One family’s dream of a reunion with a long-lost member was dashed after a DNA test result ruled out that a mental institution patient is a cop who had gone missing since the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Aceh.
Zainal Abidin AKA Asep, a West Java native who was stationed in the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh in 2004, was among the tens of thousands missing when waves slammed into the region on Dec. 26 that year.
The Aceh Provincial Police thought they found Asep earlier this year when a photo circulated showing a mental institution patient who bore an uncanny resemblance — albeit aged — to the lost cop. Asep’s family was also certain that they found him in the patient based on their resemblance.
Related — Aceh cop missing since 2004 Boxing Day tsunami found in mental institution
However, the Lampung Provincial Police, which carried out the DNA test, ruled out any familial ties between Asep’s family and the patient.
“There was no DNA match. So we don’t know who is the family of the man we thought was Asep,” Legowo Hamijaya, who leads Lampung Police’s medical department, said yesterday.
The family said they were disappointed by the outcome.
“We accept the test result. We were sure that we were right, but the test showed otherwise,” Hidarsel, a representative of the family, told reporters.
Police previously said that in 2009, a village chief found the man they thought was Asep wandering near the area and had him admitted to a mental institution in Banda Aceh. His identity was not known at the time, and he remained in the mental institution as the villagers refused to take him in.
It’s not clear where the man went in the five intervening years between the tsunami and his admission to the mental institution. Police also did not disclose his mental condition.
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami was one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history, which killed some 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean. Aceh was the worst hit region, with nearly 170,000 killed and some 38,000 people missing in the province.
