Misma Simbala, 55, has been awaiting news of his brother Samsul Rijal, 58, for three days. Every morning, he goes to Bakan village, Lolayan district, Bolaang Mongondow, North Sulawesi. He comes home when night falls.
Misma, who lives in Tanoyan village, is waiting for information about his brother’s fate at the post, right at the gate of PT J Resources Bolaang Mongondow (JRBM) mining company. The gold mine site hit by landslides in Bakan village, located within a PT JRBM concession, on the outer side bordering the forest. The closest access to the mine is from PT JRBM.
“The whole family has actually given up. Whatever the circumstances, we are ready to accept the reality. If he survives, thank God. If not, we are ready to accept the worst. We only hope that our brother can be rescued, regardless of his condition,” said Misma, Friday (March 1, 2019).
A landslide occurred on Tuesday at 9:10 p.m. when there were around 60 people inside the unauthorized gold mine in Bakan village. The supporting poles and pits suddenly collapsed due to unstable soil conditions. Lands and rocks buried the miners, including Samsu Rijal.
Amrin Simbala, 75, was also hopeful and resigned to await an update about his son Kadri Simbala, 33. Although he said resignedly, he kept hoping that his son could be found alive.
“Until Wednesday, I was still communicating with him. I called his
name at the cave mouth and he answered. He asked for a drink even though I was confused how to give or help. I just asked him to stay and wait for help,” he said.
Amrin was devastated by the incident that had befallen his son. Besides being a good person, Kadri also supports his family.
The feeling of affection for his child made this grandfather take a two-hour walk uphill and down the river to arrive at the location, right at the mouth of the collapsed underground mine. The journey to the location was certainly not easy in his old age.
This Friday afternoon, Amrin returned uphill and still hoped to get good news. “If it turns out that he cannot be saved, I surrender. I am still waiting for his body to be found and brought home for a proper burial,” he said softly.
Friday morning to evening, hundreds of residents, including relatives of victims from several villages in Bolaang Mongondow, continued to arrive. They were waiting for news, and bodies that could be recovered.
Not only family groups, along the road to the entrance of PT JRBM area was also filled with rows of ambulances. At least 20 ambulances from hospitals in Bolaang Mongondow were deployed to Bayan village. Ambulances had also been deployed from other districts in North Sulawesi, both from the government and private sector. A total of 75 body bags were prepared.
“Hopefully those ambulances will be used to transport my brother alive, not the corpse,” said Fitriyanti, 28, a resident of Kebo Kecil village, East Kotobobagu, Kotamobagu City. She waited for the news of Rudin Minang, 38.
Evacuation
On Friday (1/3), the search and rescue of victims was stopped because of dangerous conditions. For this reason, the search team began deploying heavy equipment borrowed from PT JRBM.
However, evacuations cannot be carried out immediately. They are still focused on making a trail for heavy equipment so they can get closer to the underground mining site. Until Friday night, the path for heavy equipment was still being built.
The head of the National SAR Agency, Bagus Puruhito, revealed that steep terrain and unstable land could endanger the search team. “The condition of the terrain is very critical and prone to landslides so the SAR team is also at risk,” Bagus said when monitoring the opening of the path for the heavy equipment at 9:30 p.m.
The position of the gold mine is in the belly of the mountain with the entrance in the form of a hole in the wall of a steep cliff with a slope of more than 60 degrees. Unstable and hollow soil and rock conditions within the mine site are prone to new debris.
The head of the Manado Search and Relief (SAR) Office Section, Djefri Mewo, added that in addition to manual evacuations endangering the search team, the use of heavy equipment also took into consideration the slim chance of surviving miners.
For the purpose of evacuation with this heavy equipment, a 150-200-meter radius area has been sterilized. Members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police have been deployed to guard all access points to the evacuation site.
“We ask people who want to go up to return because it is very dangerous to their safety and can disrupt the evacuation process. The rocks from the mountain dredged by heavy equipment are feared to fall on people below,” Second Sgt. Dahri Kadir said, an Army soldier guarding the path to the entrance to the landslide mine site in Bakan village.
Based on the latest data compiled by Bolaang Mongondow BPBD, National Basarnas, TNI and Police, until Friday morning, 28 miners had been evacuated with 8 of them dead. Twenty survivors were mostly seriously injured.
The evacuation was carried out by 400 personnel, consisting of officials from the National SAR Agency, TNI, Police, Bolaang Mongondow Regional Management Agency and PT JRBM emergency response team.