15 victims of Sukhoi crash identified

JAKARTA: Forensic experts from the Indonesian police Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team, Friday, said that they had identified 15 victims of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 which crashed at Gunung Salak, Bogor, last May 9. The victims, 10 men and five women, comprised 13 Indonesians and two of other nationalities. Head of the Indonesian Police Hospital at Keramat Jati here, Brigadier General Agus Prayitno, at a media conference which was broadcast live by several television stations, said the victims were identified through their finger prints, dental records, DNA and personal possessions. However, he said the bodies had yet to be handed over to their next of kin as some of their body parts were still missing. Until today, the hospital had received 30 body bags of the victims’ remains and belongings which were recovered from the site of the crash. The ill-fated aircraft, with 45 passengers on board, was on a demonstration flight on May 9 when it suddenly lost communication with the air control tower. The plane’s wreckage was spotted on Gunung Salak the following day Friday 18 May 2012 Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/05/18/15-victims-of-sukhoi-crash-identified-new/#ixzz1vFfrYGaE

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At least 36 dies in bus accident in Vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam - At least 36 passengers died when a bus carrying nearly 60 passengers broke the banisters of Serepok Bridge on National Highway 14, which connects Dak Lak and Dak Nong provinces in central Vietnam, and fell into the river on Thursday night, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday. According to the initial report, the bus, owned by a transport cooperate in Dak Lak province, some 960 km south of capital Hanoi, was on the way to Ho Chi Minh City. At around 10 p.m., while crossing the Serepok Bridge, the vehicle suddenly crashed into the banister and fell into the river, from the height of 18 meters. Rescue workers and local people were mobilized to save victims. By 3 a.m., rescue works finalized. A total of 34 people were dead on the spot and other two victims died in Dak Lak hospital, according to the report. Friday 18 May 2012 http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/82196/at-least-36-dies-in-bus-accident-in-viet-nahm

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Another mass grave was found today on Balambo Mountain in Halabja

A mass grave was found Wednesday on Balambo Mountain including children and women remains. “The corpses of the mass grave might be victims of the chemical attack in the late 1980s,” Goran Adham Halabja town commissioner told Press. He said that they have indicated the location with the cooperation of Halabja Martyr association and have informed the KRG ministry of Martyr and Anfal affairs to dig up the corpses. “There might be also three other mass graves there,” he added. Halabja is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about 150 miles (240 km) north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border. The former Baath regime bombarded Halabja with internationally banned chemical weapon in April 1988, killing 5 thousand innocent people and displacing thousands others. Those who were dead were buried nearby Halabja randomly. Wednesday 16 May 2012 http://www.komalnews.net/%28A%28tlc5BDBqzQEkAAAAMGQ3OWQ2Y2QtZmZiOC00Mjc2LTlmYWUtMmY4MDc3YmZiNWVj79RK3hAKpaskK5NhKbv1971f20Q1%29%29/En/Detail.aspx?id=15765&LinkID=88&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

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Police identification unit summons Sukhoi victims` family members

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit of the police has summoned a number of family members of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 victims to the Said Sukanto National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, Jakarta, to help in the victim identification process. The unit will attempt to match the family members` DNA data with that of the bodies found at the crash site in Mount Salak, West Java. "The victims` families have been summoned to obtain some fingerprint, DNA and teeth samples, and this process is not yet complete," the chief of the hospital`s medical and health division Mussadeq Ishaq told reporters here on Thursday. According to Mussadeq, the families have been summoned to enrich the incomplete data stored in the DVI unit`s data base. "After this, the DVI team can do its job optimally, with almost 100 percent correct results," he remarked. As of Thursday morning, Mussadeq noted, the unit had received as many as 35 body bags containing the remains of the ill-fated plane crash victims. "We have received a total of 35 body bags - 30 of them contain the victims` body parts, while the other five contain the victims` property," he said. Mussadeq also asked for blessings from all parties so that the Sukhoi Superjet 100 victim identification process could be completed soon. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 jetliner slammed into the dormant volcano at nearly 800 kph (480 mph) during a light rain. Russian and French officials have now joined the investigation into the cause of the disaster. The ill-fated Superjet was carrying representatives from local airlines and journalists on what was supposed to be a 50-minute demonstration flight. Barely 21 minutes after the plane took off from a Jakarta airfield, its Russian pilot and co-pilot asked for permission to drop from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet; the plane disappeared from the radar immediately afterwards. Thursday 17 May 2012 http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/82183/police-identification-unit-summons-sukhoi-victims-family-members

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Bodies of Sukhoi Victims Kept in Containers - “The capacity of the existing container is not enough, so we bring more.”

