2 Students Of SD, East OKU Regency, Died Covered In Landslides

Residents evacuated the bodies of victims buried by landslides in East OKU, South Sumatra. (ANTARA/Edo Purmana)

JAKARTA - Two elementary school (SD) students from Mendah Village, Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Timur Regency, South Sumatra (Sumsel) were killed by landslides as deep as one meter.

Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division of the East OKU Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Budi Widiyanto said the incident occurred on Thursday, January 23 at around 14.30 WIB. Two Korba are elementary school (SD) students in East OKU, namely Yuda Adi Pratama (12) and Candra Pratama (11).

The incident began when the victim was playing on the riverbank near the landslide site with one of his friends who survived the landslide.

The three children dug up the sand on the riverbank about one meter deep, then climbed onto the cliff to play with the slide and landslides that piled up the victims.

"One of them was rescued, while the other two victims died," he said.

The victim's body was found after East OKU BPBD personnel together with local residents conducted a search by digging landslides that were hoarding victims.

"When it was found the two victims were dead. Currently, the body has been taken to the funeral home for burial by the family," he said.

Currently, his party together with the local village government have installed warning signs at the scene to anticipate similar incidents so that they do not happen again.

"We urge the public not to carry out any activities around the landslide site to anticipate casualties," he said.