Basarnas Operates Heavy Equipment Searching For Flood Victims In Torue Parimo, Central Sulawesi

SAR officers operate heavy equipment to support efforts to search for victims of flash floods in Torue Village, Torue District, Parigi Moutong Regency, Central Sulawesi Province, Thursday (4/8/2022). (ANTARA/Moh Ridwan)

PARIMO - The Palu Search and Rescue Office (Basarnas) operates heavy equipment to search for victims of flash floods in Torue Village, Torue District, Parigi Moutong (Parimo) Regency, Central Sulawesi, on the eighth day of the search effort.

"The focus of the search with heavy equipment is in the estuary, because a lot of house debris has sunk, and we are trying to dig," said Head of Operations Section of the Palu Search and Rescue Office, Andi Sultan in Torue, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 4.

He explained that the SAR team focused on searching for victims in the river mouth area because according to residents' information there were a number of houses that were heavily damaged and lost by floods in the area.

In addition to combing the estuary area, according to him, the joint SAR team carried out search efforts in coastal areas, including the coastal area of Tindaki Village in the northern sector and the coastal area of Sausu District in the southern sector.

"Today's operation involved four groups. SRU 1 and 2 searched the coast, while SRU 3 and 4 searched the estuary, supported by a special detection device," said Andi.

At 15.30 WITA, the search in the estuary area had been stopped because the sea water was starting to rise. However, search efforts in the coastal areas continued into the evening.

Andi explained that the search for four victims of the flash flood in Torue Village would be carried out until August 7, 2022.

"An additional three-day search time (is carried out) as requested by the Parigi Moutong Regional Government," he said.

The operation to search for flood victims was carried out with the support of three rubber boats, an excavator, an Aqua Eye detector, and a fishing boat.

According to Andi, the search effort involved Basarnas personnel, the Water Police, the Navy, the Regional Disaster Management Agency, volunteers, and nature-loving students.