LOUISVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Crews at the scene of the UPS crash continue the difficult task of trying to find and identify victims, a process that forensic experts say presents unique challenges.
I spoke with retired forensic anthropologist Dr. John Williams about the complexities involved in victim identification following such incidents. Williams has more than 40 years of experience covering mass fatality incidents, including the fiery 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam and 9/11.
"Just looking at what I've seen from overhead pics there are several blocks that have been decimated so it's going to be a time-consuming procedure to go through and look for all the possible remains and other pieces of evidence," Williams said.
Williams says Tuesday's UPS crash has its own unique challenges compared to other incidents he has worked.
"In Guam we had everything - bodies that were intact - others badly burned - a lot of damage, trauma from crash itself so you can expect all of that in this situation," Williams said.
He says in this instance, looking for human remains is difficult because everything can look the same. Identification can be made through dental records, implants or even dentures.
"There's a record and sometime person's name is engraved in the denture. If you've had a pacemaker - those have had serial numbers," Williams said.
"Hopefully they have some idea of how many people- what the sex may be of those people missing, their ages, ancestry, anything like that that would help us make the identification," Williams said.
Despite how tedious the task is, Williams says he always tried to work with extreme care, hoping to bring closure to victims' loved ones.
"None of these people thought they wouldn't be home that day - they went to work and that's the hardest part for those of us that work in disaster identification is coping with that," Williams said.
