Dubai Police use 3D facial reconstruction to identify dead man found off coast

Officers hope the public can help to identify the man, who is thought to be South Asian

Dubai Police used 3D facial reconstruction in the hope of identifying the man. Courtesy: Dubai Police

Dubai Police released a 3D facial image of a dead man who was found floating in the sea off the city's coast.

Officers said the body was badly decomposed and they were unable to take fingerprint or DNA samples.

Now the force has released a digitally generated picture in the hope that the public can help to identify him.

The man appears to be South Asian and was found about a month ago.

“The remains were severely decomposed due to climatic conditions and corpse erosion as a result of its direct exposure to marine organisms," police said.

From tests on his bone structure, officers know that he was aged 35 to 45. A single head hair allowed them to determine that he had jet black hair that was about 3cm long. They believe he had a moustache.

“It was very difficult to determine the person’s skin colour and tone as the body’s pigments had disappeared for it had been in the water for a long time,” said Dr Younis Al Balooshi, a forensic consultant at Dubai Police.

“Nevertheless, our forensic experts were able, through specialised tests, to determine that the deceased had moderately pigmented brown skin similar to Asians and Middle Easterners."

Police urged any member of the public who recognises the man to call 04-901.

Officers hope to close the case and return the man's remains to his family.

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