HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Investigators trying to identify victims of the Titanic disaster suffered a setback Saturday when samples from two water-damaged graves in Canada didn’t provide enough material for DNA tests.
The graves contained the unidentified bodies of a man and woman who died when the ocean liner sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. Investigators still hope to get good samples from the bones of a 2-year-old boy in the third grave, said Alan Ruffman of Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Geomarine Associates.
Relatives of missing Titanic victims asked investigators to determine whether the graves in Halifax, west of the sinking site, are those of their family members.
But once the coffins were removed, investigators realized that seeping water had badly damaged the remains of the two adults.
“It was impossible. It was important that we let the families know immediately so no hopes would be built up,” said Nancy Angus of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where the tests were to take place.
A tiny piece of bone taken from the third grave will be ground to powder to enable scientists to extract the DNA with chemicals, Ruffman said. Family members have provided blood samples to see if there is a match.
Results from DNA testing could take as long as six months.
Of the more than 1,500 people who died in the Titanic tragedy, about 150 were buried in Halifax, and 43 have never been identified.
The Titanic went down about 375 miles southeast of Newfoundland after striking an iceberg. It sank in less than three hours.
