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.