There were five containers of the victims` bodies whose photographs had yet to be released by the Saudi authorities, PPIH Head for the Mecca Working Area (Daker) Arsyad Hidayat stated.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government, through the Religious Affairs Ministry, in its capacity as the Indonesian Hajj Organizing Committee (PPIH) has increased the number of its team members to find Indonesian victims in the recent Mina stampede.

Indonesia has increased the number of its rescue team members as the death toll of Indonesians has risen to 46, while 90 others were still missing following the Mina stampede tragedy last Thursday, September 24, which according to the latest reports, has claimed the lives of about 1,150 Hajj pilgrims.

"Based on the directives of the religious affairs minister (Lukman Hakim Saifuddin), the members of the rescue team are increased from four to nine persons," PPIH Head for the Mecca Working Area (Daker) Arsyad Hidayat stated in the wee hours in Mecca on Tuesday.

He noted that the addition of new members into the team is expected to speed up the efforts to find the Indonesian victims of the Mina stampede tragedy.

Hidayat remarked that there were five containers of the victims bodies whose photographs had yet to be released by the Saudi authorities.

"Until Monday night, the containers were not yet opened. There were four containers that were taken to Jidda because the morgue at the Al Muasim is not adequate to store all the victims bodies," Hidayat stated.

Therefore, he had divided the team members into two groups comprising military and police personnel as well as paramedics and expert doctors to be deployed in Jidda and Mecca.

Until Tuesday, at 1 a.m. Saudi time, a total of 90 Indonesians had not yet returned to their respective accommodation rooms since the stampede incident occurred on last Thursday.

"We have also contacted the forensics team of the Al Muashim, and we hope to be able to obtain the fingerprints of the victims tomorrow," Hidayat remarked.

Thus, the efforts to search for the Indonesian pilgrims who might have died in the incident could be expedited. Moreover, five days have passed since the incident took place, so it is feared that the bodies of the victims could no longer be identified due to their conditions.

On the occasion, Hidayat also pointed out that the total number of Indonesians who had been confirmed dead in the incident rose to 46 from the previous reported number of 42.

Of the total death toll, four were Indonesians who had resettled in Saudi Arabia.

"The number of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims killed in the incident based on our previous release is 45, but now, the number has risen to 46. Another person named Dahlia Sulaiman Hamdan of the Batam flight batch BTH 14 with passport number A3689002 was confirmed dead," Hidayat noted here in the wee hours of Tuesday.

He remarked that the number of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims undergoing treatment at the Saudi government hospital had reduced to seven patients after three of them had been allowed to return to their respective boarding facilities.

The three pilgrims are Zulaiaha Lutan Alam, Arninda Idris Usman, and Fadilah Abdul Karim Nurdin. They are all from the Batam flight batch BTH 14.

The flight batches comprising 90 Indonesians who have not yet returned to their boarding facilities since the incident took place on Thursday morning, September 24, are as follows: Flight Batch 14, embarkation Batam (BTH 14), 11 pilgrims; Flight Batch 61, embarkation Jakarta-Bekasi (JKS 61), 46 pilgrims; Flight Batch 10, embarkation Makasar (UPG 10), five pilgrims and Flight Batch 62, embarkation Solo (SOC 62), six pilgrims.

Others are Flight Batch 48, embarkation Surabaya (SUB 48), 12 pilgrims; Flight Batch 28, embarkation Surabaya (SUB 28), four pilgrims; Flight Batch 5, embarkation Balikpapan (BPN 05), one pilgrim; Flight Batch 3, embarkation Jakarta-Pondok Gede (JKG 33), one pilgrim; Flight Batch 21, embarkation Jakarta-Bekasi (JKS21), one pilgrim; Flight Batch 9, embarkation Lombok (LOP 09), one pilgrim; and Flight Batch 34, embarkation Surabaya (SUB 34), one pilgrim.

"The increase in the number of those pilgrims who had not returned to their accommodation is due to the fact that the nafar sani ritual was completed only yesterday, so the chiefs of their flight batches reported the missing members only in the afternoon on September 28," said Hidayat.

He noted that the PPIH will continue to search for the Indonesian pilgrims, who had not yet returned to their boarding rooms, at hospitals and at the Al Muasim morgue.

In its all out efforts to find its citizens falling victims in the tragedy, the Indonesian government has asked the Saudi government to grant easier access to its medical team so that it can identify citizens who died in the recent hajj stampede incident.

"We have sent a diplomatic note asking for access for the Indonesian medical team and doctors to directly check the bodies when these are unloaded from a container," Indonesias Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, who is the leader of the Indonesian pilgrims, said here on Monday.

He said it would help expedite the identification process as they just needed to see the bodies physically to identify them and would not have to wait for the release of photos or scrutinize the files of pilgrims from 25 countries who had died in the incident.

"We kept making diplomatic contact and communication with the Saudi side with regard to handling of the victims (to expedite the process)," he said

"We will keep looking for pilgrims who fell victims in the incident until all of them are found, even if we have to work until after October 26 which is the last day for the Indonesian hajj pilgrims to return to the country," the minister said.

He said until 2pm Monday Saudi time, the Saudi government had released 1,107 photos of pilgrims who had died in Mina.

"We will keep looking for pilgrims who fell victims in the incident until all of them are found, even if we have to work until after October 26 which is the last day for the Indonesian hajj pilgrims to return to the country," the minister said.

In the meantime, President Joko Widodo has previously said that he continued to monitor the handling of the Indonesian hajj victims of the recent stampede in Mina.

"Until now I have kept monitoring it through the religious affairs minister that we have sent as the chief of the Indonesian pilgrims there," he said on Sunday.

The President said with regard to the pilgrims that are still unaccounted for the pilgrimage team would continue seeking them and until now they still collected the data.

"We will see whether they did not return or returned not to the maktab (tents) but to their hotels. So, it is still unconfirmed. All data must be cross-checked to assure their accuracy," he said.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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