Tin Miner Drifts, SAR Team Found Dead

The Joint SAR Team when evacuating tin miners drowned in the waters of Batu Ampar Bangka, Wednesday morning (ANTARA/HO-Humas Pangkalpinang SAR Office)

PANGKALPINANG- Pangkalpinang City Joint SAR Team, Bangka Belitung Islands Province evacuated the body of Munsir (52), a tin ore miner who drowned in the waters of Batu Ampar Bangka on Tuesday, July 9.

"The victim is a tin miner and was found today at 03.30 WIB, not far from the scene where 500 meters had died," said Head of the Pangkalpinang SAR Office I Made Oka in Pangkalpinang, quoted from ANTARA, Wednesday, July 10.

He said the Pangkalpinang City Joint SAR Team assisted by the community found the victim's body which had previously washed away and drowned while pulling his tin mining ponton in the waters of Rebo, not far from the scene at 16.10 WIB.

"The discovery of the victim began when the joint SAR team conducted a search at the scene of the incident which at that time was receding on Wednesday morning," he said.

He stated that the victim, Munsir (52), a resident of Tanjung Ratu Hamlet, on July 9, 2024 at 13.00 WIB, departed from the victim's house to Batu Amper Beach to move his tin mining pontoon to the Batu Ampar Beach waters by being pushed to where the victim would work.

At that time the condition of the waters was receding, so the victim had to wait until the tide began to move his pontoon.

Then, at 16.00 WIB, the victim began to move his pontoon as far as 50 meters from the initial location of the pontoon to the waters of Batu Ampar Beach.

According to the victim's child, the victim usually returned home at 17.30 WIB, so he tried to find the victim at Batu Ampar Beach and saw his motorbike which was still parked on the beach.

The victim's family tried to find the victim by conducting a sweep around the beach to where the victim's pontoon was, but until 19.00 WIB the victim had not been found.

Knowing this, the victim's family reported the incident to Kansar Pangkalpinang to ask for help in searching for victims suspected of being swept away in the waters.

Receiving this information, Kansar Pangkalpinang dispatched a rescue team to the scene on Batu Amper Beach.

The Joint SAR team consisting of Rescuer Kansar Pangkalpinang, Babinsa TNI AD, Babinkamtibmas Polsek Baturusa, BPBD Bangka Regency, Polairud Polres Bangka, Sasar, and the community and the families of the victims coordinated together and conducted a joint search the next day by conducting sweeps from the victim's pontoon to the coast, due to water conditions that are expected to recede.

After searching, the joint SAR team managed to find the victim's body in the early hours of Wednesday and immediately evacuated the victim to the funeral home in Tanjung Ratu Hamlet, Rebo Village.

I Made Oka said the joint search and rescue operation for the residents of Tanjung Ratu Hamlet was officially closed and his party appealed to people who are active in the waters to pay attention to safety, especially using personal protective equipment, such as life jackets and others.