Abstract

On December 21st, 1992 the Martinair DC-10 charterflight MP-495, with on board 327 passengers and 13 crewmembers, crashed on landing in Faro, Portugal. Shortly after the crash the plane started to burn and exploded. Uninjured passengers and those with minor injuries were repatriated the following day. The majority of the patients who had been admitted to Portuguese hospitals followed on the 23rd. Of the patients repatriated on the 23rd, 13 were admitted to the Emergency Hospital at the University Hospital Utrecht. Two other patients were repatriated at later dates, of which one was appended to the group. The other patient (the 15th) was admitted directly to the surgical Intensive Care Unit. Within the Emergency Hospital they were placed in quarantaine, as foreseen by the Disaster Management Plan and the Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) protocol. This report describes the admission and treatment of the patients. Of these patients, 13 were in stable condition. They had second and third degree burns of the extremities and of the face. Three patients required plastic surgical intervention. Two patients were shown to be contaminated with MRSA. The 14th patient required several days of ICU-treatment. The report also shows that disaster plans should be modular in structure, so that they can be used for admitting different sizes of groups of patients and that the quality of care supplied by different departments during the period of isolation in the special units is geared to the needs of patients.