PANEL SUMMARY: Medical Factors & Cabin Interior

Testimony in this panel was from Dr. Charles Wetli, Suffolk County Chief Medical Examiner, and Dr. Dennis Shanahan, Senior Medical Consultant to the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory. Both forensic experts said there was nothing in the examination of victims’ remains that indicated the action of an explosive device such as a bomb or missile. Shanahan compared results from this case with earlier known examples of such explosives. He also showed how the documented locations of the victims in the aircraft and their associated injuries constituted evidence of an explosion in the center fuel tank. Wetli, who headed the effort associated with handling the bodies as they were brought in by the recovery operation, said DNA analysis aided in the successful identification of remains from all 230 victims.