DNA tests were required to identify the bodies retrieved after a vessel carrying Lebanese and other migrants to Australia sank off the coast of Indonesia last week, a Lebanese envoy to Jakarta told The Daily Star Monday.
“I examined 33 bodies today in the public hospital of Jakarta and I couldn’t identify any. It is as if they were struck by an atomic bomb,” said Toufic Hamzeh, who was dispatched to Indonesia by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to follow up on the issue.
“Relatives of the travelers should send DNA samples to the Lebanese Embassy here [Indonesia] so that DNA tests can be conducted to identify the bodies,” Hamzeh added.
Hamzeh said that he was informed by the Indonesian police that a remaining 25 bodies would be brought to the hospital Tuesday.
At least 26 Lebanese asylum-seekers drowned in the boat accident on Friday. They were attempting to illegally migrate to Australia. Indonesian police said there were 80 people aboard the boat that was headed for Australia’s Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The Lebanese victims are mainly from Akkar and the northern city of Tripoli.
Hamzeh said that 18 Lebanese survived the accident. “I visited some of them who were put in a hotel by Indonesian authorities, far from Jakarta, at least six to seven hours by car,” he said. “We provided them with clothes and mobiles ... they cannot leave the hotel.”
“I heard about three Lebanese women who survived and are in hospital,” Hamzeh said, adding he was on his way to see them.
Hamzeh said that the process of bringing the Lebanese survivors back home would take from 10 to 15 days since they lacked legal documents.
He explained that there were some Lebanese who couldn’t make the trip and were arrested by Indonesian authorities for lacking documentation. “I will try to solve their problem to bring them back home,” Hamzeh said.
Survivors of the accident told journalists that they sent their GPS coordinates to Australian rescuers for assistance, but no one came to their aid.
Hundreds have died in fatal sinkings in recent years, as large numbers continue to board rickety, wooden boats in Indonesia to try and make the treacherous sea crossing to Australia.
Residents of Akkar blocked main roads Monday demanding that the fate of their relatives be uncovered.
Tuesday 1 October 2013
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Oct-01/233128-dna-test-required-to-identify-capsized-boat-victims.ashx
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