Indonesia plane dead identified

The Straits Times, March 9, 2007


JAKARTA - All 21 people killed when an Indonesian passenger jet burst into flames after landing earlier this week have been positively identified, including five Australians, a report said.

'All of them have been identified, including five Australians,' Mr Sudibyo, a forensic doctor at Sardjito Hospital in Yogyakarta, where the accident occurred, was quoted as saying by the Detikcom news website on Friday.

The identification was made through dental records, the report said.

The Australian embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta had said four embassy staff and an Australian financial journalist were missing, but has not yet confirmed that they were identified among the dead.

'Hospital searches have been completed, although the victim identification process is ongoing around the clock. It is essential to be 100 percent certain,' an embassy official said on Friday.

More than 100 people escaped the inferno that engulfed the Garuda Indonesia jet, which again highlighted the country's blighted transport safety record in the wake of a string of disasters. -- AFP