Officials confirm 89 people are still missing after flooding in Valencia last week. But the death toll remains unchanged at 211. Catherine Dolan reports……
Officials confirmed on Tuesday evening that there are 89 active cases of missing persons following last week’s catastrophic flooding in the towns south of Valencia.
The ante mortem offices of the National Police and Civil Guard, in collaboration with forensic doctors, confirmed the number according to figures from the Data Integration Centre (CID).
In a statement they also said that autopsies have been carried out on 195 deceased persons, with 133 of those being correctly identified.
The officials said that these 89 active cases should be put in relation to the 62 deceased persons who have already undergone autopsy but have yet to be identified. The process is ongoing and as more identifications are made, the number of missing is expected to decrease.
Nightmarish task for authorities
The officials also said that the active cases in the ante mortem offices do not equate to the total number of missing persons. It is possible there are more cases of missing persons that have not yet been reported, they say. The official number of bodies recovered remains at 211, according to the last update by the CECOPI (Integrated Operational Coordination Centre).
Of the 133 correct identifications, 119 have been made by fingerprint analysis and the remaining 14 by matching DNA samples.
Data that can be provided by relatives of missing persons in the ante mortem offices to help identification. These range from photographs, personal and physical measurement profiles, medical records and X-rays. Also, clothing to personal effects, tattoos, dental records, surgical operations performed, use of internal prostheses and pacemakers, among others.
For identification by means of genetic profiling, the greatest reliability lies in biological samples. These come from direct relatives, either parents or children. Also, samples taken from personal belongings of the missing person, such as a toothbrush or a razor blade.