- Email: [email protected]
September 11: how they identified the victims
September 11: how they identified the victims Research Matters: 9/11, The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Responds An exhibition running indefinitely at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC, USA. See http://www.natmedmuse.afip.org/news/news.html.
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THE LANCET • Vol 360 • September 7, 2002 • www.thelancet.com
carry on their efforts. At the Pennsylvania site, there was little to see but a deep smear across an abandoned strip mine and trees blackened by the fireball that erupted upon impact. A photograph shows lines of volunteers bent over the grass looking for human remains. Each recovered item was then sent to radiography, photography, and DNA stations for initial identification procedures. Tissue samples from both sites were sent to the mortuary at the Dover, Delaware Air Force Base for analysis and matching with DNA samples from victims and their relatives. A team of forensic anthropologists from the army, the FBI, and the Smithsonian Institution was assembled and, mindful of the need to bring closure to grieving families, worked to identify victims as quickly as possible, working long shifts 7 days a week. This team was led by William C Rodriguez III, one of 51 board-certified forensic anthropologists in the USA, who is often summoned to solve difficult criminal cases. These experts generated a DNA profile from each tissue sample received, and also developed a DNA profile from known reference specimens, such as tissue from biopsy samples, Pap smears, extracted teeth, and saliva from toothbrushes. Surviving relatives provided blood samples. The scientists then analysed the DNA profiles for potential matches. Their success rate was nearly 100%. From fewer than 900 fragments at the Pennsylvania site, the investigators identified remains from all 40 passengers and crew, plus four unique DNA profiles that could not be matched, presumably those of the four hijackers. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
he terrorist hijackings in the federal authorities could control access USA on Sept 11, 2001, led and supervise recovery of remains. to an unprecedented, high-tech At the Pentagon, recovery efforts were mobilisation to identify the dead from hampered by fires that raged for several charred, and often infinitesimal, body days. The strength of these blazes is fragments, personal possessions, and evident in photographs of vivid orange other clues retrieved from the crash sites. flames erupting from windows and In most cases, DNA identification was crucial. Now, the public can view a photographic record of how military pathologists identified virtually all the victims at two of the crash sites: the Pentagon, where 189 died, and a rural part of Pennsylvania, where 44 died in the thwarted hijacking. The identification of the nearly 3000 victims at the World Trade Center was dealt with by New York’s local authorities. At the centre of the identification process was the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the main government agency for postmortem identification of bodily remains recovered from new and old military events. Its efforts were challenged by the destructiveness of the crashes; for forensic specialists, little was left to work with at either site. Nonetheless, advanced preparations for disasters proved useful, perhaps indispensable, to identification efforts. After the crashes, on-site responses were promptly provided by the federal government’s regional Disaster Mortuary Operational Montgomery County firefighters extinguish flames at the Response Team (DMORT), a Pentagon, taken by Sgt Louis Briscese volunteer organisation of citithe roof. The jagged gash, cleaving the zens and federal employees who provide building’s facade from roof to ground, forensic, mortuary, and family support is visible in twilight behind the mist of services after disasters. The DMORT high-pressure water hoses. Secretary professional roster includes forensic of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and other pathologists, forensic anthropologists government officials gaze in stupefaction who specialise in osteology, and forensic at the damage as firefighters, recovery odontologists. The crash sites were workers, and military security guards designated as federal crime scenes, so
807
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.
