Man drowns in North Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): A man who was missing and presumed drowned, after falling into the Jakarta North Sea three days ago, was found dead yesterday, relatives said.

Imam Hartono, 27, a resident of Komplek PJKA, North Jakarta, fell into the sea while scavenging among piles of iron junk at Tanjung Priok port.

His uncle, Subagyono, said that Imam was a former security guard at Artha Prima Bank in Sunter. He was laid off two months ago.

Imam, the father of a three-year-old daughter, was trying to earn money by collecting iron junk, he said. Imam went to PT Hutama Karya's store to scavenge in Tanjung Priok.

But Imam slipped and fell into the sea and was buried under a pile of iron junk when he attempted to save himself by holding onto one of the iron rods, Subagyono quoted witnesses as saying.

"The accident happened so fast and the people nearby thought, at that moment, that Imam could save himself."

An employee of PT Hutama Karya reported the case to the harbor police after Imam failed to resurface.

A search and rescue operation failed to locate Imam's body and the search was called off later that night, Subagyono said.

Imam's body was spotted by a motorbike rider early yesterday.

A rescue team pulled the body from the water and it was transported to the Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital morgue for a postmortem examination. (04)