114 BODIES OF PLANE CRASH VICTIMS IDENTIFIED

(ANTARA FOTO/Hafidz Mubarak A)

Medan, 17 Ramadhan 1436/4 July 2015 (MINA) – The North Sumatra Polices Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Unit has identified the bodies of 114 passengers killed in the Hercules C-130 aircraft crash in Medan, North Sumatra.

“The North Sumatra Polices Disaster Victim Identification Unit received 146 bodies of those killed in the Hercules C-130 crash in Medan,” Spokesperson for the North Sumatra Police Senior Commissioner Helfi Assegaf said here on Saturday.

Of the total number of bodies moved to Adam Malik General Hospital, 114 have been identified by the DVI team, Antara Agency reports as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

The number rose to 114 after the team identified 16 bodies on Friday, July 3, afternoon.

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The 16 bodies identified were of Syariah, Rosmiati, Lusianto Pane, Yulianti Verawati, Akto Darnizon, Mushawir, Marli Zepriani, Halimah, Sufiah, Melinda Pasaribu, Bobi Chandra, Zulfansyah Anugerah, Ervina, Basmi, Anan Andika, and Peltu (Purn) Mulyono.

The DVI team has yet to put a name to 32 bodies.

Moreover, the Central Java Police, West Java Police, and South Sumatra Police have sent their DVI teams to assist the North Sumatra unit in the task of identifying the victims bodies.

Earlier, Chief of the National Defense Forces (TNI) General Moeldoko had stated that the investigation into the cause of the Indonesian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crash in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday (June 30) will take at least two weeks.

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“The investigation team of the air force is still trying to find the cause of the crash, and it will take at least two weeks,” Moeldoko remarked here on Thursday.

He further noted that after the crash, Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Agus Supriatna had dispatched a team to the accident site immediately to probe the cause of the crash.

The team was also given the task of finding whether the set procedures were violated when the ill-fated aircraft took its last flight, the general pointed out.

“The TNI headquarters has also sent its team to investigate non-technical aspects, such as procedures, mechanisms, and operations. The team will verify what went wrong on the non-technical side,” Moeldoko affirmed.

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In addition, Marshal Agus Supriatna has denied an allegation that the Hercules plane crash on Tuesday was a result of overloading.

Supriatna said in Medan on Wednesday that the aircraft had a capacity to carry people and goods weighing up to 135 tons in total.

It was allowed to take-off from Polonia Airbase in Medan after all cargo had met capacity requirements, he affirmed.

“The flight would have certainly not been allowed to take-off had it been overloaded,” he pointed out.

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Therefore, Supriatna believes that the plane crash, which claimed the lives of 122 people, was not a result of overloading.

That the pilot of the aircraft, Captain Sandy Permana, had requested to return to the airbase confirms this assumption, he observed.

“There was no problem with regard to the capacity of the flight. This was clearly an accident,” he emphasized. (T/P010/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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