SAR Team Finds One Dead Victim Buried By Landslides On The Semeru Lumajang Watershed

The joint SAR team evacuated landslide victims who were found dead in Pronojiwo Village/District, Tuesday (4/6/2024). (ANTARA/Zumrotun Solichah)

The joint SAR team found one victim of a sand miner who was buried by a landslide in the Mount Semeru Watershed (DAS) in Pronojiwo Village, Lumajang Regency, East Java.

"The victim who was found was named Kusnadi (40), a resident of Pronojiwo Village/District who was a truck driver. The victim was found dead," said Head of Emergency and Logistics Division of the Lumajang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Yudi Cahyono as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, June 4.

According to him, a river cliff in the lava stream of Mount Semeru in Supit Hamlet, Pronojiwo Village collapsed on the east side, so that the avalanche material headed to the west and coincidentally there were local sand miners there, so it was buried.

"We also clarify that the landslides were not a sand mining area, but a river cliff and coincidentally the buried victims were local miners who were working at that time," he said.

The joint SAR team searched for victims buried by landslides using several heavy equipment belonging to the sand miners who were below to speed up the process of evacuating victims.

"Until the afternoon, only one victim was found dead, but the search for victims buried by landslides was temporarily stopped because it was dark and not optimal at night," he said.

Yudi admitted that he could not confirm the number of victims buried by the landslide because his party was still conducting an assessment, but based on information from local residents there were four to five people.

Meanwhile, the Head of Pronojiwo Police, AKP Wahono Puji Santoso, said that four people were buried by landslides and one victim had been found, so there were still three victims who had not been found.

Based on data from the Pronojiwo District, there were five people around the landslide location, but one person managed to run and save himself, while four people were buried by landslides.

The names of the victims buried by the landslide were Junaedi (26) a resident of Malang Regency, Dwi (35) a resident of Pronojiwo Village/District, Kusnadi (40) a resident of Pronojiwo Village/District, Rohim, a resident of Sidomulyo Village-Pronojiwo District, while the survivors were Abdul Latif, a resident of Malang Regency.