'No fatalities at Xmas celebration'

'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