Managing refugee shipwreck casualties in Greece: identification readiness and literature insights

The wave of migration that is observed worldwide, and especially the one in the Mediterranean region is contributing significantly to the contemporary humanitarian crisis. Shipwrecks are one of the most characteristic ways in which the migratory wave leads to mass casualties. Forensic practitioners nowadays are called upon to establish the cause of death, but also to identify victims of mass disasters, whose features may be significantly altered due to the extreme conditions in which they are found. On November 1st, 2022, a shipwreck of a boat full of immigrants, transiting from Turkey to Italy occurred at the southern region of Karystos, a coastal city located in Evoia island, Greece. The management of this case by our Department, involving multiple fatalities, including all relevant aspects (identification procedures, post-mortem examination) is presented. A brief review of the relevant literature is also included, with the aim of drawing conclusions on how a forensic department's workload might be affected by relevant incidents. Classical tools of conventional disaster victim identification protocols (e.g. fingerprint collection, dental examination, DNA profiling, etc.), may prove to be non-efficient as is such cases ante-mortem data are very difficult to obtain. International collaboration (Police, Diplomatic Corps) is a critical factor to increase the speed and the efficiency of the whole identification procedure. In the future, planning of a new protocol, adapted to Migrant-related cases, that will include more ante-mortem data (e.g. photographic material, social network or mobile phone data), may prove to help in such cases. It should be stressed that adoption of a universal identification protocol, along with training of all relevant personnel, are crucial steps to achieve increased readiness and handling-speed for future cases.