Long-term effects of the Entre-os-Rios tragedy on grief and traumatic stress symptoms

ABSTRACTIn 2001, in Entre-os-Rios, Portugal, a bridge fell on Douro River; all 59 passengers from 1 bus and 3 cars died and 36 bodies have never been recovered. The objective is to reveal the cumulative risk from multiple losses and unrecovered bodies, 10 years after, compared with grievers from road accidents. There are 2 groups of relatives of victims: from this tragedy (n = 20), with at least 1 unrecovered body; and from road traffic accidents (n = 20), with the same time after loss. The prevalence of prolonged grief was 95% and for traumatic stress was 70%. The associated factors of multiple losses and unrecovered bodies increase the long-term risk (relative risk = 1.6 to 2.8; R2 = .20 to .28) for prolonged and traumatic grief, providing evidence that the absence of body is an important long-term factor.