Gibran's Body That Drowned On Palabuhanratu Beach, Sukabumi Was Found

The joint SAR team was evacuating the body of Gibran (7) who had drowned at Rawakalong Beach, Palabuhanratu District. (Between/Basarnas)

JAKARTA - The joint Search and Rescue (SAR) team on Thursday managed to find the body of Gibran (7), a tourist from Cicurug District, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, who drowned on Rawakalong Beach, Palabuhanratu on Wednesday (4/5).

"His body was found about a kilometer radius from the location where the victim was caught in a big wave and eventually drowned. Gibran was found dead and immediately evacuated to Palabuhanratu Hospital for a post-mortem and then handed over to his family," said the Head of the Jakarta Search and Rescue Office. as the SAR Mission Coordinator in the Hendra Sudirman SAR operation in Sukabumi, Thursday.

According to Hendra, in this SAR operation, his party divided into two search teams where the first team conducted searches using rubber boats in the sea with a search area of approximately 2 km and the second team conducted searches on land along the shoreline up to a radius of 6 km from location of the incident.

The SAR teams involved in this humanitarian operation include the Sukabumi SAR Post Basarnas, Sukabumi Police Polairud, Sukabumi Navy Post, Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and Sukabumi Regency Fire Department, Palabuhanratu Satpol PP, Sukabumi Regional SAR Communication Forum (FKSD), other SAR potentials, and assisted by the surrounding community.

The victim's body was found stranded on the beach and still wearing the last clothes he wore. From the post-mortem results, there were abrasions which were allegedly caused by the waves drifting and being carried by the ocean currents.

"We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and are given the courage to accept this disaster. We also extend our appreciation to the joint search and rescue team who have been tireless to assist in the search for victims," he said, quoted by Antara.

On the other hand, Hendra said that the south coast of Sukabumi Regency, which has high waves and has strong underwater currents, is actually not suitable for swimming, especially for tourists who cannot swim.

His party also appealed to tourists to obey the rules and signs posted by security officers on the beach to anticipate marine accidents, plus during the Lebaran holiday the number of tourists who came to the beach increased.

In addition, every parent who brings their child to travel to the southern sea tourism object of Sukabumi Regency is to provide extra monitoring so that they do not escape supervision.

It was previously reported that a 7-year-old child named Gibran was caught in a big wave while swimming with his family at Rawakalong Beach on Wednesday (4/5) at around 16.10 WIB.

The Sukabumi Police Satpolairud personnel together with members under Operations Control (BKO) from the West Java Police Ditpolairud who were on guard at the location tried to help the victim, but could not be saved because his body was quickly dragged by the current into the middle of the sea and eventually disappeared and drowned.