Jakarta – Thirteen students of state junior high school (SMPN) 7 Mojokerto were swept away by waves at Drini Beach in Gunung Kidul regency in Yogyakarta on Tuesday, with four of them being reported dead and the others hospitalized.
A group consisting of 261 students and 16 teachers arrived at the beach at around 6:00 a.m. and immediately began to swim.
But soon after, scores of the students were swept away by the high waves.
A search and rescue (SAR) team was dispatched to save the victims, nine of whom were successfully rescued and rushed to nearby hospitals.
Meanwhile, three others were found dead, and one student remained missing as of Tuesday night.
The deceased victims, all 13 years old, were identified with initials AAP, RF and MYA. The last victim found was RYP, also aged 13.
"The victim [...] was found dead at around 7:30 a.m.," SAR team member Surisdiyanto said, as quoted by Kompas.
In response to the tragedy, Mojokerto Mayor Moh Ali Kuncoro announced that an evaluation of school outings would be conducted. School outings or outdoor learning activities are managed by each school or educational institution.
He instructed the Mojokerto Regional Secretariat to gather all elementary and junior high school principals to assess the situation. "For the time being, we will suspend all outings until we fully understand the causes of this incident," he emphasized.(vny)