Paulus survived by pregnant wife

Letting go: In this June 22, 2012 file photo, Katarina Dewi Listyorini, 25, (center) cries on the coffin of her late husband First. Lt. Paulus Adi Prakoso prior to his burial at the Kusuma Bhakti Heroes Cemetery in Surakarta, Central Java. Paulus was the co-pilot of the Fokker 27, which crashed into a housing complex near Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta on Thursday. Katarina is seven months’ pregnant. (JP/Kusumasari Ayuningtyas)

The body of copilot First Lt. Paulus Adi Prakoso, 27, who was among those killed in Thursday’s Fokker F-27 crash, was escorted to his final resting place on Friday. He is survived by his wife, who is seven months’ pregnant.

He was buried at the Kusuma Bhakti Heroes’ Cemetery in Surakarta under a military ceremony led by the Adi Soemarmo Air Base Commander, Col. Kusworo.

Paulus’ family said they were still coming to terms with the news of his death.

“We were severely shocked. [Paulus and his family had] just celebrated the seventh month of his wife’s pregnancy in Jakarta on Sunday,” Paulus’ aunt, Widya Wusanari, said.

Paulus was the second son of Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Saribut Sartono and Sujiwati. He married Katarina Dewi Listyorini, 25, on Nov. 20, 2011, and they lived at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base.

Paulus, who graduated from the Adi Sucipto Air Force Pilot School in 2005 and from the Air Force Academy in 2007, was one of the top graduates, representing his comrades at a presidential swearing-in ceremony in 2007. He had been stationed at Halim since 2008.

The F-27 aircraft crashed into the ground at the Rajawali housing complex in East Jakarta on Thursday, killing 11 people.

It came only weeks after a Russian-made Sukhoi aircraft crashed into Mt. Salak in West Java during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.

In Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta, the body of Maj. Heri Setiawan, 37, the pilot, was buried in a military ceremony at the Giripeni Heroes’ Cemetery.

Heri and Paulus’ bodies were among five flown by a Hercules aircraft to Yogyakarta Adisucipto Airport. The other three were flown to Surabaya and Madiun, East Java, for burial.

Heri’s body was officially handed over to his family at his house in Margosari village, Kemiri subdistrict, before it was transported to Giripeni cemetery.

Adisucipto Air Base Commander First Marshal Abdul Muis led the ceremony at the airport and at the cemetery. “Hopefully his service can be a model and his soul rests in peace in the hereafter,” Abdul Muis said in his remarks at the funeral.

He said Heri Setiawan was one of the best sons of the Indonesian Air Force because of the high dedication and endurance he showed in his work. “The Air Force family has suffered a great loss. We convey our deepest condolences to his family,” Muis said.

Head of the work and flight safety section of the Air Force’s 2nd Air Squadron, Heri Setiawan was an alumnus of the class of 1988 in the Air Force Academy.

He was born on Feb. 18, 1975 and is survived by a wife, Erni Susilowati, and two children.

Meanwhile, tears and anguish filled the air when four coffins arrived at the Bumi Tamalanrea Permai housing complex in Makassar, South Sulawesi, with some relatives fainting.

The four civilian victims were part of the family of Maj. Yohanis Tandi Sosang, a staffer of the Information and Data Department of Armed Forces’ headquarters.

They were his daughter Abrian Kristianbel, 7, mother Martina Ro’ren Sosang, 67, sister Ochi Tumba Belorundung, 30, and her son Nevli Tannem Randuallo, 2.

The relatives planned to bury them in Bastem district, North Toraja regency, although the venue may change.

“We will sit together to decide when and where they are buried,” said Marewa, who spoke on behalf of the bereaved.

The four victims were on the ground when the Fokker crashed into the Rajawali housing complex in East Jakarta.

They were reportedly sleeping when the incident took place. The family’s housemaid is still undergoing medical treatment in a hospital.

“I’d just reached home from work when I heard a deafening, hovering sound. Minutes later, I heard an explosion and I saw that the aircraft had hit my house,” Yohanis said.

“I didn’t find my son, sister or nephew. Instead, I found crew members falling down inside the aircraft,” he said.

— Andi Hajramurni contributed reporting from Makassar