[The dentist as an expert in disasters: dental identification in the disaster with the Zeebruge ferry. 1990].

Abstract

The Herald of Free Enterprise Disaster on the 6th of March 1987 just outside Zeebrugge harbour was without any doubt a disaster of major proportions. The ferry disaster highlighted different approaches in major incident procedures in both countries involved but nevertheless the identification team which was composed of both British and Belgian specialists did perform good work. The identification of the victims had to be done in three phases each of them with its own specific work and problems. As the process of identification of bodies is an exacting science, and forensic odontology is known to be among the most reliable scientific methods in mass disasters, it is easily understood that forensic odontology took an active part in all three phases of the identification process.