ZCZC
BFF-53
INDONESIA-VOLCANO-TSUNAMI-DEATH
Photos and DNA tests as Indonesians search for lost relatives
CARITA, Indonesia, Dec 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Grief-stricken Indonesians
queued with photos or waited on DNA tests Wednesday, to find out if their
missing loved ones were among bodies being held in a hospital morgue after a
devastating tsunami tore families apart.
“I’m scared,” said Tubagus Cecep, 63, as he waited nervously at a hospital
in devastated Carita for test results on a body he fears could be that of his
son.
“But if I keep my faith in God maybe he could have been swept away
somewhere and is still alive.”
His son, a university student due to graduate in five months, hasn’t been
seen since since the day of the disaster, when he was on a day trip to an
island off the coast of Java.
Four of his friends are also missing.
“They found a body, a pile of bags and my son’s shoes,” the father of 10
told AFP.
“I’m still waiting for the body to be identified. We don’t know yet if it
was him.”
Others queued up showing photos of their loved ones on mobile phones, with
officials carrying out the grisly task of checking them against bodies in the
morgue.
“We’ve been asking them about when was the last time they saw their
relative, what they were wearing, if they have any identifying marks on their
body,” said Nariyana, head of the local police forensics and medical services
unit, who goes by one name.
The task has been made more difficult by multiple relatives making
duplicate reports of missing loved ones, Nariyana said.
Also waiting was Nur Masa, who was at a Java beach with his older brother
on Saturday evening when the powerful waves struck.
His brother — who was fixing a fishing net into the sea when the wave
crashed in — has not been seen since.
“I still hope he can be found,” the 33-year-old Masa quietly told AFP
“But it’s been four days and four nights and he still hasn’t been located.”
An eruption at the Anak Krakatoa volcano, which sits in the middle of the
Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, caused a section of the crater
to collapse and slide into the ocean, triggering the killer tsunami,
officials have said.
The disaster agency slightly raised the death toll Wednesday to 430, with
1,495 people injured and another 159 missing.
BSS/AFP/MRI/2007 hrs