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Searching for Kin Amidst Tragedy—Disaster Victim Identification Operations for US Bangla Flight 211
Author(s) -
Shrestha Rijen,
Acharya Jenash,
Shakya Arbin,
Acharya Jemish
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13918
Subject(s) - tragedy (event) , identification (biology) , bengali , computer security , poison control , engineering , criminology , forensic engineering , medical emergency , computer science , psychology , medicine , artificial intelligence , biology , psychiatry , botany
The nature of air disasters includes factors that exacerbate challenges in the identification process. Of the 49 deceased in the US Bangla air crash in Kathmandu, Nepal, four were intact, 11 presented with burn injuries, another 11 presented with partial charring, and 23 were completely charred. Personal belongings were useful in the identification phases for all types of victims. Fingerprints were obtainable and useful in intact victims and victims with less severe burn injuries; medical and surgical information was useful in bodies with burn injuries; finally, dental findings were useful in cases of extensive charring. Other useful methods in the process included marks of identification, physical features, and exclusion. In certain resource‐limited settings, especially in closed population disasters, where scientific identification ( DNA , dental records, etc.) is not currently available, personal belongings, clothing, and physical findings analyzed by an identification team using a structured organization may be cautiously used as the primary means of identification.