Orangutan Carcasses Found Floating in Central Kalimantan’s Kumai River

A video showing an orangutan found floating in the Kumai River in West Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan, has prompted concern on social media. The carcass was found on Saturday, 10 October 2026.

The animal was found near the Sekonyer River in Tanjung Puting National Park, while a fire was affecting the orangutan conservation area. According to a post on the Instagram account @infopbun, two orangutan carcasses were found floating at the site. The cause of the animals’ deaths is not yet known.

Forest and land fires in Tanjung Puting

Berton SP Panjaitan, head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BNPB) Centre for Data, Information and Disaster Communication, recently said that fires had affected a total of 513 hectares in Tanjung Puting National Park.

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said efforts to tackle the forest and land fires in the park were focused on three priorities: extinguishing the flames, opening access roads and drilling wells to secure water supplies.

“Field operations are currently focused on three main tasks: firefighting, opening access roads and drilling wells to support water availability,” Raja Juli said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday, 16 October 2026.

To speed up the response, teams in the field have been divided into three groups, assigned to open roads, drill wells and put out the fire.

Raja Juli said the division of tasks was intended to accelerate the response while ensuring that firefighters had access to the fire site and sources of water.

So far, the road-opening team has cleared about 1.8 kilometres of track towards Shelter Pesalat. The route is needed to facilitate the movement of personnel and equipment, as well as the delivery of water to the fire site.

“We have managed to open about 1.8 kilometres of road towards Shelter Pesalat, and we have also identified water-source points and locations for flexible or portable tanks and bore wells,” he said.