the DNA match confirmed his identity, added Bautista.
As of yesterday, the total number of bodies identified through DNA matching has reached 23. Officials hope to raise that number and receive additional DNA matches before more bodies are retrieved from the Stars.
Each of the workstations has six steel tables. Bautista explained they will be processing one body at a time.
The workstations will have a fingerprint specialist, a pathology expert to extract the cadaver’s DNA, a dentist to get the dental impressions and a photographer to take a picture of the cadaver.
“However, if we will process body parts, the process will be faster. We will be immediately extracting the DNA,” said Bautista.
How it works
Extracted DNA samples will be sealed and placed in one of the six refrigerated container vans. They will be kept in one of the smaller refrigerated container vans until they can be shipped to the International Commission on Missing Persons
(ICMP) headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Once bodies start arriving after the mv Princess of the Stars is refloated, Bautista estimates that they will be able to process six to 10 bodies in a day.
Bodies retrieved from the sunken vessel will be placed inside the refrigerated container vans until they are individually processed. Currently, there are six refrigerated container vans at the site, one of which will be used for the storage of the DNA samples.
They have requested four more refrigerated container vans, said Bautista.
“Another government agency has been requested to take care of the additional container vans. However, we have yet to receive feedback,” added Mahagamage.
One of the refrigerated container vans can hold around 60 bodies, but since Bautista is expecting more body parts than bodies arriving, the holding capacity of the vans might increase.
Senior Supt. Augustin Molina, chief of the Regional Maritime Group, said they have deployed five officers within the compound and several intelligence officers outside the premises.
By tightening security around the forensic site, the disaster victim identification teams would also be able to ensure the privacy of the operations, added Molina. (EPB)
