Independent
By Robert Verkaik and Alenka Zibetto
18 April 2005
A British scientific technique used to identify victims of the tsunami disaster is to help settle a long-standing dispute over the final resting place of Christopher Columbus.
The disagreement is between Spain and the Dominican Republic who both claim to have possession of the bones of arguably the world's greatest explorer.
In February the two governments agreed to allow a team of Spanish scientists, employing a DNA preservation technique developed in Britain, to begin their investigation into establishing the truth behind each of the claims.
A team of geneticists from Granada University is preparing to fly to the Dominican Republic to examine bones in a mausoleum in Santo Domingo, the capital, which are claimed to be those of the 15th-century explorer. Spain insists that Columbus's remains lie in Seville Cathedral.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=630511