For Israel Police forensic exerts responsible for identifying the victims of terror attacks along with the seasoned veterans of Zaka, this week’s attack in Burgas presented many difficulties. Their team week included staff members from the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, police crime scene investigators, a dentist and other experts, each doing his/her part to piece together the pieces of the puzzle towards establishing the identities of the victims.

Israel Police’s Uri Argaman, an expert in victim identification led the team. They were under considerable pressure from local officials, who were more than anxious to reopen the airport, adding to the difficulties of positively identifying the victims. Argamon adds there is always the pressure from the families, those wishing to know if their loved ones are among the fatalities.

Zaka’s Shimmy Grossman, who was a member of the team, explained the bus was badly damaged, almost entirely burned. This added to complicate their mission as much of the forensic evidence went up in smoke. He added that also making things difficult was the fact that the blast was so powerful, items were thrown 60-70 meters from the scene, reminding him of some of the more difficult bus bombings in Yerushalayim.

Argamon explained that the local experts were armed with “primitive equipment at best”, and their wanted to assist but what that had to offer was marginal. Argamon feels that the process of positively identifying the five Israeli victims was accomplished relatively quickly.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)