According to a figure published by the Poduwoma Command Post in Suwawa Timur Sub-district, 46 people survived the deadly landslide. On Tuesday, acting Gorontalo Governor Rudy Salahuddin visited the command post.
"May today's evacuation efforts run smoothly. On behalf of the government and all people of Gorontalo, we thank all parties involved in the search and rescue operations," Salahuddin remarked.
The command post is run by a joint team of personnel from the local police, army, search and rescue agency, disaster mitigation agency, and health office to assist those surviving the landslide and dead victims.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Gorontalo police sent a helicopter to help retrieve the bodies of miners killed in the landslide.
The helicopter retrieved seven bodies as difficult access to the mining pit had hampered the rescuers' efforts.
A joint team of rescuers had to walk for about 23.7 kilometers to reach the landslide site, according to the Gorontalo police.
Six of the seven bodies, retrieved from the landslide site through an airlift were identified as Arjun Djafar, Hendra Pakaya, Ferdi Tune, Aryanto Yusuf, Roy Pusini, and Risno Djafar, while the identity of another individual had yet to be established.
On Tuesday, rescuers also used stretchers to retrieve two other bodies and moved them to a post that the local police and the health office's medical personnel had set up for post-mortem examination.
Relatives of the gold miners who perished in the landslide were seen flocking to the post to identify the arriving bodies.
On Monday (July 8), the rescuers had retrieved 11 bodies. Some 10 of them who could have been identified were Fatma Apita, Dewa Saputra Kunye, Samsiar Buhungo, Alfin Manengge, Lukman, Alfian Mamonto, Ramat Nurhamidi, Rina Mohamad, Ramlah Kumuriah, and Rudin Kunye.
Earlier, the Gorontalo Search and Rescue Agency's head, Heriyanto, stated that the rescuers continued their SAR operation on Monday morning after suspending it on Sunday evening due to low visibility and improper road conditions.
According to Heriyanto, torrential rains that had lashed several areas of Gorontalo on Saturday (July 6) triggered flash floods and landslides.
Several bridges connecting access roads to the gold mining pit, located far from residential areas, collapsed.
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Translator: A Solihin, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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