Father And Son Dragged By Flood In Ende NTT Have Not Been Found, Rescue Operations Stopped

Illustration of SAR rescue (ANTARA)

The search operation was carried out by the SAR team against two victims who were dragged by the flood in the Wolowona Kilometer 6 River, Rewarangga Village, Ende Regency, NTT, namely, Markus Hence Dembo Nggoti (33) and his son Agusto Rja Lio (9) were stopped because after seven days the search was still nil.

"The search operation for the two victims who were dragged by the flood in Wolowona River, Ende Regency, was stopped, until the seventh day of the search operation was still nil," said Head of the Maumere Search and Rescue Office (Basarnas) Mexianus Bekabel, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, March 3.

He explained that the seventh day was the last day of the search for the father and son who had been lost in the flood when heavy rains flushed the area on Friday, February 24, 2023, because conditions on the ground were no longer effective in carrying out the search and the results were still nil.

According to him, if the two victims were found after the seventh day, the search operation which previously involved 58 SAR teams from various SAR potentials in Ende Regency would be reopened.

Mexianus Bekabel explained that during the seven days of searching for the SAR team in Ende Regency, they conducted a search in three locations, namely sweeping the Wolowona River to Nanga Nesa estuary for 1.5 to 2 kilometers.

In addition, two joint SAR teams conducted sweeps around the mouth of Nanganesa for eight nautical miles using a rubber boat for 30 PK of the Ende SAR standby unit and a Polair Ende 300 PK speed boat.

Meanwhile, according to Mexianus Bekabel, the search for potential SAR is carried out by conducting a search on the ground along the estuary of Nanganesa for two kilometers.

"The three sweeping points are because they are the direction of the Wolowona and Nanga Nesa rivers. In the search, it is always guided by the direction of the wind that affects the current around the Nanga Nesa estuary," said Mexianus Bekabel.

He added that according to Law 29 of 2014 article 34 that the implementation of search and rescue operations was carried out within a maximum of seven days,