Prabowo prepares special team to reach difficult karhutla terrain

President Prabowo Subianto has asked the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) to prepare a special team to reach forest and land fire (karhutla) locations in South Sumatra that are difficult for ground troops to access.

The request was made by Prabowo while leading a meeting on karhutla handling in South Sumatra on Monday.

The President asked TNI Commander Agus Subiyanto to test the deployment of Team Alfa to support karhutla handling operations.

“I want to ask, TNI Commander, can Team Alfa also be tested here?” said Prabowo.

To strengthen firefighting operations, Prabowo also requested additional water bombing helicopters in South Sumatra.

The Head of State instructed that available TNI helicopters be deployed immediately to assist with firefighting.

In addition to air operations, the government is also preparing support in the form of 20 excavators to reinforce canals and 500 pump and hose units to support water sources from boreholes.

Prabowo stressed that all such support must be directed towards accelerating the extinguishing of land that is still burning.

The President asked field personnel to report any obstacles immediately so that the central government can provide additional assistance.

“Try to ensure that the current 1,900 hectares can be extinguished soon,” said Prabowo.

On the same occasion, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto stated his readiness to prepare the team.

According to him, the personnel deployed may consist of freefall teams, paramotor teams, and fast roping teams to reach terrain that is difficult for ground troops to penetrate.

“Yes, Sir. We will prepare here for coordination of the freefall team, paramotor team, and fast roping team to reach terrain that is difficult for ground troops to access,” said Agus.