PIKIRAN RAKYAT - A landslide disaster struck a mining area in East Tulabolo Village, East Suwawa District, Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo Province, on Sunday, July 7, 2024. The number of victims who were found dead has now reached 23 people.

Based on recorded and confirmed data on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 23.00 WITA, the total number of victims reached 173 people. That figure includes people who are still declared missing.

"The details are that 23 people died, 81 people survived, and 33 people are still being searched," said the Head of the Gorontalo Search and Rescue Office, Hariyanto.

Most of the survivors of the landslide disaster that occurred on Saturday, July 6, 2024 night suffered injuries to broken bones. At this time, they are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Entering the third day after the incident, the number of joint SAR teams conducting searches at the location has increased. There was an elite team specially brought in from the Central Basarnas to personnel from the North Sulawesi Search and Rescue Office.

The evacuation process, which previously took extra time and effort, is easier and faster due to the assistance of the AW 169 Register 0-3304 Helicopter belonging to the Baharkam Police brought in by the Gorontalo Police Chief.

"Considering that it was already dark, the search process at the location until the evacuation was temporarily stopped and began to resume this morning," said Hariyanto.

In addition, joint personnel at the Tulabolo Village SAR Post also continue to collect data and information related to the number and identity of the victims to make it easier for the family to find the whereabouts of their family members.

Hariyanto said that until now most of the East Suwawa District, Bone Bolango, is still raining with moderate intensity.

Illustration corpse. Pikiran Rakyat/Fian Afandi.

The Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) sought to evacuate landslide victims in the people's gold mining area in East Suwawa, Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo, using helicopters due to the difficulty of access to and from the disaster site and the large number of victims. During the SAR operation on the third day, there was already a helicopter belonging to the National Police to evacuate the victims.

"We are coordinating with the Indonesian Air Force to help add more helicopters," said the Head of Basarnas, Kusworo.

He revealed that the existence of helicopters is urgently needed because it is the only way to speed up the evacuation. Based on the results of his monitoring, access from the post to the disaster site is tens of kilometers in the hilly forest or at least takes 4 hours to 5 hours by infantry.

According to Kusworo, the travel time of joint SAR personnel could be even longer because the rain was still pouring, the soil condition was unstable, and at some points had to cross the bridge, making it difficult for his party to deploy heavy equipment.

"For the total number of personnel, there are 1,009 joint teams in this SAR operation. 30 of them are specially deployed from the Basarnas Special Group squad," he said.

Illustration gold mine. Pixabay/mohamed_hassan.

The Head of the BPBD of Bone Bolango Regency, Ahril revealed that the location of the unlicensed gold mining (PETI) that experienced a landslide, was once closed. This is in line with people's mining activities in landslide-prone locations.

"Indeed, the danger (mining location). In the past, it was warned until it was closed, but the community still comes again," he said.

Ahril said that the mining site had experienced landslides several times. However, so far there have never been casualties.

"This is the first time (there are casualties). Because of the landslide at the location of the miner's camp," he said.

People's mining activities in East Suwawa District, Bone Bolango Regency, Gorontalo, have existed since the 1980s. Until now, miner camps have been like residential areas.

"They have already had children there. There are even immigrants from North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, and even from Java," said Ahril.

Description: The Gorontalo landslide tragedy highlights the dangers of unlicensed gold mining in vulnerable areas, resulting in 23 deaths and 33 missing individuals. Despite previous closures, mining activities persisted, leading to this catastrophic event.*** (Politkenik Negeri Bandung/Sintia Yuliana)