[The Amsterdam air disaster--management and fate of casualties]

On Sunday, Oct. 4, 1992, an E1 A1 Boeing cargo plane crashed into a 10-story block of flats in the Bijmermeer, on the outskirts of Amsterdam. About 8 people died at the site of the disaster. 37 patients were treated in local hospitals within 90 minutes of the disaster, 16 of whom were admitted. 3 suffered severe, and 6 moderate burns (> 15% and 10-15% of body surface area, respectively). Although there were relatively few injured, a full-scale disaster response was evoked, providing an opportunity to study the effectiveness of current disaster plans. The rapid response of the ambulance service and the hospitals involved indicates that rehearsing disaster preparations is effective. The dispersal of the injured to several nearby hospitals prevented overloading of casualty departments. Secondary transfer of severely burned patients to the burn center was efficient and followed current guidelines. In retrospect, while communication between the various services might be subject to minor criticism, no problems were encountered which interfered with proper execution of the rescue operation. No one who survived the immediate impact died.