The families of four people killed in the February 22 Canterbury earthquake will never be able to bury their loved ones' remains.
Acting Chief Coroner Gordon Matenga and Police Inspector Mark Harrison today announced that all possible disaster victim identification work that could possibly be carried out had been completed.
That means four victims, all of whom had been in the CTV building, will never be formally identified.
They are Shawn Lucas, 40, of Christchurch, Rhea Mae Sumalpong, 25, an Australian resident of the Philippines, Elsa Torres de Frood, 53, a New Zealand resident from Peru, and Valeri Volnov, 41, a New Zealand resident from Russia.
"Any traces of DNA have been destroyed by the extremely high temperatures caused by the fire in the CTV building," Mr Matenga said.
"Despite extensive and exhaustive efforts we have been unable to return any remains of their loved ones to these families but we have been able to issue inquest findings that will help them complete the formalities required."
Mr Harrison met the families last week to give them the news.
"We have been in constant contact with these families during the DVI process to ensure they knew what work was underway to identify their loved ones," he said.
"I sat with these families last week and explained to them that we have been unable to do so. They appreciated that police and the other people working with us had spent the last six months doing everything we could to identify
them.''
Police were working with the families and the Christchurch City Council to ensure an appropriate memorial was established, Mr Harrison said.
