Use of personal effects in the Canary Island accident investigation

Personal effects were used extensively to provide supportive evidence for identification and in seven cases it provided the main means of identification. Personal effects were received from the Canary Islands in numbered plastic bags, having been removed from each remains. In a few cases, personal effects must have been taken from locations near a remains because four bags were found to contain identifiable personal effects that did not match the remains with the same number. therefore, personal effects were utilized less frequently than might normally occur in the course of such investigations. Thorough searches of each remains, especially X-ray, yielded additional effects during the investigation at Dover. A small dedicated team was formed which was responsible for cleaning, cataloging, and requesting antemortem information necessary for the identification process. They made extensive use of color Polaroid photography.