The evacuation of the victims of the crashed Russian Sukhoi Superjet-100 through land is still underway. This morning, one body bag arrived at the Sukamto Police Hospital, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. The body bag arrived at the Police Hospital today was temporarily kept in the mortuary before being stored into a cooling container. A joint forensic team from the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and Police's Inafis brought one cooling container used to store the victims’ bodies. Earlier, Director of DVI Indonesia, Chief Commissioner Anton Castilani, said the container is used to prevent the victims’ body parts from decaying. “The capacity of the existing container is not enough, so we bring more,” said Anton. The white container came at 4.30 PM on Tuesday, May 15. The container was brought into the post mortem unit in the forensic building of the hospital with the help of two forklifts. The identification process of the victims’ body parts is still in progress. A total of 30 body bags have been evacuated to Jakarta including five bags which contain the victims’ belongings. The forensic team has recapitulated the post mortem data, namely the DNA, then the DNA samples will be sent to the Police Headquarters’ laboratory for identification and matched with the ante mortem data taken from the victims’ family members. As many as 45 passengers were in the SSJ-100 when it crashed into the cliffs of Mount Salak. Until the seventh day of the evacuation, there has not been any sign of life from the victims. Wednesday 16 May 2012 http://us.en.vivanews.com/news/read/314358-bodies-of-sukhoi-victims-kept-in-containers

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8 000 corpses still unidentified in Mexico

