More evacuations ordered as experts begin grim task
GUATEMALA CITY Forensic experts are working on the grim task of identifying dozens of bodies charred beyond recognition by the eruption of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire, a disaster that has left at least 110 confirmed dead and nearly 200 still missing.
Even as search and recovery efforts were suspended for a second day yesterday amid dangerous new volcanic flows and dwindling hopes of finding survivors, about 15 forensic experts worked at a makeshift morgue in a warehouse in the southern city of Escuintla.
First, the experts check for anything that could help to identify the bodies, such as clothing that hasn’t been burned off by flows said to have reached temperatures as high as 700C.
Later, they will take genetic material from the bones – the only option available – and compare it to blood drawn from people with missing relatives. The bones can also yield information to help determine age and gender.
Forensic expert Miguel Morales said the bodies were essentially mummified, cooked by the extreme heat.
At one end of the warehouse, dozens of coffins lay waiting to receive identified bodies that would be handed over to relatives and quickly buried as mandated by health authorities.
National Institute of Forensic Sciences director Fanuel Garcia Morales said the process could take several days, and workers were trying to get the dead to their families as quickly as possible.
‘‘[The bodies] are essentially petrified. It’s really a question of that in touching and extracting them (during the recovery) – they can fall apart easily,’’ Garcia said.
Authorities ordered new evacuations yesterday, warning of activity at the volcano and saying dangerous flows of volcanic material, water and AP sediment were coursing through four canyons. Residents of the town of El Rodeo, who had recently returned to their homes, were told to leave once again, and people were warned to avoid areas close to the volcano.
Disaster agency Conred said more than 3000 workers were attending to families affected by the eruption, and about 3700 displaced people were being housed in shelters.
Officials say on-and-off downpours have destabilised the terrain and made it too dangerous to work.
But people with missing loved ones have been upset by the suspension of search and recovery efforts. Some criticised the government’s response and travelled into the disaster zones to search for loved ones themselves, digging with their hands or whatever tools they could get hold of.
Estuardo Hernandez, 19, was talking by phone to his father, Margarito Hernandez, when millions of tonnes of ash tore through the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on the volcano’s slope.
‘‘The last thing I could hear was him saying: ‘Get inside! There’s a lot of fire out there.’ I say they stayed in the house.’’
Peering into the ash-filled home, Hernandez pointed at the back wall where he believes his parents tried to seek refuge.
In the days since the disaster, he said, no government official had come by to take down information or lend a hand, even as crews used earthmoving equipment not far away to clear a stretch of blocked highway. AP