Autopsies of the 13 fatal victims of Sunday’s road accident in Freginals have been carried out by a team of forensic experts from Catalonia’s Ministry of Justice. The team concluded their findings at 8pm on the same evening and as of today they will be meeting with victims’ families to confirm the identity of the deceased.

 

The families will be accompanied by members of the forensic team together with officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police) as they arrive to the Tanatori de Tortosa-Jesús from their countries of origin.

 

To establish the identity of the bodies, the forensic experts will take into account the autopsy results, a post-mortem ocular examination and information facilitated by the victims’ families. After the bodies are identified, the judge will then authorize their repatriation.

 

To identify the victims, the Ministry of Justice has enabled a team of 17 forensic experts from Terres de l’Ebre, Tarragona and Barcelona, which is currently being coordinated by the director of the Institut de Medicina Legal i Forense. Incidentally, two members of the team are also experts in crisis management and specialise in odontology and victim identification.

 

The Ministry of Justice has also put at the disposal of the families a team of psychologists and social workers from the Victim Support Office (Oficina d’Atenció a la Víctima). The team will provide all the necessary linguistic support to victims and their relatives at the morgue (Tanatori Tortosa-Jesús), as well as at the courts of justice and at the hotels where those not requiring medical attention are staying in.

 

There will also be 10 interpreters from the Ministry of Justice to assist with translations in English, French, Italian, German and Dutch. Furthermore, these interpreters will assist the victims and their families in identification of the bodies. They will, also be available to expedite any court proceedings relating to the accident.