SAR team expands search for Merapi lahar flood victims

Magelang (ANTARA) - A joint search and rescue (SAR) team expanded the search area for two victims of the Merapi lahar flood along the Senowo River in Dukun, Magelang Regency, who had not yet been found, to seven kilometres from the incident location.

The Coordinator of the Joint SAR, Arif Yulianto, in Magelang, on Friday, said on the fourth day of the search operation the teams were divided into three Search and Rescue Units (SRUs) to speed up the process of locating the missing victims.

“Both manual searches and using heavy equipment. SRU 1 widened the search area from the incident site to about 400 metres up to the dam using two heavy machines,” he said.

SRU 2 was focused at the point where the second victim, named Heru, was found. The team also expanded the search area at that location with the aid of heavy equipment.

On the fourth day of the search operation, he said, the SAR team also received additional heavy equipment support to accelerate the removal of material.

“Alhamdulillah today there is an additional one heavy equipment unit, so the total heavy equipment that can be deployed in the search operation is four units,” he said.

However, the search process still faces several field constraints. One of them is the thickness of sand and rock materials carried by the Merapi lahar flood.

The Merapi lahar flood struck the Senowo River on Tuesday afternoon (3 March). The incident resulted in three residents dying, while two others remain missing.