Three Fishermen Missing And Dozens Trapped Due To Terjang Ombak At Sukabumi Buniasih Pier

A large wave hit the former PT Sumber Baja Prima (SBP) pier in Buniasih Village, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, resulting in three missing fishermen drowning and dozens more being trapped.

"These fishermen's bodies cannot return to land because the pier bridge of PT SBP, which is located in Tegalbuleud District, was cut off because of the big waves," said Sukabumi Police Head of Polairud AKP Tenda Sukendar as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 16.

Information gathered said that before the incident there were 74 fishermen who were fishing in the former PT SBP pier building. This place is used as a spot or fishing point because the middle fish are abundant.

While being engrossed in fishing, suddenly a big wave came which immediately hit the former dock building, which was in a fragile condition.

As a result, four fishermen fell into the sea. One person managed to save himself, but the other three were carried away by the wave current and eventually drowned.

Meanwhile, 71 other fishermen were unable to return to land because the dock bridge was cut off due to the big waves. They were trapped in the old former dock building.

According to Tenda, based on a report from Posar Ujunggenteng, the incident occurred at around 06.00 WIB, when dozens of fishermen used the former dock building to catch fish.

To evacuate fishermen trapped at the dock, the joint SAR team had difficulty getting to the location due to weather constraints, plus a wave height of about 2 to 3.5 meters and a wind speed of 35 knots/hour.

Evacuation also takes a long time because with extreme weather conditions, it is feared that something unwanted will happen.

Evacuation can only be carried out after the wave height decreases and that too must be fast because big waves can come again.

During this evacuation process, a number of ships and boats belonging to Basarnas, the Navy, Polairud Polres Sukabumi and fishermen were deployed and all fishermen trapped were successfully evacuated on Wednesday afternoon.

"Currently we are focusing on searching for the three missing fishermen who drowned," he added.

Tenda said that actually the condition of the dock building had been damaged and the road to the building had been cut off. However, because the location is a fish gathering point, the community and local fishermen make bridges from makeshift materials such as bamboo and wood.

During the fish season, fishermen even spend the night or stay at that location to fish.

In order to anticipate another similar disaster, his party appealed to fishermen not to move in the former dock building, especially now that the waves and the middle waves are high.