THAILAND : Relatives of tsunami victims are still desperately searching for closure as hundreds of bodies still remain in limbo in Thailand.

According to international aid groups, the majority of them are Myanmar workers whose bodies still have not been claimed by their relatives.

It has been a year since the Asian tsunami, and some Thais have only just begun to identify and bury their dead.

They are the lucky ones.

Khinmaroo, 21, lost two sisters and a nephew to the waves, but she still cannot find their bodies.

"When I think of them I always cry and I really hope that they are happy wherever they are," she said.

Khinmaroo is an illegal migrant from Myanmar in a state of legal limbo in Thailand.

"I want to find their bodies and cremate them in the temple according to my religion, but I'm afraid to go because I don't have an identity card," she said.

She is one of the estimated 20,000 Myanmar illegals working in Phang Nga province, many of whom lost loved ones to the tsunami.

They are the 'backbone' of Thailand's tourist industry, most of them work in construction - building the area's many resorts and hotels.

Ironically, they have been forgotten by the Thai government.

Kyaw Lin Oo, Coordinator of Grassroots Human Rights Education, said: "Actually their own government from Burma ignores their own people here so that's why the Thai government also doesn't need to do anything for these people."

Aid groups have only recently begun helping these migrants from Myanmar identify their dead relatives by collecting personal artifacts, fingerprints, and DNA on them.

So far, they have helped identify some 70 bodies and are sending them back to their families.

But there is still a lot of work to be done.

It has been a year and there are still some 1,000 bodies in metal containers.

Officials said as many as several hundred of them could be from Myanmar, which were still unclaimed by their relatives or their government.

With the help of aid workers, Khinmaroo and others have begun their search - but it could take months or even years.

But at least it will lay to rest the traumatic chapter of their lives and help them move on. - CNA/de

Tsunami Disaster - One Year On: Channelnewsasia.com special coverage >>>