91 Indonesian Hajj Pilgrims Have Been Identified in Mina Stampede
3 October 2015 16:56 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The number of Indonesian citizens who were killed in the Mina stampeded has reached 91 people.
The data was obtained after the Indonesian Haj Committee managed to identify 31 more bodies in Saudi Arabian hospitals.
"Until today (Friday), those who are killed have reached 91 people, including 86 Indonesian haj pilgrims and five Indonesians who reside in Saudi Arabia,” said Head of Mecca Operational Region of the Indonesian Religious Affairs Ministry Arsyad Hidayat in his press release on Friday.
However, there are still 38 Indonesian haj pilgrims whose whereabouts remain unknown.
"We will continue to find pilgrims who have not been found,” Arsyad said.
In the meantime to help the body identification process, the government has sent 11 members of the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team of the Indonesian National Police to Saudi Arabia.
"I was contacted by the Foreign Affairs Minister that the Saudi Arabian government has agreed to involve DVI kami to identify the victims,” said Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin.
Arsyad hoped that that Indonesian DVI team could accelerate the identification process.
"There are around 2,000 photos of bodies that have been released,” he said to Indonesian news agency Antara.
DANANG F | LINDA TRIANITA | ANTARA