Religious Ministry Intensifies Search Efforts for Mina Victims

TEMPO.CO, Mecca - The Indonesian government, through the Religious Affairs Ministry, in its capacity as the Indonesian Hajj Organizing Committee (PPIH), has formed three teams to boost search efforts to find Indonesian victims of the recent Mina stampede.

"We have formed three rescue teams to speed up the efforts to find the Indonesian victims of the Mina stampede tragedy that occurred on September 24," PPIH Head for the Mecca Working Area (Daker) Arsyad Hidayat stated in the wee hours in Mecca on Wednesday.

He noted that the first team was intensively searching the pilgrims' data and communicating with each batch head who had reported missing members since the Mina tragedy.

He remarked that the second team was conducting a search in the Saudi Arabian government-owned hospitals, such as Al Wadi Hospital, Al Jisr Hospital, and King Faisal Syisyah Hospital that are not located in Mina. The second team will also conduct search in hospitals outside Mecca such as the Garda Nasional Hospital in Jeddah and Hada Hospital in Taif.

Meanwhile, the third team will constantly monitor the search operations in Al Mu'ashim.

"They work in two patterns," Hidayat stated.

The team will study the complementary data of the pilgrims who fell victims, such as their scarves, handbags, administrative pilgrimage documents (DAPIH), hotel cue cards, bus cards, and others, that reveal the identities of the Indonesian congregation.

"If there is no complete data, we will confirm with the head of the team, the group leader, and batch head," he affirmed.

The team will also be involved in the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process to search and identify the victims by their fingerprints as the victims' faces were unrecognizable, and their bodies were in a bad state on the fifth day.

"The Al Mu'ashim has also conducted burials since Monday afternoon, September 28, especially for the victims who have been identified by their nationalities," he remarked.

Secretary of Daker Nur Alia Fitra stated that as many as 78 pilgrims has not returned to their dormitories since September 24. The number decreased compared to 89 people reported earlier.

"We will continue to search for the pilgrims who are still missing," she said.

Five containers with the victims' bodies still lay unpacked by the Saudi Arabian authorities. On September 25-28, the authorities had released 1,100 photographs of the dead victims of the Mina tragedy.

Five pilgrims are still being hospitalized.

ANTARA