Identification of Sukhoi crash victims may take months

While the evacuation of Sukhoi Superjet-100 crash victims is still underway, the victim`s identification may take months because many of their bodies are no longer intact, head of the police medical and health center (Pukdokkes) Senior Commission Anton Castilani told the press at the police hospital in East Jakarta Saturday. Anton said the identification process is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle and he compared it also with the boat accident in Trenggalek in which identification of the victims took as long as five months. The police team of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) has begun with identifying the contents of four body bags at the police hospital including identifying body parts, describing and making notes of special features of the victims. The return of the victims to their families cannot be done in a too short period because the team is still completing the identification process. Anton also cannot say how long it would take to complete the identification process, because DNA examination itself would take another two weeks, as it is also necessary to compare ante mortem data with post mortem data. "I cannot promise anything, because it is still too long," he said. The DVI team is making the comparisons such as by finger print data, teeth, DNA, physical/medical marks and the belongings of the victims. Anton said the Russian government has also promised to send a DNA expert to help the identification process, and universities and domestic agencies like University of Indonesia, Airlangga University, Bradijaya University, Eijkman Institute (Bandung) and a team of doctors from Banten will also help the identification process. Sunday 13 May 2012

Cause of jet crash in Java unclear, investigators say NAMING THE DEAD:：Experts flown in from Russia will cooperate with Indonesian police to identify the victims, a complicated process that could take up to half a year AFP, CIJERUK, INDONESIA Sun, May 13, 2012 - Page 4 Body bags containing the victims of a Russian jet crash began arriving in the Indonesian capital yesterday as Russian investigators flew in to join the probe into how the aircraft smashed into the side of a volcano. Rescuers said the bodies of those who perished when Sukhoi’s new Superjet 100 hit Mount Salak in western Java on Wednesday, killing all on board, were badly dismembered. Officials said the remains of the victims found so far had been placed in 16 body bags. By noon, five had arrived in Jakarta by helicopter and were taken to a police hospital for identification. “This morning we have 16 body bags. On Friday, there were 12, and four more were filled today [Saturday]. No body was found in its whole form,” West Java provincial military chief Sonny Widjaja said yesterday. Each bag could contain the remains of more than one victim, he said. Officials said on Friday that 12 bodies had been found. As the bodies arrived at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma military airport, two Russian jets landed carrying medics, helicopters and experts who will work with Indonesian authorities in the investigation. Sukhoi’s representative company in Indonesia, Trimarga Rekatama — which organized the promotional flight to tout the new jet — said scores of Russian experts would join the investigation. “There will be 73 Russian experts, some are here already. Thirty-seven of them are mechanics,” the company’s consultant Sunaryo said. The company has apologized for confusion surrounding its manifest, claiming at first that 50 passengers were on board but then revising the number to 45. Local rescue officials said the plane was carrying 46. The company said the final passenger list was with a staff member on the plane, causing confusion as to how many and who exactly was on board. “We are so sorry about that. It was a mistake. The list should have been with us on the ground,” Sunaryo said. Questions now abound over why the plane crashed with an experienced pilot as its captain. Key to the mystery is why the pilot requested permission from air traffic control to descend from 3,000m to 1,828m before the plane disappeared from radar screens and slammed into Mount Salak, which rises to 2,094m. The Indonesian transport ministry said a control tower in Jakarta gave the pilot permission to descend as the plane approached a military base in a clearing amid the mountains in western Java. “Based on a report from the control tower, we know the pilot made the request to descend to 1,828m and yes, the control tower gave him permission to do so,” the ministry’s director-general for aviation Herry Bakti said. “He was approaching the Atang Senjaya military base, which is a safe place to fly low, and we know that he did in fact descend to 1,828m. We think he wanted to show the passengers the military base,” he added. Bakti said it was unclear what happened after that. A Russian fact-finding committee said on Thursday there were indications that safety standards had been violated. Relatives at the hospital wailed as they watched the body bags arrive for identification. Anton Castilani, a forensics expert with Indonesian police, said at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital in Jakarta that his team would try and “reconstruct the body parts as much as possible,” saying it could take up to six months. Photos of the plane’s first demonstration flight posted online by Russian blogger Sergey Dolya show relaxed passengers smiling onboard, being treated to champagne, as well as Russian and Indonesian crew members posing outside the jet. Eight Russians, as well as a French and US national, were on the flight out of a total of at least 45 passengers and crew. Indonesian police hospital chief Agus Prayitno said that because there were foreigners aboard, Indonesia was working with Interpol’s disaster victim identification agency based in Lyon, France. Rescuers were still searching for the aircraft’s black boxes at the crash site, 80km south of Jakarta. Wednesday’s calamity came 50 minutes into the flight, part of an Asian sales tour to promote the aircraft, a joint venture between Sukhoi and Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica, which had its first flight last year. Sunday, 13 May 2012 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/print/2012/05/13/2003532717

Antemortem data of sukhoi crash victims now complete

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Antemortem data of all the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash victims are now complete and are in the hands of the Indonesian police, Head of the Police Medical and Health Center Police Brig Gen Dr. Mussadeq Isshaq said in Jakarta Sunday. "All the antemortem data are complete, and we are now awaiting the results of the evacuation of the victims from the crash site," he said. Antemortem data are very important in the identification process because the victims are no longer in tact, so that it is difficult for the police to identify them, he said. The wife of one of the victims of French nationality has come to Dr Sukanto Police Hospital in Kramatjati Monday morning to collect antemortem data. In the meantime, Police Senior Commissioner dr. Anton Castilani said the crash victims are no longer in tact. ANTARA observed that the total number of body bags already sent to the Police Hospital up to Sunday afternoon has reached 22. Three arrived at the Police Hospital at 12.15 local time and another at 1.50 pm.(*) Sunday, 13 May 2012 http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/82075/antemortem-data-of-sukhoi-crash-victims-now-complete