Every morning, they were among the first to hike the mountain and some of the few people brave enough to get near the still fuming crater where the bodies of Indonesian Angel Krishela Pradita, 28 and two Singaporeans: Timothy Heng Wen Qiang, 30, and Shahin Muhrez Abdul Hamid, 27 were buried beneath layers of fiery volcanic ash.
The three were among 20 hikers who were on the slopes of Dukono when a massive eruption occurred on Friday morning.
While the other 17 made it out back to base camp, Angel’s lifeless body was discovered on Saturday afternoon, while Heng and Shahid’s were located on Sunday morning.
Various rescue units, including the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), described the locals as instrumental.
Because the locals regularly work as manual labour in plantations and construction sites, their stamina, strength and familiarity with the surroundings were key contributions to the rescue efforts, said authorities.
“They are very important because they are familiar with the environment. They have local knowledge that enables them to understand the situation, condition and especially the characteristics of Mount Dukono,” Iwan Ramdani, chief of the local office of Basarnas, who was leading the operation, told CNA.
“They are very enthusiastic about helping our operations. Even people who don’t participate directly in finding the victims, help out with logistics, transportation and so on.”
