Singapore team helping identify disaster victims in Nepal returns home: 'What we do matters to those looking for answers'

For Singapore's Operation Vanguard contingent, their work in Nepal was not just about fingerprints, post-mortem examinations or drones.

Behind every body they examined was a family waiting for answers.

The 35-member contingent returned to Singapore on Friday (Sept 18) after spending more than two weeks supporting Nepal's disaster relief efforts following catastrophic floods and landslides along the Nepal-China border on Aug 26.

The contingent, comprising officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF), the Health Sciences Authority's (HSA) Forensic Medicine Division and HTX's Integrated Forensics Service, was deployed from Sept 1 to 18 at the request of the Nepali authorities.

Their work included Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), post-mortem examinations, fingerprint recovery and aerial surveillance training for Nepali police officers.

At a reception held on Saturday (Sept 26) to welcome the contingent home, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong thanked the officers for serving in "unfamiliar and challenging conditions" with professionalism, resilience and compassion.

In his speech at the reception, he also highlighted the vital roles that the officers played in assisting the disaster relief.

"Our Disaster Victim Identification team helped the local authorities identify victims and provided closure to grieving families."

As for the officers on the ground, the experience was also a deeply personal one.

'A lot of sensory overload'

For Assistant Superintendent of Police Corelle Tan Pei Shan, a DVI-trained officer who was part of the advance party, the mission marked her first experience working on a disaster of such scale.

When the DVI team began its work, it was already about a week after the disaster. Many of the remains were in varying stages of decomposition after being swept away by floodwaters.

"For me, it's my first time seeing this, so definitely it's a lot of sensory overload: The sight, the smell, the touch, everything," Tan said.

The conditions meant the officers had to constantly adapt their approach.

Their task was to recover fingerprints from the remains, with the prints subsequently compared against ante-mortem records to help establish victims' identities.

Tan said she had been trained in Singapore in different fingerprint-lifting methodologies, but had never had the opportunity to put some of those techniques to use in a real-life mass casualty incident.

"Fortunately, there's no such incident in Singapore," she said.

"But while we were there, because of the evolving situation, the condition of the bodies, we had to adapt to our methodology and see which is the best method that we should be using, and tweak such that the fingerprints we lift are effective enough for comparison."

The experience, she added, would be brought back to Singapore to strengthen the team's preparedness for future mass casualty incidents.

Two families claimed the same body

One of the most striking moments came late one night, when the team was called back to assist after two families separately believed they had identified the same body as their relative.

The officers were requested to return on site to expedite the fingerprint recording, with the families providing documents that could be used for comparison.

The fingerprint comparison, however, eventually showed that the body belonged to neither family.

Fingerprint specialist Yong Heng Wei said the incident demonstrated the trust placed in the Singapore team by their Nepali counterparts.

"It reflects the trust and the confidence and the expectation that the Nepali authorities have of us," Yong said.

The reconciliation process is still ongoing, as post-mortem records and ante-mortem information continue to be collected and compared by the authorities.

'What we do here really matters to a family'

Reflecting further on their experience, the officers gained a reminder that the work was not simply a technical exercise.

For forensic pathologist Dr Benjamin Kwek of HSA, the mission was also his first time carrying out DVI work on the ground in a disaster of this nature.

For Dr Kwek, the scale of the disaster became especially real when he saw photographs of missing people displayed at the hospital.

"One of the things that struck myself was at the hospital when people were putting up photographs of the missing persons," Dr Kwek said.

"What we do here really matters to the person. Really matters to a family who is looking for answers at the end of it."

Despite the difficult work, the officers also experienced moments of warmth from the people they worked alongside.

At their base, Nepali staff once gave the Singapore team individual handwritten notes.

