ISRAEL: The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, has thanked his Israeli counterpart, Mr Silvan Shalom, for Israeli technical assistance in identifying Irish victims of the tsunami disaster in Thailand.
Upon his return from a visit to the disaster areas in southern Asia, Mr Ahern sent a letter to Mr Shalom, who is also Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, in which he conveyed on behalf of the Government his "very sincere thanks and appreciation" for "this most helpful assistance".
According to the letter, while visiting the stricken holiday resort of Phuket, Thailand, Mr Ahern was informed "in the warmest terms of the enormous assistance afforded to our embassy staff there by your forensic team".
Israeli forensic specialists, including teams from the criminal identification department of the Israeli police and members of the volunteer group Zaka, helped identify two Irish victims in the Phuket region.
According to the letter, the families of the victims "were greatly helped" by Israel's speedy handling of the cases.
It is understood the victims in question were Ms Eilis Finnegan, from Dublin, and Mr Conor Keightley, from Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
Zaka (the Hebrew acronym for Identification of Victims of Disaster) is an organisation of ultra-orthodox Jews which is not only involved in locating and preparing the bodies of victims but also provides first aid and rescue services.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy in Dublin said: "Unfortunately, we have far too much experience in dealing with emergency situations. However, the skills we have acquired, combined with some well-known Israeli traits - the ability to respond quickly to situations, to improvise when needed and to take the initiative - have enabled us to provide rapid and appropriate aid under difficult and often confusing circumstances.
"Our experience in identifying victims of terrorist attacks was not only useful in identifying our own victims of the tsunami, but the Israeli experts assisted other states in dealing with their nationals."