A team of ten forensics of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Catalonia (Imelec) have joined the tasks this Saturday to identify those killed by DANA in the Valencian Community. There are now more than 200 victims of the storm and there are still dozens missing. Many residents of the most affected areas report that there are still bodies that have not been recovered, despite the fact that more than a hundred specialists, together with the Scientific Police, are working hard to do so. The director of Imelec, Eneko Barbería, explains to ABC that while some forensic experts perform autopsies in the City of Justice of Valencia, others are in charge of “labeling.” That is, a “coding”, after the sectorization of the impact areas, to identify the bodies. All of this, based on the national protocol that was implemented after 11-M. «Fingerprints and a biological sample are collected for DNA studiesin case it is necessary for identification. The problem is that, as the days go by, due to the state of the bodies in contact with the water, «there are beginning to be difficulties in doing so using the necrofingerprint. That is why there are other scientific methods such as DNA or forensic odontology,” he clarifies.
The simplest and fastest is the fingerprint comparison. «We are talking about the local population, and you can consult the DNI database, which in Spain is mandatory from the age of 14. If you have a candidate, you make a comparison of the post-mortem fingerprint with the ante-mortem and you already have the identification,” Barbería details. The problem is that The deterioration of the bodies will limit the application of this option and it will be necessary to resort to DNA matching or forensic odontology. As? «From the study of the teeth, obtaining a dental formula, like when you go to the dentist. You can also perform a radiological test, if necessary, and what is done is recover the information from the last time that person went to the dentist to recover the data, and thus be able to compare it with the tests that have been done on the corpse. », specifies the coroner. It is also an economical and efficient method, but “good information is needed.”
“A few years ago it would be more debatable, but today the majority of people have gone to the dentist,” he points out. The most relevant thing is the data integration center, “to decide how you identify all the information you receive,” explains the director of Imelec. Sectorization is crucial. «Each affected municipality is assigned a number, and the body is located in an area, also with a number.». A forensic doctor and the Scientific Police travel to the marked area to properly label the body. Is This traceability is very important to have a good identificationOtherwise it would all be very complicated. If you don’t know where they come from, it would be all chaotic. “Within the existing difficulties, we must put a little order.”
As it is not a “specific accident”, such as that of an airplane, where the victims are located in a specific area, the recovery tasks are much more complex and time-consuming. In the case of the Catalan specialists displaced to the Valencian Communitysix of them are forensics -one, a dentist- and four other autopsy technicians. “In addition to identification, it is also important to establish the causes of death,” says Barbería, who, given the fear of possible pathologies due to the accumulation of bodies, emphasizes that “corpses themselves are not infectious agents. “We are not talking about a Covid epidemic, in which the bodies themselves would not be one.”
«Corpses themselves are not infectious agents. “We are not talking about a Covid epidemic, in which the bodies themselves would not be one.”
For this to be the case, he specifies, the person must have suffered from them in life and, according to the World Health Organization, except in cases of hemorrhagic fevers and cholera, corpses generally do not transmit diseases. «The bodies would be dangerous, in any case, for the people who manipulate them, and they do so with the necessary personal protective equipment. “What needs to be controlled is the water, ensuring that the supply is controlled.”
Now the priority of forensics is to recover and identify the bodies of the deceased. Also perform the autopsy on those who are already in the basements of the City of Justice of Valencia.
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