Mudslide survivors lose hope for relatives

Mudslide survivors lose hope for relatives

Fidelito Ahmad, The Jakarta Post, Mojokerto

Mulyadi, 41, a resident of Jl. Ngagel Tirto, Mojokerto, East
Java, burst into tears when a forensic expert at Surabaya's Dr.
Soetomo hospital confirmed on Friday that one of the seven
unidentified corpses in the hospital morgue was his wife, Sri
Utami.

The sad confirmation ended his one-day wait from the time the
corpses had been taken to Surabaya from Dr. Wahidin Sudiro Husodo
general hospital in Mojokerto a day before.

"I was already sure that my wife was one of the seven dead,"
Mulyadi said weakly.

Sri's body was found crushed under a huge rock by a rescue
team on Wednesday night.

She was one of the victims of the sudden mudslide on Wednesday
that wiped the Padusan hot springs tourist resort off the face of
the earth.

Some 60 people, mostly school-aged children, are feared dead;
36 bodies -- including the seven in the Surabaya hospital -- have
already been identified while 26 people are still missing.

The mudflow also injured five others, three of whom are still
in a serious condition.

Mulyadi said his family -- which included Sri, 35, and their
two sons Ramadoni, 9, and Rizky, 6 -- spent the Idul Fitri
holiday at the resort.

"My wife had this rheumatic problem, so we decided to go
there. We've been visiting the resort once a week since
September. At the time (of the mudslide), there were some 60
people bathing in the pool," Mulyadi said.

Suddenly, they heard people shouting, "There's water coming!
there's water coming!" Mulyadi quickly jumped out of the pool
carrying Rizky, followed by Sri.

At the front entrance to the resort, dozens of people were
already struggling to get out.

When she realized that Ramadoni was not with her, Sri ran back
to the pool, remembering that the little boy was playing in the
cold water pool next to the hot one.

A thundering roar was then heard, the terrifying sound of the
tons of mud and boulders that engulfed the resort just a few
seconds after Mulyadi and Rizky managed to get out. Next thing
they heard were cries for help, which quickly dissipated as the
massive boulders entombed the area where the pools had been just
a few short minutes before.

"I said a prayer, hoping that God would grant me a miracle by
saving my wife and child," said Mulyadi sobbing distraughtly.

At the time of going to press, Ramadoni, or Doni, had yet to
be found. As were 10 students from the SMU PGRI II Mojokerto
State Senior High School.

On the day of the mudslide, the students were climbing up
Mount Welirang. The Padusan resort was located on the slopes of
the mountain.

On Thursday, Wiwit, 23, a resident of Mojokerto, was seen
leaving the Sumber Glagah Health Center in Pacet.

He had been checking one by one the clothes, bags, sandals,
shoes, and other personal belongings found by the rescue teams at
the disaster scene and later placed on the veranda of the health
center.

But Wiwit found nothing that belonged to his brother, M.
Horizon, or Roni, who was one of the students.

He then went to the Rekso Waluyo hospital downtown to find out
if their bodies had been brought there. Again his trip was in
vain.

"Roni left with his friends on Wednesday. He called around
11:30 p.m. on his cell phone, but I couldn't fully understand
him. But he was screaming for help as he had been hit by a rock
and got trapped underneath it. He asked me to come to Pacet,"
Wiwit said on Friday.

"He also said that he was just above the hot springs. But up
until today, we have heard nothing from him nor about him. But
the body of one of his friends, Ambarwati, was found at the
resort as she decided not to hike up the mountain that
afternoon," he added.