4 Meter Barrier Wall Collapses On 1 Family In Cianjur, Father And Mother Survived But 2 Children Died On The Spot

Volunteers are still looking for the cause of the collapse of the house dividing wall in Bakom Village, Sukaresmi Village, Cianjur, West Java (ANTARA/HO)

CIANJUR - A family in Cianjur, West Java, was buried under a house building that collapsed due to a four-meter-high wall that hit the house. Two occupants died and other family members were injured.

Secretary of BPBD Cianjur Rudi Wibowo said the collapse of the house dividing wall occurred when it rained heavily with an intensity of more than two hours. As a result, the four-meter-high dividing wall of a house in Bakom Village, Sukaresmi Village, Sukaresmi District, collapsed.

"The wall directly hit the house below it, causing it to collapse. One family was buried under a house that was almost razed to the ground. Volunteers, officers and local residents immediately evacuated with makeshift tools," he said in Cianjur, Antara, Sunday, February 6.

One family consisting of husband and wife Yayan and Eti and their two children, MR (11) and NM (4), was buried for several tens of minutes. When they were successfully evacuated, their two children were found dead, while Eti was seriously injured.

Eti was taken to the Cimacan Hospital to get medical help due to her injuries, while Yayan was evacuated to a neighbor's house because he only suffered minor injuries.

"It happened suddenly, so that one family who was in the house did not have time to save themselves. Two of the children of the owner of the house died, his wife was undergoing treatment at the Cimacan Hospital," he said.

Meanwhile, according to eyewitness accounts, local residents heard a loud bang when the high wall dividing the house collapsed, hitting the Yayan family's house, who was in the house at that time and did not have time to go out.

"Most of the residents stayed at home because it had been raining heavily since morning, we only found out after hearing a loud bang. When we left the house, we found Yayan's house had collapsed under the wall at the back of the house," said Edon (38), local eye witnesses.

He and other residents tried to evacuate, although they were constrained by equipment and buildings that were almost razed to the ground. After volunteers and TNI/Polri officers arrived, one by one the bodies of Yayan's family were removed.

"Both Yayan's daughters died when the house collapsed and the wall fell, while Eti, who was found in the same position with her child, survived, although she was seriously injured," he said.