Indonesian police finish Sukhoi crash victims identification

PanARMENIAN.Net - The National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit has concluded the identification process of the 45 people onboard the ill-fated Sukhoi Superjet 100. All of the remains have been identified, The Jakarta Post reported.

“The identification process has been concluded,” National Police medical unit chief Brig. Gen. Musadeq Ishak told a press conference on Sunday, May 20.

He said that the team needed more time to reconcile the remains before handing them over to the families.

“We will notify the victims’ families and they can see the remains on Tuesday at the Soekanto Police Hospital before we close the caskets. They can retrieve them on Wednesday at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase,” he said.

Musadeq said the DVI team had used various methods during the process, including fingerprint identifications, forensic pathology, forensic anthropology and odontology.

According to the team, of 45 victims, 31 were men and 14 were women. There were 35 Indonesian nationals among the identified victims.

The Russian-made aircraft slammed into Mt. Salak in Bogor, West Java, on May 9 while operating an exhibition flight.

The Sukhoi Superjet is the first commercial plane designed and built in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago. It is considered by many in the industry to be Russia's last hope for maintaining a commercial aircraft manufacturing capability.