HAVANA, Cuba.- Half of the victims of the plane crash last Friday have been identified, Sergio Rabell, director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, confirmed.

We have 50 bodies identified, Rabell reported and highlighted the systematic work of forensics, as well as the high professional ability they display, to which the fact that the bodies were quite well preserved is added.

In the last hours the bodies of the following people were recognized: Raimundo Guillermo Almenares Sanchez, Jorge Luis Buitrago Cabrera, Gisel Buitrago Santiesteban, and Ronni Alain Pupo Pupo, as well as Adonayda Morales Varona and Sahrawi Abderraham Fadel Mustafa.

The Mexican crew members Miguel Angel Arreola Ramirez, Angel Luis Nuñez Santos, Marco Antonio Lopez Perez and Guadalupe Beatriz Limon Garcia were also identified.

The Investigation Continues

The Director of the Institute of Legal Medicine pointed out that the identification of bodies is continuing to the extent that evidence has been collected and there is positive identification of relatives.

In some cases there are tattoos that are unique and have also helped in the identification, Sergio Rabell said, who was confident that the recognition of other corpses of the fateful flight Havana-Holguin will conclude in the next few hours.

He explained that an important group of experts including criminologists, forensics and psychologists, among other specialties work at the Institute of Legal Medicine which has allowed all the bags reviewed and the compilation of belongings to collate.

Rabell indicated that the large number of collected garments, as well as dentigramas, along with the DNA tests, has allowed to progress in identifying the victims of the accident.

Gratitude from Mexico

At the Institute of Legal Medicine, Mexican ambassador to Havana, Enrique Ramirez thanked the Cuban authorities for the help to the families of the crew deceased last Friday, on the domestic flight that covered the Havana-Holguin route.

The diplomat that the relatives of the six crew members are already on the island, and in the next few hours the family of the Mexican tourist should arrive to cooperate in the victims´ identification.

Ramirez pointed out that Mexican experts collaborate with the Cuban authorities on the scene of the air disaster, as dictated by international standards.

At the Institute of Legal Medicine there were also relatives of the two deceased Sahrawis, as well as authorities of the diplomatic mission of that country in Havana, along with the Cubans who wait for the identification of the bodies.