His Personnel Died On Duty, Basarnas Will Complete Evaluation Of SAR Operations

Illustration. The SAR team tried to find the victims of the sinking of an inter-village ferry in the waters of East Mawasangka Bay, Southeast Sulawesi on Monday, July 24. (ANTARA-HO Basarnas Kendari)A

JAKARTA - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) will thoroughly evaluate SAR operations after two of its personnel died while on duty in Karo, North Sumatra (North Sumatra).

"I ask Basarnas employees both at the central and regional SAR Office heads to carry out a thorough evaluation regarding this disaster," said Head of Basarnas Marsedya TNI Kusworo in his statement, Friday, October 25, which was confiscated by Antara.

The three-star general of the Indonesian Air Force emphasized that he needed to form an investigative team to analyze in detail the chronology of the deaths of Basarnas personnel Tengku Rahmatsyah Putra (36) and Dodi Prananta (38).

Both died while carrying out the Search and Rescue Operation (SAR) task of Jeplenta Sebayang (36), a resident of Limang Village, Tiga Binanga District, Karo Regency, who was reportedly swept away while fishing. The rubber boat they used to search for the victim overturned was thrown into the river.

The bodies of the two Medan SAR Office personnel were found floating in the dam area of PT Wampu Electric Power (WEP), Central Rih Village, Kutabuluh, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Wednesday, October 23 evening, or the eighth day of both were declared missing in search.

Kusworo asked that all technical aspects that caused the disaster must be described in detail, starting from guidelines for SAR implementation, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), personnel capability as rescuers, infrastructure and equipment, to the involvement of SAR potential such as the TNI, Polri, Tagana, to volunteers.

In addition, it also makes an analysis based on the map of its territory so that it is expected to produce constructive recommendations in the implementation of future SAR operations.

This, according to him, applies to the Head of the Medan SAR Office and also 21 other SAR Offices from Aceh-Timika Papua that have the potential to face similar cases.

"I instruct the Heads of the SAR Office to make an analysis based on a regional map. This incident is a big loss for Basarnas. Just one life is priceless. It's sad to have to lose two rescuers at once," he said.