Three children drown in Citarum river

BEKASI (JP): The corpses of three children were pulled out of the Citarum river in Tapak Serang village, Lenggah Jaya, Cabangbungin district, on Saturday afternoon.

Tapak Serang residents and Bekasi Police are still searching for two other children, believed drowned, when a boat, which was bringing a family of 14 to Tanjungan village, Karawang, West Java, suddenly capsized, tipping all 14 into the river.

The dead have been identified as Mustopa, 4, Emar, 5, and Nengsih, 11, who was Emar's elder sister. The two missing children have been identified as Tuti, 9, and Marni, 13.

"The sad part is that the five children ... the whole family in fact, were poor sand sellers. They were going to Tanjung village to get sand and then sell it. The boat was too heavy and it tipped," Bekasi Police chief Lt. Col. Sutarman said on Sunday.

"The ones who could swim, swam. The rest were taken away by the river."

The survivors were identified as boat driver Madi, 27, Madi's wife Wati, 24, Wati's sister Yayah, 10, Madi's brother Basri, 4, Sari, 9, Erna, 9, Uci, 9, Ati, 9, and Nani, 12.

The police report said Madi would take the survivors to his parent's home in Tanjungan village, Karawang, West Java.

The report states that Madi was steering the boat, parts of which were loosely held together with steel wire, when it capsized. He remembered hearing the screams of the people around him, drowning in the 10-meter-deep river.

"I could see some (people) swimming ... but I could not see the children," Madi said, as quoted from the report.

"We are just sand sellers ... we could not afford another boat, so we forced ourselves into this one boat."

Tapak Serang residents immediately cast huge fishing nets into the river. The corpses of the three children were caught in one of them.

Sutarman added that the search for the two other missing children would go on until they were found.

The last tragedy of this sort occurred when a 37-year-old woman and seven young relatives, aged between eight and 13, drowned after being dragged out to sea at Tanjung Pasir beach in Teluk Naga, Tangerang, on Jan. 11.

"The woman and the children, who were from one extended family, were several meters away from the beach, which was heavily crowded with around 500 holidaymakers," Tangerang Police chief Lt. Col. Pudji Hartanto said at the time.

He added that the other holidaymakers were able to escape the huge wave as it crashed onto the shore.

"But the woman and the kids were unable to save themselves. These tragedies happen," the officer said.

He identified the dead women as Sugiharti and the remaining victims as Annisah, Ratna, Mariani, Nuraini, Devi, Ani and Ricky. (ylt)