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Shot, wounded and dead: Wamena riot death toll remains shrouded in mystery
“I tried to look from the open door. Suddenly I felt pain in my thumb and my thigh. I fell. I was shot and the bullet was in my thigh,” Amandus said in Wamena.
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A family member holds a cellphone showing a picture of Eles Himan’s dead body (blurred) on Oct. 6. (JP/Albertus Vembrianto)
O
n Monday, Sept. 23, Amandus, took his son on a motorcycle to SMA YPPK Santo Thomas senior high school in Wamena, Jayawijaya, Papua. When they arrived, his son got off and went to his class while Amandus went to park his motorcycle because he needed to meet his son’s teacher. Not long after he left the bike, he heard gunshots.
“Children were running out of the classrooms, including my son. He saw me and he ran to me,” Amandus, a resident of Pisugi district, said.
He did not quite understand what was happening. The commotion continued and he heard gunshots getting nearer the school. The students ran in panic, knocking his motorcycle to the ground. He pulled his son’s arm, ran outside the school and hid in his relative’s house not far from the school.
From the house, he peeked out. He heard people yelling amid the gunshots.
“I tried to look from the open door. Suddenly I felt pain in my thumb and my thigh. I fell. I was shot and the bullet was in my thigh,” Amandus said in Wamena.
17 reported dead from gunshots
Amandus was lucky, he was taken to the hospital immediately, received emergency treatment and was flown to the provincial capital in Jayapura for surgery. Others were not so lucky.
