Unidentified Chch quake victims buried

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Tue, 21 Feb 2012 1:26p.m.

Four of the 185 people who died were buried in a single casket in a private ceremony at the Avonhead Cemetery

Four of the 185 people who died were buried in a single casket in a private ceremony at the Avonhead Cemetery

The remains of four people who could not be formally identified after Christchurch's earthquake on February 22 last year have been laid to rest.

Four of the 185 people who died in the disaster were buried in a single casket in a private ceremony at the Avonhead Cemetery this morning, ahead of a formal dedication of the internment site in the evening.

The unidentified victims were Shawn Lucas, 40, of Christchurch, Rhea Mae Sumalpong, 25, from the Philippines, Elsa Torres De Frood, 53, from Peru, and Valeri Volnov, 41, a Russian-born New Zealand resident, who were in the CTV building that collapsed and caught fire.

Memorial services will be held across the country tomorrow to remember all those who died in the quake.

NZN / 3 News

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Comments

21 Feb 2012 06:14p.m.

helen Sharkey wrote:

dear 'k'
Yes you are no expert. It is unfortunate that some people distanced from ChCh and the trauma like to put their two bits in. I am a friend of Elsa, one of the unidentified and know what her family has and continues to go through. The destructive force of the building collapse was such that there was little if anything left apart from probably belongings of the victims that were near them. I would have thought it obvious why DNA could not be used. The forensic staff did their utmost to identify the four victims, and the victims' families know this. I suggest your time would be better spent thinking kind thoughts for these four victims and their grieving families.

21 Feb 2012 02:29p.m.

k wrote:

I am no expert but couldn't DNA have been used to identify everyone?