Even if someone had not chopped the heads, hands and feet off the victims first, the chances of investigators identifying the 49 bodies dumped on a road in northern Mexico this weekend would have been far from certain. More than 8 000 corpses left across Mexico since 2006 have not been identified, according to the National Human Rights Commission, a government-run body. At the same time, more than 5 000 people who have disappeared during the drug violence sweeping the country have never been tracked down, according to the commission. The failure to find and identify victims of massacres and murders has spurred criticism of the war on drug gangs waged by President Felipe Calderon since he took office in late 2006. The thousands of grieving families searching for lost loved-ones are also likely to haunt Calderon's successor, who will be chosen in presidential elections on July 1. “When you can't find your family member it completely destroys you,” said Irma Hidalgo, whose 18-year old son was dragged from her home in Monterrey in 2011. “We just want to know if he is alive - or if not, then lay him to rest.” Hidalgo immediately called the Monterrey morgue following the discovery of the pile of dead outside the city on Sunday, but police told her not to come in because they said the bodies were so badly mutilated they were only identifiable with DNA. She has already given her DNA samples to state and federal police and is assured they will be compared with the victims. The sheer scale of the carnage makes it difficult for authorities to handle the murder cases. The latest violence has pushed the total number of drug-related deaths to around 55 000 since Calderon assumed power in December 2006. Emergency teams have had to confront mass graves with more than 200 corpses, dozens of bodies thrown into mine shafts and massacres such as the 49 headless corpses left on a road about 29km east of this industrial city. State-employed forensic scientists complain it is an almost insurmountable task. “I used to just deal with traffic deaths and the odd crime of passion. I never thought I would see this kind of devastation in my country,” said a forensic scientist in Monterrey, who asked his name not be used. “I had a day recently when I had to look at five bodies that had been shot in one street, then three in another and then five corpses that had been cut up.” “At first you feel sick when you have to take evidence from bodies that have been decapitated and mutilated. But then you get used it and you don't feel anything,” he said. It has also been a challenge to store so many corpses. Following the killings on Sunday, forensics vehicles needed to make several trips to take all of the 49 cadavers back to a morgue located in a public hospital in Monterrey. Hospital officials said they just managed to fit the corpses in their fridges. In other cases, such as when mass graves were found by the nearby town of San Fernando in 2011, the government had to send refrigerated trucks to store all the victims. Calderon defends his offensive by saying his government has made record seizures of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, and arrested or shot dead dozens of major traffickers. “There are people who criticise my government for fighting criminals, but what do they want? To invite (criminals) for a cup of coffee?” Calderon asked as he inaugurated a hospital in Mexico State recently. “If someone doesn't want to fight criminals, they shouldn't be in government.” But critics point out that even as soldiers and police round up drug smugglers, they fail to solve most murders. Fewer than 20 percent of homicides in the last two years have led to arrests and convictions, according to police and court statistics. With such a backlog, cases of disappearances are given even less priority, family members complain. Jorge Varestegui has been searching for almost two years for his brother and nephew, who were taken by armed men at a road block near his town of Parras in northeast Mexico. “Police don't take the cases of disappearances seriously. They say the person probably ran away or something, even when you bring evidence to show they were kidnapped,” he said. With so many crimes unsolved, police cannot identify if many of the victims were actually criminals killed over the fight to smuggle drugs or simply civilians caught up in the bloodshed. “The government gives a simplistic explanation that this is just criminals killing criminals. But how do they know, if they don't solve the crimes?” asked Indira Kempiris, a human rights activist in Monterrey. “Many of the victims are from the most vulnerable sections of society with no means to seek justice.” A day after the 49 bodies were dumped, police said they had not yet identified any victims nor had reports of a mass disappearance lately, signaling the victims may have been foreign migrants passing through Mexico to the United States. Graffiti at the crime scene bore the letter “Z”, a symbol for the Zetas drug cartel, known to dominate the area. As well as from drugs, the Zetas make money from human trafficking and extorting migrants, and have murdered many who fail to pay them. In 2009, the Zetas were blamed for a massacre of 72 foreign migrants, again in San Fernando. With many families of victims living in poor communities in Central and South America, it is even harder to identify them. Many of them are undocumented migrants, further complicating their identification. The continued failure to put names on so many victims leads to a vicious circle, in which gangs are encouraged to think that they can get away with murder, said Victor Clark-Alfaro, director of the Bi-national Centre for Human Rights in Tijuana. “Over the years, the state has accumulated a huge sack of dead people on its back without resolving the cases or punishing those responsible for them,” he said. - Reuters Tuesday, 15 May 2012 http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/8-000-corpses-still-unidentified-in-mexico-1.1296689

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Russia’s top DNA profiler to assist Sukhoi’s victims’ identification

Russia’s leading DNA expert, Pavel Ivanov, is slated to arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday to help the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit in identifying the victims of Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed on Mt. Salak, West Java last week. An official from Raden Said Sukanto National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, said late on Sunday that Ivanov would help analyze the remains of the ill-fated aircraft’s victims. “Ivanov will help the DVI unit to identify the victims through DNA profiling,” said the hospital’s medical and health division chief, Mussadeq Ishaq, as quoted by tribunnews.com. Ivanov is a Russian geneticist from the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and is one of the experts who investigated the remains of Russia’s slain royal family Romanov through DNA analysis. According to Mussadeq, Indonesia’s forensic teams hoped that the helping hands from the Russian teams would make the identification process easier. Separately, Russian forensic expert Andrey Kovalev said that the Russians would conduct their jobs in accordance with Interpol standards. Previously, officials prepared six teams comprising 60 experts in forensic medicine, fingerprint identification, and DNA analysis to identify victims’ remains. The team consists of experts from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. As of Sunday morning the hospital had received 18 body bags that were sent directly to forensics teams for identification. (asa) Mon, 05/14/2012 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/14/russia-s-top-dna-profiler-assist-sukhoi-s-victims-identification.html

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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

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22 body bags of Sukhoi plane crash victims checked

