Crash Victims to Undergo Routine Tests, Experts Say

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/science/crash-victims-to-undergo-routine-tests-experts-say.html

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While the circumstances surrounding the Malaysia Airlines disaster in Ukraine are far from ordinary, forensic experts said that the examination of victims’ bodies, now just beginning at a Dutch military base, should be relatively routine.

The specialists at the base at Hilversum, where bodies of the first 40 victims arrived Wednesday in wooden coffins after being flown from eastern Ukraine, will use DNA testing and other techniques to identify the dead and determine cause of death. Some of the work may help illuminate exactly what happened to the jetliner after it was hit by a surface-to-air missile last Thursday.

Experts said Wednesday that the most challenging aspect of any major forensics investigation — establishing leadership — had been dealt with by an international agreement that put the Netherlands in charge of identifying and repatriating remains. Although the disaster involved a Malaysian plane in Ukrainian territory, two-thirds of the 298 victims were Dutch.

“The whole trick is to have a lot of coordination and having a single source overseeing the whole thing,” said Barry A. J. Fisher, a former president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Other investigations, notably one that tried to identify victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, have been marred when the work was divided among several nations, he said.

The investigation is beginning after days of chaos at the site of the disaster, which is in a part of Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels. Wreckage was picked over, bodies were left unattended, and there were unconfirmed reports of looting.

There have been conflicting counts of the bodies collected, but Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the rebels claimed to have turned over 260 to 270, along with some body parts, to Dutch officials. Mr. Bociurkiw said there were still remains at the site.

At Hilversum, experts said, the identification process will be methodical. Bodies will be photographed and examined for distinctive marks, fingerprints will be taken, teeth will be X-rayed for comparison to dental records, and clothing and other personal objects will be pored over for potential identifying details.

While these efforts may make some identifications relatively straightforward, tissue samples will also be taken for DNA analysis. Relatives will be asked to provide victims’ toothbrushes, combs or other household objects that may contain DNA for comparison. If needed, the relatives themselves can supply reference samples that should be sufficient for identification.

Mr. Fisher said the fact that the bodies were left for days at the crash site should not affect the identification process. “For people who do this kind of work, the closer to the death the easier it is,” he said. “But it’s not a major challenge.”

Dr. James A. Vosswinkel, a trauma surgeon who analyzed the injuries of victims of TWA Flight 800, which exploded off Long Island in 1996, said there was little doubt that for those on the Malaysian jet, death, or at least unconsciousness, occurred instantly.

Dr. Vosswinkel, who is chief of the trauma and emergency surgery department at Stony Brook School of Medicine, said that the combination of the shock wave from the missile blast, decompression as the plane came apart in the thin air at 33,000 feet, and massive G-forces brought on by rapid deceleration would have caused unsurvivable injuries.

“From a medical professional’s point of view, it’s either instantaneous death, or you are not aware that you are going to hit the ground,” he said.

Frank Ciaccio, a former forensic investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the pattern of injuries, combined with knowledge of where the passengers were seated, might help investigators determine more precisely how the plane was destroyed. “It’s very important to document injuries, because you want to see if there are clusters,” he said. That might suggest, for example, where the missile was in relation to the plane or what sections of the fuselage broke apart first.

Mr. Fisher said recovery experts would need to continue searching the site for some time to ensure that as many remains as possible are returned to families. But Mr. Bociurkiw said that as of Wednesday there appeared to be no one searching the site.