JAKARTA - The first Indonesian killed in last month's Hong Kong apartment fire landed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport late Sunday night, December 21.

The person, identified only as N, was handed over to family in Indramayu, West Java. Eight more bodies follow between Monday and Wednesday, split between Jakarta and Surabaya depending on where the families live.

All nine worked as domestic helpers in the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po, where fire ripped through multiple floors on November 26. One Indonesian remains unaccounted for among the 140 who lived or worked in the building. The government is covering the cost of bringing home eight bodies, while an employer is paying for the ninth.

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono said the process was slowed by Hong Kong’s strict rules on the repatriation of remains, which can take time even in normal cases. 

The scale of the disaster and the need for DNA identification for some victims added further delays. While the foreign ministry said it repeatedly pressed for faster handling, officials acknowledged the administrative process could not be rushed.

Indonesia's foreign ministry also adds that it will keep pressing Hong Kong authorities to ensure all rights and benefits owed to the victims get processed properly.

Jakarta has previously allocated Rp15 billion in financial aid to Indonesian migrant workers affected by the Hong Kong fire, with payments to victims and families structured under existing mechanisms, including compensation for deceased, injured and uninjured workers and continued BPJS social security coverage for registered migrants.

A Reuters investigation showed that the deadly Hong Kong apartment fire came after repeated safety breaches by a contractor who had been wrongly presented to residents as having a clean record, despite prior penalties and warnings about fire risks.