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, has examined 22 body bags of the victims of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane that crashed on Mount Salak in West Java last Wednesday. "Until last night, the disaster victim identification (DVI) team of the Indonesian police had examined 22 body bags, of which 18 contained body parts and four contained property," the head of the hospital, Brig Gen Agus Prayitno, said on Monday. "Three more body bags were sent to the hospital on Monday morning. The bags arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta at 8.05 a.m., after being flown from a command post near the plane crash site in Mount Salak," he added. "The three body bags are now undergoing a post-mortem check," Agus explained. He said since last night the DVI team had evaluated the post-mortems conducted after the body bags of Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash victims arrived at the hospital. "The results of the post-mortem checks will be compared with ante-mortem data to identify the victims," Agus added. "The medical center and health laboratory of the Indonesian police had started work ever since DNA samples were taken from the relatives of the victims. The DNA laboratory had begun comparing the DNA samples with the body parts of the victims,� he said. "We hope all of this will not take too long. We have done our best," Agus added. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 was carrying 45 passengers, including 34 Indonesians, eight Russians, two Italians, and one Frenchman. The plane crashed during a demonstration flight for potential Indonesian buyers. The National Committee of Transportation Safety (KNKT) earlier said it had located the black box of the ill-fated aircraft. "We have located it, but it has not yet been collected because it is buried under plane debris," KNKT chief Tatang Kurniadi said on Sunday. Monday 14 May 2012 http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/82091/22-body-bags-of-sukhoi-plane-crash-victims-checked

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37 dead in NW China storms

MINXIAN, Gansu - The death toll had risen to 37 and 19 others remained missing as of 6 pm Friday after hail and torrential rains battered a mountainous county in Northwest China, authorities said late Friday. As of 6 pm, the storms had affected 358,000 people in Minxian county, Gansu province, forcing the evacuation of nearly 30,000 local residents. Another 40 people had been hospitalized. Roads were blocked, houses collapsed, and farmland destroyed by the extreme weather, according to Minxian county civil affairs bureau. China's National Disaster Reduction Committee and the Civil Affairs Ministry raised the level of emergency response from level 4 to level 3 on Friday afternoon. A disaster relief team led by Sun Shaocheng, deputy minister of civil affairs and consisted of officials from nine ministries is heading to the disaster-hit area. About 2,000 officials, as well as 800 soldiers and militiamen, have trudged through mud and water into storm-battered areas to rescue trapped villagers. Gansu provincial Red Cross said it was sending 1,000 quilts and 1,000 coats to Minxian to help with disaster relief efforts. The provincial finance bureau, meanwhile, has earmarked 2 million yuan ($317,460) to repair damaged water control facilities. Food and water had been allocated to the evacuated residents by local authorities. Minxian's civil affairs bureau said the stormy weather lasted just from 5 to 6 pm, but wreaked havoc in all of the county's 18 townships. In the worst-hit areas, precipitation measured nearly 70 mm.

Hail and torrential rain cut power in six townships, damaged several homes, hospitals and schools, disrupted traffic on two interprovincial highways and destroyed over 7,000 hectares of crops, county authorities said. Minxian is a mountainous county in the city of Dingxi with a population of 450,000. It is located 150 km from Zhouqu county, where a rain-triggered mudslide killed more than 1,500 people in August 2010. Thursday's rains also triggered floods in two other counties in Dingxi, as well as parts of the city of Longnan and the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. No deaths have been reported in those areas. The national flood control and drought relief headquarters on Friday issued fresh warnings to northwestern provinces, urging them to step up weather monitoring and flood prevention efforts. The provincial observatory said more rains were likely from late Friday to Sunday in Minxian. Sunday, 13 May 2012 http://english.sina.com/china/p/2012/0511/466968.html

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11 Indians among 15 dead in Nepal plane crash

