No DNA match on unknown sailor
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Burial service for unknown sailor: no DNA match (ABC)
The identity of HMAS Sydney's unknown sailor remains a mystery after the last of series of DNA tests proved negative.
The ancient DNA laboratory at Adelaide University has tested a number of DNA samples, the latest from a relative of Lieutenant Ernest Ridout, who died when the Sydney was lost with its entire crew in November 1941.
The unknown sailor's body was the only one recovered when it turned up at Christmas Island three months after the Sydney's battle with the German raider Kormoran off the coast of Western Australia.
The Australian Navy compiled a list of 15 crewmen it considered most likely to be the unknown sailor.
For two years, there had been a quest to track down and test relatives of those men.
Despite not finding a DNA match, the Navy says there are about 100 other lost men whose age and height could make them the unknown sailor.
Relatives will be able to apply to have their DNA tested.
The remains of the unknown sailor were exhumed from Christmas Island, then buried at Geraldton in WA last month.
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