Body in coffin still a mystery
John Ferguson
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
_____________________
Four days after the wrong body was sent to the grieving relatives of Australian soldier Jake Kovco, the coffin lid has yet to be lifted in Melbourne to determine the lost soul's true identity.
So confident was the Bosnian Government that the man wrongly sent to Australia was theirs, he has even been named as 47-year-old Juso Sianovic.
But as of yesterday, Government officials in Melbourne said the coffin lid had still not been lifted to check whether Sianovic was lying in a box.
Victorian Coroner Graeme Johnstone has been forced to follow an Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service request that the coffin be held in quarantine until the right paperwork arrives.
This means the lid has not been lifted, as part of precautions to ensure that the container and items used to pack the body don't spread disease or weeds.
A spokesman for Mr Johnstone also yesterday said that dental records and DNA material would need to be sent to Australia before the autopsy could be undertaken.
This means grieving relatives in Bosnia - assuming that is where the dead man was from - will have to wait days at the very least before the body is returned overseas.
May 01, 2006
John Ferguson
Advertiser Adelaide, Australia
_____________________
Four days after the wrong body was sent to the grieving relatives of Australian soldier Jake Kovco, the coffin lid has yet to be lifted in Melbourne to determine the lost soul's true identity.
So confident was the Bosnian Government that the man wrongly sent to Australia was theirs, he has even been named as 47-year-old Juso Sianovic.
But as of yesterday, Government officials in Melbourne said the coffin lid had still not been lifted to check whether Sianovic was lying in a box.
Victorian Coroner Graeme Johnstone has been forced to follow an Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service request that the coffin be held in quarantine until the right paperwork arrives.
This means the lid has not been lifted, as part of precautions to ensure that the container and items used to pack the body don't spread disease or weeds.
A spokesman for Mr Johnstone also yesterday said that dental records and DNA material would need to be sent to Australia before the autopsy could be undertaken.
This means grieving relatives in Bosnia - assuming that is where the dead man was from - will have to wait days at the very least before the body is returned overseas.
May 01, 2006
