REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA -- The Disaster Identification Team of the East Java Police on Friday identified the bodies of eight more passengers of AirAsia flight QZ8501.
On the 48th day since QZ8501 crashed, the number of bodies identified has reached 89. The process of identifying 13 more bodies, two of them are not intact, are going on at Bhayangkara Hospital, Chief of the East Java Police Inspector General Anas Yusuf said here Friday.
"Eight bodies were identified today; they were eight bodies and two body parts. After the identification process, it was confirmed that the two body parts were part of the eight bodies," Yusuf explained.
The bodies were identified by matching primary data such as the DNA of their mothers and the DNA profiles of the victims' personal belongings.
"Michelle Clemency Ardhi was identified with the help of the DNA obtained from his umbilical cord that is still stored in the hospital where he was born," Yusuf said.
The AirAsia Airbus A320-200 carrying 162 people had gone missing on the morning of December 28 after losing contact with air traffic control on its way from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore.
Flight QZ8501 lost contact after the pilot sought permission to climb to 38 thousand feet from 32 thousand feet to avoid stormy weather over the sea between Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
The aircraft carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members took off from Juanda International airport in Surabaya at 5:36 a.m. local time and lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. local time.
The plane, piloted by Captain Iriyanto and First Officer (FO) Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30 a.m. local time.
Seven foreigners were among the passengers of the missing jet. The foreign nationals included three Koreans, a Singaporean, a Briton, a Malaysian, and the French FO.
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