Sleman Students Swept by Flash Floods, Dozens Remain Missing
Translator
Editor
21 February 2020 20:59 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dozens of junior high school students from the State Junior High School 1 Turi in Sleman, Yogyakarta, went missing after they were swept by flash floods while trekking along the river banks of Sempor River on February 21.
Out of the 256 students who reportedly participated in the school activity, seven have been evacuated by the joint search and rescue effort from 15:00 Indonesia Western Time (WIB) up to 17:30 WIB.
“Up until 17:00 there were six [evacuated] and a new one has reportedly been found. This makes seven in total,” said Mas'ud Rofiqi, the supervisor of the Center for Controlling and Operations Management (Pusdalops) in Yogyakarta’s Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).
He asserted the agency could not yet determine the exact number of victims that were swept by the flash flood as the rescue team was still searching for survivors. “We continue to screen the river, and it is getting darker and darker now.”
According to reports, the school trekking was held at the river when the currents were calm. However, things turned worse as flash floods hit the site when the students had only started trekking the riverbanks.
PRIBADI WICAKSONO (CONTRIBUTOR)
