SAR Team Searches For The Captain Who Drowned After The Ship Was Struck By Lightning At Muara Cikaso Beach

The joint SAR team searched for a boat captain who sank due to being struck by lightning at Muara Cikaso Beach, Sukabumi Regency, West Java.

"The victim is known to be named, GUNawan (35) a resident of Ciroyom Village, Cibitung Village, Cibitung District, Sukabumi Regency. The sea accident occurred in an area on Muara Cikaso Beach, Buniasih Village, Tegalbuled District, Sukabumi Regency," said Sukabumi Police Chief AKBP Maruly Pardede reported by ANTARA, Thursday, May 11.

According to Maruly, in this case of a marine accident, his party has asked for information from a number of witnesses, one of which is the survivors, namely the crew.

In addition, the Sukabumi Police have also coordinated with the SAR team from various institutions and communities to carry out joint SAR operations.

According to information gathered from the police, the marine accident began when the victim and his colleague, Idoy, sailed using a Congkreng motorcycle with the hull name Rivia Puteri 05 on Wednesday, (10/5) at 15.30 WIB.

However, at 19.15 WIB, the weather suddenly changed drastically and rained heavily accompanied by lightning in the middle of the sea. At that time, the location of the ship carrying the victim was about 10 kilometers in the waters east of the SBP Pier.

As a result of the bad weather, the victim tried to direct his motorboat to land, but was struck by lightning which caused Gunawan to fall and disappear in the southern sea of Sukabumi Regency.

Meanwhile, the victim's colleague who was a crew member managed to dock at SBP Pier using makeshift equipment. Meanwhile, the motorboat used by the fisherman sank.

Information about the fishermen who had a marine accident was only known to the public on Thursday morning, after the survivors managed to pull over to the beach. Receiving this information, a number of fishermen tried to search and asked the SAR team for help.

The search will be carried out on Friday (12/5). However, the SAR team deployed to carry out SAR operations in the middle of the sea has been advised to be vigilant because the current weather conditions are bad, such as high waves and heavy rains.