JAKARTA: Police suspect that a family of four, who were found dead inside their camping tent in Temanggung regency, Central Java, succumbed to food poisoning after detectives found several food samples belonging to the victims at the location.
Temanggung Police Criminal Investigation (Reskrim) unit chief First Insp. I Komang Mahendra Deputra said that one of the food samples being tested at a laboratory was barbeque meat brought by the family to the camping site.
“We cannot yet confirm the cause of death now because currently the autopsy process is still ongoing,” Mahendra said on Thursday (May 28), as quoted by Antara news agency.
“The food samples are also still being examined at the Central Java Police forensic laboratory.”
The police, however, suspect that the cause of death was food poisoning based on initial investigation. The autopsy was carried out by forensic scientists at Temanggung General Hospital to determine the cause of death of the victims, identified only as MHM, M, AEH and BAH.
The victims came from Panjang village, Ambarawa district, Semarang regency. Komang said the family arrived at the Posong Nature Tourism site in Kledung district on Tuesday at about 10pm to stay overnight using their own tent.
“The following day, on Wednesday, staff went to remind them to check out as the camping location needed to be cleaned up,” he said.
Because there was no response from the family the staff entered the tent at 3pm whereupon the bodies of the four family members were discovered.
Upon receiving a report, Temanggung Police dispatched a team, which was assisted by personnel from the Central Java Police Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit. Officers also secured food samples found at the location for laboratory tests.
So far, detectives from Temanggung Police have questioned some half a dozen witnesses.
Police gave an assurance that after all autopsy and identification processes were completed, the bodies of the victims would be immediately handed over to their relatives for burial.
The Posong Nature Tourism site is located in a valley on the slopes of Mount Sindoro at 1,823m above sea level. The 1.2 hectare location is covered in conifers and other vegetation.
The site consists of Posong Camp and Posong Sunrise Spot, allowing visitors to stay overnight in their own tents to enjoy watching the rising of the sun.
Separately, Temanggung Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) executive director Totok Nursetyanto said the removal of the bodies was hindered by heavy fog covering the tourism site, tribunnews.com reported.
A video of the removal went viral on social media, with a man seen clinging to the hood of a vehicle giving directions to the driver, while the surroundings were enveloped in thick fog.
Totok said he asked one of the BPBD personnel to walk in front of the car and then sit at the front of the vehicle to help navigate it toward the camp site.
The removal process was conducted by a joint team consisting of personnel from the BPBD, police, the Indonesian Red Cross and medical workers. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
