A FORENSIC expert based at Dundee University has described the grim task of identifying dead bodies recovered from the tsunami disaster as “absolutely unbelievable.”

Professor Sue Black’s work has taken her to investigate the sites of butchery and genocide in Iraq, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, but she said the situation in Thailand is totally unique.

Professor Black, who is currently in Phuket, recorded an audio update of the situation she encountered, which was broadcast yesterday during the first of Dundee University’s Discovery days in the Bonar Hall.

Professor Black, head of the anatomy and forensic anthropology department, gave an insight into the situation she and other volunteers faced after the devastating impact of the tsunami and explained how the forensic team has been dealing with the enormous task of identifying the dead.

She was approached by Houston-based organisation Kenyon International Emergency Services to make up a team of experts from America, Australia, Britain and Singapore.

Professor Black said the area she was working in had been “very, very badly” hit by the tsunami, which is one of the reasons why it was the central location for the mortuaries.

“So we are in many regards really in the midst of it,” she said.

“It’s a dreadful job that has to be done but it’s something that has to be done efficiently and it has to be done very quickly because there are families who want to get their loved ones back.”

Professor Black conceded that the identification process could take many years.

“The enormity of the task is that tens of thousands of people will probably never be identified,” she said.

“That makes it a very sad situation.”

Professor Black had earlier spoken of her frustration over the British government’s failure to react to the identity crisis in the affected countries by making use of the level of expertise in this country to quickly send out a team of forensic experts.

Speaking days after the disaster, she said the country was being “internationally embarrassed” by its failure to send out a team of identification experts, which she said was also the case at the time of the Bali bombing.

Also speaking at yesterday’s conference were researchers Professor Andrew Morris, an expert on treating diabetes, and Professor Callum Brown, who explained how the 1960s became a focus for Europe’s secularism.

Professor Eric Abel also talked about his work on designing a middle ear implant for people who suffer from hearing loss.