8 students bolt boarding school

BOGOR (JP): As many as eight students, aged between 8 and 12, have left Ibnu Taimiyah Islamic boarding, a school for orphans, in Cijeruk here without notice, the school's head said on Friday.

Safik Aprori said five of the students, who escaped on July 16, have been located.

"They sheltered at the house of a family of one of them in Surabaya, East Java," Safik said.

"We're still searching for the three others."

He said seven of the students are from Larantuka, while the other is from Ende, which are both towns in East Nusa Tenggara.

Safik said the school does not know why the students ran away, but speculated that the students, who had only arrived at the school two days ago, were finding it difficult to adjust to the school environment, including their duties in the school.

He identified the students as Suhad Samsudin, Turjihad Anwar, Khairul Anambawo, Mulyanto Ponata, Faisal Dapa, Arif Jamaludin, Riyan Abubakar and Syahrul Ramdian.

Safik called on the public to inform the school if anyone found the children. (21/jun)