Jakarta, ThedailyID — Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) continues searching for five journalists and two crew members who remain missing in the Sunda Strait.
The agency has shifted the large-scale joint operation into routine search missions handled by SAR offices in the affected areas.
Basarnas Chief Marshal TNI Mohammad Syafii said the decision to end the large-scale operation on Thursday, September 17, did not mean the search had stopped.
Instead, Basarnas changed the operation after assessing that the joint search was no longer effective.
“The operation was not closed, but shifted to a routine operation,” Syafii said at Grand Hotel De Djokja in Yogyakarta on Tuesday, September 29.
During the previous joint operation, the Banten and Lampung SAR offices worked with other SAR resources under the direction of a Search Mission Coordinator (SMC).
The head of the Banten SAR Office served as the SMC during the operation. After the joint operation ended, individual SAR offices took responsibility for continuing the search.
Syafii stressed that the search would continue around the clock.
“Each SAR office carries out operations 24 hours throughout the period,” he said.
The routine search continues despite the discovery of a body believed to belong to a crew member of KM Arupadatu, the vessel carrying the journalists.
Authorities found the body on Enggano Island, Bengkulu, on Saturday, September 12. Officials later identified the victim as Surakman, 60, on Wednesday, September 23.
Following the discovery, the Bengkulu SAR Office continued to focus its search around Enggano Island.
The search involves coastal communities, the Indonesian Military (TNI), and the National Police. They continue to monitor the area and report any signs that could lead to the missing victims.
“At that time, the Bengkulu SAR Office focused on the search there by involving residents, including people along the coast, as well as the TNI and Police,” Syafii said.
However, Syafii said there had been no further developments in the search as of Tuesday, September 29.
