Mass Disaster: Identification of Victims with Special Emphasis on Dental Evidences

Abstract

Mass disaster is a destructive episode in which so many persons are injured and or/died that it become beyond the management of local emergency medical services. The mass disaster is primarily investigated to establish identity of the victims. The investigation starts with the photography of the site and collection of evidences. Attempt should be made to identify the dead bodies first by their relatives and friends and if not identified, fingerprints and clothing & personal belongings should be collected and preserved. In autopsy features such as sex, age, race, stature, complexion & features, moles, birth mark, scars and dental peculiarities etc. should be noted in the post mortem report or in pink DVI form. In identification from teeth by comparative method, postmortem dental records are compared with ante mortem records of suspected person from their dentists either manually or through certain computerized programs such as WinlD4, Plass Data, CAPMI etc. Age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, occupation, habits etc. can also established by teeth that also help in identification. If identity is still not established teeth are sent for DNA profiling and skull for superimposed photography.