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Only 7 Batam boat accident victims identified
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Fatal accident -- Officers from the Riau Islands Police list the names of passengers of a boat that sank in waters around Tanjung Bembang, Nongsa, Batam, on Nov.2. (JP/Fadli)
T
he Riau Islands Police’s forensic team has identified seven out of the 18 remains of people killed in a boat accident in Tanjung Bembang waters, Nongsa district, Batam, Riau Islands, an official said on Thursday.
The police’s head of medicine and health division, Adj.Sr.Comr.Djarot Wibowo, said the forensic team was facing difficulties in matching postmortem data with antemortem data, and that as of Thursday it had only been able to identify seven accident victims. One more dead body will be identified later today, he went on to say.
“ Six additional forensic doctors have arrived from Medan, North Sumatra and the National Police headquarters in Jakarta. They will help in the identification process,” said Djarot in Batam on Thursday.
(Read also: NTB to facilitate return of Batam boat accident victims)
Syafrial, 36, the younger brother of Desiana, 44, one of the identified victims, said he had received confirmation on the death of his sister. He said his family would bury Desiana soon after the police returned her body.
As reported earlier, a boat carrying 98 passengers, comprising illegal Indonesian migrant workers and their families, and three crew members sank in Tanjung Bembang waters, Nongsa, Batam, early on Wednesday.
It was earlier reported that 18 people died in the accident. The latest data obtained by the West Nusa Tenggara Social Affairs, Population and Civil Registration Agency on Thursday said 31 people died in the accident.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Sambudi Gusdian said earlier that there had been confusion regarding the number of passengers on board the boat when it sank in Nongsa waters because there was no passenger manifest. (ebf)
