REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MEDAN -- The bodies of 134 victims of an aircraft that crashed in Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday, have been moved to Adam Malik Hospital by a joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team.
"At 3 a.m. WIB (Western Indonesian Standard Time) today, all bodies have been retrieved," North Sumatra Governor Pujo Nugroho stated here on Wednesday.
On behalf of the people and the provincial administration of North Sumatra, the governor lauded police and military personnel for providing assistance to the SAR team during the rescue efforts.
Many remains of the victims were still intact, he noted.
The police's Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team is currently working on identifying the remains.
Of the total 134 bodies, the DVI team has so far managed to identify 30 bodies, North Sumatra Police Chief Inspector General Eko Hadi Sutedjo revealed.
A Hercules C-130 transport aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force crashed in Jamin Ginting Road in Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra province, on Tuesday, at 12:10 p.m. local time.
The site of the crash is widely known as one of the busiest roads that connects Medan and Brastagi tourist resort.
The transport aircraft, bearing the registration number A-1310, crashed shortly after takeoff from Polonia Airbase during its flight from Medan to Natuna Island.
The ill-fated aircraft was carrying supplies from Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase in Jakarta to several others, such as Pekanbaru, Medan, Tanjung Pinang, Ranai (Natuna Island), and Pontianak.
Spokesman for the North Sumatra Regional Police Command Senior Commissioner Helfi Assegaf stated that the aircraft crashed three minutes after takeoff. It was carrying officers on duty who were to be dropped at several bases.
He added that the police can yet neither confirm the cause of the incident nor the number of the victims, as the SAR team is still searching for survivors at the crash site.
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