Fishermen WHO WERE Struck By Lightning And Then Lost In The Waters Of Buton Central Sulawesi Have Not Been Found

SAR operations are looking for fishermen who are missing in Buton waters/ Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - Basarnas stated that fishermen named La Jamadin (55) who had been reported missing since Wednesday, November 23 due to being struck by lightning around the waters between Buton Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, had not been found.

Head of the Kendari Basarnas Aris Sofongi by telephone in Kendari, said the development of the results of the 4th day of the SAR operation against the victim had not yielded any results.

"Until 17.00 WITA today, the search conducted by the joint SAR team against one fisherman was struck by lightning and fell from its longboat around the waters between Koholimombono Village, Wakula District, Buton Regency with Karang Kapota, Wakatobi Regency with nil," said Aris, quoting Antara, Sunday, November 17.

He conveyed that the SAR operation against the victim was temporarily suspended and would resume tomorrow morning, Monday, November 28, at around 06.00 WITA.

Aris said the victim was a resident of Bantea Hamlet, Dongkala Village, Pasarwajo District, Buton Regency.

"The search for victims on the 4th day involved a rescue team from the Wakatobi SAR Post, fishermen around and the victim's family," he said.

Basarnas said that during the search for victims of sunny cloudy weather, the wind speed was 2 to 10 knots, the wind direction was blowing from northwest to northeast, while the wave height reached 0.5 to 1.5 meters.

"We used a tool, namely one RIB unit belonging to the Wakatobi SAR Post, a boat belonging to a fisherman with three units and other safety support equipment," explained Aris.

Previously, Wednesday, November 23 at around 03.00 WITA, the victim reportedly went out looking for fish using a long boat around the waters between Koholimombono Village, Wabula District, Buton and Karang Kapota, Wakatobi Regency.

At around 11.00 WITA, another fisherman saw the victim from a distance about the boat, but suddenly it rained hard accompanied by lightning which immediately grabbed the victim.

Furthermore, the witness and his colleague, three people tried to approach the scene of the accident and saw that the victim was no longer on the long boat. The search has been carried out by local fishermen and the victim's family, but until the information was received by the Kendari Basarnas with no results.