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)