Interior Minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing at midday local time that about 90 per cent of the victims had been identified and authorities were still working on identifying the remaining 10 per cent.
He noted that it takes more time for foreign nationals or teens who have yet to be registered with the government, in which cases they have to check with the families directly.
One father came to collect his 20-something daughter’s body at a funeral home linked to a hospital in Seoul, having received a call at 1am from authorities who identified her.
“This news came like a bolt from the blue sky,” he said.
The man, who asked not to be identified, said the family had ordered a car to move the body to their hometown outside Seoul and start the three-day funeral process.
An official at a funeral home linked to a hospital in Seoul said there were at least two bodies from the incident at the facility on Sunday.
They appeared to have been from outside of Seoul, leading to a delay in family members being able to retrieve the remains, the official said.
“The families need to get this certificate from the police, then we can release the bodies to the families,” the official said.
“If the family would want to find out the cause of the death, then they could request an autopsy, but for these bodies, the cause of death seems pretty clear to me.”
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