Contribution in the estimation of postmortem period at the drowned person in African tropical middle

Abstract

The determination of postmortem period at the drowned person interested numerous authors who proposed chronological marks allowing to estimate the duration of stay of the body in the water in particular in countries at the
moderate climates.
In their daily forensic medicine practice in Abidjan, the authors noticed peculiarities in the appearance and the
evolution of the deathly phenomena observed at the drowned persons fished up in Abidjan.
These peculiarities which suggested a longer stay in the water aroused a series of questioning which motivated
the realization of this retrospective study over 8 years (on 2000 in 2007) in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and having
concerned 132 bodies.
The taget of this study was to appreciate factors influencing the evolution of the drowned persons and to propose
appropriate approximate chronological landmarks in in ivorian zone for the estimation of postmortem period at
the drowned persons in western Africa.