The priority is to recover and identify all bodies as quickly as possible. To achieve this, the National Police issued a clear directive. A multidisciplinary team from the General Police and the Scientific Police has a dual mandate: speed up the identification of victims recovered from inside the damaged Campanar building and initiate investigations not only to determine the source of the fire, which is currently considered accidental, but also why it spread at such a dizzying pace that the fourteen-story structure became a blazing inferno in under an hour. [Attribution: Valencia Police, Scientific Police]
Nearly half of the Madrid personnel assigned to the operation come from the Central Identification Unit. This unit includes dentists and radiology and traumatology specialists who will lead the identification process. DNA analysis will be used when other methods cannot confirm identity, but dental and radiological techniques are prioritized for their speed. In some cases, genetic profiling will be employed as a last resort. [Attribution: Central Identification Unit]
We are investigating the causes of the disaster with a broad team on the ground. The personnel also includes seven agents from the Central Crime Scene Investigation Unit and two from the Central Scientific Analysis Unit. [Attribution: Central Investigation Units]
The coordination will involve the Valencia Scientific Police working alongside firefighters who have been inside the building since the initial hours. Their role is to locate, photograph, and document the positions and condition of the victims to support the identification effort and subsequent inquiries. [Attribution: Valencia Scientific Police]
The bodies are expected to be moved to a temporary morgue set up in front of the damaged building. Lift-EMV teams, including a forensic doctor and a technician from the Forensic Medicine Institute of Valencia, part of the Prensa Ibérica group, together with specialist identification officers from the Scientific Police, are preparing to collect samples and begin the formal identification process. [Attribution: Forensic Medicine Institute of Valencia]
At the scene, 19 people are listed as missing. So far, the bodies of six victims have been recovered. Among those missing were members of a family: a man, a woman, and their two young children, aged three and two weeks, who were last known to be in their home. An elderly couple and others were reported missing after being in a refugee shelter. [Attribution: Missing Persons Unit]
The investigation will continue to proceed with thorough documentation, including careful examination of the building layout, potential escape routes, and fire progression. The aim is to establish a clear chronology of events, identify all affected individuals, and determine the precise circumstances that allowed the fire to spread so rapidly. [Attribution: Investigation Team]