Bodies identified by cell phone info

The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network
Sat, May 07, 2011

Cell phones found on people killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami have helped identify 279 victims of the disaster, Miyagi prefectural police said.

Police tracked down the bodies' identities by using the phones' serial numbers to contact mobile providers and obtain personal information from the user contracts. Final confirmation of victims' identities was done by family members.

"For the benefit of bereaved families, we'll use every possible means to identify the victims of the disaster," a top prefectural police official said.

After the body of a man was found April 7 in Kesennuma in the prefecture, police were not able to identify him from his physical characteristics and belongings. They contacted a cell phone provider to trace the serial number of the mobile phone found in his pocket.

After obtaining personal details from the mobile carrier, police contacted the man's relatives to confirm his identity.

In the first days after the March 11 catastrophe, the prefectural police identified bodies mainly by giving relatives descriptions of clothing, physical characteristics and other means of identification, such as driver's licenses and primary school name tags.

As bodies found recently have been more severely decomposed, it has been more difficult to identify victims by physical features. Thus mobile phone serial numbers have become important clues in the identification process.

-The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network

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