SURABAYA: Khairunnisa Haidar, 22, had always dreamed of becoming a flight attendant.
“We couldn’t have stopped her,” said her 60-year-old father, Haidar Fauzie. “From the start, we already know the risks associated with flying.”
His wife cried hysterically when they heard the flight had gone missing and Haidar struggled to console his grieving wife.
They had last seen their child six weeks ago when she came home for a holiday.
Haidar’s only wish now is that the body found in flight attendant’s uniform was that of his daughter and that he could lay her to rest.
His youngest child and only daughter, Khairunnisa, and senior flight attendant Wanti Setiawati were the only female crew members on board.
Khairunnisa had been with Indonesia AirAsia for two years.
Haidar said they had visited her apartment in Surabaya and found that she had packed in anticipation of her holiday back in Palembang, and also had booked her ticket home.
He showed a photo of his daughter on his mobile phone, posing in her red AirAsia uniform in an aircraft.
Weeks ago, she had also posted pictures of herself on Instagram with a message that read: “I love you from 38,000 feet.”
“It is a painful loss,” said Haidar, with a sad smile. “We accept God’s will. She belongs to the Almighty. We will see her again one day.”
The captain of the ill-fated flight, Capt Iriyanto, had flown F-16 fighter jets in the Indonesian air force before becoming a commercial airline pilot.
Iriyanto’s less experienced co-pilot was Frenchman Remi Plesel, originally from the island of Martinique in the Antilles.
“Since he was very young, it was his dream to be a pilot and the dream came true. He had been in Indonesia for three years ... He was a very good pilot, an excellent one,” his sister Renee told French radio station RTL. – Agencies
Photo taken from Khairunnisa's Instagram.
PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes will accompany the family of flight QZ8501 attendant Khairunnisa Haidar (pic) to her hometown in Palembang once her body has been positively identified after a post-mortem in Surabaya.
“If our beautiful and wonderful crew is identified we will go from Surabaya to Palembang with her parents. Heartbreaking soul (destroyed),” he tweeted at 1.54pm on Thursday.
Khairunnisa and senior flight attendant Wanti Setiawati were the only female crew members on board.
Khairunnisa’s father Haidar Fauzie wished that the body found in flight attendant’s uniform was that of his daughter and that he could lay her to rest.
Khairunnisa, 22, had been with Indonesia AirAsia for two years.
Fernandes also gave an indication that the aircraft has been found after he tweeted that he is hoping that the latest information he received is true.
“I am hoping that the latest information is correct and aircraft has been found. Please all hope together. This is so important,” he said in another tweet posted at 1.51pm
Seven bodies have so far been retrieved from the Airbus A320-200 carrying 162 people, which crashed on Sunday in the sea near Borneo en route from Indonesia's second city Surabaya to Singapore.
Bodies are being taken in numbered coffins to Surabaya, where relatives of the victims have gathered, for identification. Authorities have been collecting DNA from the relatives to help identify the bodies.
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