‘B’ hanger at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Shearwater was set up as a temporary morgue facility on 03 SEP 1998 and remained open for eight weeks until the first of November.  Over two hundred people worked daily in the hangar during its peak period, each with key tasks to try to identify the two hundred and twenty-nine victims of the air crash.

     On the first day, the hangar was quickly emptied of the antique aircraft that belonged to the local Shearwater Aviation Museum, leaving behind a totally open hangar.  Someone had taken considerable time and effort to run rows of yellow tape and plastic sheeting on the floor to mark off body bag sites, as was called for in older disaster training manuals.   The plastic was quickly removed as being unnecessary, and eventually the tape also would disappear or be covered over by construction.

     To store the human remains, it was decided to obtain reefer trailer refrigeration units.  Because of the total destruction of the aircraft and occupants at the instant of the impact, all but one body was instantly torn apart.  At this aircraft’s speed of impact, the tail of the aircraft met the nose in less than a blink of an eye.  Television documentary images that purport to represent the method of impact do not accurately reflect the severity and tremendous instantaneous forces applied to the aircraft, its contents, and its occupants.  Because of the darkness and the speed of impact, no one had time to realize what was happening, if indeed they were at all conscious at the time of the crash.

     The local Provincial Public Works and other agencies quickly came together to construct the temporary morgue as shown above, complete with ventilation systems and running water.

     Unlike some disaster scenes and mainly because of the difficulty of debris retrieval, there never was an instant influx of huge quantities of human remains that had to be processed.  However, the severe trauma to the victims resulted in large numbers of individual pieces of human remains, each of which required a complete pathology procedure including X-ray and DNA collection, as well as dental and fingerprint examination where it was possible.

     Due to the multinational nature of the flight, it became necessary to deal with multiple religious requirements.  Some religions demand that the remains be buried within a designated period of time after death.  This obviously was impossible.  However, it was agreed that as soon as an individual was identified, the clock would start and we would meet the needs of the family to comply with their religious beliefs.  In some cases, family members simply wanted their loved one to remain on the ocean floor, as in a burial at sea.  Some even refused at first to supply comparison DNA.  This also became impossible.  In order to leave the deceased in peace, it indeed was necessary that the remains be identified.  In addition, there are sufficient laws to require the identification of the deceased in order to allow a death certificate to be issued.  This was all carefully explained and eventually fully complied with, thanks to the cooperation of all of the family members.

     Dept. of National Defence (DND) Sea King helicopters landed at the hangar’s front door to deliver body bags containing the human remains.  This would then be documented and stored in the reefer trailers at temperatures just above freezing.  The human remains would then be examined and processed through pathology.  Any identifying marks, tattoos, etc would be recorded, as well as a description of the remains.  The pathologist in each suite had an assistant and a scribe who recorded his pathology notes.  Each team also consisted of two RCMP members, one being an Ident member, the other being his scribe to record his notes and handle exhibit tagging, etc.  The Forensic Ident member set the pace, as everything had to be photographed following a proscribed protocol.  Everything was given a number that co-related back to the main exhibit, even the main x-rays, dental x-rays and charts, fingerprints and DNA sample.

     When personal effects such as rings or other jewellery were located, each was cleaned and then photographed with both a digital and a 35 mm film camera, utilizing a clean white craft paper background with a scale.  Keep in mind that in 1998, the digital cameras readily available were the Sony Mavica that allowed for only a fraction of the photo quality as that provided by today’s mega pixel cameras.  One must remember that the 35 mm image contains some 90 MB of data, something that can only be provided by extremely high quality medium and 4x5 format digital camera backs even today.

     Over a thousand fingerprints were taken, and forty passengers were identified in this manner.  Initially, the FBI supplied fingerprints from their records for US citizens with the same name and birth date.  Unlike Canada and most European Countries, the US authorities keep on file every set of fingerprints ever taken of an individual for whatever reason, including non-criminal applications.  Eventually, police agencies from other countries and the US supplied latent fingerprints retrieved from the homes and belongings of many of the deceased passengers.  In one instance, I compared a set of latent fingerprints that had been obtained from the interior of a Rolls Royce automobile.  While this type of comparison does not normally constitute a solid identification for most criminal proceedings, in this case the coroner ruled that if the latent prints were removed from the home or belongings of the deceased, then there was every reason to rule that the match was a solid identification.  This occurred in only a very few instances.  However, in every instance, DNA and dental records backed up the fingerprint identification.

     It is of interest to note that due to the salinity and cold temperatures of the water, identifiable fingerprints were easily and successfully rolled even after 60 days of exposure to the water.

     It is also interesting to note, as shown in the fourth photo, that contrary to all the TV footage put out by various "educational" TV channels showing all the work being done by TSB personnel, there indeed were personnel from other agencies in the hangar.  They consisted of Swissair, SR Techniques, Boeing, AAIB (British Aircraft Accident Investigation Board), FAA, NTSB, Department of National Defence (Air Force & Navy Personnel), Commissionaires, and numerous other agencies and companies.  The one agency responsible for not only site security, but for exhibit recovery, security, processing, photography, physical matching, and many other forms of technical assistance was the RCMP.