At least 2,000 unidentified bodies of tsunami victims will be exhumed for DNA checks to ensure that foreigners were not mixed up with Thais, Xinhua reports.

The re-checks will be carried out on the bodies kept at Wat Yanyao in Phangnga province, Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said.

Earlier, about 800 victims buried at Bang Maruan cemetery in Phangnga's Takua Pa district were exhumed for DNA chip implanting by a team of forensic experts, the Bangkok Post newspaper Thursday quoted Pongthep as saying.

Dissectors Victim Identification (DVI) experts will soon arrive at the tsunami-ravaged provinces of Phuket, Phangnga and Krabi to start body identification.