TNI Soldiers Who Drowned On Baubau Beach Found At A Depth Of 35 Meters

Photo via Antara

JAKARTA - Basarnas evacuates the body of a TNI soldier who drowned at Nirwana Beach, Baubau City, Southeast Sulawesi.

The head of Kendari Basarnas Aris Sofingi explained that the victims were Prada Muh Saiful Anwar, Babinsa Ramil 1413-04/Mawasangka Dim 1413/Buton. He was found after two days of search operations.

"At 08.55 WITA the victim was found by the Joint SAR Team at a depth of 35 meters dead, about 30 meters from the last location where the victim was reported missing," said Aris Sofingi, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, August 23.

The bodies of the TNI personnel were found after Basarnas dispatched 11 divers who were divided into three dive sites to conduct sweeps around the location where the victim was reported missing with a search area of 2.5 nautical miles.

The joint SAR team then evacuated the victim's body to the Palagimata Baubau General Hospital for post-mortem.

Aria mentioned earlier on Monday (22/8) at around 16.30 WITA the victim and his partner arrived at the Nirwana Beach villa in order to check the readiness of the room for the visit of the closing guests of the TNI Manunggal Building a Village (TMMD).

At that time the victim and his partner were bathing around the pier of the Nirwana Beach villa. However, at around 17.15 WITA when the victim was taking a bath, Prada Muh Saiful Anwar was swept away by the current and drowned.

"The victim's colleague tried to help, but because the current was strong, the victim could not be saved by his partner," said Aris.

The incident was then reported to the Kendari Basarnas by Dandim 1413/Buton Lt. Col. ARM Muhammad Faozan at around 17.30 WITA.

Based on the report, the Baubau SAR Post Rescue Team was dispatched to the location where the victim was reported missing to provide SAR assistance. However, after a joint search of the elements involved until 20.00 WITA with no results, the search was temporarily suspended.

The joint SAR team consisting of the Baubau SAR Post Rescue Team, Kodim 1413/Buton, Baubau Police Polair, Baubau Navy Post, Baubau PMI and the Baubau diver community continued the search operation on Tuesday (23/8) at around 06.30 WITA. However, unfortunately, Prada Muh Saiful Anwar was found dead.

"With the discovery of the victim, the SAR operation is declared complete and closed, all elements involved are returned to their respective units," said Aris.