54 bodies, mostly still unidentified, sent to Yogyakarta

54 bodies, mostly still unidentified, sent to Yogyakarta

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Situbondo, East Java

The 54 bodies of schoolgirls and others killed in a horrific
three-vehicle crash were brought home to Yogyakarta on Friday,
although most of them were not identified yet, while police
arrested a trailer truck driver blamed for the tragedy.

The corpses, wrapped in white and put in wooden coffins, were
dispatched aboard dozens of ambulances at around 4:30 p.m. from
the Situbondo General Hospital in East Java, three days after the
tragedy.

Some of the coffins carried names of the charred victims,
including 49 schoolgirls, from the Yapemda I senior high school
in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta.

The remains were scheduled to arrive in Yogyakarta at 1 a.m.
on Saturday. Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X was
slated to come out and pay his respects.

However, it remained unclear how many bodies had been
identified.

Police forensic doctors and hospital staffers in Situbondo
said they had identified only six bodies, but families claimed
they had identified 15 victims.

The six identified bodies belonged to Yuli Puspitasari, Nila
Trihandayani, Dina Mariana, Siti Lutfilah Zairoh, Vita Poerwanti
and Jubaidi, according to director of the Situbondo hospital
Ismunarso.

"It's hard to carry out physical identification. Now, we are
collecting data (from families) to identify the victims. If it
remains unsuccessful, we will conduct DNA tests," said Sr. Comr.
Musaddeq, who led the forensic team.

Earlier on Friday, around 120 family members of the victims
arrived after midnight in Situbondo in three buses escorted by
police officers.

They later returned back to Yogyakarta along with the convoy
of the ambulances, despite the fact that most of their dead
children remained unnamed.

The families, mostly uncles, brothers, grandmothers and
grandfathers, had been asked to help identify the victims by
sight. However, the move was not helpful so much.

"I don't dare to see the bodies directly. So I asked my uncle
to look if there was a body with a red bra. If so, it's my sister
(Istanty)," Esty, one of the bereaved family members, said sadly
as forensic doctors held a meeting with them.

"Before her departure to Bali, my sister only packed red bras
and underwear," Esty added.

However, most of the families had to accept letters from the
hospital telling them that their dead children were not
identified, before the 54 bodies were sent home to Yogyakarta.

Meanwhile, East Java Police said on Friday they were detaining
the driver of the trailer truck that plowed into the ill-fated
bus AO Transport, killing the 54 people -- 49 schoolgirls aged
between 17 and 18, two male students, two teachers and a tour
guide.

The bus, returning from a field trip to Bali, was also rammed
from behind by a pickup and burst into flames during one of the
country's worst road accidents this year.

The driver, named as Kozin, told police investigators his
unlicensed assistant was at the wheel during the accident on
Wednesday evening, said Situbondo Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr.
Tugas Dwi Aprianto.

He said Kozin, 40, the licensed driver of the truck, turned
himself into the police late on Thursday following an intense
manhunt across Java island.

Kozin and his assistant driver Syafii, 35, also currently
being detained, could face charges of negligence and be jailed
for up to five years for causing deaths.

The local police were questioning them as the main suspects
the inferno.

"Syafii looks very upset and depressed over the crash. So it
makes it difficult to interrogate him right now," a local police
officer said.

He said his office was also investigating the bus driver,
Armando, as a witness in the accident. "But there is a
possibility he could also be named a suspect," traffic director
of the East Java police Sr. Comr. AA Adjar Triadi said in
Situbondo.

He said Kozin admitted that his truck had been traveling
downhill at a high speed and had occupied both lanes of the dark
and busy highway when its brakes failed and it crashed into the
bus.

The crash caused the bus to burst into flames. Police said the
fire started from the trailer truck's fuel tank.

At the same time, a pickup carrying fruit smashed into the
back of the bus, trapping the students inside as its back door
was locked.

Witnesses said they arrived to see the bus engulfed in flames,
while the passengers struggling in vain to escape.