Thiruvananthapuram, April 26: The DNA test of a highly decomposed body found near Kovalam in Kerala last week confirmed on Thursday that it was of a Latvian woman who went missing last month.
The DNA sample was matched with Iizie -- the sister of missing 33-year-old Liga Skromane -- who had earlier confirmed the body was her sister's.
After meeting state police chief Loknath Behra, Ilzie told the media that she was content with the way the police were probing the case.
"We are now waiting for final medical reports which will make everything clear," she said.
The officials of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology on Thursday submitted the findings at a court here and also conveyed it to the police probe team.
Earlier, the police suspected that the death of the tourist was due to poisoning caused by eating a fruit found commonly in the marshy area where the body was found with the head severed from the body.
The police have picked up a few people from the quiet and secluded place which is frequented by small-time drugs traders who supply it to tourists.
Liga and Ilzie came to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment at a facility on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.
She went missing on March 14 and was last reported to have taken an auto-rickshaw to Kovalam. She was not carrying a passport or mobile phone with her.
The auto-rickshaw driver who dropped her at Kovalam identified that Liga did not have any bag with her. He also said the jacket found with Liga was not the one she was wearing when she rode with him.
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Mexican tall ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge, snapping masts, injuring sailors
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New York (AP): A Mexican navy sailing ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a promotional tour in New York City, the top of its three masts slamming into the iconic span and partially collapsing as the boat floated in the East River. Nineteen people were injured in the crash.
The New York Fire Department press desk confirmed that authorities responded to injuries.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said 19 people were injured in the crash, four seriously, but the 142-year-old bridge was spared major damage. The cause of the collision was under investigation.
In a scene captured in multiple eyewitness videos, the masts could be seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crashed into the deck of the bridge. Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision.
The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag, then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore. Sailors could be seen aloft in the rigging on the damaged masts.
Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge and one of its masts snap. Looking closer, they saw someone dangling from high on the ship.
“We saw someone dangling, and I couldn't tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” Katz said.
They said they saw two people removed from the ship on stretchers onto smaller boats.
The Mexican navy said in a post on the social platform X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in an accident with the Brooklyn Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage.
It added that the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry said on X that its ambassador to the U.S. and officials from the Mexican consulate in New York were in contact with local authorities to provide assistance to “the affected cadets,” but it did not mention injuries.
The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, has a nearly 1,600-foot (490-meter) main span supported by two masonry towers. More than 100,000 vehicles and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians cross every day, according to the city's transportation department, and its walkway is a major tourist attraction.
The Cuauhtemoc - about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide (90.5 meters long and 12 meters wide), according to the Mexican navy - sailed for the first time in 1982.
Each year it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets' training. This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6 with 277 people onboard, the navy said then.
The Mexican consulate said May 13 on X that the Cuauhtemoc, also called the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that day and docked at pier 17. It invited people to visit through May 17.
The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 nations, including Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.
It also had planned to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a total of 254 days, 170 of them at sea.
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