A group of five Chinese forensic doctors arrived here early Friday to help identify tsunami victims as the death toll and the number of missing continue to rise.

The Chinese forensic experts will soon fly to Phuket, the badly hit Thai resort island.

In Phuket, they will join other foreign forensic teams to take DNA samples from corpses, said Deng Yajun, a team member.

The death toll from the tsunami, triggered by an 8.7-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia on Sunday, has exceeded 115,000 in South and Southeast Asia as well as East Africa.

In Thailand, the government said more than 2,300 are confirmed dead. But both the death toll and the number of missing people are expected to rise and experts fear some of the badly decomposed bodies may never be identified.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2004)