A helicopter was deployed for the evacuation led by Head of the 2022 Cartenz Peace Operations Senior Commissioner Muhamad Firman.
On receiving information on the location of the survivor, the joint police-military team headed promptly to the site to evacuate him. The evacuation process for Sarira took about two hours.
Upon arriving in Timika, Sarira was immediately taken to the Mimika Police Headquarters for further medical treatment.
The condition of the victim is reported to be quite stable, though he still needs to recover further in order to face questioning regarding the whereabouts of his colleagues, who were reported to have fallen victims to the fatal shooting on Wednesday (Mar 2).
The eight civilians, the employees of PTT, were shot dead by the armed separatist terror group while working on the construction of the Based Transceiver System (BTS) tower for the East Palapa Ring project in Papua.
Their bodies are yet to be retrieved since the attempt was hindered by bad weather and difficult terrain.
The civilians slain in the attack were identified as B, R, BN, BT, J, E, S, and PD.
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When the incident occurred, Sarira was not present along with his colleagues at their camp for repairing the tower. He found them dead after returning to the camp.
He later called for help through the closed-circuit television (CCTV) installed at the BTS tower 3.
Meanwhile, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny Gerard Plate has condoled the deaths of the eight workers of the state-owned telecommunications company.
"We offer our deepest condolences to the families of PT Palapa Timur Telematika (PT PTT) workers, who have become victims of the attack," Plate noted in a press release issued on Friday.
The company is an implementing business entity (BUP) appointed by the ministry as the developer of the East Palapa Ring Project, a strategic national telecommunications infrastructure project for the provinces of Papua, West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku.
Plate expects authorities to conduct proper law enforcement against the perpetrators as well as restore security without further ado.
Related news: Police probe killings of eight civilians in Puncak District's Beoga
Translator: Evarianus Supar, Fardah
Editor: Suharto
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