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View all search resultsPolice identify 290 North Sumatra disaster victims
Local and national police are continuing to search for at least 122 people still missing in the aftermath of the flooding and landslides that struck northern Sumatra on Nov. 26.
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A man navigates a pile of logs surrounding homes in Tukka village, Central Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, on Dec. 2, 2025, when the National Disaster Management Agency announced that the toll from the Sumatra floods and landslides had risen to 712 lives lost. (AFP/YT Hariono)
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n a joint effort involving disaster victim identification (DVI) personnel from the National Police headquarters and North Sumatra Police, 290 victims have been identified in 12 regencies and cities affected by last week’s floods and landslides.
The identified bodies, most of which were relatively intact, have been handed over to their families for burial.
Sr. Comr. Taufik Ismail, chief of the Medan Bhayangkara Police Hospital, said on Wednesday that all victims were identified using secondary data, such as physical features, fingerprints and any personal belongings found on them.
The DVI unit identified 86 victims in Central Tapanuli regency, 84 in South Tapanuli, 47 in Sibolga city, 34 in North Tapanuli regency, 14 in Langkat regency, 12 in Medan, eight in Humbang Hasundutan, two in Pakpak Bharat and one person each in South Nias regency and the cities of Binjai and Padangsidempuan.
Taufik said the first week of the identification process experienced no significant constraints, he told a press conference in Medan on Wednesday, but that the second week would present a crucial phase for the DVI unit because 122 people were still missing.
Read also: Military steps up relief efforts for flood-hit Sumatra; death toll above 860
The challenge was that decomposition would have begun to set in for “any bodies still buried” in debris and mud, so DNA samples would be used as primary data for identification, he explained.
