The SAR Team Is Still Searching For The Missing 8-Year-Old Boy In Ciliwung Cililitan River

The SAR team is still searching for an 8-year-old child who has been missing since Tuesday, December 21 in Ciracas, East Jakarta/ Photo: IST

JAKARTA - The rescue team of the East Jakarta Fire and Rescue Service (Sudin Gulkarmat) is still continuing to search for a 9-year-old boy who went missing in the river of Ciliwung River, Cililitan Village, Kramat Jati District, East Jakarta.

The victim, Ilham Agustin (9), a resident of RT 14/05, Cililitan Village, was lost in the current while playing around the riverbank with his friends.

"The search started from the beginning of the victim's fall in the Kali Hitam stream towards the mouth of the Ciliwung River. The search was carried out manually without an inflatable boat," said Head of the Operations Section of the East Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept. Gatot Sulaeman when confirmed, Tuesday, December 21.

The search for victims was carried out starting at 09.40 WIB at a number of points. In the search process, the East Jakarta Gulkarmat Sub-dept. rescue team was also assisted by a joint SAR team.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office as the SAR Mission Coordinator (SMC) in SAR operations, Hendra Sudirman, said that the joint SAR team conducted a search by dividing the area into two.

"The first SRU conducted a search using a Rubber Boat with a distance of 5 KM from the incident location, then the second SRU conducted a visual search of the land route with a distance of 3 KM from the incident location," Hendra said when confirmed by VOI, Tuesday, December 21.

Hendra also sent personnel with complete water SAR equipment to the scene of the incident to carry out SAR operations.

"We hope the victim will be found soon," he said.

Today's search involved joint SAR personnel consisting of the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office, Kramat Jati Police, Cililitan Babinsa, PPSU, East Jakarta Damkar, DKI Jakarta BPBD TRC, PMI, Satpol PP, Victim's Families and the surrounding community.

Previously, it was reported that heavy rains that hit the East Jakarta area caused a child to drown due to being dragged by the flow of the Ciliwung River in Cililitan Village, Kramat Jati District, East Jakarta.

According to Ita (45), an eye witness to the incident, before the victim drifted away, he saw the victim playing with two of his friends. At that time, it was raining heavily and the flow of the Ciliwung River was rising.

At the time of the incident, Ita was also at the door of his house in RT 2/15, Cililitan Village, Kramat Jati District, East Jakarta.

"I already told him, don't play there, it's raining heavily, the water is still high, but it keeps coming back," Ita told reporters, Monday, December 20.