Families want Mina victims flown home

Families want Mina victims flown home

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"I don't know what to say. I was the first to hear the news
through a phone call. It was a shock," Ridha Triwahyuni, 20, said
on Monday in tears at her home in Lumajang regency, East Java.

Ridha's father Misnadi, 55, mother Dwi Duwang Siti Aminah, 50,
and grandmother Tasrukah, 65, were among the 48 Indonesian
pilgrims killed in Sunday's stampede in Mina, a valley located
just outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

At least 244 pilgrims were killed and 200 injured in the
stampede that occurred during the final devil-stoning ritual of
the annual haj pilgrimage.

Only 39 victims -- 28 men and 11 women -- have been
identified, the Ministry of Religious Affairs said on Monday.

Grief also gripped Ridha's two brothers, Ervan Agus Susianto,
25, and Andi Nurwahyono, 26, at their small house in Dawahan Lor
village, Sukodono subdistrict, which was packed with local
villagers who came to express their condolences.

The bereaved three demanded that the bodies of their parents
and grandmother be flown home from Mecca so they could bury them
in Lumajang.

Ridha, a junior at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang
(UMM), wished to see the faces of her parents one last time.

"I want their bodies brought home. I miss my mother and father
sorely," she said.

She said she had been very close to her mother. "I used to
accompany my mother everywhere...cooking, shopping, anything. Now
I'm alone."

Ridha last saw her parents and grandmother on Jan. 10 at
Lumajang City Hall before the flew to Saudi Arabia via Juanda
Airport, Surabaya.

"My mother and father were beaming because they were so happy
to go on the haj," she recalled.

Ervan said he had dreamed of his parents wearing the special
ihram haj shirts.

"But I didn't realize that it meant my parents would go away
forever," he cried.

Ervan, a UMM graduate, said his parents had called them four
times from Mecca before Sunday.

"My mother said she was going to Arafah and asked that the
entire family in Lumajang pray for them. She also said she had
the flu and was coughing," he said, accompanied by Andi.

In the Central Java city of Surakarta, families of pilgrims
were frantic over reports on the deaths of many Indonesian
Muslims in Mecca and flooded local authorities with calls.

Nurhadi, an official at the Donohudan haj dormitory in
Surakarta, said he was unable to provide any definitive answers
by Monday afternoon, as his office was still receiving
information on those who died in the stampede.

Bereaved families in Makassar, South Sulawesi, mourned for
family members who also perished in the Mina stampede.

Fifteen residents of Jeneponto regency, about 100 kilometers
from Makassar, were among the 48 Indonesian nationals killed.

Jeneponto families urged the Indonesian and Saudi governments
to fly home the bodies of their loved ones for burial.

Many relatives became hysterical upon hearing the news of
their deaths, while others were shocked into disbelief.

"I don't believe my father is dead. He was well when he left
for Mecca," said Hamriati, 17, the youngest daughter of 48-year-
old Muhammad Nasir bin Pangeran, who was reported among the dead.

Her sister Nurhana, 21, and brother Rahmat, 18, said they had
not received any portent of the death of their father, who left
for Mecca on Dec. 19 with his wife Kasmawati, 44.

Kasmawati is reported missing.

Meanwhile, hundreds thronged the Central Sulawesi religious
affairs office for information on the whereabouts of their family
members.

"We've come for information on the stampede ... we're worried
our relatives are among the dead," said Muhammad Hasrul, 22, from
the provincial capital of Palu.

Siti Harsah, 20, another Palu resident, was there to seek
information on her husband, Agus.

"Last year, I went to the Holy Land with him. This year, he is
there with my father-in-law. I am extremely worried," she said
tearfully.

The Mina stampede is the worst haj tragedy in seven years.
About two million Muslims from across the globe have gone on the
pilgrimage this year, including 205,000 Indonesians.