Sand miner buried by Semeru pyroclastic flow debris receiving intensive care at Haryoto Hospital
Lumajang, East Java (ANTARA) - A sand miner, Veri Irawan (33), a resident of Sumberwuluh village, Lumajang Regency, East Java, who was buried by residual material from a pyroclastic flow of Mount Semeru, is undergoing intensive care at Haryoto Regional General Hospital (RSUD) Lumajang after sustaining serious burns.
The incident occurred when the victim and several colleagues were manually mining sand in the lahar flow area of Mount Semeru on Friday night (19 June), said Head of the Lumajang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Isnugroho on Saturday.
He said the victim had set out to work with around 16 other miners that night. While at the mining site beneath the Gladak Perak Bridge, a pile of sand material that still retained high temperatures suddenly collapsed and buried the victim in the early hours of Saturday.
The victim’s colleagues at the scene immediately provided assistance and evacuated Veri to the hospital for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director of RSUD dr Haryoto Lumajang, Wawan Arwijanto, said the victim has been receiving intensive medical care since arrival because the burns he sustained reached 80 per cent.
“The medical team has performed surgery to clean the burn wounds, inserted fluid access lines to maintain the patient’s body condition, and provided breathing assistance, as there are concerns about injuries caused by exposure to hot air,” he said.
He explained that initial treatment of the victim has been carried out, followed by surgery to clean all the burn wounds, insertion of fluid lines, and breathing assistance.
“The burns suffered are more than 80 per cent. This condition is very dangerous, because generally burns above 40 per cent are already classified as severe,” he said.
He explained that the victim remains in critical condition and requires intensive care, because in addition to skin damage, the medical team is also monitoring for possible respiratory tract disorders due to inhaling hot air, as well as kidney dysfunction due to significant fluid loss.
“We will make every effort to provide medical treatment, and currently the patient is still in critical condition and requires close monitoring. We ask for prayers from the community so that his condition can improve,” he said.
His condition is reported as critical due to the extent of the burns and the risk of complications to vital organs.
According to PVMBG data, Mount Semeru erupted with a pyroclastic flow on Friday (19 June) at 07:21 Western Indonesia Time, with a slide distance of 4.5 km towards Besuk Kobokan.
Another pyroclastic flow from Semeru occurred on Saturday at 03:01, with the slide distance unknown due to fog cover.