Officials to return Sukhoi victims’ remains

Indonesian officials will hand over the remains of Sukhoi crash victims to their families on Wednesday, an official says.

National Police (Polri) hospital chief Agus Prayitno said Sunday that the victims’ bodies would be returned to their relatives in an official ceremony, slated to be conducted on Wednesday at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.

“We will provide an opportunity for family members who wish to see the bodies of their loved ones before the ceremony day,” he said, as quoted by kompas.com.

He said families could visit the dead from 1 p.m. Tuesday.

“After that, we will close and lock the coffins until the handover ceremony,” he said, adding that the bodies that were not intact would be reconstructed before being returned to their families.

The National Police announced on Sunday that all 45 people aboard the Sukhoi Superjet 100, which crashed on the slopes of Mt. Salak in West Java on May 9, had been identified.

There were 35 Indonesian nationals among the identified victims, made up of potential buyers and journalists, along with eight Russian crew members, one US citizen and one French national.

Of them, 31 were men and 14 were women.

The Russian-made aircraft smashed into Mt. Salak in Bogor while flying an exhibition flight, commonly known in Indonesia as a “joy flight”.

The plane vanished from radar screens before an Air Force helicopter discovered the wreckage the following morning.

Officials have yet to determine the cause of the accident. (asa)