'No fatalities at Xmas celebration'

JAKARTA: At least 19 corpses were taken to the Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital morgue since Christmas Eve, but none of them had died due to security disturbances during the religious celebration.

"I think there have been no deaths related to Christmas services," H. Mardiyono, the city morgue chief at Cipto Mangunkusumo said on Wednesday.

People celebrated Christmas under tight security here after Christmas Eve last year was rocked by a series of bombings. The celebration took place peacefully here, but in Bogor, a Christmas mass planned to take place in a house that functioned as a church had to be canceled due to objections from people in the neighborhood.

According to Mardiyono, the causes of death of the 19 victims whose remains were brought to the RSCM morgue varied.

Among them, six were killed in traffic accidents, three by gunshot wounds, one had committed suicide and two others had died due to illness.

Meanwhile, seven dead bodies remained unidentified as nobody had claimed them. --JP