Police officers' tsunami mission

The team will be in Thailand until early April

A team of specialist Devon and Cornwall police officers is travelling to Thailand to help with the effort to identify victims of the Asian tsunami.

The team, who leave on Saturday, will be working in the Phuket area.

They will be led by Inspector Andy Lilburn who will take over as sector commander in the area around Phuket.

The officers will continue the harrowing task of recovering bodies which have been hidden under debris since the tsunami on Boxing Day.

It is harrowing moving bodies, but we are reuniting them with their loved-ones Insp Andy Lilburn

Because of their special training the team will also be able to help in the mortuary and assist with post- mortem examinations.

This is the first deployment of such a team of officers from the region.

Insp Lilburn received his orders at a briefing in London earlier in the week and is already in Thailand making preparations for the rest of the team.

He has been trained in disaster management and was one of the first officers on the scene at Hillsborough, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives in 1989, while he was serving with South Yorkshire Police.

He said: "We will recover bodies found in rubble and washed up on the beach in Thailand, then move them to mortuaries, before cleaning and ID-ing them.

"It will be tiring work, as we will be moving bodies for up to 12 hours a day in temperatures reaching 98 degrees.

"It is harrowing moving bodies, but we are reuniting them with their loved ones," he said.

The team will be in Thailand until early April.