independent verification

Boxing DayについてはSugiuchi先輩が書かれていましたが、Boxing Day tsumamiも英語圏では有名なフレーズになりました。なんと2004年のその津波で行方不明になった少女が生存しており家族と再会したというニュースです。最後のindependentはどのよように解釈すればよいのでしょうか。Shoheiくん、お願いします。（ゼミ生 わたしも腰痛です　To To To）
Indonesian tsunami girl 'reunited with family'

An Indonesian girl swept away in the 2004 tsunami has been reunited with her parents seven years on, the family say. Meri Yulanda, also known as Wati, turned up at a cafe in Meulaboh, Aceh, earlier this week, looking for her parents. She says she was found by a widow after the disaster and forced to work as a beggar, being freed only last week. Indonesia's northern province of Aceh was the worst hit by the Boxing Day tsunami, which killed 230,000 people. Tens of thousands of bodies were never recovered and many families never found out what happened to their loved ones. There has been no independent verification of Meri's story.