Citation

Chung NE, Castilani A, Tierra WE, Beh P, Mahmood MS. Forensic Sci. Int. 2017; 278: 367-373.

Affiliation

National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: drmohdshah@yahoo.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.07.030

PMID

28806635

Abstract

On December 1st, 2014, the sinking of Oryong 501 occurred in the Bering Sea off the east coast of Russia. A total of 60 crew members, including 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and 1 Russian inspector were on board out of which only seven survived. Through an international rescue operation, the dead bodies of 27 were found and the remaining 26 crew are still missing. After transferring the dead bodies to the Busan Harbor in South Korea, the operation to identify the deceased began involving DVI teams from three countries: Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines. When a deep sea fishing boat sinks, it is very difficult to obtain antemortem data of the crew who had been on board for a long time. This is especially so if the crews are multinational. Further, the accuracy of the antemortem data provided by the families may be questionable, and the provided data is often not standardized. Despite the fact that the antemortem data were received in different formats, the identification process for the bodies of the 27 crew from the Oryong sinking was quickly completed through the cooperation among the three DVI teams. This case is an excellent example of how efficiently a DVI operation can be conducted in the Asia Pacific region. Issues raised during this operation should enable even better preparation for similar events in the future.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Drowning; Drowning Prevention; Water Safety

Language: en

Keywords

DVI; International co-operation; Mass disaster; Sinking