engleski

Identification process of burned human remains in 1991-1995 war in Croatia

During military operations in Croatia 1991-1995, certain number of war casualties was involved in burning. Extensively charred body presents exceptionally challenging material to forensic pathologist. We describe here process and outcome of identification of heavily burned human remains. We reviewed autopsy records of all war victims processed at our Department between 1995 and 2004. Out of 2848 bodies, 116 (4%) were affected by fire: 88 were partially and 28 entirely burned. Vast majority of burned victims (111) were skeletonized, while 5 were saponified. Twenty-eight bodies were complete and 21 incomplete, while in 67 cases only few bones were present. Thirty-one bodies were recovered on sites where fire took place, while the remaining 85 were found buried or disposed elsewere. The identification process was performed by forensic pathologist, anthropologist and odontologist together with investigative authorities. It encompassed antemortal data collecting, locating possible sites of death/burial, thorough site investigation to recover all remnants, separating human from possible animal material, and determining minimal number of persons in the sample. Identification itself comprised mutual matching of antemortal and autopsy data. Due to nature of material, DNA typing was applicable for six cases only. To date, 65 (56%) burned victims were identified, while the rest are still pending. The model of multidisciplinary identification team was developed and applied, involving the experts from relevant fields coordinated by forensic pathologist. Such method yields the highest possible identification rate, as proved by our results.

identification; war victims; burning

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