Law change 'to ID tsunami dead'

The identification of dead has been a headache for authorities

The government plans law changes to allow police to use fingerprint and DNA databases to identify British victims of December's tsunami.

About 175 Britons are thought to have been caught up in the disaster, but are still unaccounted for.

Fingerprints and DNA have been taken from bodies but cannot be checked against databases because the disaster was not a criminal event.

The government will propose changes to a bill to change this on Thursday.

The planned changes to the Serious and Organised Crime and Police Bill will also allow police to use the databases for Britons caught up in any future natural disasters.

'Bring closure'

The databases have fingerprints or DNA from around 20% of the male population. The details are mainly from people arrested or those who have had criminal convictions.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "As the law currently stands, neither the fingerprint nor DNA databases can be used for purposes not related to crime.

"In the event of a criminal outrage such as 9/11 or the Madrid bombing, they could be used to identify victims but not in the case of a natural disaster such as the tsunami. The amendment will rectify this anomaly.

"The amendment would enable some victims to be identified more quickly and returned to Britain, helping to bring closure to the families of those still missing believed dead," she said.

The Asian tsunami killed more than 200,000 people across the region last December.

So far 92 Britons are confirmed dead, with a further 78 people "highly likely" to have been involved and 62 "possibly involved".