Journal of Indian Academy of Forensic Medicine

Drowning is a form of asphyxia due to aspiration of fluid into air-passages, caused by submersion in water or any other fluid. It is one of the most difficult modes of death to prove at postmortem, especially when the body is not examined in a fresh condition. When the body has sunk into the water, it remains at the bottom until putrefactive gas formation decreases the specific gravity of the body and creates sufficient buoyancy to allow it to rise to the surface and float. And once the decomposition has started, it becomes more difficult to prove the mode of death as a result of drowning during autopsy, as the reliable signs of drowning are often minimal, obscure or completely absent. Moreover, these changes of decomposition advance so rapidly after removal of body from the water that even a short delay in conducting a post-mortem examination is likely to obliterate the valuable signs up to a great extent. To diagnose the cause of death in all such cases, comparative study of diatoms in body tissues and water sample is the only reliable finding, which can be used with other supportive evidences to prove the death due to drowning, as well as to determine the site of drowning. This retrospective study was conducted during the period of 3 years from 1^st January 2005 to 31^st December 2007 with the aim to know that how the changes of decomposition cast a shadow over the typical signs of drowning and weather the comparative study of diatom test is reliable in such cases or not?