Aircrash on Mount Erebus

• Published in: Medicine, Science and the Law
• Main Authors: Cairns, F. J., Herdson, P. B., Hitchcock, G. C., Koelmeyer, T. D., Smeeton, W. M. I., Synek, B. J. L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1981
• Subjects: Ross Island; New Zealand; Mount Erebus; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002580248102100306; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002580248102100306

On 28 November 1979, an Air New Zealand DC10 aircraft, flight TE 901, crashed into the lower slopes of Mount Erebus on Ross Island in Antarctica. All 237 passengers and 20 crew died. More than 200 bodies and portions of human remains were recovered and these were received, stored and examined in the Department of Pathology at the University of Auckland School of Medicine. This paper describes the organization set up to deal with the task which resulted in the identification of 213 passengers and crew. In the light of our experience, some recommendations are made for future investigations of this sort.