2 Members Of The Medan Basarnas Who Drifted While Looking For Missing Anglers Found Dead

The joint SAR team evacuated two members of the Medan Basarnas who were swept away while carrying out SAR operations on the Lau Biang River, Karo Regency, North Sumatra. ANTARA/HO-Dok Basarnas Medan.

The joint SAR team managed to evacuate two members of the Medan Basarnas who were swept away while carrying out SAR operations on the Lau Biang River, Karo Regency, North Sumatra.

Head of the Medan Class A Search and Rescue Office Mustari said the search for the two victims was carried out for eight days, and was found dead.

"The Basarnas family, especially the Medan SAR Office, after eight days of searching for the SAR team, two Medan SAR Office rescuers on behalf of Tengku Rahmatsyah Putra (36) and Dodi Prananta (38) were finally found. Both are dead," Mustari said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, October 24.

The search was carried out by dividing into four SRU teams (search and rescue units) using the equipment needed.

Mustari revealed that the unfortunate incident began when two victims were carrying out SAR operations looking for residents of Karo Regency who wanted to fish.

The two victims were in the SRU I team, which joined four other people, moving along the river starting from the last location of the victim.

By navigating the river current which is quite heavy, he said, the team continued to search.

However, when the search process entered the river niche which narrowed with a very heavy current. Rafting hit a large cross section which caused all personnel to be thrown and swept away in the river.

"At around 17.00 WIB, one of the rescuers who was swept away, Robbi Daniel, managed to save himself and get help from residents around the Solok River, precisely in Ujung Deleng Village, Kutabuluh District, Karo Regency. Two personnel from the potential SAR, each Rico Barus and Oscar Sebayang, also managed to save themselves and get help from the local community," he said.

A day later, on Thursday (17/10) at around 09.00 WIB, the SAR team managed to find Jeri Novada at the bottom of a ravine 70 meters deep and 20 meters from the location of the capsized boat.

"Wednesday (23/10), the SAR team, who tirelessly continued to carry out search operations until they finally managed to find the two rescuers of the Medan SAR Office," he said.