AirAsia Crash Victims' Identification to be Conducted in Surabaya

Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan (Antara) - The identification process for the victims of the AirAsia flight QZ 8501 will be conducted in Surabaya, East Java province, the Executive Director of the National Police's Disaster Victim Identification Unit (DVI), Senior Commissioner Anton Castilani, said here on Saturday. Castilani said the decision to conduct the identification process in Surabaya was taken due to the fact that most of the passengers were citizens of East Java. The Bhayangkara Hospital in East Java's capital, Surabaya, also has an adequate morgue facility, which can support the identification process of the ill-fated AirAsia plane. "The entire identification process will be conducted in Surabaya, while the hospital in Pangkalan Bun will help prepare the bodies of the victims for air evacuation to Surabaya," Castilani added. An AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members on board had lost contact with air traffic control while flying above the Java Sea from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, December 28. After days of searching for the whereabouts of the plane, the search and rescue team confirmed that the plane had crashed in the waters near the Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan. Up till now the search and rescue team have found 30 bodies of the victims aboard the ill-fated AirAsia flight. Besides finding the bodies of the victims, joint search and rescue teams have also found debris of the aircraft and other objects. Earlier, the Head of East Java, DVI Senior Commissioner Budiyono had stated at a press conference in Surabaya, East Java, on Friday that the bodies of stewardess Khairunnisa Haidar, passengers Grayson Herbert Linaksita and Kevin Alexander Soetjipto have been identified with the help of their fingerprints and medical records. (*) Reporting by Jaya Wirawana Manurung Translating and editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi