Commander of 1st Indonesian Air Force Operational Command Rear Marshall Dwi Putranto, right, shows airplane parts and a suitcase found floating on the water near the site where AirAsia Flight 8501 disappeared, during a press conference at the airbase in Pangkalan Bun, Central Borneo, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2014. AP
SURABAYA – Some 130 ambulances were on standby at an airbase in Surabaya close to Juanda International Airport on Wednesday morning, to transport the bodies of passengers on board the doomed Air Asia flight QZ8501.
The bodies will be brought to a nearby hospital inside a police complex, where cold storage containers have been prepared to hold 150 bodies, said Colonel Dr Budiyono, head of East Java regional police’s health services.
In all, 93 families have given DNA samples to assist in the identification process as of 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, added the police chief at a press conference outside the crisis centre for relatives at Juanda International airport.
Speaking at the press conference, Surabaya’s search and rescue agency Barsanas chief Hernanto said 18 ships are now at the location of the crash site, including four from Singapore – the RSS Supreme, RSS Persistence, RSS Valour and MV Swift Rescue.
Even as search operations were hampered due to bad weather, Hernanto said more resources will be poured into the area from the previously demarcated 13 search sectors, to maximize search efforts.
Indonesia Air Asia chief executive Sunu Widyatmoko said the crisis centre will soon be moved to the hospital compound, so that relatives will be closer to the bodies.
Relatives had slowly streamed into a room located some 200m away from the crisis center earlier on Wednesday morning to provide DNA samples as well as photographs and other details to help identify passengers and crew. Some brought along their suitcases with them.
The victim identification process will be carried out by the East Java police’s health services team at the Rumah Sakit Bhayangkara Surabaya hospital.
RELATED STORY
Wreckage, bodies reveal AirAsia jet’s fate days after it disappeared