Eleven Indian pilgrims were among 15 people killed when a private plane crashed in northern Nepal today after hitting a hill top while trying to land at high-altitude Jomsom airport. The Dornier aircraft belonging to the Agni Air went down when it hit the top of a hill while landing at the Jomsom airport in northern Nepal, said an official at the Rescue Coordination Committee of Tribhuvan International Airport. “Eleven Indian nationals, two Danish nationals and two Nepalese crew members were killed in the crash,” the official said, adding rescuers have so far recovered nine bodies from the wreckage. Six people on board, including a crew member and five Indians, have been rescued alive from the crash site, he said. The injured people were taken to a hospital in Pokhara where condition of the three Indians was critical. There were altogether 18 passengers including 16 Indians and three Nepali crew members in the ill-fated aircraft. The aircraft was heading towards Jomsom in the morning from Pokhara when it hit the hill, the official said, adding that there are possibilities of a technical fault. The passengers had chartered the flight to take them from the central tourist hub of Pokhara to Muktinath, a famous Hindu pilgrimage in Jomsom near Tibetan border at the foot of the Thorong La Himalayan mountain pass, the official said. The high-altitude Jomsom airport, about 200 km northwest of the capital, is a gateway to a popular tourism and trekking destination situated more than 2,600 m above sea level. The plane turned into pieces but did not caught fire. The bodies of Pilot Prabhu Sharan Pathak and Co-pilot JD Maharjan have been recovered. When contacted, Indian Embassy officials said they were trying to collect the details as there was some confusion over the nationalities of the passengers on board the ill-fated plane. Agni Air marketing manager Pramod Pandey said two Danish nationals were among the passengers, although their condition was not known. “It’s not that much difficult to land at the Jomsom airport. We are using experienced pilots over there,”he added. Monday 14 May 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3417494.ece?textsize=small&test=2

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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

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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

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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

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The Russian government promised to bring a team of DNA analysis to help identify the bodies of victims Sukhoi Super Jet 100 at the Police Hospital, East Jakarta. It was submitted by the Chief of Police Hospitals Bhayangkara Brigadier Agus Prayitno a news conference after receiving five body bags, on Saturday (05/12/2012). "The Russians have not got here, but they will help the DVI teams from Indonesia to DNA identification," said Agus. In addition to teams from Russia, Disaster Victim Identification team (DVI) Police also assisted by a number of experts from universities, including University of Indonesia, University of Padjadjaran, UB and a team of forensic doctors from Banten. All results will be reported periodically indetifikasi DVI DVI Indonesia at the International center in Lyon, France. "There is a forensic pathologist, odontologi forensics, forensic DNA, forensic anthropologist who helped identify it," he explained. In the meantime, it's been five body bags brought to the Police Hospital. The victim's family began to arrive to meet the post DVI. They were given a special place to wait. Access to the pouch where the bodies are still barred from two pieces of fabric and the police line. Only the police team is allowed to enter. All the families who came, asked to register the name, address and phone number in the guest book that has been prepared. Saturday 12 May 2012 http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12142999-russian-team-helps-identify-victims-of-sukhoi

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As relatives wait, minister says stop circulating crash pictures.

A senior minister says people should stop circulating pictures of the victims of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed near Mt. Salak in West Java. “I have received information that pictures of the victims have already been circulating through mobile phones. This kind of action will be painful for the victims’ families. Please, stop it,” Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono told reporters at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in East Jakarta on Saturday as quoted by kompas.com. Agung's statement follows the circulation on BlackBerry Messenger on Friday of a photo purportedly taken at the crash site depicting the remains of two victims. Meanwhile, dozens of relatives of the victims have assembled in front of the National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, where officials have taken five body bags containing the partial remains of victims and their personal effects for identification. Officials have prepared tents in the hospital's courtyard, along with televisions tuned to news stations, for relatives as they wait. Separately, Sr. Comr. Anton Castilani, chief of the National Police’s disaster victim identification unit, said autopsies of the victims might take weeks, months or even years given that the remains were not intact and decomposition had already begun. Saturday, 12 May 2012 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/12/minister-urges-citizens-stop-circulating-graphic-pictures-sukhoi-s-victims.html

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Relatives of Superjet Crash Victims Observe Recovered Bodies

