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12-year-old male student fell to his death after tumbling from the fourth floor of SMP 163 state junior high school in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Friday.

South Jakarta Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Agus Minarno told reporters that several witnesses at the school said the seventh grade student, Putra Perdana Dermawan, was trying to hide a friend'€™s cell phone by slipping it out of sight onto the classroom'€™s window ledge.

'€œThe victim was apparently scared that the phone would be taken away from him during a handphone raid conducted by the school,'€ Agus said.

Agus said that Putra'€™s classmate, Zinedin Ridwana, confirmed that the whole class was panicking when they found out that the principal was walking towards their classroom on the fourth floor. At that time, Putra was borrowing Zinedin'€™s phone.

'€œThe witness [Zinedin] saw Putra slipping and falling as he was trying to hide it,'€ Agus said.

Another classmate, Sophie, said that she did not see Putra falling, but the accident caused a commotion among the students while teachers tried to prevent them from looking at Putra'€™s body before it was taken to the hospital.

However, Agus said that the school'€™s principal, Suhadi Siswanto, told police that there was no handphone raid that day. Suhadi and another staff member were on the fourth floor to monitor the students'€™ activities during class because they wanted to know whether what was being taught matched the school'€™s new curriculum that had recently been introduced by the government. Many teachers may not yet be familiar with the 2013 National Curriculum because of the greater number of subjects that must be taught.

Before Suhadi even reached the victim'€™s classroom, Agus said, several students went out of the classroom and reported that one of their classmates had fallen out of the window.

Putra was rushed to the Siaga Hospital in West Pejaten, South Jakarta. He fell at 9:30 a.m., but Agus said doctors pronounced him dead by 11:45 a.m. with severe head injuries.

Sports teacher Anggodo, one of the teachers who took Putra to the hospital, said that the incident happened after break time and he confirmed that students were panicking because they thought there was going to be a cell phone raid. However, Anggodo explained that the school did not hold routine handphone raids even though students were prohibited from bringing their cell phones on campus.

'€œIf we see a handphone, we immediately confiscate it,'€ Anggodo said.

Separately, Putra'€™s father, Deddy Hermawan, said that he first thought that the text message he received about his son'€™s accident was a hoax. He then called his son'€™s homeroom teacher who confirmed what had happened.

'€œI immediately rushed to the hospital. The doctor then told me that my son had fallen head first to the ground,'€ Deddy said, adding that his hope for his son'€™s survival was small as soon as he heard the doctor'€™s diagnosis.

Putra'€™s body was taken to be buried at Karawaci graveyard in Tangerang, Banten, by his family. Several teachers also accompanied Putra'€™s family to Karawaci. (fss)