Interpol vows to help identify Stars victims

CEBU - As the third month anniversary of the M/V Princess of the Stars tragedy approaches, the International Criminal Police Organization renewed its commitment to help identify the remains of victims still inside the sunken vessel.

“We renew our promise to stay until a sense of closure is brought to their families,” Nimal Mahagamage, team leader of the Interpol Incident Response Team said in a press conference yesterday.

Mahagamage further said that the forensic laboratory Interpol set up at the Cebu International Port is now ready for operation.

Logistic needs of the lab will be supplied from various organizations which include the Department of Health, Regional Disaster Coordinating Council-7, Office of the Civil Defense, Philippine National Red Cross, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council and Sulpicio Lines Inc.

“Experts in Pathology, Anthropology, Odontology, Photography and DNA analysis will come to Cebu City to hasten the processing of the cadavers,” said Dr. Renato Bautista, team leader of NBI-Disaster Victim Identification team.

These experts will be assigned to an examination line to perform Interpol-standard operating procedures in identifying unknown cadavers or victims of mass disasters.

Bautista also guaranteed that before the remains are shipped to Cebu there will be some sort of decontamination just in case these were exposed to the any hazardous materials.

“The International Commission on Missing Persons through Interpol will continue to support us with their high-tech laboratories stationed in Saravejo, Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in the northwest Balkan Peninsula.

The samples will be shipped from the Information Management Center in camp Sergio Osmeña in Cebu to Saravejo where the cross-matching will be made, the results will be sent back for evaluation and confirmation by the Identification Board prior to the release of the unidentified victim.

Mahagamage also reiterates the call for more blood samples from the victims’ relatives who had given only one sample for our reference or none at all. At least two close relatives are required for each victim.

He further said that although the DNA testing process takes long, it guarantees 100 percent accuracy.

Meanwhile, Bautista assured that M/V Princess of the Stars captain Florencio Marimon’s body was one of those identified through DNA testing.

“I assure you, captain Marimon’s DNA was a perfect match to that of his two   sons …to the point that the probability that came out was 99.99%,” he said.

As of yesterday, a total of 122 bodies were already identified through DNA and were already released to their relatives. Earlier, 40 bodies were identified through other means such as physical features. 

The M/V Princess of the Stars sank off Romblon last June 21 after running into Typhoon Frank en route to Cebu from Manila. — Joy Kareen T. Saliente/BRP (THE FREEMAN)