Postmortem Examination of Death due to Fire and Explosives

, Jai-Kwan Suh

Original Article

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 1987;11(2):48-53.

Department of Legal Medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The mechanism of death in conflagrations is a complex one of burning, toxic gas (carbon monoxide, cyanic gas, etc.) intoxication and oxygen deficiency, and in explosions is also a complex one of mechanical Injury, heat damage and carbon monoxide intoxication. In these cases, the body has to be identified and the cause of death has to be established and also it has to be decided if the death was due to burns,at what time death occurred, if it was the result of an accident, homicide, or suicide. The most important signs of vital conflagrations (or sometimes explosions) are : Carbon monoxide hemoglobin formation in the blood, The aspiration or swallowing of carbon particles, Secondary reactions in damaged areas of skin, pharynx, and respiratory tract, and Toxic changes of parenchymatous organ.