Five more are missing after a tidal surge swept them away during a school trip.
Jakarta – At least six students in the
Indonesian province of Yogyakarta were killed and five more were
missing on Friday after a tidal surge swept them away during a
school trip, said disaster mitigation officials.
About 250 high school students were walking along a river
when high waters pulled them in, drowning them.
“Students were doing scout activities around the Sempor
river,” Agus Wibowo, spokesman at the National Disaster
Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said in a statement on Friday. At
least six were killed and six others sustained light injuries,
he said.
Biwara Yuswantana, the head of the Yogyakarta disaster
mitigation agency, told Reuters that at least five students were
still missing.
A rescue worker uses a torch as he searches for students who were missing after a tidal surge swept them away during a school trip, in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Picture: Antara Foto/Andreas Fitri Atmoko/via Reuters
Wibowo said it was not raining when the students came down
to the river but as they walked around it “huge waves came
upstream”.
Rescuers shine torch lights as they search for victims following a flash flood in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The flash flood hit hundreds of students and teachers who were hiking along a river on Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing a number of students, officials said. Picture: AP
He added that joint forces of the police, the search and
rescue agency and the military had been dispatched to assist in
search and rescue.
Rescuers search for victims following a flash flood in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Picture: AP
Reuters