ANP extension
ANNOUNCEMENTS•
Police are launching an urgent appeal to families who disappeared in the 1953 floods to donate DNA. This still allows the anonymous victims of the natural disaster to be identified.
Relatives of missing persons should wait no longer, says forensic investigator Hans Geldof of the Zeeland-West Brabant Police and the podcast The Disappearance of ’53 of the PZC and the AD. “It’s still possible. If there are still older people in that family who are willing to donate DNA, then that gives hope. We can still take the risk before it’s too late.”
anonymous graves
On February 1st, exactly 70 years ago, Zeeland, South Holland and Noord-Brabant were hit by a storm surge, inundating large areas and killing more than 1,800 people. Of all those victims, more than a hundred have never been identified.
In 2013 a large DNA study had already been started in hopes of changing that. Unknown victims have been dug up in various locations to secure the DNA material. Even then, family members could donate DNA. This ensured that three unnamed victims were given names again.
Hesitation
Yet not all relatives were willing to donate DNA at the time, Geldof says on the podcast. “I hope they put their hesitations behind them and keep reporting. So please spread the news to your grandparents or your mom and dad, because there’s definitely a chance we’ll find someone.”
The Netherlands Forensic Institute agrees with this invitation. “Even if it’s not for you, then maybe for other people in the family, who still want to know where that missing person went. Then do it for them, so everyone in a cemetery has a name too,” she says. DNA kinship expert Carla van Dongen.
Family members who still want to participate in the DNA test can report to the Flood Museum or the Zeeland-West Brabant Police.
