3 People Died Drowning On Panjang Beach Bengkulu, 2 Others Lost

Basarnas Bengkulu when evacuating one of the victims who drowned. ANTARA/Anggi Mayasari

BENGKULU - Bengkulu National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) conducted a search for residents of South Sumatra who drowned while bathing in the Panjang Beach area. Three other people drowned.

The five victims were Zulpan (55), Rizal (35), Asari (35), Saca (30) and Sobran (32). Currently, Basarnas is searching for two residents of South Sumatra, namely Zulpan and Rizal.

"Currently, members are continuing to search for the two victims who drowned in the Panjang Beach area," said Head of the Bengkulu Province Basarnas M. Arafah as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 2.

Meanwhile, three other victims, namely Asari, Saca and Sobran, died when they were taken to the Bayangkara Hospital, Bengkulu City.

The incident began when a family of 10 people visited the Panjang Beach area at around 07.30 WIB.

Then, six of them took a shower and without realizing it, the victims were in the middle of the sea and one victim, namely A (20) managed to survive.

One of the victim's relatives, Sukadi, said the three victims were taken to a funeral home in South Sumatra.

"We groups from Palembang want to visit the Bengkulu family and we are interested in bathing at Panjang Beach. There are three people who died and two people are still being searched," he said.

He explained that while bathing on the beach, his party had been reprimanded by local residents not to take a shower in the area because it was prone to drowning people.

In the search, Basarnas used equipment in the form of two rubber boats, one Rigid Inflatable Boat unit, a complete set of water SAR equipment, one aqua eye, two sets of diving equipment, a set of Under Water Search Devices (UWSD), navigation equipment, medical equipment and team individual personal protective equipment.