Pornthip to survey containers off Chon Buri

Forensic expert Pornthip Rojanasunant will lead the expedition with logistical support, including equipment, vessels and aircraft, mainly from the Navy.

The operation, under direct orders from Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban, has also enlisted manpower from several civilian organisations.

The eight freight containers have been resting on the seabed since 1993. Fishermen have reportedly netted human skulls and skeletons from time to time.

Speculation has intensified that the unclaimed containers may hold the bodies of people who went missing during the 1992 bloody upheaval.

Pornthip, director of the Justice Ministry's Central Institute of Forensic Science, said she would also visit Chong Samaesarn Temple, where skulls and skeletons collected by fishermen have been kept for inspection and future identification.

Many of the skulls are being sent to the CIFS for examination and DNAbased identification.

Pornthip was shown a newlyfound skull during her visit to a charitable foundation in Chon Buri where some skulls have been stored.

She said it belonged to a person of underdetermined gender aged around 40.

The skull had been submerged in seawater and was covered with barnacles, making DNA identification difficult because the flesh and hair were long gone, she said.