Lebanese envoy to Indonesia: DNA tests required to identify bodies retrieved in capsized asylum-seeker vessel

The Lebanese envoy who was dispatched to Indonesia by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to follow up on the asylum-seeker boat sinking issue told The Daily Star that DNA tests were required to identify the retrieved bodies.

“I examined 33 bodies today in the public hospital of Jakarta and I couldn’t identify any. It is as if they were struck by an atomic bomb,” said Toufic Hamzeh.

Relatives of the travelers should send DNA samples to the Lebanese Embassy here [Indonesia] so that DNA tests can be conducted to identify the bodies,” Hamzeh added.

Hamzeh said that he was informed by the Indonesian police that a remaining 25 bodies would be brought to the hospital Tuesday.

Hamzeh said that 18 Lebanese survived the accident. “I visited some of them who were put in a hotel by Indonesian authorities, far from Jakarta, at least six to seven hours by car,” he said. “We provided them with clothes and mobiles ... they cannot leave the hotel.”

“I heard about three Lebanese women who survived and are in hospital,” Hamzeh said, adding he was on his way to see them.

Hamzeh said that the process of bringing the Lebanese survivors back home would take from 10 to 15 days since they lacked legal documents.

He explained that there were some Lebanese who couldn’t make the trip and were arrested by Indonesian authorities for lacking documentation. “I will try to solve their problem to bring them back home,” Hamzeh said.