DVI Team Identifies Another AirAsia Crash Victim

Surabaya, E Java (Antara) - The East Java Police's Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has successfully identified another body of AirAsia flight QZ8501's victim. The body, with the label number B045, was identified as Andreas Widjaja (32) from Surabaya, Senior Commissioner Budiyono, the chairman of the DVI team, stated here on Tuesday. So far, a total of 46 bodies have been identified and returned to their relatives. Seven more bodies are in the process of identification and reconciliation, he noted. So far, the search and rescue team assisted by ships and aircraft along with divers and experts from several countries have succeeded in retrieving 53 bodies from the sea. The United States, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, France, and the neighboring countries have offered and provided help for the humanitarian mission. The countries have sent ships, aircraft, and experts to Pangkalan Bun to take part in the search and rescue mission. All bodies recovered from the sea were immediately flown to Surabaya for identification. The ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 with 162 people on board crashed in the Java Sea, near Karimata Strait, off Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, on December 28, 2014, en route from Surabaya to Singapore. The 162 people comprised 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, a Singaporean, a Briton, a Malaysian, and a French national. (*)