One of the messages in particular stayed with Dr Kwek: "Grateful for the heart and skill that you carry so far from home. You are truly valued."

asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com

对于新加坡“先锋行动”特遣队来说，他们在尼泊尔的工作不仅仅是指纹采集、尸检或无人机操作。

他们检查的每一具尸体背后，都有一个等待答案的家庭。

由 35 名成员组成的救援队于周五（9 月 18 日）返回新加坡。此前，他们花了两个多星期的时间支援尼泊尔的救灾工作，此前尼泊尔于 8 月 26 日在中尼边境遭遇了灾难性的洪水和山体滑坡。

应尼泊尔当局的要求，该特遣队由新加坡警察部队 (SPF)、卫生科学局 (HSA) 法医部门和 HTX 综合法医服务部门的官员组成，于 9 月 1 日至 18 日部署到尼泊尔。

他们的工作包括灾难受害者身份识别 (DVI)、尸检、指纹提取以及为尼泊尔警察提供空中监视培训。

在周六（9月26日）举行的欢迎仪式上，律政部长兼内政部第二部长唐振辉感谢这些官员在“陌生和充满挑战的环境中”以专业精神、韧性和同情心履行职责。

在招待会上的讲话中，他还强调了警官们在协助救灾工作中发挥的重要作用。

“我们的灾难遇难者身份识别小组帮助地方当局确认了遇难者身份，并让悲痛的家属得到慰藉。”

对于一线警员来说，这也是一次非常私人的经历。

“感官超载”

对于受过灾害影响评估培训的警官、助理警司陈佩珊（Corelle Tan Pei Shan）来说，这次任务标志着她第一次参与如此大规模的灾难救援工作。陈佩珊是先遣队的一员。

当DVI团队开始工作时，灾难已经发生大约一周了。许多遗骸被洪水冲走后，已经处于不同程度的腐烂状态。

“对我来说，这是我第一次看到这样的景象，所以肯定会带来很多感官上的冲击：视觉、嗅觉、触觉，所有的一切，”谭说道。

这样的环境意味着警员们必须不断调整他们的应对方式。

他们的任务是从遗骸上提取指纹，然后将指纹与生前记录进行比对，以帮助确定受害者的身份。

谭女士表示，她曾在新加坡接受过不同的指纹提取方法培训，但从未有机会在真实的群体伤亡事件中运用这些技术。

“幸运的是，新加坡没有发生此类事件，”她说。

“但是，由于情况不断变化，尸体状况也各不相同，我们不得不调整方法，看看哪种方法最好，并进行调整，以便提取的指纹能够有效地进行比对。”

她补充说，此次经验将带回新加坡，以加强团队应对未来大规模伤亡事件的准备工作。

两家人认领了同一具尸体。

最令人震惊的时刻之一发生在深夜，当时有两个家庭分别认为他们认出了同一具亲人的遗体，于是召回了救援队。

警方要求警员返回现场加快指纹采集速度，家属则提供可用于比对的文件。

然而，指纹比对最终表明，这具尸体既不属于这个家族，也不属于另一个家族。

指纹专家杨恒伟表示，这一事件表明了尼泊尔同行对新加坡团队的信任。

“这反映了尼泊尔当局对我们的信任、信心和期望，”永说道。

和解过程仍在进行中，当局仍在收集和比对尸检记录和生前信息。

“我们在这里所做的一切对一个家庭来说真的非常重要。”

回顾自己的经历，警官们更加深刻地体会到，这项工作不仅仅是一项技术性的工作。

对于 HSA 的法医病理学家 Benjamin Kwek 博士来说，这次任务也是他第一次在这种性质的灾难中进行现场灾害影响评估 (DVI) 工作。

对郭医生来说，当他看到医院里张贴的失踪人员照片时，灾难的规模才变得格外真实。

郭医生说：“让我印象深刻的一件事是在医院里，当时人们正在张贴失踪人员的照片。”

“我们在这里所做的一切对当事人来说至关重要。对那些最终寻求答案的家庭来说也至关重要。”

尽管工作很辛苦，但警员们也感受到了与他们并肩工作的人们给予的温暖。

在他们的基地，尼泊尔工作人员曾给新加坡团队亲笔写下个人便条。

其中一条信息尤其让郭医生印象深刻：“感谢你远道而来，依然保持着这份热情和精湛的医术。你真的很有价值。”

asyiqin.nadzri@asiaone.com