The Riau Police are investigating the death of eight people, whose bodies were found floating in the Strait of Malacca off the coast of Bengkalis Island, Riau, bordering with neighboring Malaysia, recently.

Authorities and fishermen in Bantan subdistrict discovered three of the bodies in late November, while the rest were retrieved gradually until Sunday. The bodies have been taken to Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Pekanbaru, Riau, for identification.

"Based on our probe, we estimate that the bodies had been floating in the waters for more than a month," Comr. Supriyanto, the head of the medical service division at Bhayangkara Police Hospital, said on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.

While most of the bodies were no longer intact, Supriyanto said the bodies showed no apparent signs of violence. 

Personnel from the disaster victim identification (DVI) unit , however, faced difficulties in identifying the bodies, including through fingerprint identification, because most of the corpses had started to decay, Supriyanto said.

Bengkalis Police in Riau are coordinating with the Royal Malaysian Police to investigate the deaths, Bengkalis Police criminal investigation division head Adj. Comr. Andrie Setiawan said.

Three of the eight bodies have been identified as Ujang Chaniago, 48, from Pesisir Selatan regency, West Sumatra; Mimi Dewi, 32, from Pesisir Selatan regency; West Sumatra, and Maya Karina, 37, from Mojokerto regency, East Java. (afr)

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