Searching for lost lives: SA’s unidentified bodies
South Africa is feeling the strain from having to deal with hundreds of unidentified cadavers, with the most populous province of Gauteng reporting an average of 1,000 each year.
Most of the unidentified bodies at the morgues are thought to be undocumented migrants.
A team of volunteer forensic practitioners from the Wits medical school dedicate two days a week to looking for clues to identify the bodies like data collection, piecing together evidence such as fingerprints, dental patterns, tattoos, tribal marks or any distinctive scars.
Many of the bodies are accident or murder victims, found with no identity or fake identities, in a country with one of the world's highest murder rates, at 63 per day.
