4,000 bodies still remain unidentified following quake

The identities of around 4,000 bodies collected following the March 11 mega earthquake and ensuing tsunami still remain unconfirmed in severely-damaged Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, a local police tally showed Tuesday.

''They were collected at places far from their residential areas (due to being swept away by the tsunami), or their families as a whole must have been washed away by the tsunami,'' a senior official at the National Police Agency said, referring to the slow progress in identifying the bodies.

Among the 4,000, police have tentatively identified 1,700 bodies from their belongings and put the information on police websites. For the remaining 2,300, the police have posted information only about clothes and physical sizes as it is difficult to reach any conclusions about identities.

More than 28,000 people were killed or remain unaccounted for in the quake and tsunami, according to the NPA.