Plunge Into The River, Brawler's Car In South Sumatra Was Evacuated By The Police

The car of the brawler/Photo: Antara

PALEMBANG - Joint officers from the Transportation Service and Polrestabes Palembang City, South Sumatra (Sumsel) evacuated a minibus from inside the Bendung River in 13 Ilir Village, which was suspected of being used by the perpetrators of brawls between residents in this city.

The minibus car numbered BG-1162-RR which was allegedly driven by the perpetrator of the brawl with the initials S, a resident of 9 Ilir Village, Palembang, was successfully evacuated by being pulled by officers using a tow truck from the Transportation Service on Sunday, March 13 night at around 19.25 western Indonesia time.

"The car has been successfully pulled out of the river and will be immediately taken to the Metro Police headquarters. Because the condition has been badly damaged, we brought it with us using a tow truck that has been prepared," said Head of Tow Vehicle Operations at the Palembang City Transportation Service, Hendarto at the evacuation site.

According to Hendarto, the officers experienced difficulties during the evacuation process, because it was affected by very heavy rainfall. Officers had to wait for the rain to stop before evacuating the car which was known to have been submerged in the river since 07.30 western Indonesia time in the morning or for about 10 hours.

"Conditions of heavy rain made the evacuation process very slow, even when the rain subsided we and the police had to jump into the river first, because the car had been carried by the river as far as 30 meters from the starting point of the report we received, luckily it didn't drift into the Musi River, because it will be more difficult to evacuate," he said, quoted by Antara.

Based on the information gathered from the police, the minibus was driven by suspected perpetrator S and two of his colleagues who are also residents of 9 Ilir Village, to deliberately crash into residents of 13 Ilir Village.

The collision was carried out because previously the two groups of residents were involved in a brawl on Ali Gatmir street, 13 Ilir Village on Sunday morning at around 06.00 western Indonesia time, which the police estimated involved as many as 100 people.

Two residents of 13 Ilir village, each with the initials IH (12) and MR (55), residents of Lorong Masawa Darat RT 008/007 had to be rushed to the Boom Baru Harbor Hospital because they suffered injuries due to being hit by a car driven by S.

After the collision, S and his two companions managed to escape from the crowds there, but failed to take their car with them.

The car was left just like that on the road which is right on the Bendung River which is not far from the location of the brawl, so that it became the target of angry residents of 13 Ilir village.

Residents beat the car with blocks of wood, stone and iron until it shattered on the outside and inside, then threw it into the river as deep as eight meters by pushing it.

Until now, police officers consisting of Metro Police, Ilir Timur I Sector Police and Ilir Timur II Sector Police of Palembang are still on standby at the location to anticipate further brawls between residents, then examine witnesses, and S and his two colleagues who are still being chased by officers.