DISSECTING ROOM
The Pennsylvania identifications were completed by Dec 11, 2001. At the Pentagon, identification efforts ended on Nov 16, 2001; 179 of the 184 victims were identified, plus five profiles that did not match family reference materials, thought, therefore, to be the
terrorists. No biological material was recovered for the remaining five people in the building or on the aeroplane. The images are shown beside personal narratives of those who worked to name the dead. The identification process was essential for the government, noted Dr
Rodriguez, “But, our biggest concern was always for the families. We worked hard to get the job done and return the victims to their loved ones.” Wanda Reif e-mail: [email protected]
Engraved in memory New York Revisited Kenneth Auchincloss, Gaylord Schanilec. New York: The Grolier Club, 2002. Pp 59. $500 (regular edition). rivate presses, operated by craftsmen and women committed to producing fine books by traditional means in small, limited editions, flourished in the early 20th century. “The many shades of meaning contained in the term Private Press ought to boil down to a single common denominator: we publish what pleases us, rather than what pays us”, wrote Graham Moss of the Incline Press, recently. Many private presses do, however,
hold their own financially in the electronic age, supported by bibliophiles who appreciate that well designed, finely illustrated books are an affordable means of collecting contemporary art. The Grolier Club of the City of New York, founded to promote the book arts, itself occasionally publishes books. In 1915, it published New York, with wood engravings by Rudolph Ruzicka, that captured the city in a time of rapid change. In early 2001, the Grolier Club announced the publication of a successor volume, about the physical and social transformations of New York in the 20th century. The many processes involved in private-press publishing often mean books take longer than planned to appear in print. But no one could have envisaged terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the loss of more than 3000 lives opened a new chapter in the city’s history. Kenneth Auchincloss revised his text for the book, to include the reactions of New Yorkers and other Americans to Sept 11 and its aftermath; and the illustrator, Gaylord Schanilec, made an additional wood engraving. Published this week, New York Revisited is a timely memorial to the events of a year ago. Paradoxically, given the horrific electronic images of Sept 11, the book is illustrated using the centuries-old printmaking technique of wood engraving. Schanilec is ranked among the world’s best wood engravers working Gaylord Schanilec, The World Trade Center from the in colour. He has illusEmpire State Building trated New York Revisited Gaylord Schanilec
808
Gaylord Schanilec
P
Gaylord Schanilec, Looking down Lexington Avenue towards the Chrysler Building
beautifully, with seven full-page engravings and two double-page spreads. Although their memory is sanctified, the plain rectangles of the World Trade Center were undistinguished architecturally. Before Sept 11, Schanilec had not included them in any of his engravings. Unable to draw them from life, he worked from a photograph taken from the Empire State Building, that he found on the web. His panorama of a darkened lower Manhattan shows the twin towers in the distance, silhouetted sepulchrally against the Hudson and East rivers and the evening sky. “To enjoy . . . good books in self respect and decent comfort, seems to be the pleasurable end towards which all societies of human beings ought now to struggle”, observed William Morris, who founded the Kelmscott Press in 1891. “Amen” to that, in our turbulent and troubled world. Colin Martin 32 Woodstock Road, London W4 1UF, UK
THE LANCET • Vol 360 • September 7, 2002 • www.thelancet.com
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.
T
THE LANCET • Vol 360 • September 7, 2002 • www.thelancet.com
carry on their efforts. At the Pennsylvania site, there was little to see but a deep smear across an abandoned strip mine and trees blackened by the fireball that erupted upon impact. A photograph shows lines of volunteers bent over the grass looking for human remains. Each recovered item was then sent to radiography, photography, and DNA stations for initial identification procedures. Tissue samples from both sites were sent to the mortuary at the Dover, Delaware Air Force Base for analysis and matching with DNA samples from victims and their relatives. A team of forensic anthropologists from the army, the FBI, and the Smithsonian Institution was assembled and, mindful of the need to bring closure to grieving families, worked to identify victims as quickly as possible, working long shifts 7 days a week. This team was led by William C Rodriguez III, one of 51 board-certified forensic anthropologists in the USA, who is often summoned to solve difficult criminal cases. These experts generated a DNA profile from each tissue sample received, and also developed a DNA profile from known reference specimens, such as tissue from biopsy samples, Pap smears, extracted teeth, and saliva from toothbrushes. Surviving relatives provided blood samples. The scientists then analysed the DNA profiles for potential matches. Their success rate was nearly 100%. From fewer than 900 fragments at the Pennsylvania site, the investigators identified remains from all 40 passengers and crew, plus four unique DNA profiles that could not be matched, presumably those of the four hijackers. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
he terrorist hijackings in the federal authorities could control access USA on Sept 11, 2001, led and supervise recovery of remains. to an unprecedented, high-tech At the Pentagon, recovery efforts were mobilisation to identify the dead from hampered by fires that raged for several charred, and often infinitesimal, body days. The strength of these blazes is fragments, personal possessions, and evident in photographs of vivid orange other clues retrieved from the crash sites. flames erupting from windows and In most cases, DNA identification was crucial. Now, the public can view a photographic record of how military pathologists identified virtually all the victims at two of the crash sites: the Pentagon, where 189 died, and a rural part of Pennsylvania, where 44 died in the thwarted hijacking. The identification of the nearly 3000 victims at the World Trade Center was dealt with by New York’s local authorities. At the centre of the identification process was the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the main government agency for postmortem identification of bodily remains recovered from new and old military events. Its efforts were challenged by the destructiveness of the crashes; for forensic specialists, little was left to work with at either site. Nonetheless, advanced preparations for disasters proved useful, perhaps indispensable, to identification efforts. After the crashes, on-site responses were promptly provided by the federal government’s regional Disaster Mortuary Operational Montgomery County firefighters extinguish flames at the Response Team (DMORT), a Pentagon, taken by Sgt Louis Briscese volunteer organisation of citithe roof. The jagged gash, cleaving the zens and federal employees who provide building’s facade from roof to ground, forensic, mortuary, and family support is visible in twilight behind the mist of services after disasters. The DMORT high-pressure water hoses. Secretary professional roster includes forensic of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and other pathologists, forensic anthropologists government officials gaze in stupefaction who specialise in osteology, and forensic at the damage as firefighters, recovery odontologists. The crash sites were workers, and military security guards designated as federal crime scenes, so
807
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.
