Families ‘must be ready’ to see Sukhoi remains

Sr. Comr. Anton CastilaniThe chief of the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit.
(Kompas/Priyombodo)

The chief of the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit is advising the families of the Sukhoi plane crash victims who remain mentally fragile not to see the remains of their loved ones.


Sr. Comr. Anton Castilani told The Jakarta Post that despite attempts from officials to reconstruct the bodies, many body parts have yet to be found.


“Suppose the team had found only the victims’ severed hands. How can we reconstruct the remains perfectly?” he said on Monday.


National Police hospital chief Agus Prayitno said Sunday that family members who wished to see the bodies of their loved ones would need to wait until the reconstruction process, which started Monday morning, was completed.


The families could visit the dead from 1 p.m. Tuesday.


According to Anton, his team has prepared a psychologist to assist the family members before they can see their loved ones’ remains.


“Aside from helping the family members to move on after this tragedy, the psychologist will assess whether the relatives are strong enough to see the bodies, which are in poor condition,” he said.


The National Police announced on Sunday that all 45 people on board the Sukhoi Superjet 100, which crashed on May 9, had been identified.


There were 35 Indonesians among the identified victims, made up of potential buyers and journalists, alongside eight Russian crew members, one US citizen and one French national.
Of them, 31 were men and 14 were women.


The Russian-made aircraft was destroyed in a collision with the hills of Mt. Salak in West Java while on a demonstration flight, commonly known in Indonesia as a “joy flight”.


The officials will hand over the victims’ remains to their relatives in an official ceremony on Wednesday at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.