“My Father is in Heaven Now...”

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Family members of the victims sprinkle petals and pray at the location where a Lion Air plane crashed. The vessel KRI Banda Aceh sailed Tanjung Pakis waters off Karawang in West Java on Tuesday (6/11/2018) to take the family members to the crash site.

“I want to be someone who can fix damaged airplanes’ engines so that no airplane will ever go down again,” said Kevin Raffa Nasution, 7.

Kevin’s father, Muas Effendi, was among the 189 people on board Lion Air flight JT610, which crashed into the sea off the coast of Karawang, West Java, on Monday (29/10/2018).

On Tuesday (6/11), the sun scorched over Karawang. The gushes of wind provided a respite for Kevin, who had been on board the KRI Bandar Aceh vessel since the morning.

Amid his sorrow, the boy looked composed. Several times, he tried to talk with other people on the boat. His eyes combed the vast seas that surrounded him. He never cried -- not even during the joint prayer and the laying of flowers. It seemed as if he did not want to further burden his mother, whose tears had flowed freely. “I cannot be sad. My father is in heaven now. I am a good kid. I will pray for my father,” he said.

Letting go

Dani Iskandi, 40, stared blankly at the sea after the joint prayer and the laying of flowers at KRI Banjarmasin 592. He sat silently on the ship’s deck, under an umbrella, and prayed for his older brother Doni Iskandi, who was also in the crashed Lion Air JT-610. “I came here to pray. My family and I have let [Doni] go but we want to have his remains back in whatever form so that we can have a proper burial. That way, we will be able to visit him and pray for him,” he said.

Abdul Halim, a relative of JT-610 passenger Darwin Harianto, said that his family hoped to obtain Darwin’s remains to give them closure amid the tragedy.

Faiz, 10, the son of JT-610 passenger Inayah Fatwa Kurnia Dewi, 38, told his father, “Mommy is now happy in heaven, Dad.”

Inayah’s husband Dony Wijaya, 39, said that Faiz’s answer strengthened his heart. He said that his sons were much stronger than him. “Anything God has in store is a test and is the best for us. We have fully accepted this,” Dony said.

It was not easy for Dony to explain what happened to his two sons. At first, he said, he was not ready to say anything but he did not want to delay the news. He continued that it would hurt his sons even more to hear the news from someone else. “I consulted with a psychologist on how to best break the news to them in a simple way so that they can understand,” he explained.

Psychologist Tri Iswardani from the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Psychologists Association (Himpsi) said that the joint prayer and laying of flowers could serve as a therapy for victims’ families as many of them could have been frustrated in waiting from the victim search and identification process.

By participating in the joint prayer and laying of flowers, victims’ families can be guided in seeing the conditions the search team is facing on the field. They can observe the search area and the search boats. They can also pray together on the seas.

Tri said that she believed most of the families had accepted the departure of their loved ones. Neighbors, extended families and work colleagues should foster positive atmosphere to help victims’ families recover from the tragedy.

“Never talk about the disaster or any possible premonition or hunch,” she said. “Furthermore, crying often brings relieve and it is completely understandable under this condition. Do not prevent them from doing it.”

On Tuesday morning, police personnel held a simple ceremony at the Bhayangkara National Police Hospital to “let go” Adj. Sr. Comr. Mito of the Bangka Belitung Police, who died in the plane crash. Among the personnel was North Jakarta Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Adi Vivid. Mito’s remains would be transported to his hometown of Kendal in Central Java. Mito graduated from the Police Academy in 1988.

Another 17 victims identified

On Tuesday evening, the police’s disaster victim identification (DVI) unit said that it had identified 17 additional victims of the plane crash, by way of DNA testing and fingerprint analysis. “Based on our latest reconciliation session, we have identified 17 more crash victims,” police DVI unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Lisda Cancer said at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

The 17 victims comprised 15 men and two women. Of the 17, 12 were identified through DNA tests while the remaining five through their fingerprints.

Meanwhile, the joint search and rescue (SAR) team on Tuesday -- the ninth day of the search operation for flight JT-610 -- retrieved victims’ remains collected in 22 body bags. The remains were recovered in the crash site off the coast of Karawang.

“Up to the ninth day [of the search operation], we have retrieved 184 body bags,” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deputy head of operation and preparedness Nugroho Budi Wiryanto siad. All in all, 186 body bags have been retrieved in the search operation.

Search area expanded

From Karawang, it was reported that the joint SAR team was expanding its search area.

Commander of the Elite Frogmen Command (Kopaska) of the Navy’s Fleet Command I, Col. Johan Wahyudi, said that, on Tuesday, the search area was expanded to include a radius of 16 kilometer from the SAR post at Tanjung Pakis, Karawang. The joint SAR team has yet to retrieve the crashed jet’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR).

The search area now includes Muara Bungin, Muara Gembong and Muara Bendera and search efforts will continue this Wednesday. The search area was expanded as some of the aircraft debris or victims’ remains might have been swept away by the wind or the waves.

From Pangkal Pinang in Bangka Belitung Islands, it was reported that the remains of five victims had arrived at the Depati Amir Airport on Tuesday. Families have retrieved the remains.

Bangka Belitung Islands regional secretary Yan Megawandi said that the local administration would wait for all victims’ remains to be handed over to their families and would provide all assistance the families may need.

Yan said that the administration was making a list of local civil servants on board the crashed plane. Governor Erzaldi Rosman Djohan had said that the administration was considering posthumous promotions for the civil servants (E01/E02/E03/E04/E05/E12/E16/E18/E19/E20/E22/SEM/RAM)