The relatives of those killed when a Sukhoi Superjet plane crashed on a remote hilltop in Indonesia earlier this week gathered at a hospital in the capital Jakarta on Saturday to observe identification of the victims' bodies, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported. The partial remains of several victims' bodies from the May 9 crash were airlifted to Jakarta airport earlier on Saturday and then taken to the National Police Hospital for identification. A post-mortem of the bodies may take weeks or even years as some have already decomposed, said Anton Castilani, chief of the National Police's disaster victim identification unit. All 45 people on board the Russian-made Superjet 100 - most of them representatives of Indonesian airlines - were killed after the plane slammed into a steep mountainside outside Jakarta. The jet, Russia's first new commercial plane since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago, was on a demonstration flight for potential customers. The search for the aircraft’s two black boxes will start after all the bodies are evacuated from the scene, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) head Mikhail Pogosyan said on Saturday. “Both the Russian and the Indonesian sides are interested in the earliest, as well as most objective investigation of the tragedy,” he said. “We expect the first part of the operation, including the evacuation of the bodies, to be completed within 24 hours,” he added. The plane crashed in a remote area on rugged terrain and if it proves impossible to find the black boxes quickly “we will use other sources of objective information,” he added. The aircraft had experienced no technical problems ahead of the flight, its second of the day, Pogosyan said on Friday, adding it was still premature to say if pilot error caused the crash Saturday 12 May 2012 http://en.ria.ru/world/20120512/173408688.html

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Ten foreigners killed in Indonesia plane crash

JAKARTA - A senior official at the Indonesian Disaster Victim Identification Agency (DVI) said Friday that ten foreigners were among the victims of crashed Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane in Indonesia's West Java province. "Those ten foreigners were eight from Russia, one from the United States and another one from France," DVI Executive Director Anton Castilani said here. He said that five people among the 50 listed in the initial passengers manifest had reported to DVI about their safety. They cancelled to board the plane in last minutes before the plane took off from Halim Perdanakusumah airport for a demonstration flight. "It means that there were 45 people onboard the plane. Identification of 35 Indonesian nationals had been reported by their families to DVI. Families of the French and the U.S. nationals onboard the plane have also reported identification of their relatives," Anton said. He added that the data recorded by the agency fit to the manifest data recorded from the ill-fated Sukhoi plane. Debris of the crashed plane were mostly found scattered in Cipelang hamlet, Cijeruk subdictrict in Bogor regency in West Java province. The plane hit the wall of Mount Salak located in Bogor regency on Wednesday afternoon after its pilot contacted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials in Halim Perdanakusumah airport, asking permission to descent to 6,000 feet from a height of 10,000 feet. The Indonesian rescuer team and the army engage helicopters to evacuate the remains of the killed passengers from the crash site in several sorties. Indonesian and Russian teams have prepared a joint team to identify the remains of those perished in the plane crash. The fatal crash was the first in the world to involve Russia's iconic Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane. Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued an instruction to undertake a thorough investigation into the crash. Friday 11 May 2012 http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-05/11/content_15270960.htm

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12 bodies found near Indonesia jet crash site

Search teams found at least 12 bodies Friday near where a Russian-made jetliner crashed into the side of an Indonesian volcano while on a demonstration flight for potential buyers from airlines, an official said. All 45 aboard the Sukhoi Superjet-100 are feared dead. "Today we have discovered 12 victims, all dead," Rear Marshal Daryatmo, head of the national search and rescue agency, told reporters today. The search team used ropes to climb up to the wreckage on the near-vertical slopes of Mount Salak, search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. The 10 bodies they found are being prepared to be transported from the crash site by helicopter. Local television showed what appeared to be the plane's tail with the blue-and-white Sukhoi logo, part of a wing and bits of twisted metal scattered along the slope like confetti. The jetliner slammed into the dormant volcano Wednesday at nearly 800 kph (480 mph). Russian and French investigators have arrived to join the ongoing investigation into the cause. The Superjet-100 is Russia's first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago and was intended to help resurrect its aerospace industry. The ill-fated Superjet was carrying representatives from local airlines and journalists on what was supposed to be a 50-minute demonstration flight. Just 21 minutes after takeoff from a Jakarta airfield, the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked for permission to drop from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet (3,000 meters to 1,800 meters). They gave no explanation, disappearing from the radar immediately afterward. It was not clear why the crew asked to shift course, especially since they were so close to the 7,000-foot (2,200-meter) volcano, or whether they got an OK, officials have said. Communication tapes will be reviewed as part of the investigation, but it's unlikely they will be released to the public any time soon. Friday 11 May 2012 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/12-bodies-found-near-indonesia-jet-crash-site-7736656.html

