Hundreds of bodies found in debris

Hundreds of bodies found in debris

JAKARTA (JP): The remains of at least 136 people, including of
women and teenagers, were recovered yesterday from riot-torn
shopping centers throughout the city torched by mobs Thursday.

Scores, or perhaps hundreds, of dead bodies have yet to be
recovered due a shortage of equipment and professional workers.

Some buildings, such as the Plaza Cileduk shopping center in
Cileduk, south of here, where between 50 and 100 people are
believed to have perished, were still smoldering as late as last
night.

Tangerang General Hospital received at least three bodies
found in the wreckage of damaged shopping centers.

Most of the bodies, taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital in Central Jakarta, are believed to have been looters.

Unlike on Thursday, which saw scenes of people reveling in the
burning and looting of shops, stricken relatives and surviving
looters were visibly stunned with what they had done.

On the other hand, residents and families whose properties
were set on fire by the mobs said that they hoped the burned
bodies would provide a grim lesson to others to help the city --
gripped by fear since Tuesday -- return to normal again.

Two of the burned bodies recovered yesterday belonged to a
Chinese woman and her 16-year-old daughter.

They were believed to have been trapped in their house in
Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, which was set ablaze by looters after
they grabbed valuable items.

The woman's husband, Chairul, who was guarding his shop in
North Jakarta that night, grimly said: "I have nothing in my life
now."

The hospital also received two bodies with gunshot wounds. One
of the deceased, Teddy Keneddy, attired in a Pemuda Pancasila
youth organization uniform, had three gunshot wounds on his body.

At the five-story Plaza Central Klender shopping center in
Klender, East Jakarta, Red Cross workers said they had 123 bags
of human remains as of last night.

Dody, a volunteer, said the remains were found in the
department stores on the second and third floors of the four-
story building.

Dody said the victims had been trapped in the flaming building
after looting the stores.

"The department store was closed down at midday. Later, many
people came and smashed it and set it on fire," he said.

The mobs even prevented the fire brigade from extinguishing
the blaze.

At Plaza Cileduk, eyewitnesses said the victims had forcibly
broken into the shopping center to take things but were later
trapped in the fire.

"At least seven people were killed after jumping from the
third story," said Oci, who with some local residents,
successfully helped evacuate 19 trapped looters.

Maryati, a local housewife, said the victims were greedy and
that they had repeatedly entered and exited the center to collect
things, ignoring the fact that the building was already on fire.

"Some people shouted and warned them not to go inside the
building, which was already on fire. But they didn't care. They
were possessed and kept running back into the fire," she said.

According to Cipto forensic expert Budi Sampurna, the hospital
received 216 bags containing human remains recovered from gutted
shopping centers and other buildings in West, North and East
Jakarta.

After brief examinations, the medical staff could only
ascertain the remains of 136 bodies, including 15 women.

"The other bags contained only small pieces of human remains
which were difficult to identify," Budi told reporters last night
while still waiting for more bags to come.

The hospital yesterday was packed with people looking for
their missing relatives.

Subianto, a Klender resident, easily recognized the body of
his 15-year-old son, Gunawan, from his school uniform.

"I told him not to join the crowd," Subianto recalled as he
collected the remains of his son.

Sunjoyo of Duren Sawit identified the charred body of his
nephew, Bambang Panji Angono, 19, from the body's identity card.

A body of an unidentified woman tightly hugging her child
attracted the attention of people visiting the hospital
yesterday.

Students of nearby University of Indonesia provided free lunch
boxes to relatives of the victims.

Wife of former House of Representatives member Sri Bintang
Pamungkas was also seen at the hospital helping the victims'
relatives get free transportation to carry home the remains of
their loved ones.

Although residents were still gripped with fear, the city
yesterday was relatively calm after being rocked Thursday by
riots, arson and looting.

Like Thursday night, residents could be seen gathered at their
respective neighborhoods guarding their homes from possible
attack.

Looting was still reported in some areas, such as Bekasi.

At midday, only a few vehicles could be seen on the roads.
Schools and offices were closed.

Hundreds of vehicles torched Thursday were still seen on many
streets in and around the city.

On Jl. Cileduk Raya alone, for instance, more than 30 badly
damaged angkot (public minibuses) lay abandoned in the median of
the street.

In the higher-income Menteng residential district in Central
Jakarta, residents fled from their homes, afraid of the ongoing
riots in the city.

House attendants interviewed by The Jakarta Post said that
their employers had been absent from their houses for quite
sometime.

"My master has left for about a month. He said that Jakarta is
not safe anymore. He asked me to stay while he took his family to
Australia," Marjono, a housekeeper at Jl. Besuki, said. (team)