Mystery remained tonight over the death of American cult actor David Carradine whose naked body was found in a hotel room in the Thai capital.

Senior Thai officials squabbled today over who should conduct forensic identification of thousands of victims from last month’s tsunami disaster, in a quarrel that could delay the process of handing over bodies to grieving relatives.

Miranda Leitsinger, Khao Lak

The bodies of hundreds of tsunami victims are being exhumed in southern Thailand so that new DNA samples can be taken, a forensics expert said today amid concerns that there may be Westerners among them who were misidentified as locals.