DEAD BOAT ACCIDENT VICTIMS TO BE RETURNED AFTER IDENTIFICATION

Medan, Indonesia, Oct. 3 (ANTARA) - The repatriation of dead victims of a recent boat accident in Malaysia will be done after Malaysian authorities have completed identifying them, a local manpower official said.
"Those who arrived in Indonesia this morning are survivors of the accident, while the dead victims are still in Malaysia waiting for identification," the head of North Sumatra's Migrant Workers Placement and Protection Services, Sumadi, said here on Friday.
Twelve people drowned, 125 others survived and three went missing in the boat accident which happened in Malaysian waters last Tuesday (Sept. 30).
According to Sumadi, one of the 12 dead victims, all female, had been buried in Malaysia by their relatives living in the neighboring country.
"Six of them have been identified, namely four from Sampit (West Kalimantan), one from Java, and one from North Sumatra. One of them was buried by her relatives, while six bodies have yet to be identified," he said.
The Indonesian government will bear the cost of their return from Malaysia to Medan, North Sumatra.
Some 103 survivors of the boat accident, consisting of 80 males, 22 females and a 14-month-old baby boy, arrived at Teluk Nibung seaport, Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, early Friday.
The survivors, mostly Indonesian migrant workers, were picked up by a ship sent by the Indonesian government and were greeted by Tanjung Balai Mayor Sutrisno Hadi at the seaport on their arrival at around 2 am local time.
The accident happened most likely because the barge was overloaded with around 150 Indonesians intending to return home for Eid Fitr Muslim festivity.
The barge set off from a spot in a mangrove swamp near Pulau Che Mat Zin near West Port in