Ukrainian police will learn forensic skills from their Japanese counterparts who gained experience identifying bodies after the 2011 quake disaster, Japan's national police agency said Thursday, preparing them for the task of performing autopsies on victims in the war-torn Eastern European nation.
Japanese police, for the first time since Russia's invasion in February 2022, extended the offer of help to Ukraine, with a total of 10 senior officials from the forensic department of Ukraine's National Police service expected to arrive in Japan as early as July 10 for a multiple-day stay.
According to Ukraine, there are tens of thousands of unidentified bodies in the country. The training program offer came after Kyiv contacted the Japanese Embassy in Ukraine via the U.N. Development Program, asking for Japanese professionals to share their expertise in identifying massive numbers of bodies.
"In terms of the number (of mass autopsies), Japanese police are experienced and we believe we should assist," an official of Japan's National Police Agency said.
During their stay, the Ukrainian officials will visit the agency, the National Research Institute of Police Science, Fukushima Prefectural Police and the Azabu station of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department.
They will be trained on mass autopsy procedures and how to collect specimens in the process, as well as on ways to efficiently conduct DNA analysis, according to the agency.
After the magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami disaster that hit eastern Japan in 2011, Japanese police have completed by the end of February this year 15,830 autopsies on bodies from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, and identified 99.7 percent of the victims.
In the identification of 15,777 disaster victims in the three prefectures, the most successful method was through physical characteristics and belongings at 88.6 percent, followed by dental records at 7.9 percent, fingerprints at 2.4 percent and DNA analysis at 1.1 percent, the agency said.
With identification becoming increasingly difficult as time passes, police have also created a DNA database from samples provided by families of the missing, and making public "portraits" that have been created based on the facial characteristics of the dead, it said.
The Ukrainian side is also hoping to learn how Japan managed the mental health care of family members in order to support those who have lost loved ones in Russia's invasion and for officers involved in conducting autopsies, the agency said.
Related coverage:
Japan agrees to set up reconstruction liaison system with Ukraine
2 wounded Ukrainian soldiers arrive in Japan for treatment
