As the clock keeps ticking away following a catastrophic dive boat fire in California …, friends and family members of those thought to have perished have been left in a particularly agonizing limbo. Thanks in no small part to the extreme conditions of the inferno, the final confirmation that their loved ones died remains up in the air.
But in an effort to remedy that situation, emergency workers have been deploying state-of-the-art, “rapid DNA” testing tech over the last 24 hours, trying to accelerate the ID process. Mourning parents and siblings have had to provide sample swabs.
“Rapid DNA testing refers to completely automated testing of DNA, testing samples in less than two hours using portable ‘all-in-one’ instruments,” Mehul Anjaria, a Los Angeles-based forensic DNA specialist, told Fox News.
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“It’s incredible technology and is going to change the way law enforcement does business,” said Jim Davis, a former FBI agent and chief federal officer for ANDE, a firm that’s been a pioneer in the rapid DNA testing industry. “It’s basically a lab on a block of plastic that uses the same basic chemistry and processing that is used in traditional labs.”
Read full, original post: State-of-the-art military tech — ‘rapid DNA’ — is used to ID victims of California dive boat fire
