Police identify 22 fingerprints of the ill-fated Sukhoi’s victims

A total of 22 fingerprints of the ill-fated Russian-made airliner’s victims have already been identified by the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit, a spokesman says. The National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar was quoted by tempo.co on Tuesday as saying that the 22 fingerprints were identified from the 18 body bags that had been received by the victims’ identification team. As of Monday, a total of 25 body bags had been sent to the officials at R. Sukanto National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. Four out of 25 body bags contained victims’ personal items, such as wallets, ID cards, shoes and electronic gadgets. The forensics team helping to identify victims remains has examined 18 body bags of remains, while three additional body bags arrived to the hospital on Monday and currently undergoing testing. DVI chief Sr. Comr. Anton Castilani said that the 22 fingerprints would be cross-referenced with the DNA data that was submitted from the victims’ families. He added that the team had yet to sort out which partial remains belonged to Indonesians or to foreign citizens. The Russian-made aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100, with 45 people onboard, disappeared from radar screens last Wednesday before an Air Force helicopter spotted its wreckage at an altitude of 5,800 feet in the foothills of Mt. Salak’s in Cidahu, Sukabumi, the day after. Search and rescue teams found that the bodies of the Sukhoi passengers were no longer intact. Eight Russian crew members, one American citizen and one French passenger were onboard along with 35 Indonesians. (asa) Tue, 05/15/2012 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/15/police-identify-22-fingerprints-ill-fated-sukhoi-s-victims.html