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Fri, February 10, 2012
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Three Die in Yogyakarta Mining Accident
Ary Adji | January 08, 2010

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Yogyakarta. Three sand miners were killed in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Friday when they were buried in a collapse.

The accident took place at around 9:30 a.m. as the three men were mining sand along the Gendol River near Glagahrejo village, close to Mount Merapi.

The victims were identified as Timin, 40, Murtini, 40, and Suranto, 46. All three were residents of Glagahrejo.

Dozens of villagers mine sand in the area, usually with little or no safety equipment.

Witnesses said the three victims were buried when a 45-meter-high sand bank collapsed without warning.

It is thought the bank had been weakened by heavy rain that fell the previous night.

Other miners made a desperate attempt to rescue the three men, but were unable to reach them in time because of the size of the collapse and the lack of heavy equipment.

The bodies of the three were recovered more than two hours after the collapse.

“It happened suddenly. The bank just collapsed as the miners were working,” said Yanto, one of the villagers who took part in the rescue effort.

Yanto said the rescue efforts were hampered by the lack of equipment.

“We had to dig away the sand without any heavy equipment, so it took a long time,” he said.

Residents of Glagahrejo have been mining sand in the area for years, with at least 50 villagers mining sand along the Gendol River every day.

The head of the village, Suroto, said this was not the first fatal mining accident in the area.

“Sometimes the miners dig without any consideration for their safety. We’ve warned them many times,” he said.

“But since jobs are hard to come by, desperate villagers are willing to risk their lives mining sand even though it’s dangerous work.”