Swedish tsunami victim buried in wrong grave
A Swede missing after the Boxing Day tsunami catastrophe could have been buried by mistake in Thailand.
A grave will be dug up soon in order to establish whether or not a mistake has been made, said Stig Edqvist, the head of operations for the international identification commission, to TT.
According to Aftonbladet a Swedish woman was buried instead of a Thai woman, but Edqvist could only confirm that the error concerned a Swedish citizen.
The mix-up was discovered in April when the body, which was identified by the teeth, was meant to have been handed over to Sweden.
"The mistake probably happened due to a certain lack of order in the numbering at the beginning. At the start there was a system with three numbers, then we went to one," said Edqvist.
An investigation into the confusion has been ongoing throughout the summer and the relatives of the Swedish citizen were informed on Monday.
"They have been understanding about what's happened," said Edqvist, when asked how the relatives reacted.
"We have not tried to hide anything but this kind of investigation work takes a long time," he added.
In February another mistake occurred in connection with the identification process. A coffin which was brought back to Sweden from Thailand contained the wrong person - a man instead of a woman.
There are still 20 Swedes missing or unidentified following the catastrophe.
TT/The Local
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A grave will be dug up soon in order to establish whether or not a mistake has been made, said Stig Edqvist, the head of operations for the international identification commission, to TT.
According to Aftonbladet a Swedish woman was buried instead of a Thai woman, but Edqvist could only confirm that the error concerned a Swedish citizen.
The mix-up was discovered in April when the body, which was identified by the teeth, was meant to have been handed over to Sweden.
"The mistake probably happened due to a certain lack of order in the numbering at the beginning. At the start there was a system with three numbers, then we went to one," said Edqvist.
An investigation into the confusion has been ongoing throughout the summer and the relatives of the Swedish citizen were informed on Monday.
"They have been understanding about what's happened," said Edqvist, when asked how the relatives reacted.
"We have not tried to hide anything but this kind of investigation work takes a long time," he added.
In February another mistake occurred in connection with the identification process. A coffin which was brought back to Sweden from Thailand contained the wrong person - a man instead of a woman.
There are still 20 Swedes missing or unidentified following the catastrophe.
TT/The Local
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