José Francisco Planells, the Commissioner General of the Scientific Police, said the presence of the Spanish police has been requested by Honduras. The officers will remain for a week to work in collaboration with Mexican agents currently helping with deceased prisoner remains.



According to the chief inspector, the work carried out will depend on “the state of the corpses and their conservation”. He said that agents in this expedition have earned awards in “many parts of the world”.

The Spanish scientific police have performed their duties for other countries when requested, such as to identify victims in the war in Kosovo in 1999, during the earthquake of Algeria in 2003, in the fire at a supermarket in Asunción (Paraguay) in 2004 and the tsunami of Thailand in 2005.

According to police sources, this division consists of a team for Identification of Victims in Disasters (IVD), prepared and willing to move to where a major disaster has occurred. The team is headed by a coordinator, and includes an expert in necro-identification, and specialists in legal medicine or dentistry. The expedition may also provide photography, video, biological and chemical sampling, and ocular inspection by the technical police.