Finally, all diamond traditional miners buried in the rubble of their mine in the Pumpung Village, Cempaka Sub-district, Banjarbaru, found.


The last victim found was Saltani alias Toni (45). The panner, as his panner fellows, was found dead. But he was the last discovered at predawn.    

Head of the SAR Office of Banjarmasin Mujiono in Banjarbaru on Tuesday said, the last victim, of all five victims buried since Monday afternoon, was found on Tuesday at 04.27 local time in dead condition.

"The victim was found before dawn and he is the last person of all five victims  buried in the panning hole," he said stating that SAR operation is declared to end at 6.30.

The tragedy occured on Monday at about 14.15, when  a group of seven traditional miners worked in the semi-traditional diamond panning. Two,  Nahdi (30) and Ipul (25), were outside, while five other in the hole which was about 15 meters far from the surface. 

Nahdi and Ipul were survived, but their fellows were all buried, when the diamond mine collapsed.

Other miners rushed to help. They struggled hard to save the five victims, but failed. The news spread and a joint search effort carried out. 

The search process involves SAR Banjarmasin, TNI and Polri personnel, the South Kalimantan BPBD (Disaster Mitigation Agency) and Banjarbaru BPBD, other related elements, and residents.

The first miner was found was Dumat (35), a resident of Sungai Tiung at around 16:15 and followed by Aulia alias Aau (26), also a resident of Sungai Tiung at 17:50.

Then, the third miner found was Rofii alias Jomang (26) at 21:40, followed by ten minutes later the miner M Nauval Oval (19).

Daily Chief Executive of the Banjarbaru Disaster Mitigation Agency Surianor Ahmad said the difficulty faced by rescue teams was the condition of the land was tough must be sprayed to melt then sucked again to find the victim's body around the hole.

"The rescue team was assisted by residents and other personnel, totaling dozens of people working extra hard because of the clay condition," he said.

Deputy Mayor of Banjarbaru Darmawan Jaya Setiawan and the Banjarbaru Police Chief AKBP Kelana Jaya came to the location to monitor directly the process of rescuing victims. 

Pewarta: Yose Rizal, Gunawan W

Editor : Mahdani


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