An outing turned tragic for a group of factory workers from Indonesia after two of them were feared drowned at a beach in Santubong yesterday evening.

The victims identified as Rusmana, 44, and Usman Suharna, 20, both from Bandung, went missing while taking bath in the rough sea.

Their friend, Dede Poniman, said they rented a van for the one-day trip to the beach, and arrived there at about 9.30am.

“Seven of us went for swimming, and we decided to go back to the shore after feeling tired when two of them were swept by the strong current,’ he said.

Asked by reporters why they went swimming despite the rough sea, he said they thought they could swim.

State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) assistant operations director Farhan Sufyan Borhan said they despatched 15 rescuers to the scene after they received a distress call on the incident that occurred around 12.17pm.

“Four of them were believed to be taking bath at the rocky area before being warned by the guard because of the strong waves. A red flag had also been raised at the beach.

“They ignored the warning, two of them were saved by the friends while the other two are feared drowned,” he said when met at the scene yesterday.

Farhan said they used boats to scour the area of about 200km radius for the victims.

He added other agencies involved in the operation were a team of coastal guards from a nearby resort as well as Rela.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Anasathia Jenis

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