275 of 340 bodies from sunken ship identified

CEBU - Of the 340 bodies recovered from the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, 275 have been identified by the International Police Disaster Victim Identification–Information Management Center as of yesterday.

Renato Bautista, head of the National Bureau of Investigation-Disaster Victim Identification, said they will continue to conduct DNA testing on the remaining remains until February next year.

Bautista said that one of the problems encountered by the DVI-IMC was the hesitance of some of the relatives of the victims in giving blood and tissue samples to be used in DNA testing.

“I cannot assure that we can have a 100-percent identification of the remaining 65 still unidentified bodies,” Bautista said.

Interpol’s Nimal Mahagamage and Zlatan Bajunoviv of the International Commission on Missing Persons said they will try their best to identify the remaining unidentified bodies.

Bautista yesterday said that eight bodies identified by the team are still unclaimed by their respective relatives. The relatives of one of these bodies said they can no longer afford to transport the body to their place for burial.

Sulpicio Lines Inc. has already given P200,000 to the relatives of each passenger of the ill-fated vessel.

Grant Go, SLI Vice President for Operations, said the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars could affect their shipping business.

“Tan-aw nako maapektohan g’yod kay duna man g’yoy mga tawo nga tungod sa mga balita mahadlok na mosakay,” Go said in an interview at the City Hall yesterday.

Acting mayor Michael Rama lauded the members of the DVI-IMC for their admirable performance in helping the country’s law enforcement authorities to identify the bodies recovered from the sunken vessel.

About 300 bodies remain unaccounted for after the ship capsized in the waters off Romblon at the height of Typhoon Frank last June. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)