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Acting Commander Peter Bravos who is in charge of Operation Mentor said the formal identification of the five deceased persons is continuing, however, a number of difficulties are delaying the process.
"Internationally accepted processes of Disaster Victim Identification are underway and this process was always expected to take considerable time.
"We believe all five of the deceased are Afghan nationals and the current war status in Afghanistan is further hindering our efforts.
"We have names and ages of those believed to be the deceased and are in contact with International counterparts.
"However, without formal identification, it has been decided to take the unusual step of releasing the names of those believed to be the deceased in the hope that others may have information which will further assist us with this process.
"The names and ages provided to police are:
Awaz NADER (50yrs)
Baquer HUSANI (26 yrs)
Mohammed Amen ZAMEN (38yrs)
Mohammed Hasan AYOBI (45yrs)
Muzafar Ali Safarali (45yrs)
"Of the five persons listed above, it is unknown who the three recovered persons are and who the missing, presumed deceased persons are." A/Commander Bravos said.
Northern Territory Police have established a 24 hour phone line for anyone with any information on the above named persons to contact them directly on (+61 if calling from overseas) (08) 8922 1522.
To date over 130 statements have been taken including 44 interviews conducted with all injured persons now released from hospital. Two of those recently released are yet to be interviewed and one person remains medically unfit.
A number of people are to be re-interviewed as part of the standard investigation process. These secondary interviews commenced last week.
Northern Territory Police currently have 22 officers working on this investigation with 12 based in Darwin, 6 in Perth and 4 in Brisbane.
No conclusions have been drawn at this stage as to how the explosion occurred.
The NT Police investigation into this explosion causing five deaths should not be confused with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation and subsequent charges with regard to people smuggling.
All findings in relation to this investigation will be submitted to the Coroner who has confirmed he will hold a public inquest into the deaths related to this matter.
Media Contact:
Katie Fowden
0401 116 540
