Four corpse containers “malfunctioning’

PHANG NGA: Four cold-storage containers housing the unidentified bodies of tsunami victims are malfunctioning, causing rapid decomposition of the corpses within and spreading a gruesome stench in the areas where they are located.

Pol Gen Noppadol Somboonsab, head of of Thai Tsunami Victim Identification Centre (TTVI), said the problem freezers are at Wat Yan Yao and Wat Bang Muang in Phang Nga’s Takuapa District.

The TTVI hired Phuket-based mechanics to carry our urgent repairs, but some of the units were found to be damaged beyond repair and need to be replaced, he said.

Gen Nopadol added that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discussed the issue with Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, who visited Phuket and Phang Nga yesterday.

The King said Sweden would help provide replacement containers at both sites, Gen Noppadol told the Gazette.

He added that cold-storage containers at the Mai Khao Cemetery, where the bodies of unidentified victims thought to be foreigners are stored, continue to function normally.