Tony Fernandes keeps promise to follow remains of QZ8501 crew home
Published: 2 January 2015
Indonesian military personnel carry the coffin containing the remains of Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, one of the flight attendants from the AirAsia flight QZ8501, at the police hospital in Surabaya today. – AFP pic, January 2, 2015.AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes is in Surabaya now to accompany the remains of a flight attendant from the ill-fated flight QZ8501 back to Palembang after she was identified by the authorities today.
Indonesian news portal Detik.com had earlier reported that Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi, 22, was among three victims identified and handed over to their respective families today.
In a short poignant posting on his Twitter account @tonyfernandes, he said: "I'm arriving in Surabaya to take Nisa home to Palembang. I cannot describe how I feel. There are no words."
The other two bodies identified were Grayson Herbert Linaksita, 11, and university student Kevin Alexander Sutjipto.
Fernandes had pledged yesterday to accompany Khairunisa's body back to her hometown.
"If our beautiful and wonderful crew is identified, we will go from Surabaya to Palembang with her parents. Heartbreaking soul destroying (sic)," he had tweeted.
Khairunisa joined AirAsia last year. She is the youngest and only daughter among three siblings and had studied law.
On Wednesday, when authorities reported that one female body clad in the red AirAsia uniform had been found, her family hoped that it was her.
Her father Haidar Fauzie and brother M. Ikhsan Nul Kamil had said that their family have accepted she was gone and wanted her body found.
Khairunisa was reportedly one of two female crew members onboard flight QZ8501, with senior flight attendant Wanti Setiawati. The flight had seven AirAsia staff onboard comprising the pilot, co-pilot, four cabin crew and a technician.
Flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea early Sunday morning in bad weather while flying from Surabaya to Singapore with 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant.
The passengers comprise 149 Indonesians, three South Koreans, one Singaporean, one Malaysian and one Briton.
Detik.com reported yesterday that authorities had taken DNA samples from 153 family members of the passengers. – January 2, 2015.