DISSECTING ROOM
The Pennsylvania identifications were completed by Dec 11, 2001. At the Pentagon, identification efforts ended on Nov 16, 2001; 179 of the 184 victims were identified, plus five profiles that did not match family reference materials, thought, therefore, to be the
terrorists. No biological material was recovered for the remaining five people in the building or on the aeroplane. The images are shown beside personal narratives of those who worked to name the dead. The identification process was essential for the government, noted Dr
Rodriguez, “But, our biggest concern was always for the families. We worked hard to get the job done and return the victims to their loved ones.” Wanda Reif e-mail: [email protected]
Engraved in memory New York Revisited Kenneth Auchincloss, Gaylord Schanilec. New York: The Grolier Club, 2002. Pp 59. $500 (regular edition). rivate presses, operated by craftsmen and women committed to producing fine books by traditional means in small, limited editions, flourished in the early 20th century. “The many shades of meaning contained in the term Private Press ought to boil down to a single common denominator: we publish what pleases us, rather than what pays us”, wrote Graham Moss of the Incline Press, recently. Many private presses do, however,
hold their own financially in the electronic age, supported by bibliophiles who appreciate that well designed, finely illustrated books are an affordable means of collecting contemporary art. The Grolier Club of the City of New York, founded to promote the book arts, itself occasionally publishes books. In 1915, it published New York, with wood engravings by Rudolph Ruzicka, that captured the city in a time of rapid change. In early 2001, the Grolier Club announced the publication of a successor volume, about the physical and social transformations of New York in the 20th century. The many processes involved in private-press publishing often mean books take longer than planned to appear in print. But no one could have envisaged terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001. The destruction of the World Trade Center and the loss of more than 3000 lives opened a new chapter in the city’s history. Kenneth Auchincloss revised his text for the book, to include the reactions of New Yorkers and other Americans to Sept 11 and its aftermath; and the illustrator, Gaylord Schanilec, made an additional wood engraving. Published this week, New York Revisited is a timely memorial to the events of a year ago. Paradoxically, given the horrific electronic images of Sept 11, the book is illustrated using the centuries-old printmaking technique of wood engraving. Schanilec is ranked among the world’s best wood engravers working Gaylord Schanilec, The World Trade Center from the in colour. He has illusEmpire State Building trated New York Revisited Gaylord Schanilec
808
Gaylord Schanilec
P
Gaylord Schanilec, Looking down Lexington Avenue towards the Chrysler Building
beautifully, with seven full-page engravings and two double-page spreads. Although their memory is sanctified, the plain rectangles of the World Trade Center were undistinguished architecturally. Before Sept 11, Schanilec had not included them in any of his engravings. Unable to draw them from life, he worked from a photograph taken from the Empire State Building, that he found on the web. His panorama of a darkened lower Manhattan shows the twin towers in the distance, silhouetted sepulchrally against the Hudson and East rivers and the evening sky. “To enjoy . . . good books in self respect and decent comfort, seems to be the pleasurable end towards which all societies of human beings ought now to struggle”, observed William Morris, who founded the Kelmscott Press in 1891. “Amen” to that, in our turbulent and troubled world. Colin Martin 32 Woodstock Road, London W4 1UF, UK
THE LANCET • Vol 360 • September 7, 2002 • www.thelancet.com
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.