JAKARTA: (Bernama) Five Indonesian media personnel reportedly lost contact while covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau near Sebesi Island, Lampung, southern Sumatra, not far from the volcano, Tuesday (Sept 8).
Banten Search and Rescue (SAR) Office Chief Al Amrad said the joint SAR team was still conducting an intensive search operation to locate all the media personnel.
"Search and rescue teams are still searching for the five media personnel who lost contact. As of tonight, there is still no information on whether they have been found,” he said in a statement.
The five media personnel are Muhammad Bagus Khoirunnas from Indonesia’s national news agency Antara; Arie Basuki from news portal Merdeka.com; Yudistiro Pranoto from iNews; Firdaus Wajidi from Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency; and Donal Husni, a freelance journalist.
In addition to the five media personnel, three boat crew members travelling with them - Warta, 55; Surakman, 60; and Heriyanto, 49 - were also unreachable, bringing the total number of missing people on board to eight.
They were reported to have departed from Anyer in Banten, at the western tip of Java Island, on Monday aboard a speedboat bound for the Krakatau area to cover the volcano’s eruptive activity.
Mount Anak Krakatau is located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands and has experienced a series of eruptions over the past few days, causing volcanic ash to spread to several areas in western Indonesia and disrupting flight operations.
According to the latest information, Al Amrad said the last communication with the group was made through Muhammad Bagus, a photographer with Antara’s Banten Bureau, at around 4pm on Monday before they could no longer be contacted.
Following this, he said the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed teams to Sebesi Island and the Mount Anak Krakatau area for the search operation Tuesday.
He said SAR teams are searching land and sea areas across Sebesi Island and near Mount Anak Krakatau for any trace of the five media personnel. - Bernama
