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.