Panama City, February 19. Forensic teams began comparing fingerprints on Sunday as part of the process to identify victims of the crash of a bus with migrants that left at least 39 dead and around 20 injured in Panama on Wednesday last, including nearly a dozen in serious condition.
The Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Panama said that the work of comparing fingerprints began this Sunday in cases where “the necessary information” has been received, and that “once the results have been obtained , they will be communicated the same to the public prosecutor”.
“The expertise that is carried out aims to establish the identification of the deceased and survivors. It is a process of comparison, confirmation and legalization of identity,” said the forensic institution in a statement. communicated.
He recalled that “this procedure is made difficult by the fact of having to deal with a heterogeneous group of people from different countries, by the state of integrity and preservation of the corpses and by the lack of information, on the part relatives, dental records and genetic profiles essential for the respective comparisons”.
“All the procedures are known to the corresponding authorities. Teamwork is underway with other institutions that have actively participated in obtaining the required information,” the official information adds.
Authorities are investigating the causes of the crash, the worst of its kind in the country’s history, which left the bus topless, destroyed, with seats strewn on the ground at the crash site, located more 450 kilometers from Panama City. There are mutilated or unrecognizable bodies.
On the bus “66 migrants were traveling: 22 from Ecuador, 16 from Haiti, 11 from Venezuela, 6 from Brazil, 5 from Colombia, 2 from Cameroon, 2 from Cuba, 1 from Nigeria and 1 from Eritrea. In total, 20 minors were traveling: 12 boys and 8 girls,” the government revealed on Thursday.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday the death of one of the Colombians injured in the accident, while the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said that 11 nationals of that country were among the injured. Cuba also said that there were victims from that country.
In 2022, 248,284 irregular travelers arrived in Panama through the jungle, an unprecedented number and 85.6% more than in 2021, when more than 37,000 have done so so far this year.