China on Friday handed over to the Thai government the test data of nearly 1,100 DNA samples from the victims who were killed in the massive tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra witnessed the brief ceremony as the data was passed from Lu Yongxiang, president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, to the Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Preecha Laohapongchana.

The tsunami catastrophically swept over number of nations in Southeast Asia including Thailand. Statistics from the Thai government showed that 5,395 people were killed by the disaster in Thailand, among whom 1,953 were foreigners.

To accelerate the process of victim identification, countries including China, Australia, the Netherlands, France, New Zealand and Singapore, sent DNA experts to Thailand shortly after the tsunami. DNA samples were also sent to various countries for further testing.

Deng Yajun, a senior researcher from the Beijing Genomics Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said nearly 1,600 DNA samples were sent to her institute from Thailand.

"We have completed DNA testing on over 1,100 samples and the results were given to the Thai government on the occasion of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin's visit here," she said. "The rest of the samples are still under identification."

The samples were delivered from Thailand's National Police Department to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an official with the Chinese Foreign Minsitry said. Chinese scientists tried to identify the victims through DNA testing on the bone and cell samples.

China and Thailand enjoy 30 years of diplomatic ties. During official talks with Chinese Premier Wen, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin expressed his government's appreciation for China's help after the Tsunami disaster.

Thailand and China are like brothers and are friends in need, said Thaksin.

Reports from the Chinese government said that as of March 1, the Chinese government had offered 686 million yuan (about 82.9 million US dollars) to Tsunami-affected countries in addition to 576 million yuan from the public and private sectors.

Thaksin arrived in Beijing Thursday night for a three-day official visit to China. This is his third trip to China as Thai prime minister.

Source: Xinhua