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Bodies found at Russian jet wreckage in Indonesia

Rescuers discovered bodies Thursday near the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the steep side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead. Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will need to be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. The bodies from Wednesday's crash were to be flown to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members. "So far we haven't found any survivors, but we are still searching," he said. "I cannot say anything about the condition of the bodies," Prakoso said, but he added that: "A high speed jet plane hit the cliff, exploded and tore apart." Authorities had lost contact with the Sukhoi Superjet-100 shortly after it took off from a Jakarta airfield carrying mostly representatives from Indonesian airlines. Family members, many of whom spent a long, sleepless night at the airport, broke down in tears on hearing news of the wreckage. Others stared blankly ahead in disbelief. The plane, Russia's first new passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago, hit a jagged ridge on top of Mount Salak, a long-dormant volcano, leaving a giant earthy gash along the steep slope as it stripped trees. The Superjet _ a 75- to 95-seater _ has been touted as a challenger to similar-sized aircrafts from Canada's Bombardier Inc. and Brazil's Embraer SA. Potential buyers will scrutinize the crash investigation for signs of flaws in the aircraft. "If it's a technical fault ... then obviously that will be very serious for them," said Tom Ballantyne, a Sydney-based aviation expert. "But if it's pilot error or the fault of air traffic control, it won't be quite so bad because they'll be able to say, 'Well, it's not the airplane'." The plane took off early Wednesday afternoon for what was supposed to be a quick demonstration flight _ the second of the day. Just 21 minutes later, the Russian pilot and co-pilot sought permission to descend from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet (3,000 meters to 1,800 meters), said Daryatmo, chief of the national search and rescue agency. The plane then fell off the radar. It was not clear why the crew asked for the shift in course, he said, especially when they were so close to the 7,000-foot (2,200-meter) volcano, or if they got the OK. Communication between pilots and air traffic control are being reviewed, said Tatang Kurniadi, chief of the National Commission on Safety Transportation, but the tapes will not be made public any time soon. More than 1,000 people, including soldiers and police, took part in the search and rescue efforts. Eventually, helicopters carrying out aerial surveys near the crater and northern slope spotted the wreck. The Superjet _ developed by the civil aircraft division of Sukhoi with the co-operation with Western partners _ has been widely considered Russia's chance to regain a foothold in the international passenger plane market. The country's aerospace industry was badly undermined in the economic turmoil following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. It was on a "Welcome Asia!" tour, which included stops in Pakistan, Myanmar and Kazakhstan, and was supposed to head next to Vietnam and Laos. All but 10 of the 45 people on board were potential buyers and journalists, said Sunaryo from PT. Trimarga Rekatama, the company that helped organize Wednesday's event. The others were Russians, all from Sukhoi companies, an American consultant with a local airline and a Frenchman with aircraft engine-maker Snecma. The Superjet made its inaugural commercial flight last year. "It is their big hope that they will somehow get into the jet aircraft passenger market in a bigger way than they have," Ballantyne said. "We all know that the Russians have had a dreadful record in the past with their aircraft, so this was vitally important to their industry." With a relatively low price tag of around $35 million, the plane has garnered around 170 orders. And Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million people with a fast-growing middle class, is already one of the biggest customers. Kartika Airlines and Sky Aviation _ among dozens of airlines to have popped up in Indonesia in the last decade to meet the growing demand for cheap air travel _ had ordered at least 42. 10 May 2012 http://qctimes.com/news/world/asia/russian-plane-with-aboard-missing-in-indonesia/article_4b61e769-7585-5b95-83a8-9ef31674a77e.html

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