Some of the victims of the plane crash in Brazil will not be identified

Filed in archive Latin News on July 25, 2007

Fear

Some of the victims of the plane crash in Brazil will not be identified, not even by DNA tests. There are bodies so burnt that they are incinerated (reduced to ashes), what makes impossible any kind of identification. The specialists estimate that the fire temperature reached 1.000ºC. In cremation ovens, for instance, the bodies are burnt at temperatures that vary from 400ºC to 1.200ºC.

The IML (Instituto Médico Legal, the official Brazilian Forensic Department) doesn't know yet how many bodies are in this situation. 74 victims has been officially identified.

"We know that, when the body is exposed to temperatures of 800ºC, 1.000ºC, the quality of the DNA structure is not adequate, it's pretty damaged. In each case it's possible (or not) to find a region that, presumably, has good quality", said Carlos Alberto Coelho, technical director of the Central IML in São Paulo.

The only hope of the forensics for these incinerated victims, is that the flames didn't reach small parts of the bones, which can be used to extract genetic material for analysis

This is horrifying. To fire the defense minister won't solve anything; and it certainly won't give any consolation to the victims' families. What we need is that the authorities take responsibility and avoid this kind of tragedy in the future.

But I don't think that's ever gonna happen.

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