8 Miners From Bogor Stuck In Banyumas Gold Mine, SAR Team Efforts To Evacuate

The Cilacap SAR Office Basarnas Team and the Banyumas SAR Alert Unit coordinated with the Banyumas Police Chief Kombes Edy Suranta Sitepu regarding the evacuation of eight miners trapped/ANTARA HO SAR Cilacap

The joint team-search and rescue (SAR) is trying to evacuate eight miners who are reportedly trapped in the people's gold mine pit, Pancurendang Village, Banyumas Regency, Central Java.

"Eight miners have been reportedly trapped in the mine pit since Tuesday (25/7), at 23.00 WIB, because suddenly water inundated the mining area," said Head of the Cilacap SAR Office Adah Sudarsa as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 26.

Based on the data, eight trapped miners are ecep Suriyana (29), Rama Abd Rohman (38), Ajat (29), Mad Kholis (32), Marmumin (32), Muhidin (44), Jumadi (33), and Mulyadi (40) and all from Bogor Regency, West Java.

The SAR office dispatched a rescue team to the scene with various aid equipment such as diving equipment, gas detectors, and other supporting equipment.

"We have deployed a team from the Cilacap SAR Office and the SAR Alert Unit for search and rescue operations to save miners trapped underground," said Adah.

Meanwhile, Banyumas Police Chief Kombes Edy Suranta Sitepu said based on information from Karipto, Head of Hamlet 2, Pancurendang Village, it was discovered that the gold mining area had not been licensed even though it had been operating since 2014 and became a livelihood of around 80 percent of local residents.

The opening of the mine was carried out because of an agreement between land owners and miners with a profit-sharing percentage of 20 percent for land owners, 20 percent for investors, and 60 percent for workers.

"Currently there are 35 mining stalls but only 30 stalls are active with workers from the surrounding community," he explained.