Holness vows all Hurricane Melissa victims will be accounted for, even if already buried

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says the authorities will recover the bodies of every person who died as a result of Hurricane Melissa, including exhuming those that have already been buried.

He was responding to questions from members of parliament in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Earlier, Dr Dayton Campbell, the Member of Parliament for Eastern Westmoreland, questioned the Government's count of deaths resulting from Hurricane Melissa as well as the process for retrieving bodies.

"Do we believe that the response for retrieving the bodies was appropriate? Because we've had funeral homes that had to come for some and community members had to bury others in Eastern Westmoreland," said Campbell.

Holness noted that the official death toll in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa as of Tuesday was 32, but acknowledged that persons have died who remain unaccounted for.

"We have to account for every Jamaican who lost their lives," Holness said. "People have resorted to burying, however, just to be clear, we will recover all bodies, even if we have to exhume, and we will go through a process of proper identification and where possible a determination of death."

Holness said forensic teams have already started to do checks on the bodies recovered to officially determine a cause of death.

Campbell told the House of Representatives he is aware of at least 25 deaths in his constituency alone.

"Based on my count from my own constituency, in the Darliston division there are 12, in the Leamington division four, Bethel Town division, two, and seven in the Whitehouse division, which is giving me 25," he said.

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