Exercise 2.
Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) – Thirty skeletons found in a refugee boat which landed in Malaysia may be part of bizarre hoax and not the remains of US Vietnam war veterans as claimed, American and Malaysian officials said on Wednesday.
“It’s possible but the probability is not very high,” US embassy charge d’ affaires Paul Blakeburn said when asked if the remains were those of American servicemen.
The skeletons and US army metal tags bearing names units and addresses were found in a boat carrying nine Vietnamese boat people which landed on Monday at Tanjung Sedili Beach on the southeastern coast, police said.
Police searching for weapons found the bones sealed in plastic bags inside several barrels on board the 16-meter boat, which had markings in English on its side saying “USA Remains in My Boat” and “This Boat Have USA Army Remains.”
A high-level Malaysia source told Reuters it was likely the men on the boat, aged between 18 and 56, were using the bones as a ruse to obtain money or gain refuge in the United States.
“Tags are not solid evidence. Let’s leave it to the experts,” Blakeburn said in a telephone interview, adding that Washington had been informed about the remains.
An embassy spokeswoman said the skeleton would either be inspected by officials from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center in Bangkok, which studies report of US veterans missing in action, or be sent to the US Department of Defence’s forensic laboratory in Hawaii (“MIA Skeletons on Refugee Boat.” 1990:1)