Search For Dimming Tourists On Prigi Trenggalek Beach Constrained By Bad Weather

The search atmosphere for tourists has disappeared from the sea current of Prigi Beach, Trenggalek, Sunday (1/1/2023). (Between/HO - Trenggalek Police)

JAKARTA - The search for tourists who were lost in the waves while swimming enjoyed the 2023 New Year holiday at Prigi Beach, Trenggalek, East Java, Sunday, had to be stopped due to bad weather constraints, said Trenggalek SAR Post Basarnas Coordinator Yoni Fahriza.

Four units of boats belonging to Basarnas, Polairud, and fishing boats immediately pulled over to the pier as soon as it rained with the wind hit the Prigi Bay area, Sunday at around 15.30 WIB.

He said the search would continue and expand tomorrow (Monday, 2/1) to a radius of 5-6 kilometers around the scene.

"We will expand in the right and left of the bay. Usually, incidents (of drowning) are found not far from Prigi Bay," Yoni said as quoted by Antara.

In addition to the potential for storms, the waves on the banks of Prigi Beach are high enough to complicate the search process.

As a result, the search and rescue efforts for the victim Angga Jefri, who was declared missing, were temporarily suspended.

"The pond accompanied by wind makes the search process unable to be maximized. We will continue the search tomorrow," said Watulimo Police Chief AKP Suyono confirmed by telephone. Not only combing around the Prigi Bay area using rubber boats and fishing boats, the search efforts were also carried out by fishermen by spreading fishing nets around Prigi waters.

Four draws with a length of more than one kilometer were distributed, but to no avail.

The incident of missing tourists being dragged by the waves at Prigi Beach occurred at around 09.30 WIB.

The incident began when Angga Jefri and three of his colleagues (Faiz, Reno, and Ridho) were playing in the water on Prigi Beach along with dozens of other tourists who that morning packed the tourist area of Prigi Beach.

Unfortunately, when suddenly a big wave came over. Many tourists immediately pulled over, and some of them rolled towards the beach and then dragged again towards the sea.

Many can survive and return to the edge, but this is not the case with Angga and three of his colleagues who were carried quite far into the middle.

Knowing that Angga Jefri, Faiz, Reno, and Ridho were dragged into the middle of the sea and could not swim, his friends on the beach suddenly shouted for help.

Other tourists became hysterical so that joint SAR officers who were on standby not far from the scene came to help.

Three victims who were dragged by the waves were rescued and evacuated to the beach. However, Jefri's body could not be reached by the rescue team and disappeared by the waves into the sea.