Updated 00.04 | Published 2023-12-12 23.59
Five people died in the elevator accident in Sundbyberg and not all have been identified yet.
Now the experts from the tsunami disaster are called in.
– It is an extremely meaningful assignment, not least so that the relatives will get answers, says coroner Johanna Loisel.
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Five construction workers are dead after an elevator collapsed 20 meters during a house construction in Sundbyberg.
Several of the victims have not yet been identified and now the police’s national operational department, Noa, has asked the Forensic Medicine Agency for help.
A DVI team DVI team Stands for Disaster Victim Identification. The DVI team includes, among other things, forensic doctors, forensic geneticists and forensic odontologists from the Swedish Medical Agency. forensic doctors, forensic geneticists and forensic odontologists have been called in to determine the identities.
– Noa wants us to carry out disaster identification and I’m guessing that the big work will start this evening or tomorrow morning, says forensic pathologist Johanna Loisel, who works at the Forensic Agency in Umeå.
“Investigating who’s who”
DVI has been called out in connection with a series of disasters where Swedish citizens had to be identified. Including the tsunami in 2004, Estonia in 1994 and the discotheque fire in Gothenburg in 1998.
– We coroners are quite used to dealing with bad sudden death. At the same time, it can be very stressful and you can be touched if the bodies are torn and in bad condition. But it is an extremely meaningful job on behalf of the police, not least so that relatives can get answers, she says and continues:
– The last major event was in 2019 when a plane with nine parachutists crashed in Umeå. There I was the one who led the investigation.
Most of the work takes place in the autopsy room, she says.
– The police do an important job of taking care of bodies, body parts and human remains. Then they are taken to a forensic unit where we systematically and carefully investigate to find out who is who in a disaster.
Interpol’s method
Loisel says to look for identifying marks such as fingerprints, scars, tattoos, clothes and teeth.
– We have our own dentists who examine teeth very carefully and describe how they look. Then all this data is combined with what was known about the people before. It is a proven method developed by Interpol that has been used in connection with disasters for many years.
One of the dead is said to be a 25-year-old man, according to information to Aftonbladet. Prosecutor Gunnar Jonasson says that the identification is ongoing and that they are seeking contact with relatives.