T

wenty-six Indonesian survivors of an earthquake that devastated Nepal arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta on Wednesday night, according to government officials.

The Foreign Ministry'€™s director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said the 26 Indonesians had flown in with 30 other people from the evacuation team and journalists, arriving safely home after being transported on an Air Force-owned Boeing 737-400 aircraft that was used to fly the first wave of Indonesian disaster relief and supplies into Nepal.

Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said Wednesday that the 26 Indonesians comprised 19 adults and seven children.

Iqbal said a number of other survivors of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the region recently had left Nepal on commercial flights, while a handful of others decided to stay behind to assist with the ongoing relief efforts.

Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh and Nepal Iwan Wiranataatmadja said he and the relief team, consisting of officials from the Foreign Ministry, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the Air Force'€™s Special Forces (Paskhas) and several other volunteers, would remain in Kathmandu for an extended period to help the humanitarian aid operations.

The team, he went on, would help in search and rescue activities carried out by the Nepalese military following the powerful earthquake, which devastated parts of Nepal.

As of Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry added another nine people to the tally of Indonesian nationals who were in Nepal at the time of the earthquake, bringing the number to 105 people.

The commander of the evacuation mission team, Lt. Col. Indan Gilang, said that five Indonesians remained missing.