A genome research lab in Beijing will soon receive a fourth batch of samples of tsunami victims from Thailand for DNA identification.

"We have done very well with the previous three batches. I believe that's why they've asked us to take more," said Deng Yajun, director of the judicial evidence ascertainment center, Beijing Genomics Institute.

Deng said the institute has identified 1,060 DNA samples of tsunami victims entrusted to it by Thailand. It succeeded in extracting DNA profiles from 84.7 percent of the bone samples and more than 80 percent of the tooth samples.

"Of the seven labs in the world that have undertaken the identification of DNA samples of tsunami victims, my team has received the biggest number of samples, submitted the most information and achieved the highest success rates," she said.

According to Deng, her peers used the labor-intensive Mitochondria method as well as conventional methods in the identification process. The Mitochondria method has proved very effective in the samples from tsunami victims, which had low DNA content because of exposure to seawater and high temperatures, compared with other methods.

The Beijing lab, a unit under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out the work free-of-charge.

This is in accordance with an agreement reached between China and Thailand.

The death toll of the deadly tsunami that hit South East Asia last December has exceeded 292,000. According to official Thai statistics, a total 5,395 people were killed in the tsunami in Thailand, 1,953 of whom were foreigners and the others Thai.

Some 2,929 corpses have yet to be found. 

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn June 10, 2005)