Child sacrifice rumors upset residents

Child sacrifice rumors upset residents

PONOROGO, East Java: Rumors that 200 children below the age of 10 will be sacrificed to guarantee the successful construction of the Java-Madura bridge are making the rounds in several East Java regencies.

Life in Ponorogo, some 200 kilometers from Surabaya, has been disrupted by the rumors.

Worried residents, particularly mothers, in the subdistricts of Sawoo, Badengan, Sambit and Jambon are accompanying their children to and from school.

Outsiders who enter the subdistricts in vans are closely watched by locals, who fear the strangers could kidnap their children, kill them and take their heads.

Some villagers say the kidnappers are rumored to take the heads of their victims and leave behind Rp 6 million.

"I have no idea where the rumors came from. But I have been watching my child at his school and prohibiting him from playing outside the school until class is over," said Riawati, a young mother.

There have been no reports of the bodies of headless children being found in Ponorogo or other regencies. --Antara