On Saturday the body of astronomer Tom Marsh He was finally transferred to Santiago, where he will undergo a series of analyzes by professionals from the capital’s Legal Medical Service to try to find the true reasons for his death. With this, for example, the participation of other people could be determined or ruled out.
The remains of British astronomer Thomas Marsh were found on Thursday in difficult-to-access terrain near the La Silla Observatory, which was only accessible by specialized personnel from the GOPE of the Carabineros.
Coquimbo regional prosecutor, Adrián Vega , maintained that the possible cause of death of the British astronomer could be due to an accident while walking in the area.
One of the hypotheses, in fact, is related to the place where the body was found, since “it is a steep area and in order to go down from the hills you have to go through very rocky sectors. And indeed anyone can twist their ankle or fall”.
Beyond the hypotheses, the definitive answer to find the causes of Thomas Marsh’s death – if it was indeed an accident or if there was participation of third parties at his death – will depend on the expert opinions to which the British body will be submitted at the request of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
And it will be in Santiago, as explained by prosecutor Vega, where it will be faster and more timely to access all the possibilities of specialists plus tests and more specific laboratory analysis, which commonly delay inquiries in regions.
SML de Santiago prepares autopsy and meeting between thanatologists, anthropologists and the Prosecutor’s Office
In this context, on Saturday the remains of the specialist were sent by land to the Legal Medical Service of the capital, a unit that must carry out the respective expertise in which the mandatory autopsy is included.
This was confirmed by Jorge Díaz, director of the Legal Medical Service of La Serena, who confirmed to Diario El Día that it will be in the RM where the expert opinion requested by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office will be carried out, “usual procedure in these cases,” he commented.
“This is how this process works, which establishes that, according to the indication of the prosecutor, the body is transferred to the place where he determines and the corresponding expertise is carried out as indicated in the protocol prepared for this purpose,” Diaz said.
How long could it take the SML teams to be able to give the first results of the investigations? According to Díaz, there is no clear answer to this.
“It is very difficult to determine because the technical team that is going to carry out the expertise is the one that is going to know the details of the case and what are the Necessary requirements. And that is variable and depends on the conditions in which the body is found and the findings that exist, so it is not possible to anticipate anything as long as the technical process is not carried out itself,” explained the regional director of the SML.
From the SML in Santiago, meanwhile, they told El Día that soon a meeting will be held between the prosecutor Vega and the team of thanatologists and anthropologists from the Metropolitan SML to refine this work.
More clues are still being sought in the case of Thomas Marsh
For this Tuesday, November 15, the end of the search operations by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office was originally set, whose final objective – the discovery of the body of the astronomer – could finally be met after almost two months.
No However, in the days after the finding, PDI personnel have remained on the ground in order to look for new evidence that could shed more light on the causes of the still enigmatic death of the British scientist.
According to the preliminary hypothesis, Thomas Marsh would have left his hotel room at the La Silla observatory on the morning of September 16 and, on the way to the NTT telescope, where he had agreed to meet the student who traveled with him from the United Kingdom to Chile, he could have taken one of the trails on the side of Cerro La Silla, where he would have gotten lost.
In addition, when consulted by the press, Vega, although he did not venture to estimate a possible cause of death – results that the autopsy should yield – said that the analyzes of experts allow us to have an estimate period that in this case, according to sources to El Dia, would be 55 days. And taking into account that the search lasted 56 days, Marsh’s death would have occurred early after his disappearance.
Added to this, and due to the characteristics of the terrain and no injuries attributable to third parties in At first, it is thought that the academician may have had a fall in the first days of his disappearance.
It is within this framework then that personnel from the Northern Border Team (EFRON) have remained in the place these days.
The deputy commissioner of the PDI, and member of EFRON, Valentín Candia, told El Día that “ Indeed we are still working in the sector at the request of the regional prosecutor in order to be able to do a reconstructive work which, although it managed to find the main thing, which was to find the body of Professor Thomas Marsh, We are still focused on looking for evidence that can scientifically verify the route that the professor could have followed or some other indication of interest that can be raised in order to contribute to the investigation carried out by the prosecutor,” he explained. .
What is the place where British scientist Thomas Marsh was found like?
According to people involved in the search, who were able to speak with El Día, they explained that the place where he was found the body, it is not a path in a straight line, but considers slopes and unevenness to overcome.
In addition, due to the size and characteristics of the terrain, it is easy to lose orientation if you miss a point of reference such as the observatory.
In fact, sources assured that in the midst of the works a team of high mountain rescuers walked for more than six hours one night and could not return to the camp.
This context, then, allows us to have a better reference to the point where the astronomer was found, 5 kilometers from the observatory.
The evidence of its passage had been found between 1.5 and 3.5 kilometers and, according to what was indicated by the regional prosecutor yesterday at a press point, “all the surroundings of La Silla had been tracked up to 5 and 8 kilometers around”.
“That work was being done again because due to the characteristics of the terrain it was likely that it could not have been seen from some angle , because it was a rocky sector and you have to be at a precise angle to be able to observe,” he said.