Police Medical Centre Optimises DVI Collaboration to Identify Virgo Ship Victims

The Indonesian National Police Medical Centre (Pusdokkes), in collaboration with the South Kalimantan Regional Police, is optimising the strength of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams to identify victims of the Virgo Transport 8 ship. This move comes as an increasing number of bodies have been recovered and require immediate identification.

“This collaboration is essential as a joint effort for a humanitarian mission to assist families awaiting the discovery and identification of their loved ones,” stated the Head of Forensic Medicine at Pusdokker Polri, Brigadier General Dr Sumy Hastry Purwanti, in Banjarmasin on Friday.

Hastry expressed her appreciation for the South Kalimantan Regional Police DVI team, under the command of the Head of Medical Services, Commissioner Pol dr Much Sofwan, for their optimal work thus far. Support from DVI personnel from the Central Kalimantan and Central Java Regional Police, alongside Pusdokkes, continues to be deployed at Bhayangkara Hospital Banjarmasin to strengthen the identification workforce.

In addition to police forensic medicine, several parties are assisting with the deployment of medical personnel, including the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) and specialists in Forensic Odontology from the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Indonesia (FKG UI). Meanwhile, 17 other deceased individuals are still in the process of being identified.

“I deeply understand that this is not an easy task, but with dedication and sincerity, the spirit of the DVI team remains burning to maintain the hope of the families,” said Hastry.

Basarnas reported that as of Friday, search operations are ongoing for 55 individuals out of the 243 passengers and crew of the Virgo ship. To date, 108 survivors have been found, while 80 fatalities have been confirmed.