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Zildayenti cried when she saw a cellular phone and a mud covered wallet which used to belong to her son, Budi Susanto, 26, who worked as a head chef at the Ambacang Hotel in Padang, West Sumatra. Budi could have escaped from the building, but instead he decided to save his staff and was killed with more than 100 others when the hotel collapsed during last week’s powerful earthquake.

“Abang could have escaped because he was near the door, but as a responsible head chef, he couldn’t abandon his crew,” said Ari, Budi’s brother who also worked at the hotel as a pastry chef.

“Abang ran back into the kitchen and helped his staff escape. He helped me out but then he ran back in again and that was the last time I saw him,” he said.

Zildayenti sobbed as rescue officers emptied out the content of her son’s wallet, which mainly consisted of foreign currencies such as ringgit, dollars, baht, rupee and his identification card.

“Budi was a good son,” she said between sobs.

Budi Susanto’s body was found on Monday at 11 a.m. His body was trapped between concrete walls and wooden panels near the hotel’s swimming pool.

Budi was the oldest of six. He was the bread winner for his family and supported his two younger siblings. He left behind a wife and a six-month-old son.

Rahma, Budi’s sister, said that a day before the earthquake, he visited the family home in Lubuk Alung to see his parents and siblings.

“Abang [older brother] said he would take us out because he had just received his salary. [Budi] told me he loved me and that I should be a good kid,” the 14-year-old said.

Budi was buried in his hometown, Alahan Panjang in Solok district, West Sumatra.

Meanwhile, the team commander of the National Search and Rescue team’s collapsed structures search unit, Setiawan Firdaus, said there were no survivors at Ambacang Hotel.

“We have scoured the hotel ruins with a heartbeat life detector but we have not found any signs of life since Sunday afternoon,” he said.

Besides the life detector, rescuers were also assisted with ultrasonic devices and sniffer dogs from Japan.

It is still unknown how many people were killed and whose bodies remain under the rubble of hotel. The stench of decomposing bodies can be detected from 20 meters away from the hotel ruins.

Antara