DNA analysis should allow investigators to put a name to victims so they can be repatriated

The first set of bodies of MH17 victims were due to arrive in the Netherlands on Wednesday, where efforts to identify them will begin. The remains were left outdoors for two days, in sweltering heat and rain, but expert investigators should “pretty reliably” be able to collect DNA to identify the remains.



“Overall, my guess is that as far as DNA analysis and identification, they should have pretty good success,” said Dr David Foran, director of the forensic biology laboratory at the University of Michigan.

He said the key to DNA identification is selecting tissue that has the least amount of DNA degradation, such as deep muscle tissue in the torso. If that is not available, investigators will typically seek skeletal tissue or dental records.

DNA collected from the remains must be measured against known reference samples, such as toothbrushes in people’s homes or hair, which MH17 forensic investigators have been collecting. If reference samples are not available, investigators can collect DNA samples from relatives, ideally parents or children who share half of each other’s DNA. Although entire families were killed in the crash, DNA can also be collected from relatives.

“When you start getting out to aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents, you actually want probably three or four or five people to be able to make a good statistical argument that you’ve got a positive ID because you’re going to be sharing less and less DNA,” Foran said.

Body parts can be identified by a similar DNA process and also by characteristics such as scars, tattoos and wedding rings. Once investigators establish that a body part belongs to a certain person, investigators will then have a record of that person’s DNA and be able to connect it with other remains. “It ends up being a kind of giant jigsaw puzzle of trying to place every body part based on its DNA or some other identifying characteristics,” said Foran.

The identification of the victims will be an international effort, overseen by the Dutch authorities and Interpol.

A four-strong Australian team of disaster victim identification experts left Melbourne for Amsterdam on Tuesday.

Led by a forensic pathologist, David Ranson, the team includes two odontologists, who specialise in identifying victims from dental records, and a pathology technician, who removes organs and reconstructs torn and tattered bodies.

The Australian team is based at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. Established after the Bali bombings in 2002, the experts have identified people who died in Japan’s tsunami, which killed more than 15,000 people in 2011, and the Black Saturday bushfires which tore through Victoria, killing 173.

The experts generally work to a five-stage process: at the scene, in the mortuary, collection of ante-mortem data, reconciliation of the findings and, finally, a debrief.

All this is handled by the pathologist – apart from ante-mortem data, which is gathered by police. Relatives are asked for information on past medical history, such as operations, and also samples for DNA identification.

Professor Noel Woodford, director of the VIFM, told Guardian Australia that each disaster presented unique challenges in identifying the dead.

“I imagine the bodies in this disaster will be in various states of intactness; some will be severely traumatised,” he said. “Fire is very destructive to bodies, of course, and there’s also the trauma caused by the plane crash.

“This one will be a bit different to some other cases because we have a passenger manifest, so we have a known population of people to identify, ignoring the possibility of people killed on the ground, of course.”

Woodford said the team would look for primary identification evidence, such as fingerprints, DNA and dental records. Secondary signs, such as tattoos or signs of previous surgery, will be used to back up this primary data.

“We cast the net widely to start with because we don’t know if someone’s been to a dentist, for example,” he said. “DNA and fingerprints are very specific, apart from DNA in identical twins, of course.

“At the time of the Black Saturday bushfires, we had to identify 60% of the people by dental means. Teeth are very resilient, but some intense fires can degrade them so you have to look for other things.”

The first stage of the pathologists’ process has already faced complications because of the delay in securing the crash site and moving the bodies from eastern Ukraine to Amsterdam.

“Proper examination of the scene is an important thing,” said Woodford. “You can collect all kinds of information, such as tissue that has detached from bodies. In ideal circumstances you gather evidence at the scene, as it’s all grist to the mill for identification. The delay means the fingerprints may not be quite as clear, but the teeth will still be intact. You can get DNA in most cases, too.”

While the experts who will help identify and repatriate the dead of flight MH17 are seasoned professionals, Woodford concedes there is always an emotional burden.

“These people are used to dealing with death and sad situations, but that’s not to say it won’t take its toll,” he said. “If it’s properly managed, people cope very well. The team approach helps, as there are lots of people around who are supportive.

“It helps that you have the knowledge that you are doing something positive for the families. You know that any delay adds to their distress and you want them back with their loved ones as soon as possible.”