Bereaved Families bury unidentified crash victims

Bereaved Families bury unidentified crash victims

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Grieving parents of 14 of the 54 mainly schoolgirls from
Yogyakarta killed in Wednesday's tragic bus inferno in East Java
must face further anguish; holding funeral ceremonies with
remains that may not be their own children.

With DNA testing required to formally identify 14 of the
bodies, the families agreed on Saturday to take the charred
bodies they believed to be their children to complete the
funerals.

In keeping with their faith, Muslims must be buried as quickly
as possible.

Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X said if DNA testing found
the wrong bodies had been buried, they would be switched and
reburied.

He was speaking at a ceremony to receive the bodies of the
students and teachers from Yapemda I senior high school in
Kalitirto, Sleman regency, 15 kilometers east of Yogyakarta. The
emotional event was held near the school.

Among the mourners attending the ceremony was social affairs
minister Bachtiar Chamsyah.

All the victims were burned alive after their bus caught fire
following a head-on collision with a truck in Situbondo, near the
Paiton geothermal plant. They were on their way home after a trip
to Bali.

The truck driver and his assistant and the bus driver have
been named suspects by police. The truck driver, identified as
Kozin, admitted during interrogation that his unlicensed
assistant, Syafii, was at the wheel when the accident occurred.

The bodies were handed over to their families shortly after
the ceremony on Saturday.

The grieving was evident throughout Kalitirto on Saturday,
with residents moving from one house to another to convey their
condolences.

Dozens of students were among the mourners visiting the house
of Tulus Ikhlas, the founder of the Yapemda foundation that runs
the school, who was buried in a public cemetery in the village.

The body of one of the students, Riyani, and her belongings
were buried in a public cemetery.

Her twin sister, Riyanti, was confined to her bedroom as she
was still in a state of shock, while her mother, Sariyem,
fainted, Antara reported.

Another student, Ruli Rubianti, was buried in Karang Kalasan
public cemetery in Tirtomartani subdistrict. Her mother, Bujang
Purnomo, burst into tears as the ambulance carrying the body
arrived.

Ruli's father had pawned his traditional pedicab (becak) at a
pawnshop to help pay his daughter's travel expenses.

Uncontrolled grief pervaded Somodaran cemetery in
Purwomartani, where Ika Susilowati was buried. She was raised by
her mother, Sunarti, after they were abandoned by their father.

The Gadjah Mada University psychology department has provided
lecturers and students to counsel the families and friends of the
victims.

The high school is expected to reopen on Monday after being
closed since Thursday.