Inspector Of Mines Of The Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Investigate The Landslide Of Mount Kuda Cirebon Eating 17 Victims

The evacuation process for landslide victims on Mount Kuda, Cirebon, West Java, Friday 30 May 2025. (ANTARA-Fathnur Rohman)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) sent a team of mining inspectors to conduct a technical field investigation related to landslides at the C Gunung Kuda excavation mine, Cirebon Regency, West Java, which claimed 17 lives as of Saturday, May 31.

Director General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Tri Winarno said, as part of efforts to enforce good mining principles, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources emphasized that every mining activity must comply with applicable regulations and regulations.

"The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources expresses its deep condolences for the landslide that occurred in the mining operation mining permit area of the Al-Azhariyah Islamic Boarding School Cooperative on Mount Kuda, Cipanas Village, Dupantang District, Cirebon. The team of inspectors is going to the field to explore this," he said in Jakarta, Saturday, May 31, confiscated by Antara.

Tri added that the mining inspector team would join other emergency response teams to carry out a series of investigations.

The initial step includes mapping the location using drones to map the scale of the damage and the status of the terrain.

After that, the team will conduct an assessment of the potential for further landslides, as well as analyze the factors that cause various aspects, ranging from technical, procedures, environment, to working conditions.

"The results of this analysis will later be used as the basis for recommendations for corrective and preventive actions so that similar incidents do not happen again," said Tri.

Meanwhile, Head of the Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Muhammad Wafid said that based on the Map of the Land Movement Vulnerability Zone, Cirebon Regency is an area with a vulnerability to high ground movement, which means that areas have high potential for ground movement to occur.

"In this zone, soil movement can occur if the rainfall is above normal, while the old ground movement can be reactivated," he explained.

According to him, the cause of landslides other than the affected area has a very steep slope of the cliff slope (>45) as well as the location of the soil movement in an open mining area using the undercutting technique mining method.

Furthermore, Wafid recommended that people close to the disaster site should immediately evacuate to a location that is safer from the landslide disaster, because the area still has the potential for further landslides to occur.

"Handling landslides, evacuating/search for victims is buried in order to pay attention to weather and steep slopes, so that they are not carried out at times and after heavy rains, because this area still has the potential for further ground movement to occur that can hit or hoard officers," he explained.

Previously, landslide movements occurred on the slopes of natural rock mines which resulted in several deaths and injuries to employees.

In addition, heavy equipment in the form of excavators and dump trucks was badly damaged and there were still a number of residents who worked as transport workers who were suspected of being buried by landslides.

To avoid disasters in mining activities, every business entity carrying out its activities must obtain an official permit and apply good mining engineering rules in its activities.

The management and supervision of mining business permits (IUP) for rock commodities according to Presidential Decree 55 of 2022 is under the authority of the governor.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal (Minerba) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is tasked with providing technical supervision through mining inspectors.