Friday, June 27, 2008
49 cadavers from Princess of the Stars arrive in Cebu (4:30 p.m.)
CEBU CITY -- Forty-nine cadavers fished out from the seas of Romblon arrived in Cebu City at 8:45 Friday morning on board the mv Cebu Princess.
The cadavers were brought to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Cebu City for examination by forensic experts of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Dr. Renato Bautista, chief of the NBI medico-legal division, said 19 teams will go over the cadavers before these would be presented to relatives for public viewing.
He said certain procedures would have to be followed for the examination of the cadavers. A cadaver will have to be examined by at least four teams -- photo group, dactiloscopy (fingerprinting), pathology and chemical forensics, and then the dental team.
Bautista cannot give an estimate as to how long the examination would take considering the condition of the cadavers, which are in an advanced state of decomposition.
He said, after the cadavers are processed, the families who are scheduled to view the bodies would have to be briefed on proper viewing procedures for possible identification.
The processed cadavers will be placed in caskets and brought to the St. Ignatius Chapel for viewing.
The Department of Health, meantime, asked the public to stop eating fish and other seafood until laboratory results on waters around the sunken vessel show no contamination of pesticide endosulfan, which was sighted inside the ferry Friday. (Sunnex)
(Reposted with corrections) |
