Rescuers to search until all 100 missing victims found

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Langkat, North Sumatra

The authorities in North Sumatra decided on Monday to continue indefinitely the search for more than 100 victims still missing after a flash flood devastated a popular resort town a week ago, killing at least 138 people.

"We need to extend the search for missing victims for an indefinite time as this is what their families are demanding," the secretary of the Langkat administration's disaster relief agency, Sukhyar Mulianto, said.

"We will halt the rescue efforts if it is believed that there are no more missing people," he added.

The decision was made at a meeting attended by Langkat Regent Syamsul Arifin, the local police and military chiefs, and other senior officials, including Sukhyar. It was held in Stabat, the regency's capital.

Officials had earlier said the search would continue for two weeks following Nov. 3, one day after the flood ripped through the Bukit Lawang resort in Bahorok subdistrict, and that those who remained missing after this time would be declared dead.

Based on national search and rescue agency regulations, a search effort can only be halted after a minimum of one week.

Sukhyar said humanitarian concerns had prompted the local authorities to continue the rescue mission.

Many families of the missing victims have appealed to the local administration to continue the rescue efforts until their relatives were found.

B. Bangun, a victim, was among those making the request to the Langkat regent.

"I believe many bodies have not been found yet as at the time of the accident many of them had become trapped inside a cave," said Bangun who lost his wife and two children.

Sukhyar said the meeting also agreed to deploy more heavy equipment to the disaster spot to help remove piles of logs and mud that could be burying those who were missing.

So far, the joint rescue team has only had two bulldozers and a number of saws at its disposal, he added.

Sukhyar said that at least four more bodies were found on Monday, bringing the death toll to 138 people, adding that at least 106 others, including three foreign tourists, were still missing.

Rescuers will continue to comb the areas that had not been covered earlier, such as the villages of Timbang Lawan and Samperaya, he added.

Environmentalists and officials have blamed the flood on rampant illegal logging that has destroyed parts of the huge Mount Leuser National Park that surrounds Bukit Lawang.

Even President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah Haz said that environmental destruction in the park was the cause.

The North Sumatra legislative council said it would soon summon top local officials, including Governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin, the Bukit Barisan military commander and the province's police chief, as well as the executives of the Leuser Management Unit (UML), over the illegal logging.

They would be asked to explain why the destruction of the 42,000-hectare park was being allowed to continue unchecked.

Jonner Pangaribuan, secretary of the council's governance commission, said the plan to summon the relevant officials would be discussed further by a special committee formed to investigate the illegal logging.

However, he could not specify any date.

"They (the local officials) need to clarify several things related to the issue, particularly the existence of the Sapo Padang Cooperative and a forest concession in the Leuser park. There is a lot of controversies over their existence," Jonner said.

Military, police and government personnel and officers have widely been accused of profiting from rampant illegal logging across the country, but no concrete action has ever been taken against them.

State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said last week that military officers were involved in illegal logging. But this was denied by a military spokesman.

Indonesia has a poor record in environmental protection, and conservationists say its huge tropical forests are rapidly disappearing at the hands of illegal loggers.

According to some estimates, 75 percent of the country's forests have been cut down in the past few decades.