On 25 November 2025, at around 9.00 pm, residents on Gunung Street in Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan province, observed a military drone repeatedly circling above their neighbourhood. According to eyewitnesses, the drone flew several loops over the area and then hovered for a few minutes above a cluster of civilian houses. The aircraft reportedly switched on a green light, followed by a yellow and then a white light, illuminating one particular house before releasing an aerial explosive.
The explosive fell onto a civilian house and detonated with a powerful explosion in the middle of the residential area. Inside the building, a 17-year-old senior high school student named Listin Sam and another young man, Mr Yondinus Dapla, were asleep in the same room when the blast struck the house. Both were hit by shrapnel and debris (see photos below, source: independent HRD). Neighbours and family members rushed to the house, evacuated the victims, and brought them to the Dekai Regional Public Hospital (RSUD Dekai) at around midnight. Despite receiving emergency medical treatment, Listin Sam died at approximately 2.05 am at RSUD Dekai, while Mr Yondinus Dapla survived and remains under medical care.
On the morning of 26 November 2025, at about 6.00 am Papua time, the victim's family returned to RSUD Dekai to negotiate with police officers to retrieve Listin Sam's body for burial. The family and the head of Duram District stressed that the victims and the wider Duram community are civilians with no involvement in the West Papua National Liberation Army (see photos and videos, source: independent HRD). The family also brought a photocopy of Listin Sam's school diploma to underline that he was a student at SMA Negeri in Dekai and not affiliated with any armed group. Community representatives and relatives went to the Yahukimo Police Station to demand accountability for the drone attack, while local human rights defenders and church-based legal aid networks began documenting the incident and issuing urgent calls for advocacy. They called upon all armed actors to move hostilities away from civilian residential areas.