Police: 15 Bodies of Victims of Manado Nursing Home Fire Can No Longer Be Identified

JAKARTA - The bodies of 15 victims of the Damai Panti Werdha (jompo) fire in Ranomuut Village, Paal Dua District, Manado, North Sulawesi cannot be recognized.

"In this incident, 16 people were victims, of which 15 bodies were in a state that could not be recognized," said Head of Public Relations of the North Sulawesi Police, Kombes Pol Alamsyah P Hasibuan in Manado, Tuesday, quoted by Antara.

He said the Police Chief had ordered a team to be sent down to help the Manado Police, consisting of the Inafis Ditreskimum, Bidlabfor and the DVI Bid Dokkes Team to conduct the crime scene and identification process.

Tasrif said that his party is currently carrying out the first phase of identification, namely processing the crime scene.

"We managed to evacuate 16 bodies to Bhayangkara Hospital, Manado," he said.

He explained that the next phase is ante mortem, in which data from the family of the victim will be collected.

"We will take DNA samples from the family and the victim," he continued.

He hopes that people who feel that their family is on the victim list will immediately come to the Biddokkes DVI Post.

"We really hope that because the primary evidence as an identification tool in the form of fingerprints is no longer possible, so we really hope that identification will be carried out through DNA," he said.

Currently, the North Sulawesi Police do not have a DNA examination laboratory so that the samples will be sent to Jakarta.

"We need time, hopefully we will gather all of them today and tomorrow night we will take the samples to Jakarta," he said.

Meanwhile, the Manado Police Chief, Kombes Pol Irham Halid, explained that so far his party is still working to carry out the crime scene and find the cause of the fire.

"We are assisted by the North Sulawesi Police while carrying out the crime scene investigation. Hopefully there will be results and we will convey it again to the public," he said.