SAR Team Finds 5 Victims Of The Arfak Mountains Flash Flood Death

The joint SAR team again found the bodies of five victims of flash floods and landslides in Jim Village (Meyes), Catubouw District, Arfak Mountains Regency, West Papua.

Head of the National SAR Agency Manokwari Yefri Sabaruddin said the team managed to find five victims who were buried by landslide material at around 11.30 WIT.

The bodies of five victims were evacuated using excavators after they were taken to the West Papua Police Bhayangkara Hospital in Manokwari for an identification process.

"The sixth day of the SAR operation, the joint team found five victims buried by landslides," said Yefri.

With this discovery, he said, the joint SAR Team had evacuated 15 of the 19 victims who were declared missing after the flash floods and landslides on May 16, 2025 at 21.00 WIT.

The search operation was forced to be stopped due to extreme weather constraints, and will resume on Friday (23/5) because there are still four victims who have not been found.

"There were 24 victims. Four survived, one died after the disaster, 19 people were missing. Since the third day of operation until the fifth day, 15 have been found," he said.

Head of Public Relations of the West Papua Police, Kombes Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo, said that all the bodies would be identified by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Team.

Ten have been identified, namely, Harun Maidodga, Yoseph Ermilianus Efrem, Porman Takaliumang, Okden Wote, Joni Rahawari, and Oce Takaliumang while the rest are still in process.

"For the four survivors, Fretswan Unas, Juandi Takaliumang, Yeskiel Takaliumang, and Karunyak Takaliumang," said Ignatius.