Author:

Abstract:

On March 22, 2016, a bomb exploded around 8 AM in the departure hall of Zaventem Airport (Brussels, Belgium) followed immediately by a second bomb explosion. While rescue teams were helping the wounded victims and evacuating people from the airport, a third bomb exploded at 9:11 AM in the subway station Maalbeek, close to the European parliament in the center of Brussels. In total, 33 victims died in the explosions or later in hospital, three out of four terrorists died immediately, and over 200 victims were transferred to different hospitals. The identification process of the deceased victims was concentrated at the Military Hospital in Brussels for the victims of the subway station and at the University Hospitals in Leuven for the victims of Zaventem Airport. The last two victims of the two terrorist attacks were formally identified (ante-mortem and post-mortem information, DNA analysis) on March 29th. On March 27th and March 31st, a second DNA identification process started with the analysis of body parts (larger than 5 cm) that had been collected at both locations. In total 177 DNA profiles for Maalbeek and 286 DNA profiles for Zaventem have been established from the body parts, reference samples from the deceased victims and from the three terrorists. On April 25th, all body parts were identified except for 12 fragments that could not be associated with a deceased victim or one of the terrorists of Zaventem Airport. While the DNA identification process was finished within a month, some recommendations from this case can be formulated for future DNA identifications.