TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Missing climbers on Mt. Ciremai found safe
A search and rescue team found the five remaining climbers lost on Mount Ciremai, West Java's highest peak, at 11 a
Change Size
A search and rescue team found the five remaining climbers lost on Mount Ciremai, West Java's highest peak, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, after they had gone missing for six days.
Gembong, 37, Darso, 36, Iwan, 35, Didi, 28, and Hatmi, 33 - all from Bekasi, West Java - were found in a weakened state, while Iwan had scars and bruises on his arms and legs that he obtained when he fell.
The five climbers were found on the Pasir Itis climbing track in the Cigowong sector of the mountain, at an elevation of 1,300 meters.
They were evacuated to General Hospital 45 in Kuningan for immediate treatment.
"We found them walking down from the Pesanggrahan sector. crossing a dried-up riverbed," said SAR team member Ayo Juhartono.
"They were in a weakened condition."
He added the climbers had managed to survive over the past six days by rationing out their food supplies of candy, chocolate bars, biscuits and instant noodles, and by drinking rainwater, dew drops and river water.
The SAR team had on Monday found two other climbers, Widi, 35, from Bekasi, and Fredy, 27, from Cupang village in Gempol, Cirebon, in the Pesanggrahan sector, some 2,400 meters above sea level.
Ayo said the hope of finding the missing climbers were boosted after the team found sandals, ropes, flashlights, shirts, matches and remains of medicine in their traces on Wednesday, at an elevation of 2,600 meters.
The team, he went on, also found a handwritten message that indicated they were in the vicinity and still alive.
"That message was written for others to find," Ayo said, adding an extra 150 SAR personnel had been immediately deployed after the message was discovered.
"They also said in the message that they were moving, to cross a river in the area,"
The seven rescued climbers began their hike last Friday at 2 p.m., passing through the Palutungan sector in Cisantan village, Cigugur district, Kuningan regency.
They were reported missing the next day after contacting their driver, Sunardi, by cell phone, and asking him to "get some help because *they were* lost".
