Two climbers evacuated while one feared dead

BOGOR (JP): One of seven mountaineers who fell into a ravine in Salak mountain here on Friday last week was feared dead, while the other four have not yet been evacuated, an official said on Thursday.

Yusuf Badar, the coordinator of Sukamantri forest tourism area, said that one mountaineer, identified as Iman, 28, was feared dead as he had not yet been located since the fall.

He said that the remaining six were found by the search and rescue team on Wednesday, but only two of them, Agus and Mumuh, managed to be evacuated.

"The four others could not be evacuated due to bad weather," Yusuf said.

They were identified as Lalan, 30, Iman, 28, Ucok, 19, and Iwan, 17.

Lalan, Indra and Ucok, slipped into the ravine when they tried to climb a wall of the mountain in the Sukamantri area at about 3 p.m.

Their friends then decided to ask Indra and Iwan to turn back and look for help, while Agus and Mumuh waited near the location.

After waiting at the scene for a whole day, Mumuh and Agus decided to look for help as Iman and Iwan had not returned.

When Agus and Mumuh returned, they could not find Iwan and Iman at the site. They were shocked when later they found their two friends lying in a critical condition in Citiis riverbank.

Agus then continued to search for help while Mumuh took care of his two friends.

Agus arrived in Bogor on Tuesday and reported the incident to the Ciomas police subprecinct at about 1 p.m.

The police were helped by the search and rescue teams from Bandung and Jakarta. (21/jun)