A postmortem study of pattern of injuries in landslide victims

Background - Landslide causes loss of human lives and destruction to property all over the world. India is no exception. State of Kerala experiences landslides during monsoon seasons. There is no study at present to evaluate the injuries sustained by victims in Kerala. This study is meant to analyse the pattern of injuries sustained and cause of a death in victims in a single landslide.

Material and methods- 19 persons died from a single landslide that was autopsied at Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Thrissur. All the injuries and cause of death was identified and analysed.

Results - The victim's age ranged from 3 to 65. Of these 10 were females and 9 males. The mean age of females was 32.90 ± 23.47 years and males 43.67±20.45 years. Blunt injury was seen in 18 cases (94. 73%). Of blunt injuries, head injury was seen in 13 victims (68.42%), chest injury in 11 cases (5.889%), and blunt injury abdomen in 4 cases (21.05%). Sub-arachnoid haemorrhage was the predominant intracranial haemorrhage seen in 15 cases (78.94%). Vertebral column fracture was seen in 7 cases (36.84%). Crush injury was maximal involving chest in 11 cases (57.84%) followed by lower limbs in 7 cases (35.17%). Combined blunt injury and asphyxia was seen in 10 cases (52.63%) forming the major group, blunt injury alone was cause of death in 8 cases (42.11%).