INFOGRAPHIC

Marina Bay Suites fire: DNA testing to confirm identity of victims' bodies

Relatives of 58-year-old security officer Mr Sim Lai Huat, one of the two victims of the Marina Bay Suites fire, at the Singapore General Hospital morgue. The bodies of the two security guards who died in the Marina Bay Suites fire have not been rele
Relatives of 58-year-old security officer Mr Sim Lai Huat, one of the two victims of the Marina Bay Suites fire, at the Singapore General Hospital morgue. The bodies of the two security guards who died in the Marina Bay Suites fire have not been released to the families, even though they were at the mortuary on Wednesday morning. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIOBIN

The bodies of the two security guards who died in the Marina Bay Suites fire have not been released to the families, even though they were at the mortuary on Wednesday morning.

The Straits Times understands that the charred bodies of security guards Mr Sim Lai Huat, 58, and Ms Sooria Kala Kanaseon, 34, will be put under DNA testing so their identities can be confirmed. Such tests typically take a few days, although in some cases they may take more than a week.

Mr Sim's brother, wife, son and two daughters were at the mortuary at about 8am on Wednesday, while a man believed to be Ms Sooria Kala's husband arrived about an hour later. They were seen talking to a man understood to represent the deceased's employer, security firm Pico Guards, and left the mortuary separately before 10am.

The fire that broke out on Monday evening was so intense that firefighters took the lift to a safe level almost 20 floors below the blaze, and climbed the rest of the way to fight it. The fire is understood to have occurred on the highest floor ever here.

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