Bodies from missing AirAsia Flight 8501 are now being returned to family members after being identified. 9 bodies have been recovered but more than 150 still remain missing. Read more on the story and check out the photos below!
One of the first passengers returned to her family is named Hayati Lutfiah Hamid. She was identified by fingerprints and other means said Col. Budiyono of East Java’s Disaster Victim Identification Unit. Her body was placed in a dark casket which was topped with flowers and it was handed over to her family members during a brief ceremony at a police hospital in Surabaya, where the plane first took off. A family member of hers cried and placed both hands against the polished wood of her casket. Search crews are now struggling with wind and heavy rain in order to find more than 150 people who are still missing. Her coffin was taken to a village and lowered into a muddy grave. They followed the Muslim obligation which requires bodies to be buried quickly.
A prayer was said as 150 people gathered to say their final goodbyes. Red flowers were sprinkled over the wet dirt and her grave was given a small white tombstone. Nine bodies have been recovered so far and the remains are being taken to Pangkalan Bun, the closest town on Borneo island, before they are transported to Surabaya, which is Indonesia’s second-largest city and where Flight 8501 last took off. An underwater vehicle was sent by Singapore’s navy to try to find where the the wreckage occurred and the black boxes. More than 50 ships searched the area with high-tech detection equipment. Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun. said, “It’s possible the bodies are in the fuselage…so it’s a race now against time and weather.”
So sad! Check out the photos of the bodies arriving for burial in the gallery!
