On Christmas Day, Scott Saunders' mother and brother delivered his dental records and photos to authorities in Lockerbie, Scotland. But as of yesterday, the family had no word whether the body of the 21-year-old Macungie student killed a week ago in the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 has been found or identified.
''We don't know whether they found Scott's body. We just don't know,'' said his father, Mack Saunders.
Saunders said Scott's mother and brother were to return to Lockerbie from London today in the hope that authorities may have identified his body.
The family of Tim Cardwell also had no word whether the body of the 21- year-old Cresco, Monroe County, student had been found or identified. ''Nothing at all,'' said his mother, Barbara Cardwell.
Police in Lockerbie yesterday said the first identifications of victims had been made and the bodies would be released to relatives as soon as their deaths are formally registered. Names and nationalities were not released.
Searchers have found 240 of the 259 dead from the Boeing 747, and 11 Lockerbie residents are missing and feared dead. Pan Am raised the number aboard the flight to 259 after it discovered another infant was among the passengers.
Scott's mother, Lindsay, and brother, Greg, 18, flew to London Saturday night. They traveled Sunday to Lockerbie, 15 miles north of the English border, to deliver duplicates of the photos and records. The family already had sent the information by express mail Saturday.
But Saunders said Lindsay and Greg learned nothing new at the crash site, other than to confirm the devastation. Monday, Scott's mother and brother met in London with two of Scott's professors and several students who knew him, partly in an effort to determine what he was wearing. The 1985 Emmaus High School graduate had just finished his second stint in Colgate University's London History Study Group, having first attended a semester last year.
They learned that Scott had headed the group this past semester.
''He was kind of the honcho of the whole Colgate University crew this year, which was nice,'' Saunders said. ''All of which means nothing but you take solace in anything at this point.''
Yesterday, before returning to the crash site, Lindsay and Greg Saunders were to look for the pub where Scott worked part-time ''to visit and talk with people where he might have had an impact,'' Saunders said.
Scott's mother and brother are to return to Macungie today, but his father, initially reluctant to go to the crash site, said he may leave for Lockerbie in a day or two. ''I'm feeling more of a need to do that, all of a sudden,'' Saunders said.
Cardwell was among 37 Syracuse University students aboard the flight returning home for the holidays after a semester of study in London. His mother said no family member has gone to Lockerbie.
The Cardwells held a private memorial service in their home for the
1985 graduate of Pocono Central Catholic High School, she said.