"It once took us three months to get DNA from a woman who lived in Berlin but who we first had to find," he said."We want to have 100 percent certainty."They'll be identified by their teeth, their DNA or their fingerprints -- in that order," he said.Nearly three days on, none of the bodies brought from the airport and train disaster scenes to the morgue has yet been formally identified and the process could take many more weeks.At the epicentre of an explosion, bodies "are completely destroyed, in tiny pieces, and at the periphery you find bodies that are more or less intact, missing body parts"."The number of non-identified people is very, very exceptional," federal police spokesman Michael Jonnois told AFP.In a large military hospital complex in a leafy district north of Brussels, the experts are at work to establish the identities of corpses that have in many cases been left missing body parts by the blasts.He said scientific identification was key to avoiding problems of mistaken identity, as asking family to identify victims visually was both psychologically difficult and unreliable.Identification would likely be extremely difficult in the case of the Brussels attacks, he said, due to the violence of the three blasts, in which the ISIS attackers used TATP high explosive packed with nails."
Yesterday we had around 30 people here looking for family," Ine Van Wymersch, who runs the centre, told AFP.Working with teeth, fingerprints and DNA, and sometimes relying on just tiny body parts, the forensic experts dealing with the victims of the Brussels attacks warn it could take weeks to identify them. "None of the bodies has yet been formally identified, the process is ongoing."Some people are ready to recognise any corpse while others will refuse to, even if it's the right one," he said.."But with victims believed to come from up to 40 different countries, Philippe Boxho, head of the Liege university forensics department, says Interpol help may be needed and the process may be long.Experts are at work to establish the identities of corpses that have in many cases been left missing body parts by the blasts."Dental checks could be carried out with help from dentists, DNA recovered by asking relatives to bring toothbrushes or other items, he said."Teeth are quick, DNA takes a while longer and finger-prints only work if they're already on file -- though sometimes you can recover prints from their homes or workplaces.Guarded by heavily armed men in combat gear, the Reine Astrid hospital is being used as Belgium's missing persons centre, or Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit."In this case there is probably some very heavy-duty damage," Boxho said.Only once they have been identified will relatives be able to take the bodies away dz automotive for funerals.
