Police: Complete DNA Samples Of All Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Passengers

Karo Penmas, Police Public Relations Division, Brigadier General Rusdi Hartono (Photo: PR PolriI

JAKARTA - A week after the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 plane crashed in the waters of the Thousand Islands, Police Public Relations Division Karo Penmas, Brigadier General Rusdi Hartono, said that the DNA samples belonging to the passengers for identification were complete.

"DNA samples for 62 victims are complete. So there are 140 DNA samples for all the victims," Rusdi said in a press conference held at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital, East Jakarta, Friday, January 15.

With the complete DNA sample, Rusdi hopes that his party can re-identify it so that the passenger's family expectations can be fulfilled.

"Hopefully in the future we can re-identify it and of course this is a big hope for the victim's family to be able to bring the body home," he said.

Some time ago the DVI Team explained that DNA samples could be obtained from a number of personal items belonging to passengers such as toothbrushes and clothes that passengers had used but had not washed.

Meanwhile, for the identification of passengers with DNA, as of today, there have been three people confirmed by the DVI Team. They are Rahmawati, Putri Wahyuni, and Dinda Amelia.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, January 14, two passengers, Pipit Priyono and Ricko, were identified by DNA. So that a total of five passengers have been identified with DNA samples submitted by the passenger's family.

As for the total identified passengers, 17 people were identified. Where four of them, namely Okky Bisma, Asy Habul Yamin, Fadly Satrianto, and Ricko have been taken by the family for burial.

Previously reported, the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 plane on the Jakarta-Pontianak route had lost contact in the Thousand Islands shortly after taking off from Soekarno Hatta Airport on Saturday, January 9, 2020. Furthermore, the authorities confirmed if the plane crashed around Male Island and Lancang Island, Thousand Islands.