National team dispatched to search for Mt. Ciremai climbers

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed a team Monday to join the search for seven people who went missing during their climb of Mt. Ciremai in West Java, tempointeraktif.com has reported.

The Basarnas team will join ten other teams, which include those from the Mt. Ciremai National Park guard, the military and the police.

Muhtadi Nafari, head of the national park, said he decided to contact the national agency following an unsuccessful search on Saturday and Sunday.

Seven men, six people from Bekasi and a guide from Cirebon, were reported missing during the climb.

In their last mobile phone contact with the national park administration, they reported that two of them had fallen down a ravine and one was severely injured.

The men are identified as Didi Kusmana, Iwan, Widhi, Darso, Abdul Hatni and Gembong and the guide Fredi.

Search and rescue teams have been having difficulty tracking the climbers, who took an irregular route to get to the top of the mountain. (dre)