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2 More Children’s Bodies Found After Bogor Bridge Collapse
Vento Saudale | February 22, 2012

Residents examining a bamboo bridge that collapsed into the Cihideung River on Sunday in Cibanteng, Bogor. (Antara Photo/Jafkhairi) Residents examining a bamboo bridge that collapsed into the Cihideung River on Sunday in Cibanteng, Bogor. (Antara Photo/Jafkhairi)
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Bogor. Rescue officials in Bogor on Tuesday discovered the bodies of two more children who were said to be among the five youngsters still missing after a bamboo bridge collapsed on the weekend, bringing the total confirmed fatalities to five.

The body of 35-year-old Umamah was the first recovered from the Cihideung River when the bridge in Cibanteng village collapsed on Sunday morning. Two young victims were found the following day.

Iwan Firdaus, chief of the local branch of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), said on Tuesday that two more bodies were recovered from the river.

At about 6 a.m. on Tuesday, rescuers discovered the body of 11-year-old Nur Fajar Maulida, or Ajay, some 200 meters from the wreck site, while 9-year-old Eka was found at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, about 7 kilometers away in Rancabungur, West Java.

“We were having a hard time identifying the bodies because their conditions are so bad their families are having difficulty recognizing them,” Ciampea Police Chief Comr. Indarto said.

That difficulty was evident when Ajay’s parents were told their daughter was found in Banten and were asked to come to the neighboring province. They were enraged after later being told the body was in fact that of a different victim, and that Ajay was found near their village.

Ma’mur, a coordinator of the rescue effort, had said on Monday that 5-year-old Ravi was found at about 7:30 p.m. on Monday, 30 kilometers downstream in South Tangerang, Banten.

But after further identification, Basarnas’s Iwan, who is the main coordinator for the rescue effort, said on Tuesday that the body in fact belonged to 11-year-old Masearoh or Maya.

Accident survivor Abdul Fatah, 60, earlier told authorities that there were 23 people on the bridge when it collapsed, with 15 managing to swim to safety.

Iwan said rescuers will continue the search for the remaining three children, including Ravi. The other two missing victims are Zahra, 6 and Dini, 10.

Iwan said with the enormity of the ground to be covered in the search and rescue efforts, authorities in Bogor had deployed 300 more volunteers, bringing the total number of people involved to 500. Additional rubber boats and new equipment, including underwater cameras, were also received on Tuesday to aid the operation.

“With the underwater camera we can now look into part of the stream previously inaccessible and hard to explore,” Iwan said.

He said rescue efforts had been hampered by strong currents and murky waters resulting from days of torrential rains in the region.

Bogor Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Santoso said police had ruled out negligence in the 15-meter long bamboo bridge’s collapse. “The river was raging, it had been raining before and there were a lot of people using the bridge. And the bridge was made by locals using available materials,” Herry was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara. “Really, this is no one’s fault.”