The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said Thursday in Sarajevo it has been assisting the United States authorities in identifying victims of Hurricane Katrina, which swept across the southeastern U.S. in August this year, according to DPA. The Sarajevo-based organization said a process of analyzing bone samples of the victims has been underway in order "to obtain DNA profiles for identification of the bodies" of the victims of Katrina, which hit New Orleans killing more than 1,400 people. "Under the agreement between ICMP and the State of Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, ICMP will test an estimated 260 to 359 bone samples to assist in identification of victims of the August hurricane," read the statement. The DNA analysis, according to ICMP, "is being carried out at the ICMP DNA laboratories in Bosnia-Herzegovina", where the organization was established in 1996 to assist in the identification of persons missing after years of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. --More 22 18 Local Time 19 18 GMT
