Identifying the victims - Erebus disaster

In the days after the Erebus tragedy police and Air New Zealand staff handled inquiries from distraught relatives. This task was particularly difficult as few of the dead could be immediately identified. Where possible, families were dealt with by a single police officer so that rapport was built up. Flight TE901 was classed as a domestic excursion flight, so passenger documentation was less rigorous than it would have been on an international flight. Some families had not known that their relative was on the flight. Luggage and cars left at Auckland Airport and various hotels and motels had to be secured, identified and returned to the next of kin or the consular authorities of the countries concerned.

The frozen bodies and other remains were flown directly to Auckland, which had the only mortuary large enough to accommodate them. Aware of the need to handle this process discreetly, unmarked refrigerated trucks rather than ambulances or hearses transported the remains from Whenuapai Air Force Base to Auckland Hospital.

Here the painstaking task of individual identification began. The mortuary team was led by Inspector Jim Morgan of the Disaster Victim Identification team. He also collated and edited a report on the recovery operation. Record keeping had to be meticulous because of the quantity and state of the human remains. Teams of pathologists, dentists and police worked with incredible skill and perseverance over many weeks. From a purely technical point of view, the exercise was both innovative and highly successful, with 213 victims eventually identified.

Once identification had been completed funeral directors and embalmers worked hard to prepare the victims for burial. Derek Hope, president of the Embalmers Association of New Zealand in 1979, recalled how

the eventual team of embalmers had no conception of the task and duties they would be called upon to help in the operation. Although working very long hours they overcame fatigue and supported each other emotionally therefore coping with the stress created by the physical condition and sheer numbers of victims.

A burial service for the 44 unidentified victims was held on 22 February 1980. Their remains are buried in a mass grave containing 16 caskets at Waikumete cemetery in West Auckland.

The dead included:

• 200 New Zealanders
• 24 Japanese
• 22 Americans
• 6 British
• 2 Canadians
• 1 Australian
• 1 French
• 1 Swiss.