We can send them to their families ..."
Jayapura (ANTARA News) - The bodies of the Trigana plane crash victims will be evacuated using the netting and hoisting method, search agency Basarnass Chief, We can send them to their families FH Bambang Sulistyo said on Tuesday.

"The evacuation will be carried out tomorrow using the netting and hoisting method, which I think will be the most effective," he said at a press conference held at the Sentani air base.

Flanked by Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan, Papua regional police Chief Brigadier General Paulus Waterpauw, Papua regional military Commander Major General Fransen G. Siahaan and air base Commander Col. Made Susila and other regional officials, Sulistyo said he hoped that the evacuation would be completed quickly using the method.

"We plan to conduct the evacuation tomorrow, certainly if the weather is good, by helicopter. Later, when the bodies of the victims arrive at Oksibil, we will decide whether we will transport some or all of the bodies to Jayapura," he stated.

Sulistyo hoped that the second alternative would be opted for. However, he added that it would also depend upon negotiations between the search teams and the victims families.

"I hope all the bodies are taken to Jayapura so that the DVI team can conduct identification in a proper manner. We can send them to their families, wherever they are, after that. That is what will be our focus tomorrow," he said.

Regarding the deadline for the operations command, he said it would only end after all the victims bodies had arrived in Jayapura. After they are transported in ambulances to the Bhayangkara hospital, the command will automatically be taken over by the Papua regional police chief.

"The control command will be transferred to the Papua regional police chief and his personnel after the bodies arrive at the hospital. Trigana Air is also expected to play a role, especially with regards to fulfilling the rights of the victims families," he pointed out.

Rescue workers had found the bodies of 54 victims of the Trigana Air Flight No. 257, which had crashed in Oksob, Pegunungan Bintang District, Papua, on Sunday.

"According to the latest information received at 12:30 a.m. local time, the number of bodies discovered has reached 54," Public Communication Chief Officer at the Ministry of Transportation, J.A. Barata, confirmed on Tuesday.

The ill-fated ATR aircraft, bearing Flight No. 257, had lost contact on Sunday at 2:55 p.m. local time, during its flight from Jayapura to Oksibil.

The aircraft, with 49 passengers and five crew members, including Pilot Hasanudin and co-pilot Aryadi, was due to arrive in Oksibil at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Indonesian Time after a 55-minute flight, but had failed to make its scheduled landing.

Efforts to evacuate the 54 people onboard the Trigana Airways aircraft had been hampered by extreme weather on Monday, the Chief of the Pegunungan Bintang district police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yunus Wally, added.

(Reporting by Alfian Rumagit/Uu.H-YH/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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