The government-owned Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) claims that they can’t confirm that the organs delivered to them for autopsy are a DNA match for deceased teen cadet Pakapong Tanyakan and they may have run out of the necessary chemicals to perform the tests.
CIFS director Somn Promaros said yesterday, “We have to confirm via DNA tests first as to whether these organs really belong to Pakapong Tanyakan before we proceed to determine what caused his death,” reported The Nation.
The 18-year-old military student died on Oct. 17, by what the military called sudden cardiac arrest, though the young man’s parents claim he was healthy and reported that he had been severely physically disciplined at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School.
The parents were immediately suspicious and took their son’s body for a second examination after it was released to them. They found that their son’s brain, heart, and stomach were missing, which the military later said was standard procedure.
The family spoke to the media several times asking for the return of the organs and the truth about what had happened to their boy.
Phramongkutklao Hospital, the government hospital where the organs were removed, returned them to the parents on Nov. 23. They handed the preserved organs to CIFS the same day.
Somn said that, because the organs were preserved with formalin, the DNA tests require “a special formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded solution.”
The Nation reported that the CIFS ran out of the special solution and was awaiting funding to buy more before the DNA testing could proceed.
An investigation into the cadet’s death is ongoing.
