12 Body Bags Containing Body Parts For Victims Of The Semeru Eruption Haven't Been Identified

ILLUSTRATION OF DOCK BETWEEN

SURABAYA - The Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has not been able to identify 12 of the 47 body bags of the victims of Mount Semeru. This is because dozens of body bags contain body parts, and it takes time to identify them.

"The DVI team has received a total of 47 body bags, and as many as 35 bodies have been identified, and the rest have not been identified. The 35 bodies consist of 25 men and 10 women", said Head of Public Relations of the East Java Police, Kombes Gatot Repli Handoko, in Surabaya on Thursday, December 30th.

Currently, continued Gatot, the DVI Team of the East Java Police is still carrying out the identification process of the dozens of bodies. A total of two bodies of men, one woman, and nine body bags containing body parts.

"For antemortem data, 76 data have been entered and 33 DNA samples have been taken from 27 families. There are 20 postmortem DNA samples. Now it is still in the identification process", he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Health Department of the East Java Police, Kombes Erwin Zainul Hakim, added that from the analysis of the DVI operation, 35 bodies had been identified. Only 17 percent can be identified visually, and 68 percent identified from medical records and property data.

There was also identified from medical records through dental photos and photo property data 20 percent, identified from primary DNA data 11 percent, secondary identified from dental photos, medical data, and DNA strengthened 2.8 percent.

"We convey how important it is that information comes from the victim's family because it is very important to carry out identification. For example through photos or videos that can describe conditions that match the victim's condition", said Erwin.

Therefore, Erwin hopes that the community can help provide information to the DVI Team, to facilitate the process of identifying the bodies of Semeru victims.

"We hope that information from the community will facilitate the process of accelerating identification. The DVI Command Post will continue to carry out its functions, even until everything is revealed", he said.